Khalid al-Mihdhar

Khalid al-Mihdhar was identified as one of the key al-Qaeda militants involved in the September 11 attacks. He and Nawaf al-Hazmi were considered "muscle" hijackers trained to restrain passengers on the planes. The 9/11 Commission found that the CIA failed to add al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi to the State Department's watch list, despite tracking them since a terrorist summit in Malaysia in January 2000. This oversight allowed them to enter the United States under their real names and obtain driver's licenses, rent apartments, and take flight lessons. Al-Mihdhar was one of the hijackers on the American Airlines flight that struck the Pentagon.1