Mfr Nara- T1a- Fbi- Fbi Special Agent 10-11-20-03- Wn- 00316

fV\ F~D~O 18559 MEMORANDUM

FOR THE RECORD

Event: Interview of FBI Supervisory Special Agen1.... ,

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Type of event: Interview Date: November 20, 2003 Special Access Issues: DSM Prepared by: Dieter Snell, 12/8/03 Team Number: lA Location: FBI, Los Angeles Field Office

",/9/11

Participants

- Non-Commission:

Participants

- Commission: Diete~,Sh~ll, John Tamm

Law Enforcement

Privacy

FBI Assistant G~~\~.,:,:,C",:,:,:,:",:o""",un"", se1 Randy Blair

In September 2001, Supervisory Special Agent] ," Iwas assigned to SSRA Herb Brown's terro~s,rii squad. On September 18, 2001~ \, [accompanied Special Agenf lat the interview of Ramez Noaman. They-found Noaman in an apartment in Pomona, near a mosque (that used to be a bowling alley) ....Noaman was of immediate interest because he was named on the same auto insurance policy as hijacker Nawaf Al-Hazmi. ", '. During the interview, Noaman promptly admitted knowing AI-H~z;:m::.l:.:.:> ..1 _ .... _ does not recall whether the agents showed Noaman a photo of Al-Hazmi, :-1... ..." doesn't believe Noaman told the agents all he knew.

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According to Noaman, he was approached by Yazid Al-Salmi regarding the insurance arrangement. Noaman considered himself one of AI-Hazmi's few friends, recalling that only Khalid AI-Mihdhar and Al-Salmi associated with him. He was introduced to AI-Hazmi by Modhar Abdullah at the ICSD. Noaman did not recall ever having any political discussions with AI-Hazmi. At one point, Al-Hazmi told Noaman that Al-Mihdhar had returned to the Middle East. Thereafter, Al-Hazmi's landlord, a professor named Abdusattar, told Noaman that Al-Hazrni had gone to Arizona and gave Noaman AI-Hazmi's email address, some time after Noaman moved into Noaman's home. Noaman and AI-Hazmi exchanged 2-3 emails. The interview lasted 1-2 hours and included a consent search and copying of the contents of No am an's wallet. The FBI imaged the hard drive of Noaman's computer and found approximately 12 contacts with Al-Hazmi,

At the time of the interview, Noaman was attending Cal. Poly .. He possessed a credit card in the name of some business, which he said he was trying to use to enhance his credit. Noaman also claimed to have ~ rich uncle or grandfather who periodically would send him money. Other investigation confirmed that Noaman was from Yemen and reportedly belonged to a wealthy family. During the interview, Noaman recalled accompanying AI-Mihdhar and AI-Hazmi to a small airport where flying instruction was given, 5-10 minutes from the ICSD, so that Al-Hazmi could take a brief flight. Noaman and Al-Mihdhar remained on the ground during the flight, but had no discussion of consequence. Noaman did recall acting as an interpreter for a discussion AI-Hazmi had with the flying instructor regarding flying lessons and, specifically, about learning to fly big planes by starting out on small ones. According to Noaman, this conversation took place in August or September 2000, that is, about a year before the interview. Noaman also recalled that Al-Hazmi used a credit card to pay for the flight, which cost about $20. The instructor/pilot was a Causian male. At the time of his interview, INS found that Noaman was enrolled in school and therefore in compliance with immigration regulations.

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