9/11 Report – A Graphic Adaptation
Chapter 1 "We Have Some Planes"
1. How many planes were hijacked on 9/11/2001?
2. What does FAA stand for?
3. How many total terrorists hijacked the planes on 9/11?
4. Approximately what fraction of the hijackers set off the metal detectors or otherwise aroused the suspicion of airport
security?
5. Where did American Airlines Flight 11 crash?
6. What happened to United Airlines Flight 93?
7. Which two principal government agencies were involved in the defense of the U.S. airspace on 9/11/2001?
8. What does NORAD stand for?
9. What does NEADS stand for?
10. When was President Bush informed of the 9/11 attacks?
11. The entire attacks of 9/11/2001 took place between what times?
12. This book begins with 19 headshots. How are the headshots arranged, and why?
13. Nearly all of the 1st 25 pages in the adaptation have a solid black background. Why do you think Ernie Colon chose to do
this?
14. Explain why the use of a timeline format is effective graphically and as a narrative. Why are there so many blank spaces
in these sections? What points are made by this timeline about how our nation’s airline passengers (and pilots) succeeded and
failed at communicating with outside parties on 9/11?
15. List two of the conclusions by the commission at the end of chapter 1. What is significant about them?
Chapter 2 "The Foundation of the New Terrorism"
1. What is a Fatwa?
2. In what city and year did Bin Laden and Zawahiri published a Fatwa in an Arabic newspaper?
3. Bin Laden used passages from the ______ to justify his actions.
4. In Bin Laden's view, who is Islam's principal enemy?
5. Who invaded Afghanistan in 1979?
6. What is a Jihad?
7. Describe Osama Bin Laden’s past according to this chapter? Where did he come from? What was his family life like?
8. What is the “Golden Chain”?
9. Who financed the rebels fighting against the Soviet Union?
10. By 1991, Bin Laden was running a worldwide network of front charities and businesses from where?
11. By 1991, bin Laden had forged alliances with Muslim terrorist groups and succeeded in recruiting _________ Muslims for
terrorist attacks against U.S. targets.
12. How were the American embassies at Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam destroyed during the attack on August 7, 1998,?
13. Why is Big Ben in the background at the start of Chapter 2?
14. Why is Bin Laden shown shaking hands (or about to do so) with various people at least three times in this chapter?
Chapter 3 "Counterterrorism Evolves"
1. When did a truck bomb explode in the parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York?
2. By 9/11, the FAA's "no fly" list contained how many names of suspected terrorists?
3. Approximately ________ of all spending on intelligence is within the Defense Department.
4. When was the CIA created?
5. By the late 1970s, what began to get directly involved in counter-terrorist operations?
6. Find the 6 individuals shown in a line-up at the top of page 43. Who do these 6 people represent?
7. On page 44, what is the visual metaphor of the jigsaw puzzle expressing? Why?
Chapter 4 "Responses to al-Qaeda's Initial Assaults"
1. In 1996, who was concerned enough about Bin Laden to set up a unit of about a dozen officers that would monitor him and
plan operations against him?
2. By 1997, the CIA's Bin Laden unit knew that al-Qaeda was planning attacks against __________ interests and was actively
seeking nuclear materials.
3. The CIA's Bin Laden unit knew that attacking Bin Laden's sources of __________ was an important component of the effort
against al-Qaeda.
4. What was Richard Clarke’s five-step plan for eliminating Bin Laden?
6. Who was the Taliban's most important and most capable enemy?
7. Look at the illustration of Ahmed Shah Massoud in the lower left corner of page 51. Who’s he talking to? What are they
discussing? And why is his “body language” translated in a nearby caption?
Chapter 5 "Al-Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland"
1. Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) earned a college degree in what subject?
2. When did KSM originally meet with Bin Laden to present a vague plan to hijack planes and use them as guided missiles?
3. What is the name of the Indonesian terrorist group that accepted Bin Laden's offer of an alliance with the purpose of waging
war against Christians and Jews?
4. When was the U.S.S. Cole bombed?
5. How many planes were originally planned to be involved in the 9/11/2001 plot?
6. What was the "Hamburg Group"?
7. Where did the Hamburg group plan to attend flight school?
8. How did the Hamburg group attempt to assimilate?
9. How many members of the Hamburg group received a U.S. visa?
10. On page 54 we see a photographic image included among all of the drawings and the text. What does this photo show us?
How might seeing this particular image in its “real” depiction affect readers in a different way?
Chapter 6 "From Threat to Threat"
1. In late 1999, which authorities broke up a cell with ties to al-Qaeda that was planning to attack a hotel in downtown
Amman, Jordan, and several Christian holy sites?
2. When President Clinton asked Pakistan's President Musharraf for decisive action against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, what was
the response?
3. On March 25, 2000, what did President Clinton offer President Musharraf in return for help with Bin Laden?
4. What was the outcome of the November 2000 presidential election?
5. Who became the new national security adviser for the Bush Administration?
6. Who killed Ahmed Shah Massoud and when?
7. What do you notice about the pictorial structure on page 65? What is the significance of the layout as well as the lighting or
shading of the characters? How would someone who is unable to read English interpret this page?
Chapter 7 "The Attack Looms"
1. Where did the first two hijackers arrive in the U.S.?
2. Mohammed Atta traveled from Germany to ________, Czech Republic, before flying to the U.S.
3. Which hijacker left California to return home to Yemen?
4. What was the name of the Iranian-supported worldwide terrorist organization?
5. Majority of the muscle hijackers settled in what U.S. state?
6. What is the name of the low-altitude "hallway" along the Hudson River that passes New York landmarks?
7. Who was arrested on August 16, 2001, on immigration charges?
8. By July 2001, Bin Laden was especially keen on hitting what U.S building?
9. Describe the visual “code” that was sent out to all of the hijackers in August of 2001. Graphically as well as numerically,
what does this code depict?
Chapter 8 "The System Was Blinking Red"
1. What is the name of the main mechanism for communicating sensitive intelligence to the President?
2. When did reports of threats surge?
3. The FBI conducted approximately ________ full field investigations related to Bin Laden in 2001.
4 In August 15, 2001, the FBI's Minneapolis field office took notice of who?
5. The FBI in Minneapolis sought a special warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to conduct a search on
Moussaoui's ________.
6. After 9/11/2001, U.S. officials learned from ________ intelligence that Moussaoui had attended a terrorist training camp in
Afghanistan.
7. What is the connection between Khalid Sheikh Mohammaed and Mukhtar?
Chapter 9 "Heroism and Horror"
1. When did construction begin on the WTC complex?
2. How many buildings made up the WTC complex?
3. How many stories high were the Twin Towers?
4. How many people were estimated to occupy the towers on any given day?
5. Who created the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management?
6. Which WTC building fell first?
7. How much time elapsed between the collapse of the first building and the collapse of the second building?
8. On September 11, the nation suffered the largest loss of life on its soil, losing __________ people.
9. Look at the face of the FDNY fireman in the middle right panel on page 88. What does he communicate to you and
what’s he thinking or feeling?
10. On pages 90-95, there are few words balloons. Why do you think they book’s authors employ less dialogue in these
instances? Why all of this silence?
Chapter 10 "Wartime”
1. After the 9/11 attacks, to where was President Bush taken?
2. Early indications of the 9/11 attacks pointed to whom?
3. What is INS?
4. What did President Bush name his small group of top advisers?
5. The U.S war planning committee immediately recognized the importance of which country?
6. Throughout the period immediately following 9/11, there was strong suspicion that ________ was involved in the plot.
7. What is the “Enduring Freedom” plan? Describe each of its phases.
Chapter 11 "Foresight and Hindsight"
1. When was al-Qaeda formed?
2. When did the intelligence community first describe the al-Qaeda organization?
3. In 1998-1999, President Clinton was preparing the government for possible war against which country?
4. Who was the lead agency dealing with al-Qaeda?
5. What are the four failures of that the commission says the 9/11 attacks revealed.
6. What, if anything, did the report tell you about the CIA-FBI communication and cooperation leading up to the “Y2K”
scare? Why did these ties, such as they were, weaken thereafter?
Chapter 12 "What To Do? A Global Strategy"
1. What is now the most important security objective of the U.S.?
2. Which country was the incubator for al-Qaeda and for the 9/11 attacks?
3. Who is Afghanistan's President?
4. Which country has been a problematic ally in combating Islamic extremism?
5. Which country is the front of much of the ideology and funding of Islamist terrorism?
6. Reports show that al-Qaeda has tried to acquire or make nuclear weapons for at least ________ years.
7. Which U.S. department now has the lead responsibility for problems such as protecting borders, securing transportation and
other parts of our critical infrastructure, organizing emergency assistance, and working with the private sector to assess
vulnerabilities?.
8. On page 115, there is a map with several red dots. What do these dots signify, where are they located, and what is the
trend?
Chapter 13 "How to Do It"
1. Before 9/11, the ________ was the lead agency confronting al-Qaeda.
2. What agency would set personnel policies to establish standards for education and training and facilitate assignments at the
national intelligence centers and across agency lines?
3. According to the Commission, the National Intelligence Director should be located in the __________ office.
4. Before a President election, candidates should submit the names of selected members of their prospective transition teams to
the ________ so that those team members can obtain security clearances immediately after the election is over.
5. Who should adopt special rules requiring hearings and votes to confirm or reject national security nominees within 30 days
of their submission?
6. What department was established to consolidate all of the domestic agencies responsible for securing America's borders and
national infrastructure, most of which is in private hands?
7. In the years since 9/11, The Commission notes that Americans are “safer, but not safe.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
8. Look at the report card on page 131. Do you agree? Why or why not?