was told [by his interrogators] that if he chose to continue using the phrase "second wave" in this discussion, he had to be absolutely clear about its meaning. Sheikh Mohammed took the point and explained his intended meaning. Sheikh Mohammed indicated that "second wave" refers to efforts begun in parallel with the 9/11 plot to identify and train pilots and muscle for additional 9/11-style strikes in the United States.
77. From the beginning, a key distinction from the core 9/11 plot was that the "second wave" pilots would be non-Arab passport holders and that their eventual targets would be in California or elsewhere in the western United States (perhaps non-eastern targets would be more accurate, as Sheikh Mohammed has lumped Chicago into his general exposition on potential western targets).
78. Progress in identifying/training non-Arab passport holding pilots lagged far behind the development of the 9/11 plot, on which Sheikh Mohammed focused his attention, making it abundantly clear that attacks by the likes of Moussaoui and Faruq al-Tunisi would have to come after the eventual 9/11 strikes. "Second wave" was thus an apt label, given what had been the expected sequence of events.
