An unnamed White House official tells a reporter that it is being assumed that Osama bin Laden is behind the attacks on the World Trade Center. At 9:55 a.m., CNN’s White House correspondent John King will report that he “spoke to an administration official” about what happened at the WTC “shortly after the president delivered his statement” from the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida (see 9:30 a.m. September 11, 2001 ). The official, King will say, told him that “obviously the operating assumption here is terrorism.” Furthermore, the “initial assumption,” according to the official, is that “this had something to do, or at least they were looking into any possible connections, with Osama bin Laden.” King will add that the official told him that the administration “recently released a warning that they thought Osama bin Laden might strike out against US targets.” [ CNN, 9/11/2001 ; CNN, 9/11/2001 ]

Alexander Haig, the former secretary of state, indicates during a television interview that al-Qaeda could be behind this morning’s terrorist attacks. During a live interview on Fox News, Haig is asked how America can respond to the attacks “with the proper amount of caution and yet with whatever force needs to be applied.” He replies that while the nation needs to stay “united and calm,” it also has to be “ready to take resolute action, which sometimes we have failed to do in the recent past.” He then states that while the identities of the perpetrators of the attacks are as yet unknown, “we have many, many indicators of precisely who they are.” He adds, “This was too broadly based a terrorist act to be just a few crazies.” He says the responsible party “is a terrorist movement and we know where they are located today, and obviously as a nation we are going to have to take action against them.” He continues, “I think we know where to send our armed [forces]” and then indicates that al-Qaeda could be involved, saying, “Look, all we have to do is look at the world today, with the Palestinian and bin Laden groups.” However, when the interviewer subsequently asks, “Who are the terrorists that you think are the most likely suspects?” he replies, “Well, I’m not going to speculate, because I don’t have inside knowledge and it would be rather foolish to do that.” [Fox News, 9/11/2001] Haig has held a number of influential positions in the US military and government. He was White House chief of staff under President Richard Nixon and secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan. He also served as vice chief of staff of the Army and as NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe. [Washington Post, 2/21/2010; Liverpool Daily Post, 2/23/2010] After leaving the government, he turned to business and has been a director of a number of major companies. [Guardian, 2/20/2010; Daily Telegraph, 2/21/2010] Shortly after 9:30 a.m., a White House official, like Haig, indicated that al-Qaeda is likely to blame for this morning’s catastrophic events, telling a reporter it was being assumed that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks on the World Trade Center (see Shortly After 9:30 a.m. September 11, 2001). [CNN, 9/11/2001; CNN, 9/11/2001]