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9/11, 20 Years Later: 17 Essential Documentaries to Watch
These films — selected from two decades of extensive FRONTLINE reporting, with many available to stream for the first time in years — probe that fateful day and its lasting impacts on America and the world.
August 31, 2021
Watching "The Looming Tower"? Meet the Real John O’Neill.
Meet the real John O’Neill in FRONTLINE's classic 2002 documentary, “The Man Who Knew.”
March 9, 2018
An Update: John O'Neill and the 9/11 Commission
FRONTLINE's story on John O'Neill spotlights two central issues that emerged during the 9/11 Commission hearings held in the spring of 2004 investigating why the U.S. intelligence community failed to prevent the Sept. 11th terrorist attack.
April 26, 2004
CIA-FBI Cooperation -- Some Recent History
In the 1990s, attempts were made to revamp America's intelligence gathering and law enforcement agencies so that they could better respond to the threat posed by post-Cold War enemies such as Al Qaeda. The reformers, however, had to fight a deep-rooted competitiveness between the FBI and the CIA.
December 22, 2002
Robert M. "Bear" Bryant
As deputy director of the FBI under Louis Freeh from 1997 to 1999, he initiated a strategic plan in 1998 to overhaul the FBI so it could better address counterintelligence and counterterrorism. He talks about his working relationship with John O'Neill, O'Neill's contributions to the counterterrorism effort, and O'Neill's career problems within the FBI.
October 3, 2002
Richard A. Clarke
President Clinton's national coordinator for counterterrorism, he is currently President Bush's special adviser for cyberspace security. In this interview he talks about the attributes which made John O'Neill stand apart in the world of counterterrorism, sketches Al Qaeda's threat and how it came into focus for U.S. intelligence, and discusses some of John O'Neill's battles, including the USS Cole investigation.
October 3, 2002
Clint Guenther
He was an FBI agent in the New York office for 22 years and worked under John O'Neill in the counterterrorism division. In this interview he describes the problems O'Neill encountered in Yemen while investigating the bombing of the USS Cole.
October 3, 2002
Chris Isham
A close friend of John O'Neill, Isham is a senior producer at ABC News, and head of its investigative unit. He set up a 1998 interview for ABC's John Miller with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. In this interview he recounts O'Neill's pleas to see the footage of the entire bin Laden interview. He calls O'Neill "one of those rare birds inside the government who had access to highly classified information, and yet also understood that talking to a journalist was not necessarily a violation of any rules. It could actually be helpful on both sides."
October 3, 2002
Valerie James
Since 1991, Valerie James was John O'Neill's friend and companion. In this interview she describes daily life with O'Neill. "He is working on this incredible stuff day after day that he can basically talk to none of us about," she tells FRONTLINE. "He can't even tell other of his peers about what he's working on; it's that intense. Does a man like that come home to roast chicken and mashed potatoes every night?"
October 3, 2002
Barry Mawn
He headed the FBI's New York office from 2000 to 2002. Mawn sums up the O'Neill he knew and discusses the battles they both encountered in the USS Cole and East Africa embassy bombing investigations. He also discusses the controversy over his statements at O'Neill's memorial service.
October 3, 2002
Fran Towsend
She served as deputy to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno from 1995 to 1998 and headed the Justice Department's office of intelligence policy and review from 1998 to 2002. In this interview she describes the FBI infighting over the 1998 embassy bombings investigation and the conflict between O'Neill and the U.S. ambassador to Yemen during the probe of the USS Cole attack. Townsend also recounts how high the fear was of a potential terrorist attack at the millennium after the arrest of Ahmed Ressam at the Canadian border.
October 3, 2002
Mary Jo White
As the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1993-2002, White prosecuted the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1993 "day of terror" plot against New York landmarks, and the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa. In this interview she describes working on the capture of 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and investigating the embassy and USS Cole bombings with John O'Neill. This interview was conducted on May 2, 2002.
October 3, 2002