President Bush says he received no information prior to September 11, 2001, indicating a terrorist attack on America was imminent.
It was a memo prepared for the president about a month before the September 11 attacks. The top-secret document detailed what was known at the time about possible al-Qaida activities in the United States.
Seldom, if ever, has the White House released classified information shared with the president during an intelligence briefing. Mr. Bush says the memo shows that there was no indication that al-Qaida was about to hijack planes and fly them into buildings.
"There was not a time and place of an attack," he said. "It said Osama bin-Laden had designs on America. Well, I knew that."
Speaking during an Easter Sunday visit to a military base in Texas, Mr. Bush said he was satisfied that federal agents were dealing with the terrorist threat. He said if there had been evidence of an attack on American soil, he would have done everything in his power to prevent it.
Members of the September 11 commission are now studying the document, released Saturday. The commissioners will hear later this week from the former and current heads of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.