9/11 ~~w Enforcement Privacy

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...." 'MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

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~ ":'.--:.. Event: Interview of FBI. speci~i··Agei'1tl.. ...

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'<:::~~p~~ial
Access Issues: DSM

~~pa~~d by: Michael Jacobson

Teat N~mber: IA
Locatiom'fBI, San Diego Field Office

particiP:\:~ts \:,:Non-Commlssion: FBI Assistant General Counsel Randy Blair

. participa~:~. - C.~\miSSion: Hyon Kim, John Tamm, Michael Jacobson

,L-~~~~~--------p-~~~------~--~~~ oesn't know an

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......-.o;;o,;e;.;.f.Ai1s
t at It was on May 10, 200P because they paid
.........._ ........
.,Jd.idstate that you could onl: put notices up at the
.. . n~.w of al-Bayoumi.] ]was having financial
foblems. As fat'as wh ...... ,aa1ire~s was on the hijackers' February 13tfi

I-----... a.....-re-s-s
.......
,...·-e-re
, , .. uldn ,..~be surprised if Bayoumi gave/the hijackers
rs 'stIll a gap il:t the time frame and they can't figure that out.
.....

"c-o-m-m-e"nt
on 'tlt~t.\\\\\,\ \, \ I I
wasn't involved in the.,in,tervi'~w~ofthe apartment manager, so he can't really

I dr
lieported ~fter 9/1 j'\th'a.t ~,n~ the hijacked had ihtroduced him to
someone named I ..... I--~h~ fBI\fan this down, andit turned out it was
actually someone n~~dl.... ........ IJ~is not the same ~y =l
Washington, who is the-subject of a WFO--.j,nv.~tigation. It wasa yotf'n....,..~....- -- ..
in San Diego at variouspoints. "r-1I.oe~~ ..)t: know hoW:Hazmi ll\e ' __ ..
Saudis in San Diego wer~"l»:ett~~\~~~t 'of the Saudis knew .e~c ot. ere..~~~
never ended up getting the meney It) ques~io.n.!--r---lthihks that fhe ICSD i¢adership
may have caught wind of the "~~ney·>...They w.~~ec~ of'It aI)d/they nixed the deal.
The prominent Saudi leaders were trying to',gdi:p\$audi money, ./ / ../

I hilS interviewedi~Cpru\~c~i~u1:~oes jot reme~ber anything

significant coming (jut.of the interview. ..He..thi'J).k~sa:W ~Qe 302-(

The FBI never ~~~nedil case o~"\ ' '." llhey jht~fvie,wedhim extensively

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and he was cooperative. He explained the money tr~~sfer: tpa:t:' he was involved in with
the hijackers to the FBI's satisfaction.The tniMt~~~rtv::before the hijackers had a

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9/11 Personal Privacy
 9/11 Personal Privacy
.....<::::::::::::::... ... •• Law Enforcement Pri va cy

···~\<:::~~::~~~s!~~~£~:e;~~.~~i=t:tn~~~~dn')~:oh~~::~~~~:~~ ~~m(
iin~~ai~~a.s a littie.~ai~:?:~!hiS wi~etransfer~ really the exiento
relationship WIth the hlJackers;:( ······...I~snow In Kuwaif If.te\moved back there a out 3-4
months.:agp:'t '<::::lontacted the FBI.9rf1,oI:} occasion ~*el9/""'~
to report possible hate
'. '. crimes against the ICS:P or its members.vDuringthese .:int¢rv~ews,"'pebrought up people
\. """of concemto 'h~. It turhe~t out to be nothing>···...... ····/"-···.U. \ '.
\\\\ As far ~." . re'o;:;~iig:?n how the ~ijac~~!;JtI'l ~o:s not
.....ret~11. He's not sure 1' as ask~~. about It. ! I
~aspjt In on the Intery.lews of
I
I .... There were severa~different &,oUps Ofallent~inVOlve~in these interviews; I.__
. ...
was represented early on byl '-.:1 , i ad concern that he would be
wrapped up as a material witness. '. f j ~
.. : : ~

,e
they used
hiia~ers ~robably h.ada good feeling a~oui
or this transaction and not Bayou;l. ...............
::-::.
-_
'I lis not sure why
...

Abdoun was roommates at Saranac with Mehdhar, Owadallah and others.

Abdoun was introduced to the hijackers by his roommates. Abdpun isa Berber, a non-

=r
\ \. Arab from Algeria. He was here illegal. ~was cooperative with the FBI. They
\ \,couldn't verify all of his world travel. ButL--.Jnoted that all the associates have of

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\ ~aps in their story. Abdoun was not a trusted associate, andrnhinks that given the
,fact that he's a non-Arab, the others would not have trusted

\ \ Abdoun reporting that he saw the two hijackers coming out of the library room in
~h¢mosque. Abdoun was downstairs .: Behind the hijackers was A\ulaqi. Abdoun was so
a:n~ry at the time. He wanted to stay at the mosque in the guest room and they wouldn't
)~t him. He was mad because he thought that the hijackers were being allowed to stay
t~*. Modhar may have been with Abdoun on the first floor. Mohdar may have told
A~d\un that in fact, the hijackers were not staying there. \

\ \ Abdoun said that once he found out that the hijackers were associated with the
Sar~nac Street apartments, he left. Abdoun had pre 9/11 immigration problems.

\ IIstory was helpful on the Algerians in San Diego. AC: y have

stayed ~briefly. Abdoun's polygraph was inconclusive. But oted that
peopl~ from the Middle East don't polygraph well. Abdoun also wor \.e at a 7/11 store.

r----1h~ught that he introduced Abukar and the hijackers. Abukar told the FBI
that he~emember meeting them. There is nothing to indicate t~at the hijackers
had a relationship with Abukar beyond this initial introduction. Abukar is one of the
leaders in the Somali c mmunit . He was a leader at the ICSD ear a:

~~--~~~--~~~~--~~~--~~--~~--------~~
9/11 Personal Privacy
Someone
referred Mohdhar Abdullah to Abukar through the Al-Ribat mosque (ndte: Abukar
• helped Mohdhar with his asylum application). Abukar was well known] ~oted.
 .,9/11 Personal Privacy ..' ...··:.::--.:.'!9/
11 Law Enforcement Pri vacy

~~~;;;::",'~:er';~~~i~~~,~~:j~~~~:J~~~~:ii~f~~k~~:~~~~:s~~~:~e~a~~e~~ng.

""',,:'\
\·
...
8
."...
\\\\Abil~waS'i~;:I~~dWjth
\.\ . ....
~.4:ujit~~money
oes not ~ow
the;;:M~>~~~~~i~c~~;~tWitl~
transfeii'·.T.~.~
whether Abukarhad
F?l-'i~,6k¥?IntoDut·,cam~.up
a tel~tlonsh~p with Thumalty;1
with nothing.
or I
kvho

\\ . ". but it wouldn't surprise him£.i f.vas

·'j..... notiaware of the recent money
\\ transfers from Thumairy, Abunar and, ukar. \

\,~, \ •.\"\\ Omar Abdi Moham~ed is J~ed;omali in ~~'D'!ego -, At one point, they had
\ \~den.~jfi~dhim as associated with·t~{e/AIAJ After 9/11, he
had contacts with Chehade .
\, trom\the. ..Global Relief'Foundatiouyand ~as receiving money from hind I
\~as also t..~ceiving money fro~/G,RF ($$002000 over a 1 Vz year period). Once GRF was
do~nl
$,h':lt ~ropped oJt ~,n:eraq,ar:i ~as not well liked, even by the other
Somalis., They have closed their investigation on him. They have IRS charges ready and
probably \yill indict him inJh~ ... next few months. They hope that this will get him to
cooperate. '1 Ididn '~}iaye any /elationship with the ~ijackers.

. \\ \rlliked Ba?~Umi. H~thought that he could get money out of his for his
own lp~e ha4,:6o .i~latiol1~hip with other hijacker associates. He was not well
liked and did not haye alot of friends. He has traveled to \Africa (Kenya) and to
Austra'Val F0}lid like ~ know with who~ he w~~ meeting in Kenya. He doesn't
know whether or not he would be a good source into radical groups.

• .. ,'id.riot handi the AI· . '

~'-~"""':-_.I';.;;a=i a ad' ee mg about him even pre 9/1., but he needed more proof
Hazmi to
9/11, Aulaql
doing here. In
i ~Ji!!;
that qe considered Aulaqi a great manand their spiritual leader. Pre
,~Ck to San Diego briefly.r--ltoeslI"t
opinion, if anyone had kn~
know whathe was
of th~ plot, it would have been
Aulaqi. Someone a to beinthe us
and keep the hijackers spiritually focused. The

..l/,'//·
hijackers were pretty solid operationally. They didn't tell a whole lot of-people what they

were up to. .....

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