Michael Rolince, the former head of the International Terrorism Operations Section at FBI testified:
The answer to your question is pre-9/11 there were not any significant preliminary inquiry or full investigations, with relatively few exceptions, conducted by the FBI looking at Saudi or support to terrorism...I'm not going to stand here, Ms. Hill, and tell you in any way, shape or form
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The former Assistant Special Agent in Charge in San Diego confirmed this in his testimony:
Basically . They were not a country identified by the State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism. And the theme or the common modus operandi that we saw in San Diego was that if there were there, their primary objective was to monitor dissidents in the interest of protecting the royal family. So they were not viewed as an inimical threat to national security.
In the October 9, 2002 closed hearing, Director Mueller acknowledged that he became aware of some of the facts regarding the Saudi issue only as a result of the investigative work of the Joint Inquiry Staff:
I'm saying the sequence of events here, I think the staff probed and, as a result of the probing, some facts came to light here and to me, frankly, that had not come to light before, and perhaps would not have come to light had the staff not probed. That's what I'm telling you. So I'm agreeing with you that the staff probing brought out facts that may not have come to this Committee."
Senator Dewine: But what you're also saying, though, is that that probing then brought facts to your attention.
Director Mueller: Yes.
