Steven Coll’s book on the Bin Laden family is reviewed in the Boston Globe. This review is particularly interesting as it’s by Richard Clarke, former official in the National Security Council office. He says the USG knew quite a bit about the Bin Laden’s—the good ones and the bad ones—well before 9/11.

Movers and sheikhs
How the Bin Ladens became corporate giants while gaining wealth and favor from the Saudi royals
Richard Clarke

One of the many conspiracy theories surrounding Sept. 11, 2001, is some inchoate suspicion about the request the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., made to fly out Saudi citizens and members of the Bin Laden family in the days after the attack. That Osama Bin Laden’s relatives were among those asking to leave and that the government let them go is seen as some sort of indicator of a hidden hand, of secrets, evil deeds. Who let them go?
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I did. When the embassy request came to me as the White House crisis manager, it seemed understandable that these people might think themselves at risk after disclosures that almost all of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis. I had arranged evacuation flights for Americans from crisis zones many times when I thought they might be at risk. So I approved the request on condition that the FBI sign off on the Saudi flights and everyone on them. The FBI did not want to interview the passengers then and has not asked to interview them since. Why wouldn’t the bureau want to investigate what the Bin Ladens were doing here?
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