Hijackers Aroused Suspicion

Nine of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks were singled out for special security screenings at airports that morning, U.S. officials say.

The disclosure that some of the hijackers triggered security measures differed sharply from previous portrayals of the hijackers as as meticulous planners who craftily avoided all detection.

Two of the hijackers were selected for extra scrutiny because of irregularities in their identification documents and six were chosen by a computerized screening system that prompted a sweep of their checked baggage for explosives or unauthorized weapons, according to authorities, the officials say.

The ninth hijacker was listed on ticket documents as traveling with one of the hijackers with questionable identification, according to the oficials, who declined to provide further details about the security screenings, including which of the hijackers were chosen and what flights they were on.

Authorities also said they could not say if any of the nine were interrogated in any way before being allowed to board their flights, or if screeners noticed the box-cutting knives used in the attacks, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the story in its Saturday editions. Such knives were allowed on airplanes before Sept. 11.

The report raises further questions about the adequacy of aviation security measures before the attacks, which have come under increasing scrutiny from some lawmakers and relatives of Sept. 11 victims.

“We are looking into all these accusations of breaches, as well as specific incidents that led up to Sept. 11," Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, told The Post. "These are the kinds of questions we are trying to get answered."

One group, Families of September 11, has called for a congressional investigation of possible security lapses that day, including a disputed report that one of the terrorists fired a gun on one of the jetliners. Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI say the early report of a gun was inaccurate.

Four commercial planes were hijacked on Sept. 11 and crashed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington, and a field in Pennsylvania, killing about 3,000 people.