frontline: the man who knew | PBSFBI Special Agent John O'Neill was the FBI's leading expert on Al Qaeda. But to people at FBI headquarters he was too much of a maverick and they stopped ...
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From the spring through summer of 2001, the FBI receives a number of indications that there is a serious threat of another terrorist attack. O'Neill focuses on the USS Cole investigation on the theory that it will lead to a better understanding of Al Qaeda and the intelligence necessary to thwart another attack.
June 2001
FBI Pulls Out of Yemen Due to Security Threat
O'Neill and Barry Mawn agree their agents in Yemen could not be protected. "We were operating with three SWAT personnel as support as far as security goes, and an open hotel just wasn't going to work. We couldn't provide protection," says former FBI agent Clint Guenther.
Summer 2001
Intelligence Indicates Attack on U.S. Interests Likely
By now, O'Neill is more marginalized than ever at the FBI because of his deteriorating relationship with headquarters. He discusses the threats with his friend Chris Isham, who tells FRONTLINE: "He knew that there was a lot of noise out there and that there were a lot of warnings, a lot of red flags, and that it was a similar level that they were hearing before the millennium, which was an indication that there was something going on. Yet, he felt that he was frozen out, that he was not in a capacity to really do anything about it anymore because of his relationship with the FBI. So it was a source of real anguish for him."
June 21, 2001
Louis Freeh Resigns as FBI Director; Thomas Pickard Appointed Interim Director
July 2001
O'Neill Decides to Retire from FBI
He hears about a job opening as head of security at the World Trade Center. It would mean a significant salary increase, but also it would mean leaving the FBI. By this point, however, O'Neill realizes his chances for a promotion were severely hurt by the briefcase incident. In addition to career problems, entertaining foreign visitors and O'Neill's lifestyle had left him in debt. The job at the World Trade Center would give him a chance to pay off that debt.
July 10, 2001
Speech to Spanish Police Foundation
While vacationing in Spain with Valerie James and her son, O'Neill gives a speech to Spanish police on interagency cooperation. He asks the audience, "How much more successful could we all be if we really knew what our agencies really knew?"
July 10, 2001
Phoenix FBI Office Recommends Agency-Wide Investigation of Flight Schools
The memo makes its way to FBI headquarters but it is not passed on to O'Neill or Mawn in the New York office -- nor is the struggle the following month of the Minnesota FBI office to investigate the alleged 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui.
Aug. 19, 2001
The New York Times Reports on O'Neill's Briefcase Incident and Pending Retirement
The Times story quotes an anonymous source, whom O'Neill believes is Tom Pickard. O'Neill confronts Pickard who denies that he was the source of the leak.
Aug. 22, 2001
Last Day at the FBI
In his final hours on the job, O'Neill signs an authorization for the FBI to return to Yemen. Calling Fran Townsend at the Justice Department from his desk, O'Neill explains, "I wasn't leaving here until I did it, because I promised that we would send them back. When I pulled them out, I had to. But I was determined to be the one who signed the piece of paper to send them back."
O'Neill also e-mails Lou Gunn, whose son had died in the Cole attack, to tell him that he was retiring, but that the FBI was returning to Yemen.
Late August 2001
New Job: The World Trade Center
According to Chris Isham, O'Neill recognized the threat still posed to the World Trade Center. "When he had first gotten the job at the World Trade Center, he told me, 'I've got this great job. I'm head of security at the World Trade Center.' And I joked with him and said, 'Well, that will be an easy job. They're not going to bomb that place again.' And he said, 'Well actually -- he immediately came back and he said, 'actually they've always wanted to finish that job. I think they're going to try again."
Sept. 10, 2001
Intimations
On the eve of Sept. 11, O'Neill is with friends on the town. According to Jerry Hauer, O'Neill warns him that night: "We're due for something big." O'Neill explains, "I don't like the way things are lining up in Afghanistan." Still, O'Neill tells friends that he is happy about his new job. "[It] doesn't get better than this," he says.
Sept. 11, 2001
Two Hijacked Planes Hit World Trade Center Towers
O'Neill is in his 34th floor office in the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. when American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into it. Among others, O'Neill calls Valerie James once he is outside the building. He asks her what hit the building and tells her, "Val, it's horrible. There are body parts everywhere." A few seconds later he tells her, "Okay, I'll call you in a little bit." O'Neill also sends a text message to Fran Townsend to report that he is okay.
In the minutes after the attack, O'Neill makes his way to the command center that had been set up. There he sees FBI agent Wesley Wong. Wong would tell Esquire magazine later, "He was in FBI mode. Then he turned and kind of looked at me and went toward the interior of the complex. From the time John walked away to the time the building collapsed was certainly not more than a half hour or 20 minutes." Wong is the last person to see him alive.
Sept. 28, 2001
Memorial Service for O'Neill
A week after his body is found in the debris of the South Tower, about a thousand mourners attend John O'Neill's service in Atlantic City. Barry Mawn, one of the speakers, tells the gathering that O'Neill didn't resign from the FBI because of the briefcase incident. Mawn says that he felt it was important to clear up some of the things people were saying about O'Neill's departure. "He didn't run from a fight. He didn't retire because this was a serious matter. He retired because circumstances were right and it was a good job," Mawn tells FRONTLINE.
Following the service, John O'Neill is buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church, the church where he once served as an altar boy.
