Long shielded from the world, the infamous “28 pages” summarize various US government investigative leads about links between Saudi government officials and people associated with the 9/11 plot. 

The 28 pages comprise the final chapter of the report of the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. Not to be confused with the 9/11 Commission, this inquiry was an earlier joint undertaking of the House and Senate intelligence committees.

When the joint inquiry report was published in 2002, the 28 pages were fully redacted at the insistence of the George W. Bush administration. After a 13-year, bipartisan drive to release the pages, they were released in July 2016, albeit with many remaining redactions. 

Q: Where can I read the declassified 28 pages?  

Click here for a page that provides the original PDF version posted by the House intelligence committee, along with a full-text transcription.

Q. What did we learn from the declassified 28 pages?

The 28 pages detailmany connections between the 9/11 hijackers, individuals who supported them while they were in the United States, employees of the Saudi Arabian government and Saudi royals most notably, then-Saudi ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. Bandar was a close confidant of President George W. Bush, who classified the pages. 

• Selected Revelations from the Declassified 28 Pages on 9/11

Q. Have any more Saudi-9/11 documents come to light since the 28 pages were declassified in 2016? 

Yes, in 2021 and 2022, ahuge trove of several hundred documents was declassified, illuminating many disturbing findings and suspicions of federal investigators and intelligence agencies. Here are two reports on the trove by28Pages.org founder Brian McGlinchey, who now writesStark Realities, a Substack newsletter: 

• Flurry of Calls Among Saudi Diplomatic Staff and Spy Coincided with 9/11 Hijackers’ US Arrival
• FBI Mistakenly Names Saudi Consulate Employee Eyed in 9/11 Investigation

In addition, new information continues to come to light via the civil suit filed against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by 9/11 victims and insurers. 

Q. The U.S. and Saudi governments say that the 9/11 Commission, which came after the joint inquiry that produced the 28 pages, “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization.” Did the commission render the 28 pages obsolete? 

No. There aremany indications that the 9/11 Commission did not thoroughly investigate leads pointing toward Saudi Arabia, and commission member Bob Kerrey said, “Evidence relating to the plausible involvement of possible Saudi government agents in the September 11th attacks has never been fully pursued.”

Q: Who wrote the 28 pages and where are they found, exactly?  

The 28 pages are an entire section within the official report of the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 (not the 9/11 Commission Report). Produced by the House and Senate intelligence committees, the inquiry’s 838-page report was published in December 2002. Thenow-declassified section, titled “Part 4: Finding, Discussion and Narrative Regarding Certain Sensitive National Security Matters,” begins on page 395 of the report.

Q: Can any member of Congress read the full 28 pages without the redactions that remain? 

Generally speaking, yes. After obtaining permission from their respective intelligence committee, they can read the 28 pages inside a highly secure facility beneath the U.S. Capitol. They are not allowed to bring support staff or electronics with them, they may take no notes, and are observed closely.

Q. Are there more resources at28Pages.org? 

Yes, while it was in action, 28Pages.org producedhundreds of articles on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s connections to 9/11, the drive to declassify the 28 pages, and an entire series of original investigative reports exposinga Saudi lobbying campaign that tricked US military veterans into lobbying against a law enabling the 9/11 victims’ civil suit against the kingdom. See the entireReporting & Analysis archive here. 

With the 28 pages declassified, 28Pages.org founder Brian McGlinchey now publishes a Substack newsletter:Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey