About This Lesson
Osama bin Laden was a wealthy Saudi who founded the terrorist organization al-Qaeda in the late 1980s. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda felt that Western influence, especially American influence, in Muslim-majority countries was unwelcome. This would lead to a series of attacks against the United States, ultimately climaxing with the 9/11 attacks on American soil. Use this lesson plan to explore the question: How did intelligence agencies track Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda's activity prior to 9/11?
In this lesson, students will:
- Learn about the activities of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda prior to 9/11.
- Examine how intelligence agencies communicated prior to the 9/11 attacks and how the process changed in the aftermath.
Lesson plans include interactive images, videos, and links, that are best viewed directly from our website using the link in the resources tab. This resource appears in Module 2 of our 9/11 Primer.
