As the date September 11, 2001, drew closer, intelligence agencies intercepted communications that appeared to point to an imminent terrorist operation.
Some of the most alarming messages reportedly emerged just days before the attacks, including one that referred to the following day as “zero hour”, reported Newsweek.
The National Security Agency (NSA) intercepted its first communications indicating a possible imminent terrorist attack on September 8, 2001, according to accounts of the intelligence activity leading up to 9/11. ‘The Match Begins Tomorrow’ And ‘Zero Hour’ The warnings became even more striking on September 10, when the NSA reportedly intercepted two communications involving monitored individuals with suspected terrorist connections. However, the messages were reportedly not translated until September 12, a day after the attacks.
One message reportedly said, “The match is about to begin,” while another stated, “Tomorrow is zero hour. In his book Intelligence Matters, former Senator Bob Graham wrote that an intercepted message from Afghanistan mentioned “the big match” taking place the following day, while another described the next day as “zero hour. NSA historian James Bamford also wrote that two messages intercepted from suspected al-Qaeda locations in Afghanistan included the phrases “The match begins tomorrow” and “Tomorrow is zero hour. CIA Director George Tenet was said to be increasingly alarmed by intelligence suggesting that an attack could be imminent, according to the Newsweek report.
