[mtbopfuyn]

Roger Cressey, a former senior Bush administration counter-terrorism official, said the current intercepts have officials so concerned because they so closely mirror the conversations picked up before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Uhhmm....so they DID know?

Yes, they knew about chatter, but what the chatter actually meant is a whole 'nuther ball game.

[AdmSmith]

Roger Cressey, a former senior Bush administration counter-terrorism official, said the current intercepts have officials so concerned because they so closely mirror the conversations picked up before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Uhhmm....so they DID know?

Well, it was in the computers, but no one was studying it as it was not presented to human analysts. If you do not know what to look for you can not see it. After the attack it was possible to search the databases for phonenumbers, names etc and then it was possible to get a clear picture. This means that it is possible now to search for signal patterns that mirror the conversations picked up earlier.

Thus you can not say that they DID know.