As another anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks comes and goes, I would like to tell the story of John O’Neill, an FBI special agent who was chief of counterterrorism based in Washington (February 1995) and later would be the assistant special agent in charge of counterterrorism and national security in New York City (January 1997).
A maverick, O’Neill was not the traditional FBI agent. He had slick black hair, wore an expensive Italian suit to work, enjoyed fine cigars and had a colourful personal life. He was, however, in love with and addicted to his work, as evidenced by this passage from Lawrence Wright’s book The looming Tower, Al-Qaeda’s Road to 9/11:
“O’Neill had just been appointed chief of the FBI’s counterterrorism section. He had been transferred from the bureau’s Chicago office. After driving all night, he had gone directly to headquarters that Sunday morning without dropping off his bags. Alone in the massive J Edgar Hoover Building, except for security guards, O’Neill was not even supposed to start work until the following Tuesday.”
A son of Chicago, O’Neill had no problem rattling cages in order to get things done. He was one of the only US government counterterrorism employees in the 1990s who recognised the growing threat posed by Islamic extremism (another was his confidant Richard Clarke, the chief counterterrorism adviser on the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton). He understood that Bin Laden was not just a financier of terrorism but the man in charge of the whole operation as head of al-Qaeda.
After making too many enemies in Washington, he was transferred to the New York field office on January 1, 1997.
US Embassies attacked in Africa
On August 7, 1998, two US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were attacked with truck bombs, killing hundreds of people. O’Neill, convinced that al-Qaeda was behind the attack, wanted the FBI to make him the on-scene commander, believing that the New York field office to be the best equipment to handle the situation.
Given his experience, this seemed a justified request by the then 46-year-old special agent. Unfortunately, the top brass decided otherwise, and sent the Washington team instead. Once it became clear that al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks, the top brass reversed their decision and sent the New York team instead; but without O’Neill.
The bombings in Africa certainly led the US government to pay closer attention to Bin Laden, but, to O’Neill’s disappointment, the Clinton administration still didn’t view al-Qaeda as an existential threat that America needed to go to war with.
Possible Al-Qaeda cells in America and foiled millennium bomb plot
Around this time, O’Neill believed that there was a possibility that al-Qaeda operatives had entered the US. He was worried about a millennium plot to stage a massive attack at Time Square where two million people would congregate to celebrate the new millennium. Arrests were made and the New Year rung in without a major incident. One of those arrests was of Ahmed Ressam on December 14, 1999. Ressam admitted that he planned to bomb Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium.
Despite this, O’Neill still believed the possibility that there was a network of al-Qaeda operatives in America that was still undetected. However, the powers that be still considered al-Qaeda to be a distant threat, not one which required immediate action. Yes, embassies abroad might be attacked, but the homeland, they believed, was secure.
If John O’Neill’s warnings had been heeded, 9/11 might not have happened
A lost briefcase
In July of 2000, O’Neill was ordered to attend a seminar in Florida of FBI agents. During the conference, he left the room to take a phone call, leaving his briefcase which contained classified documents behind. When he returned, his briefcase was missing. Eventually, his briefcase was found by Miami police with the classified documents still there. However, the fact that O’Neill had taken classified documents out of FBI offices, was the beginning of the end of his FBI career, as the Bureau began a criminal investigation.
USS Cole bombing
On October 12, 2000, the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer, was docked in the port of Aden in Yemen in order to refuel. A fishing boat containing explosives approached it. The resulting explosion 17 seventeen US sailors. A suicide mission, al-Qaeda had struck again. After an internal debate between New York and Washington about who was the best person to send to head the investigation, O’Neill was dispatched to Yemen.
There, he clashed with US Ambassador Barbara Bodine, with O’Neill believing that she was more concerned with US-Yemeni relations then actually finding out who just killed several US personnel. On Bodine’s part, she was upset that hundreds of FBI agents had descended on Yemen, supported by US military personnel as O’Neill wanted a show of strength.
After spending several weeks doing painstaking investigatory work in Yemen, O’Neill needed a break and returned to New York to recover. He planned to head back to Yemen at the beginning of the year to resume his investigations. However, to his disbelief, ambassador Bodine denied his visa, meaning he was not allowed to return to Yemen to continue his investigation into the Cole bombing. The FBI headquarters supported Bodine’s decision.
A new administration – A backward step
Under President George W. Bush, the Cole investigations disappeared. The new administration did not view the threat posed by al-Qaeda as a matter of urgency. In fact, the White House viewed Russia under its new leader Vladimir Putin as the biggest national security threat. Just as concerning was that Richard Clarke, the counterterrorism czar under President Clinton, was demoted. O’Neill no longer had the cabinet-level access he enjoyed before.
New York Times article leads to retirement after 25 years’ service
A leak from within the FBI about the Bureau’s investigations into O’Neill’s missing briefcase episode made into the New York Times. This was the final straw for O’Neill. Upset with the internal politics that had been going on for far too long, after 25 years of loyal service, John O’Neill retired from the FBI at the end of August 2001.
New job – Head of security at the World Trade Centre
With his financial situation not being stable, O’Neill needed a new, well-paying private sector job quickly. He would not have to search long. He was made the director of security at the World Trade Center, with his office being on the 34th floor of the South Tower. He began his new job on August 23, 2001, a day after leaving the FBI. The World Trade Center had been attacked previously in 1993 by Ramzi Yousef.
September 11, 2001 – A tragic prophecy comes true
Just under three weeks after starting his new job, the unthinkable happened; except O’Neill knew that this wasn’t the unthinkable. He knew something was going to happen. At 8:46 am on a clear-skied Tuesday morning, American Airlines Flight 11 hit the 92nd floor of the North Tower at the World Trade Center.
O’Neill was in his South Tower office at the time. He went to the North Tower lobby to begin co-coordinating the response. Firefighters were also in the lobby. They had assembled in order to begin climbing the stairs to usher people out to safety. At 9.03 am, the South Tower was hit. This was no accident. America was under attack.
After spending some time working the phones in the North tower lobby, (O’Neill can be seen doing just that at the 57:40 mark of this video) O’Neill was last seen walking towards the South Tower, presumably to begin co-coordinating the response there also. At 9.59am, the South Tower collapsed, killing O’Neill and many others.
The North tower would collapse just under half an hour later. The Pentagon would also be hit by another hijacked plane and United Airlines Flight 93 would crash in Pennsylvania after tremendous courage shown by the passengers in overpowering the hijackers.
John O’Neill was 49 at the time of his death. If his warnings had been heeded, 9/11 might not have happened.
Mark Manduca has a Master’s degree in Diplomatic Studies from the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies