Three Hijackers for Flight 77 Check in at Airport; Allowed to Board despite Security Checkpoint Problems

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Hijacker brothers Salem (white shirt) and Nawaf Alhazmi (dark shirt) pass through security in Dulles Airport in Washington. [Source: FBI] (click image to enlarge)

Flight 77 hijacker Hani Hanjour checks in at the American Airlines ticket counter at Washington's Dulles International Airport some time between 7:25 a.m. and 7:35 a.m., the 9/11 Commission will later estimate. (American Airlines will be unable to locate information confirming his check-in time.) (9/11 Commission 8/26/2004, pp. 93) Hanjour Almost Stopped? - Hanjour is selected for additional scrutiny by airport security under the FAA's CAPPS program (see (6:20 a.m.-7:48 a.m.) September 11, 2001), but this has no consequences. (9/11 Commission 1/27/2004; 9/11 Commission 7/24/2004, pp. 3; 9/11 Commission 8/26/2004, pp. 27-28) In 2003, former CIA official Vincent Cannistraro will claim: "This person goes through the metal detection machine and it starts buzzing.... They call the person out so that they can do a hand search. Just as the person was beginning to do that, a pretty woman walks by and the guard looks at her and waves the guy on. Well, that person happened to be Hani Hanjour, and he basically had box cutters and razor blades in his pockets." (Fouda and Fielding 2003, pp. 143)

It is unclear how Cannistraro may have known this, and presumably he is speculating as to what Hanjour has in his pockets. Alhazmi Brothers Seem Suspicious - The final two Flight 77 hijackers, brothers Nawaf and Salem Alhazmi, check in at approximately 7:29 a.m. The customer service representative makes both of them CAPPS selectees, because one of them cannot provide photo identification and seems unable to understand English, and he finds both of them suspicious. However, the only consequence is that Salem Alhazmi's luggage is not loaded onto the plane until it is confirmed that he has boarded. Surveillance cameras monitor the security checkpoints at Dulles Airport. According to the 9/11 Commission's review of security footage, Hanjour passes through the main terminal's west security screening checkpoint at 7:35 a.m. He proceeds through the metal detector without setting off the alarm, and his two carry-on bags set off no alarms when placed on the X-ray belt. The Alhazmis arrive at the same checkpoint a minute later. Salem Alhazmi successfully clears the metal detector and is permitted through the checkpoint. Nawaf Alhazmi sets off the alarms for both the first and second metal detectors, and is subsequently subjected to a personal screening with a metal detection hand wand before being passed. His shoulder bag is swiped by an explosive trace detector and returned without further inspection. (9/11 Commission 1/27/2004; 9/11 Commission 7/24/2004, pp. 3; 9/11 Commission 8/26/2004, pp. 27-28) Immediately after the attacks, when the FAA's local civil aviation security office investigates the security screening at Dulles on 9/11, it will find the airport's screeners recall nothing out of the ordinary, and cannot recall any of the passengers they screened having been CAPPS selectees. (9/11 Commission 7/24/2004, pp. 3; 9/11 Commission 8/26/2004, pp. 93) The 9/11 Commission will later conclude that the Alhazmi brothers' passports are "suspicious" and could have been linked to al-Qaeda, but it will not explain why or how. (Sullivan 1/27/2004)