In 2001, President Al Gore receives a Presidential Daily Briefing headlined "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S".

The briefing, which refers to possible plans by the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden to launch terror attacks within the United States involving airline hijackings and explosives, prompts the President to issue an executive order directing that airports throughout the country be discreetly placed under heightened security and that the FBI step up efforts to apprehend for questioning individuals who may be connected to bin Laden's organization, known as Al Qaeda. Over the next few weeks, several hundred Arab men are detained under the President's order. Among them are several members of Al Qaeda.