Report Details FBI's 9/11 Missteps

Justice Dept. Details 5 Missed Chances To Uncover Vital Information

(CBS/AP)  In the weeks and months before Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI had some clues, but didn't see them. It had a lead from one of its own agents, but didn't follow it.

A sobering inside look at pre-Sept. 11 intelligence operations by the Justice Department's inspector general chronicles — in some instances in hour-to-hour detail — how the FBI missed at least five opportunities to uncover vital information that might have led agents to the hijackers.

The report is blunt, reports CBS News Correspondent Joie Chen. It calls the FBI efforts prior to Sept. 11 a significant failure. The hard facts in the report mirror many findings of the 9/11 commission. But the stark failures laid out in great detail raise questions about whether the bureau will be able to remake itself.

"The way the FBI handled these matters was a significant failure that hindered the FBI's chances of being able to detect and prevent the Sept. 11 attacks," Inspector General Glenn Fine said in the report released Thursday.

An FBI agent suggested to the chain of command two months before the attacks that there was a coordinated effort by Osama bin Laden to send students to the United States to study ways to take down U.S. aircraft.

Failure to fully heed the agent's theory was indicative of an agency that failed to accord strategic analysis the attention it deserved, the report said.

Even when the bureau had hard information shortly before the attacks about the presence in the United States of eventual hijackers Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar, "the FBI's investigation then was conducted without much urgency or priority," the report concluded.

The investigation of Mihdhar "was given to a single inexperienced agent," the report said.

Responding to the IG's criticism, the FBI said it has since taken substantial steps to deal with the issues the report raised.

"I think the FBI has moved a long way in transforming itself to more effectively deal with the terrorist threat," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, responding to the report, told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "One of the highlights of the report was the fact that we were unable to share information. As the result of certain laws such as the Patriot Act, the law intelligence community is now able to share information with the intelligence community. And we are able to connect the dots and we've put ourselves in a much better position to effectively protect America against a similar attack."