US President Joe Biden has ordered to declassify documents related to the FBI’s investigations into the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The executive order comes at the heels of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack this year and a month after 9/11 survivors, first responders and family members of the nearly 3,000 victims wrote a sternly worded letter to the US President. Victims’ families have long demanded the US release the findings of Operation Encore, the FBI investigation into the September 11 attack.
The executive order issued by the White House on Friday said the full record would be disclosed in tranches over the coming six months “except when the strongest possible reasons counsel otherwise”
The order said that while the “indiscriminate” release of information could jeopardise national security and the ability to prevent future attacks, a better balance had to be struck between transparency and accountability.
Also watch: Transcript of Biden and Ghani last phone call, 3 weeks before Taliban takeover released
9/11 victims’ families accused the US of deliberately keeping the documents – which they say prove that Saudi government officials aided the al-Qaeda attackers – under wraps.