[VA Advogado]

The story of the investigation is fascinating. The manual is VERY scary, and REALLY makes you wonder why more investigation wasn't done into these people BEFORE 9/11....

You're right. I haven't reread the story to see if it mentioned this, but I can't imagine the CIA or whoever didn't have this document in their hands prior to 9-11.

[Amelia]

Surely they had it, or had access to it:

The encyclopaedia was found in 1999 in the home of Khalil Deek when he was arrested in connection with an alleged plot to bomb Jordan's main airport in the capital, Amman, on the eve of the millennium.