before later moving to Saudi Arabia. When interrogators asked Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, whether he knew al-Bayoumi, he said that he did not. The issue was reopened when the potential links between al-Bayoumi and the Saudi Embassy were reported in the press. Under pressure from Congress, the FBI re-examined the case. They concluded that the allegations were "without merit," and they "abandoned further investigation." However, contemporary news accounts reported that "countless intelligence leads that might help solve [the case] appear to have been under investigated or completely overlooked by the FBI." The final 9/11 Commission reports stated "we have seen no credible evidence that he believed in violent extremism, or knowingly aided extremist groups." Despite this, the FBI reached a much different conclusion in 2016 during Operation Encore. In a report, declassified on September 12, 2021, FBI agents stated that Fahad al-Thumairy "tasked" al-Bayoumi with assisting the two hijackers upon their arrival in Los Angeles, and said they were, "two very significant people," more than a year before the attacks. Rather than the chance meeting al-Bayoumi previously described to investigators, in which al-Bayoumi was seen with al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar at a restaurant, a witness told the FBI that al-Bayoumi had been waiting at the window for their arrival, and had a lengthy conversation with them. The report says a woman told investigators that al-Bayoumi was often saying the Islamic community needs to "take action," and that the community was, "at jihad." This directly contradicts the findings of the 9/11 Commission Report and its conclusion he did not knowingly aid extremist groups. Per previously-classified memoranda released by the National Archives in May 2016, as of 6 June 2003, "the FBI "believes it is possible that he was an agent of the Saudi Government and that he may have been reporting on the local community to the Saudi Government officials. In addition, during its investigation, the FBI discovered that al-Bayoumi has ties to terrorist elements as well." In March 2022, the FBI declassified a 510 page report about 9/11 that it produced in 2017. The report found that "there is a 50/50 chance [al-Bayoumi] had advanced knowledge the 9/11 attacks were to occur." from the two Islamists he befriended that were involved in plotting 9/11. al-Bayoumi also helped the Islamists find housing in San Diego. In response, 9/11 Commission chairman and former New Jersey governor Tom Kean