Tenet Knew America Was Under Attack on 9/11

At 8.50 am, CIA director George Tenet is sitting at his breakfast table in the St. Regis hotel, only a few blocks away from the White House. He is together with David L. Boren, former senator of Oklahoma, an old friend and supporter. ... Their talk was abruptly interrupted: Security personnel enters the room. “Mr. Director”, one of them says, “there is a serious problem.”

“What’s the matter?,” Tenet asked. The security officer hesitates. Tenet indicates that he should speak freely even in the presence of Boren. “A tower of the WTC has been attacked.” Another guard offers Tenet a mobile phone. Tenet at once calls the CIA headquarter in Langley and asks for details.

“They steered the plane directly into the building?” he asks incredulously. He orders his closest employees to the conference room and wants to be there himself within 15 minutes. “That looks like Bin Laden” Tenet said to Boren. Without waiting for a reaction Tenet thinks aloud: “I wonder if this has something to do with the guy who trained for a pilot’s license.” [Stern]

When Tenet heard of the plane impact:

He knew America was under attack.
He associated bin Laden with the attack.
He even associated the "20th hijacker" with the attack.

It stands to reason that people further up the chain of command would have been briefed on what Tenet knew, but it seems they were all suffering total amnesia on 9/11.

Roughly 9 a.m. - the view of National Security Advisor Rice on hearing WTC 1 had been hit by an airplane:

"I was waiting to go down to my senior staff meeting when my executive assistant handed me a note that said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, and my first thought was what a terrible accident..." [324kB mp3 download]

Obviously she forgot about the imminent attack warning she received on September 6.

Roughly 9 a.m. - the view of President Bush on hearing WTC 1 had been hit by an airplane:

"Obviously, I felt it was an accident. I was concerned about it, but there were no alarm bells." [Washington Times]

Obviously he'd completely forgotten about his 8/6/2001 intelligence briefing:

FBI information [...] indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

Roughly 9.03 a.m. - the view of Vice President Cheney on hearing WTC 1 had been hit by an airplane:

At the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney had just sat down for a meeting when his assistant told him to turn on his television because a plane had struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The Vice President was wondering "how the hell could a plane hit the World Trade Center" when he saw the second aircraft strike the South Tower. [9/11 Commission]

US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld stayed "out of the loop" during the attacks.

Why was the Director of the CIA the only person to realise America was under attack? Why did he and his staff feel no need to inform anyone else that an attack was taking place, after all, the CIA was supposedly set up to prevent another "Pearl Harbor" event. If the hijackings truly were surprise attacks then the CIA failed miserably with their duties on 9/11, as did the Secret Service.