NSA intercepts warned of imminent 9/11 attack but went untranslated until after the strikes

Declassified and reported intelligence intercepts from before September 11, 2001, included warnings of an imminent attack, with messages like "The match begins tomorrow" and "Tomorrow is zero hour" reportedly intercepted on September 10 but not translated until after the attacks. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC. The National Security Agency (NSA) intercepted its first communications indicating a possible imminent attack on September 8, 2001, but several calls and transmissions between September 8 and 11 were reportedly not translated or widely disseminated. Earlier, on August 27, an al-Qaeda member in Madrid was intercepted discussing aviation, with a phrase initially translated as "cut the throat of the bird" later reinterpreted as "cut the eagle's throat," a possible reference to the United States. The intelligence community had received numerous warnings in the months before the attacks, with the NSA intercepting at least 33 separate communications between May and July suggesting a possible terrorist operation. These intercepts lacked specific details about timing, location, or method but contributed to heightened security alerts in 2001, and CIA Director George Tenet was reportedly increasingly alarmed by the intelligence.