ByMICHAEL FREUNDSEPTEMBER 11, 2026 20:55Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, Americans still do not know everything their own government knows about who may have helped the Islamic terrorists who carried them out.This week, the US once again mourns the nearly 3,000 people murdered when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and turned them into weapons.Yet a quarter-century later, evidence continues to emerge linking Saudi government personnel, and others tied to the kingdom, to assistance provided to the terrorists before the attacks.Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens. And documents released in the years since 9/11 have revealed previously undisclosed contacts between the hijackers and Saudi government employees and intelligence-linked figures.In 2004, the 9/11 Commission, an independent bipartisan body established by Congress and the president, reported that it found no evidence that the Saudi government “as an institution” or senior Saudi officials individually funded al-Qaeda.THE SOUTH TOWER shortly after impact from United Airlines Flight 175 (the day’s second attack). (credit: Wikimedia Commons)For years, that was treated by many as the final word.It wasn’t.Classified 9/11 files slowly released to publicIn 2016, after prolonged pressure from victims’ families and members of Congress, the US government released 28 previously classified pages from an earlier congressional inquiry. They detailed contacts between some of the hijackers and individuals with ties to Saudi officials.More followed.In 2021, president Joe Biden ordered a declassification review of government records related to September 11. Among the documents subsequently released were FBI records from Operation Encore, a years-long investigation into whether Saudi government-linked individuals assisted two of the hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, after they arrived in Southern California.The investigation focused in part on Omar al-Bayoumi, Fahad al-Thumairy, and Musaed al-Jarrah.An FBI summary examined whether al-Jarrah, a senior figure in the Islamic Affairs section at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, directed al-Thumairy and al-Bayoumi in helping the two hijackers. Another FBI assessment described al-Bayoumi as a paid “co-optee” of Saudi intelligence.FBI records also show that from January through May 2000, phones associated with al-Bayoumi placed nearly 100 calls to Saudi government offices in the United States, including the embassy in Washington, the consulate in Los Angeles, and the Saudi Cultural Mission.And al-Bayoumi’s assistance to the hijackers itself is not in dispute. The dispute is over why he did so and on whose behalf.That question is now at the heart of litigation brought by the families of 9/11 victims.Saudi Arabia attempts to have 9/11 lawsuit dismissedIN AUGUST 2025, US District Judge George B. Daniels of the Southern District of New York rejected Saudi Arabia’s effort to have the lawsuit dismissed. The ruling addressed jurisdiction, not a final finding of liability. Daniels noted that al-Bayoumi helped the hijackers obtain housing and served as a guarantor on their lease.His language was striking.Daniels found that the plaintiffs had produced “reasonable evidence” regarding the roles of al-Bayoumi, al-Thumairy, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in assisting the hijackers.He also found it “more likely than not” that al-Bayoumi’s encounters with the hijackers were not simply chance meetings, and concluded that the evidence did not support viewing him as an innocent participant acting without prior planning or coordination with Saudi Arabia.Daniels further found that Saudi Arabia had not produced sufficient evidence to overcome the inference that the kingdom employed al-Bayoumi and al-Thumairy to assist the hijackers.Saudi Arabia has appealed, with oral arguments before the Second Circuit scheduled for October 7.Other evidence obtained from British authorities includes a 1999 video in which al-Bayoumi filmed the US Capitol, discussing aspects of the building and its security, as well as a drawing containing calculations involving an airplane and a target on the ground.The families’ lawyers contend the material points to reconnaissance and preparation. Saudi lawyers argue that the video was simply tourist footage and the drawing an ordinary math exercise.Daniels was not buying it. The judge wrote that the airplane drawing “facially connects Bayoumi with knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.”Victims' families pressure Trump to release 9/11 filesThe victims’ families are now pressing US President Donald Trump to declassify additional government records involving al-Bayoumi and the hijackers. Members of Congress from both parties have joined the call.Their demand is simple: release the files.Trump has already made declassification of long-secret government records a priority. In January 2025, he ordered the release of records concerning the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., declaring that their families and the American people “deserve the truth.”The families of those murdered on September 11 are asking for the same standard. They want every relevant federal agency to disclose the remaining material concerning possible Saudi involvement in, or assistance to the 9/11 plot, with redactions only where necessary to protect current intelligence sources or methods.The current geopolitical partnership between the US and Saudi Arabia must not serve as a shield against historical accountability. Whatever strategic importance Washington attaches to Riyadh today cannot determine what Americans are permitted to learn about the worst terrorist attack in the nation’s history.Twenty-five years is long enough. The families and the American public deserve to know what their government knows.President Trump: Open the Saudi 9/11 files and let the facts speak for themselves.The writer served as deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Follow us on Google