00:16:41.260In fact, they were so open that Hazmi's name, address, and a home phone number were listed in the San Diego phone book.
00:16:50.300When they arrived, the hijackers encountered a Saudi intel operative called Omar al-Bayoumi.
00:16:56.540They met at a restaurant outside of Los Angeles.
00:16:59.520The CIA utilized the Saudis in the form of Omar al-Bayoumi to spy for them and to gather intelligence.
00:17:09.460Before 9-11, the CIA was forbidden from engaging in domestic spying.
00:17:15.580They used the Saudi intelligence as a workaround.
00:17:18.440We'll rely upon the Saudi G.I.D., General Intelligence Directorate, their version of the CIA, via Prince Bandar, via their man, Omar al-Bayoumi,
00:17:29.000to keep us informed as to the activity of these terrorists.
00:17:33.340Bayoumi's notebook, which was uncovered when British law enforcement raided his home in the U.K.,
00:17:39.660contained a drawing of an airplane and mathematical calculations related to flying it.
00:17:45.340The 9-11 Commission investigators never saw this.
00:17:48.520At the time, al-Bayoumi had a no-show job at a Saudi aviation contractor called Avco.
00:17:54.080The company's employees say he was one of roughly 50 ghost employees working there at the time,
00:17:59.140taking the paycheck but never coming to work.
00:18:01.160According to declassified government documents, an investigator from the 9-11 Commission said al-Bayoumi was receiving
00:18:07.800substantial sums of money from the Saudi embassy in Washington prior to the 9-11 attacks,
00:18:13.600that the money was being funneled from accounts at Riggs Bank in Georgetown,
00:18:18.280belonging to Haifa bin Faisal, the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
00:18:22.940By using the Saudis as a proxy to recruit the 9-11 hijackers, the CIA gave itself cover.
00:18:28.540If things went wrong, they could push a narrative that blamed the Saudi government for the attacks, which is what they did.
00:18:35.840For all intents and purposes, Omar al-Bayoumi was an employee of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, D.C.,
00:18:42.240in their consulate in Los Angeles, California.
00:18:45.000Al-Bayoumi convinced the hijackers to move to San Diego.