CIA expects to release 9/11 documents to clear Saudi’s involvement in attack

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The withheld section of the 2002 report is central to a dispute over whether Americans should be able to sue the Saudi government, a key US ally, for damages.

The US Senate passed a bill on May 17 allowing the families of September 11 victims to do so, setting up a potential showdown with the White House, which has threatened a veto.

Saudi Arabia denies providing any support for the 19 hijackers – most of whom were Saudi citizens – who killed nearly 3,000 people in the September 11 attacks. Riyadh strongly objects to the bill.

It has said it might sell up to $750 billion in US securities and other American assets if it became law.

Brennan called the 28-page section merely a “preliminary review.”

“The 9/11 commission looked very thoroughly at these allegations of Saudi involvement … their conclusion was that there was no evidence to indicate that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually had supported the 9/11 attacks,” he added.

The Office of the US Director of National Intelligence is reviewing the material to see whether it can be declassified.

Former US Senator Bob Graham, who co-chaired the congressional inquiry into the attacks, said in April that the White House will likely make a decision by June on whether it would release the classified pages.