CNN
1994 – French authorities foil an attempt by Algerian hijackers to slam a plane into the Eiffel Tower in Paris.[1]
JANUARY 1995 – Philippine police complete a report outlining three terrorist plots after they shut down a terrorist cell. According to the report, one of the plots detailed the use of hijacked airliners to hit targets, including CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. One member of the cell was Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Yousef was convicted in the United States for plotting to blow up U.S. airliners in Asia.[2]
JANUARY 1996 – The CIA’s Counterterrorism Center creates a special unit focusing on Osama bin Laden after his involvement in planning and directing terrorist acts becomes more evident to the U.S. intelligence community.[3]
EARLY 1996 – Sudan, which has harbored bin Laden since his 1991 expulsion from Saudi Arabia, offers to turn al Qaeda’s founder over to the Saudis for trial. Saudi Arabia doesn’t want him, and President Clinton does not push the issue of expulsion. In May, Sudan throws bin Laden out; he and his family …