Sept 11: how much of a surprise?

CNN.com – Feds criticized as pre-9/11 clues revealed – May 16, 2002

“The president did not — not — receive information of the use of airplanes as missiles by suicide bombers. This was a new type of attack that had not been foreseen”

I think it’s unrealistic to think the threat of a loaded jetliner as a missile was on a list of probable scenarios. I do recall some experts saying it had been evaluated as a possibility. That’s a far cry from understanding the threat well enough to defend against it.

In short, it *was* foreseen in the abstract, vague world of possibilities. More worriesome is the idea that an FBI field agent noted the high number of foreign students in flight schools and suggested Osama bin Laden as a factor, but to no avail.