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Monique Bianco
INR 4084
Research Paper

Clinton Administration and the 1993 attacks

The Clinton administration was faced with some difficult tasks that many people
believe the Clinton administration either did an excellent job or did nothing at all. There
was a lot of controversy over the 1993 World Trade Center attacks. The media harped on
President Clinton for not doing enough to defend our homeland. Clinton came into his
presidency with aspirations to make a new pathway for the U.S. while trying to focus on
various issues that were at hand. He didnt have an overwhelming amount of experience
with foreign affairs but he knew that to strengthen the country alliances and agreements
needed to be made. The Clinton administration was faced with acts of terrorism that
paved the way for new procedures to be implemented by following administrations.
Throughout this paper we will look at how former President Bill Clinton reacted to such
acts and how we could have avoided future attacks such as the September 11, 2001 Twin
Tower attacks.
When Clinton was President in 1993 the economy was in a recession from when
previous stocks had collapsed years before. Due to the economic crisis, Clintons plan of
action was to spend most of his time investing in education, healthcare and opening up
the foreign markets. Clinton came into office with little foreign affairs background but
during his presidency he was faced with the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center

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in New York City. Not only was there the 1993 incident but also in 1996 yet another
terrorist attack occurred in Saudi Arabia where a military housing complex was bombed
that ended up killing 19 soldiers. Furthermore, again in 1998 U.S. embassies were
targeted. The overall goal of the first terrorist attack of the World Trade Center was to
bring one of the towers down inevitably injuring more than 1,000 people in the process.
The terrorists ultimate goal was to kill up to 250,000 people making a profound
statement to the new president who had only been in office for 38 days. Clinton reaction
to attacks was rather strange for some Americans to grasp. According to Bryon York in
his article discussing the Clinton presidency, Clintons reaction to the attack was to tell
the American people not to overreact. Clinton didnt take the 1993 attacks, as seriously
as he should have due to the fact he was simply busy with other more pressing
obligations. One could argue that if more attention and action was taken about these
attacks maybe a preventative action could have been implemented that would have
stopped the September 11th attacks.
One of the first arguments about the way Clinton handled the attacks was the way
he looked upon the bombing as just a law-enforcement issue. By approaching the
situation in this manner investigators couldnt share information they had gathered as
quickly as they could have. The Clinton administration barely talked about the matter,
essentially sweeping it under the rug. They had come to the conclusion that this terrorist
acts just a small group working together. Clintons main objective was to get reelected so
any foreign policy views he had were non-controversial. The FBI went on a massive
manhunt to find the groups responsible for the attacks. Finally in 1994 they arrested
several radical Islamic fundamentalists for the bombings. The individuals arrested were

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Ramzi Yousef who was a Sunni extremist, Mohammed Salameh, Mohammed
Abouhalima and Ahmad Ajaj. Although it was an accomplishment to have the individuals
arrested it made the government officials seem like they could handle terrorism. The
Clinton administration was barely capable and now America looked like they could deal
with any form of terrorism on a higher level, which they simple could not.
The attacks of the World Trade Center in 1993 had very similar characteristics to
the September 11 attacks. By the time of the 9/11 attacks American officials had known
about al Qaida which brought up a pressing question that we should have been able to
predict that they were going to attacks and we should have had defenses ready. This is of
course just assumption people came up with but it brings up a valid point. Through the
1993 convictions the legal system didnt fully inspect all parties. Meaning, they didnt
examine other treats facing the United States. The trials never brought up Bin Laden and
policy makers never took a second look at him. During this time President Clinton made
Louis Freeh Director of the Bureau. Freeh believed the terrorism was a major threat to the
United States but decentralized field operations and field agents gained significant power.
He focused a lot of his attention onto the Middle East even encouraging people to not
wait for terrorists to attack. Even though Freeh tried to create a system that would try to
prevent terrorism even creating a Counterterrorism Division within headquarters but his
efforts when unnoticed. The FBI instead focused much of its attention on drug
enforcement and violent crimes. The FBIs budget for counterterrorism tripled in the 90s
through the fiscal years, in 2000 there were still just as many agents though focused on
drug enforcement. Senior agents were reluctant to change. The purpose of the new
division was to collect information, identify trends of terrorist groups and determine what

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the FBI did not know already. One of the main issues with the force was that they were
using old tactics and instead of hiring individuals they were hiring analyst from within
who didnt have the expertise, which was needed. Until 9/11 the FBI counterterrorism
division had never fully completed strategic analytical reports or assessments of terrorism
to U.S. homeland.
For approximately two months prior to the bombing the conspirators gathered
materials needed for the terrorist act. They resided in New Jersey and apparently rented
storage space that was used as a staging area for the bomb and subsequent loading of it
into a Ryder rental van. The terrorists drove the 1,500-pound urea-nitrate bomb into the
basement area of the World Trade Center and then set the timer and left. The explosion
rocked the World Trade Center killing six people and injuring over a thousand others.
These criminals dawned a new age in terrorism, the wholesale attack on civilians with the
desire to inflict as much damage as possible. The men that committed this heinous crime
have been linked to several terrorist groups including the Islamic Jihad, Hamas and
Sudanese National Islamic Front. On March 4, 1994 a jury found Salameh, Ajaj,
Abuhalima and Ayyad guilty of the World Trade Center bombing. They were all
sentenced to 240 years in prison. However, the masterminds were not caught until later.
Eyad Ismoil and Ramzi Yousef were convicted of murder and conspiracy in the World
Trade Center bombing. Prosecutors believe Eyad helped Ramzi load the bomb into the
truck and then drive it to the World Trade Center basement and park the vehicle. Eyad
was sentenced to 240 years in prison and ordered to pay a 10 million dollar fine. Yousef
received life in prison plus 240 years and a 4.5 million dollar fine. He was also ordered to
pay 250 million dollars in restitution. The fines were given to insure that these men

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would never profit from their actions. Further, the judge recommended that Yousef spend
his sentence in solitary confinement. Federal prosecutors are still looking for Adul
Rahmin Yasin in connection with the bombing. He is believed to have fled to Iraq.
Some would say that the 9/11 attacks could have been prevented. The Clinton
administration and his staff could have pursued the matter with greater detail. Clinton
came into the administration with full knowledge that to build a firm foundation you need
to create relationships and democratic alliances globally. Clinton was to expand NATO
making it a magnet for new partners and missions. Through this killing in Bosnia was
stopped due to NATOs first engagement. Furthermore, the ethnic cleansing that was
going on in Kosovo was having action placed upon it. NATO provided security and
allowed for numerous refugees to return safely. Besides working on relations with
Europe, the Clinton administration also focused a lot of their attention with Asian
alliances. The strategic alliance with Japan was updated creating outlines on how they
would handle certain situations. There was a reduction in the North Korean threats
through deterrence and diplomacy. By October 1994 the Framework agreement was
negotiated which dismantled North Koreas dangerous nuclear weapons and long-range
missile testing in 1999. Finally, South Korean relations were defined with them now
agreeing to cooperate with the U.S. To focus on the Middle East again in September 1993
the Declaration of Principles was agreed on and in September 1995 the Interim
Agreement on Palestines self rule was put in place.
Clinton helped develop the counter terrorism strategy, which was lead by a national
coordinator. He also developed one of the first national strategies to protect critical
infrastructure. This was to bring together private sector and government. He then

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increased funding on critical infrastructure protection by over 40 percent since 1998.
Every since the 1993 attacks our government has been fully aware of al Qaeda. They
viewed this group of terrorist as a small but deadly group that they didnt know much
about. The Clinton administration and administrations that followed were concerned with
other matters like creating a new pathway for the country so they focus on al Qaeda
slipped in a since to the back of peoples mind. Not only was this group of terrorists
slipping to the back of peoples mind but also it wasnt until 2001 where the military
really took strong action against terrorist. For example, in 1998 when the Taliban refused
to hand over Osama bin Laden the Pentagon decided not use to Delta Force to capture
him. Everything is speculation, but if more force were to been used then maybe the U.S.
would have made an impression sooner that they werent going to tolerate terrorism,
which a country never should. While the Clinton administration was moving in the right
direction when it came to dealing with terrorism they didnt go far enough. One thing
people dont remember when they criticize administrations is that terrorists dont give out
blatant warnings that they are going to attack. They may imply so or if our investigators
truly analyze everything they can predict the actions that are bound to come but even then
everything is still speculation and assumptions. Terrorists have also proved to be
dangerously adaptable and opportunistic. Each time the government develops an effective
response to a particular tactic, such as hijackings, terrorists work around these defenses,
such as by plotting midair bombings. When it became more difficult to smuggle bombs
aboard planes, terrorists turned the planes themselves into weapons. The United States is
a rich target with many weaknesses to be exploited. If one soft spot is shielded, another
spot becomes more vulnerable. Meanwhile, a singleness of purpose streamlines the work

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of terrorists.

To continue our discussion about the actions taken by the Clinton administration
there are some key facts a lot of people over look when analyzing how the reacted and
tolerated terrorist. Never before had any attacks been directly associated with bin Laden
until the 1998 attacks where intelligence could conclude bin Laden had been related.
After this it became a priority to capture him before any more damage could be caused.
President Clinton pressed to have military groups on the ground in search parties with the
mission of finding bin Laden. However, we had no support from neighbors such as
Pakistan or a home base near Afghanistan that could make this mission possible. The CIA
worked feverously on capturing terrorist abroad with the hopes that they would end up
talking. They finally caught Ramsey Youssef, responsible for the 1993 World Trade
Center bombing and Mir Aimal Kansi, who murdered the CIA employees at Langley.
Clinton traveled to Pakistan in 2000 even though he was fully aware that this trip could
potentially be very dangerous but he felt strongly about the terrorist threats he knew he
had to go overseas to try and get a handle on the situation. Former President Clinton and
Vice President Al Gore at the time were in agreement that two G-7 units needed to be
focused on terrorism. Clintons main objection on his 2000 Pakistan trip was to press
General Musharraf on the need to confront the Taliban. These efforts culminated in the
UN Security Council adopting UNSCR 1333 in December 2000, which included a
multilateral arms embargo against the Taliban. Furthermore, we tried to freeze al Qaeda
assets preventing them from being able to continue on with any on going plans. In 1998
and 1999 President Clinton blocked their transactions and froze millions of dollars of
Taliban assets. Clinton also bought bioterrorism supplements.

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President Clinton tried to bring the attention of terrorism public by referring to it
in his speechs and State of the Union addresses. He was the first to really press for a
global fight against terrorism and labeled it as the enemy of our nation. More
preventative actions could have been made to ensure that terrorists would have been
captured or weakened before they could launch a successful attack like they
accomplished on September 11th. There was a lot going on for the Clinton administration
to handle during the time of his presidency and the attention kept bouncing around on
different matters at hand. The actions taken by the administration were headed in the right
direction as stated earlier but they werent quit enough to make a successful impact. The
matter of the World Trade Center bombings should have been taken more seriously and
not looked upon as another investigation. Intelligence knew for a period of time about
terrorist groups and al Qaeda so maybe they couldnt have expected the attacks as for
where and when they would occur but they should have anticipated that they were going
to make a big move sooner then later. Overall, the Clinton administration implemented
some procedures that helped pave the way for future administrations to go after and track
down terrorist while keeping our allied relationships strong. Of course there are also
going to be other issues that are going to arise for a President and his administration but
terrorism should always be looked upon as a serious matter, which needs to be dealt with
immediately. With Clintons ambition to capture terrorist and put Americans at ease that
our security is strong he could have possibly prevented further attacks.