September 11 hijackers 'cleared by security'

Surveillance video from Washington Dulles International Airport the morning of September 11, 2001, shows four of the five hijackers being pulled aside to undergo additional scrutiny after setting off metal detectors – but then permitted to board the fateful flight that crashed into the Pentagon.

The video shows an airport security guard hand-checking the baggage of one hijacker, Nawaf al-Hazmi, for traces of explosives before letting him continue onto American Airlines Flight 77 with his brother, Salem, a fellow hijacker.

The disclosure of the video yesterday comes one day before the release of the final report by the September 11 commission, which is expected to include a detailed account of the events that day.

Details in the grainy video are difficult to distinguish. But an earlier report by the commission describing activities at Dulles is consistent with the men’s procession through airport security as shown on the video.

No knives or other sharp objects are visible on the surveillance video. But investigators on the commission have said the hijackers at Dulles were believed to be carrying utility knives either personally or in their luggage, which at the time could legally be carried aboard planes.

All 58 passengers – including the hijackers – and six crew members, along with 125 employees at the Pentagon, died when the flight crashed into the Pentagon.

The video shows hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Majed Moqed, each dressed conservatively in slacks and collared shirts, setting off metal-detectors as they pass through security. Moqed set off a second alarm, and a guard manually checked him with a handheld metal detector.

Moments after Hanjour passed alone through the security checkpoint, wearing dark slacks and a short-sleeved shirt, the final two hijackers, the al-Hazmi brothers, walked through.

Nawaf al-Hazmi, described by investigators as the right-hand accomplice of hijacker-planner Mohammed Atta, set off two metal-detectors, and a guard manually checked him with a handheld device.

Nawaf and his brother, each wearing slacks and Oxford shirts, were directed to a nearby counter, where they appeared to examine their tickets while another guard checked Nawaf’s carry-on bag with an explosive trace detector. Each was cleared to board.

The video was obtained from the Motley Rice law firm, which is representing some survivors’ families who are suing the airlines and security industry over their actions in the attacks.