So let's get this straight. The intel guys are telling the president that one of the more sensational threats, i.e. a hijacking to gain the release of an individual, has not been corroborated for three years. Now in order to gain the release of someone using a hijacked airplane as a bargaining chip, one does not contemplate that crashing said possessed hijacked airplane into any object is a sane employment of that possession. So what crystal ball described in that briefing did the president fail to use in the divining of Sept 11?
Think about this for a minute. Given that the memo says this, what should have been the response to it? Do we screen passengers getting on to airlines? Yes, we did that on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and there was nothing carried on board those planes by the hijackers that was not allowed at the time by all airlines.
What we did not know at the time, and that is no one's fault, was that when those planes were hijacked, that those taking over the planes did not intend to LAND them! There was no historical precedent for their actions, so no one considered that threat.
Reading the memo, one would assume that the nation should be on a level of alert to spot possible hijackers. All the evidence points out that we were ready for that, we were just thinking that the hijackers were going to do what they had always done in the past, negotiate for the release of someone. There is nothing in the memo, from what I understand to suggest any OTHER action by the hijackers.