For the past two years, US officials have contended that immigration officials had no reason to suspect the September 11 hijackers, who legally entered and resided in the US.  However, in the seventh hearing held by the September 11th Commission, the body found that the US government repeatedly missed opportunities to prevent thirteen of the September 11 hijackers from entering the US.  The report issued by the panel found that immigration agents missed false passports, none of the hijackers filled out their visa forms correctly and that at least three lied on their forms.

The passports belonging to eight of the nineteen hijackers had evidence of “fraudulent manipulation” and five had “suspicious indicators.”  The report also said that six hijackers, including Mohammad Atta, violated immigration laws either while residing in the US or when entering the US.  Five of these were individually questioned by officials, but were eventually allowed to enter the US.  Atta was admitted to the US on a tourist visa, despite informing an inspection officer that he was a student in the US.  Six of the hijackers had overstayed their visas.

The panel was informed that the hijackers had an easy time entering the country because consular and inspection officials were trying to identify those individuals who might try to settle in the US.  Identifying terrorists was not a priority.

The report did point out that at least five suspected al Qaeda members were prevented from joining the 9/11 plot.  Four were denied visas, and a fifth, Mohamed al Qahtani, was sent back to Saudi Arabia.  Al Qahtani made his way to Afghanistan, where he was captured; he is now being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 

Jose Melendez-Perez, the Orlando, FL official who inspected al Qahtani testified that al Qahtani had no return ticket or hotel reservations, and also refused to identify a friend who would provide him with money and assistance on his trip.  Melendez-Perez stated that al Qahtani reminded him of a ‘hit man’, because “a ‘hit man' doesn’t know where he is going because if he is caught, that way he doesn’t have any information to bargain with.”  Officials believe al Qahtani’s ‘friend’ to be Atta, who was caught on an airport security camera complaining because his friend had been refused entry to the US.

Officials believe that al Qahtani was the “twentieth” hijacker – a theory that explains why one of the planes had four hijackers, while the others had five on board.  Officials theorize that because Flight 93 had only four hijackers, the passengers were able to overcome their attackers and crash the plane in Pennsylvania, instead of a suspected target in Washington, DC.