PENTTBOM is the code name for the FBI’s investigation into the September 11 attacks of 2001, the largest criminal inquiry in the FBI’s history. Its name stands for “Pentagon/Twin Towers Bombing Investigation.” The investigation was launched on September 11, 2001 and involved 4,000 Special Agents and 3,000 professional employees. Four of the hijackers’ passports survived in whole or in part. Two were recovered from the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Penn. They were the passports of Ziad Jarrah and Saeed al Ghamdi. The passport of Satam al Suqami, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11, was found on the ground outside the World Trade Center by a passerby, who gave it to an NYPD detective just before the towers fell. A fourth passport belonging to Abdulaziz al-Omari was recovered from luggage that didn’t make it onto the connecting flight from Portland to Boston, which was American Airlines Flight 11. With the help of the passports, investigators were quickly able to link the men to the terrorist organization al-Qaeda.
