Biden administration approves review of 9/11 documents thought to implicate Saudi Arabia

The Biden Administration on Monday approved a Justice Department review of classified documents which families of the September 11, 2001 attacks say could implicate Saudi Arabia in the terror plot.

The move came after President Joe Biden was told last week not to attend a 20th anniversary memorial of the attacks held by victims’ families and first responders, who said the president was not welcome to the event unless the documents were declassified.

"As I promised during my campaign, my Administration is committed to ensuring the maximum degree of transparency under the law, and to adhering to the rigorous guidance issued during the Obama-Biden Administration on the invocation of the state secrets privilege," the president said in a written statement released on Monday.

"In this vein, I welcome the Department of Justice's filing today, which commits to conducting a fresh review of documents where the government has previously asserted privileges, and to doing so as quickly as possible," he added.

Victims’ family groups have long pushed for the release of the documents, alleging that they link Saudi authorities to the September 11 hijackers. 

Public documents released in the last two decades, including by the 9/11 Commission, have detailed numerous Saudi entanglements but have not proved state complicity.

They show how the first hijackers to arrive in the US, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, were met and assisted by a Saudi national in 2000. That man, Omar al-Bayoumi, who helped them find and lease an apartment in San Diego, had ties to the Saudi government and had attracted FBI scrutiny, investigators have said.

Saudi Arabia has long denied links to the 19 attackers, 15 of whom were Saudi nationals.

Biden's approval of the review was cautiously welcomed by some of the victims' relatives.

"We appreciate President Biden acknowledging our families today as we pursue justice and accountability against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Brett Eagleson, whose father died in the attack on the World Trade Centre, told Reuters. "Unfortunately, however, we have heard many empty promises before."