US intelligence given personal details of 9/11 hijacker in 1999

THE federal commission reviewing the September 11 attacks is examining whether the US failed to aggressively track one of the hijackers after obtaining his first name and phone number more than two years before the attacks.

The tip, received in March 1999, appears to be one of the earliest leads US officials had about the 2001 hijackers. It also may have represented a missed chance for US intelligence to uncover a terror cell in Germany that played a key role in the hijacking plot.

"The commission has been actively investigating the issue for some time," said Philip Zelikow, executive director of the Sept 11 commission.