of the hundreds of people who had contact with the hijackers, who were unwitting to the fact that they were going to be hijackers. It just wasn't there." But one former top FBI official told Newsweek: "We firmly believed that he had knowledge [of the 9/11 plot] and that his meeting with them that day was more than coincidence." According to an FBI report from 2016, declassified by President Biden on September 12, 2021, the FBI says al-Thumairy "tasked" al-Bayoumi with providing assistance to the two hijackers. al-Thumairy also told al-Bayoumi that Al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar were, "two very significant people," more than a year before the attacks. The report goes on to state that despite al-Bayoumi's characterization of the meeting with the two hijackers as coincidental, "Caisin Bin Don", a US citizen formerly known as Clayton Morgan, reported al-Bayoumi waiting by the window for the hijackers to arrive, and had a lengthy conversation with them in Arabic. Another witness reports al-Bayoumi was often saying the Islamic community needs to "take action" and that the community was "at jihad." Arrest and release In July 2001, Omar al-Bayoumi moved to England to pursue a PhD at Aston University. Ten days after the September 11 attacks he was arrested by British authorities working with the FBI. He was held on an immigration charge while the FBI and Scotland Yard investigated him. According to an FBI report from 2016, declassified in 2021, they found phone numbers linked to a known Tier 1 Terrorist Support Entity as well as numbers associated with the spiritual advisor to Osama bin Laden and Abu Zubaydah. Most directly, the phone number of Mutaib A Al-Sudairy, roommate of a key bin Laden logistics facilitator, Ziyad Khaleel, was found in his phone. Bayoumi called this number 5 times, each call coinciding with significant logistic support of the hijackers. Specifically, on January 24–30, 2000 in the days before he first met the hijackers, the day immediately after Bayoumi met the hijackers in February 2000, and on February 7, 2000 immediately after Hazmi and Midhar's apartment lease and living arrangements had been finalized and funds fronted by Bayoumi. Within two months, Sudairy is recorded at an address in Falls Church, Virginia, the same area where Hazmi, Midhar, Aulaqi, and Hani Hanjour established residence later in the evolution of the 9/11 plot. After interrogation, he was released and went back to studying at Aston,