Context of 'July 1, 2001: Senators Warn of Al-Qaeda Attack Within Three Months'

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D) and Richard Shelby (R), both members of the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry, appear on CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” and warn of potential attacks by bin Laden. Feinstein says, “One of the things that has begun to concern me very much as to whether we really have our house in order, intelligence staff have told me that there is a major probability of a terrorist incident within the next three months.” [CNN, 3/2002]

Entity Tags: Richard Shelby, Dianne Feinstein, Osama bin Laden

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

Between November 10 and 12, 2001, trace amounts of anthrax are found in the offices of eleven senators. The offices infected include those of Senator Bob Graham (D), Dianne Feinstein (D), Richard Lugar (R), Barbara Boxer (D), and Jon Corzine (D). But officials say the anthrax does not threaten the health of anyone who worked or visited there. On October 15, an anthrax letter addressed to Sen. Tom Daschle (D) was opened at the Hart Senate office building (see October 15, 2001), and it is assumed the anthrax found came from this letter. [South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/8/2001]

Entity Tags: Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Jon Corzine, Bob Graham, Tom Daschle, Richard Lugar

Timeline Tags: 2001 Anthrax Attacks

Russell Feingold. [Source: Flickr.com]Four senators—Russell Feingold (D-WI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Ron Wyden (D-OR)—send letters objecting to the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other extreme methods of interrogation against terrorism suspects after receiving a briefing from CIA Director Michael Hayden on the subject. Though lawmakers are bound by secrecy oaths from revealing the nature of the classified briefings on secret interrogation subjects, in November 2007, Feingold will breach that oath, complaining that the Bush administration is mischaracterizing the level of Congressional support for what administration officials call “enhanced interrogation tactics” (see November 7, 2007). [Washington Post, 12/9/2007]

Entity Tags: Ron Wyden, Chuck Hagel, Russell D. Feingold, Central Intelligence Agency, Dianne Feinstein, Michael Hayden, Bush administration

Timeline Tags: Torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says she intends to push for Congressional legislation mandating a single standard for military and CIA interrogators that would in effect ban the use of torture. Feinstein says she applauds President Obama’s executive order banning torture (see January 22, 2009), but notes that Obama or a future president could overturn that order at any time. “I think that ultimately the government is well served by codifying it, by having it in law,” Feinstein says. Some liberal and civil rights organizations support Feinstein’s drive for a Congressional ban on torture; they also press Feinstein, Obama, and other Democrats to engage in a full investigation of the detention and torture programs under the Bush presidency. [New York Times, 1/23/2009]

Entity Tags: Barack Obama, Dianne Feinstein, Senate Intelligence Committee

Timeline Tags: Torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, Civil Liberties