b 1 C05453675 b 3 -----------------------Eo 12958 1 4 c 25Yrs·---__ EO 12958 3 5 c • SENIOR EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE BRIEF 7 August 2001 Terrorism Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in the USL I---- ·ndicate Usama Bin '---------- -- -- - Ladin since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US Bin Ladin implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 tliat his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and 'bring the fighting to America -- AL-- ---____J service reported that Bin Lad was planning to exploit an operative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strikei I The milknnium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part ofBin Ladin 's first serious attempt at a terrorist strike in the US · Convicted plotter A bmed Ressam says that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself but also that Bin Ladin lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation Ressam also said that in 1998 · Abu Zubaydah was planning his own US attack •• •· essam sa 8in Ladin was aware of the Los Angeles operatio JL ----'-----' 1 His attacks on the US Embas ies in Kenya lind Tanzania in 1998 show that he prepares operalions years in advance and is not dete edby setbacks Bin Ladin assoc iates surveilled the Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993 and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings w e arrested and deported in 1997 I Al-Qa'ida members including some US citizens ·have resided in or traveled to the US for years and the group apparently maintains a support structure here Two al-Qa'ida members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb the US Embassies in East Africa were US citizens a senior Egyptian Islamic J d m ber li ed in California in the mid-1 90s and --A Bin Ladin cell in New York in 1998 was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attac I · ·- APPROVED FOR RELEASEL DATE 25-April-2012 019 Ee __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___J