'' The Looming Tower '' traces the " rising threat of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the late 1990s and how the rivalry between the FBI and CIA during that time may have inadvertently set the path for the tragedy of 9/11 . It follows members of the I-49 Squad in New York and Alec Station in Washington , D.C. , the counter-terrorism divisions of the FBI and CIA , respectively , as they travel the world fighting for ownership of information while seemingly working toward the same goal – trying to prevent an imminent attack on U.S. soil . " The project emanated from Ali Soufan and Lawrence Wright 's realization that both of them were fielding offers from various studios and production companies regarding the rights to their books about the lead-up to the September 11 terrorist attacks . The pair met with filmmaker Alex Gibney , who had already adapted Wright 's one-man show , '' My Trip to Al-Qaeda '' , and '' Going Clear '' for HBO . Wright described the collaboration with Gibney saying , " He ’s a documentarian , and he understands the importance of truth . We ’ve been in the trenches . I came to trust him , and that ’s what I wanted — someone I felt could handle and negotiate these really difficult moral questions . " Following that partnership , the team began to interview potential showrunners . They soon landed on screenwriter Dan Futterman after one meeting , and then decided to work on their pitch for the series . After refining their pitch , they approached HBO , Netflix and Amazon with the project . As a courtesy , they also reached out to Hulu without really placing them into consideration due to the perception of the streaming service as merely a place to stream episodes of network television shows . However , during their meeting with Hulu they were offered a straight-to-series order , an abbreviated development process , a promise not to cave under pressure from the federal agencies portrayed in the series , and the largest financial commitment of any service or network they had previously met with . It was due to these terms and conditions that the producers ultimately decided to sign with the company
9/11
September 11 attacks
The Looming Tower (miniseries)