The Finnlist

What has been reported about the Finnlist:

"It contains names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail, even some social security numbers, of terrorists involved in the attacks of September 11, sympathizers, and those suspected of providing conduits for terrorist finance,” according to a June 10, 2002 article in the London Telegraph.

The list is a 22-page spreadsheet printout dated October 3, 2001. It attempts to present 370 primary identities in a line-item format, with many of these primary identities ascribed with multiple aliases and AKAs.

The UPI reported on November 11, 2001 that the Bush administration confirmed the list, and said it came from the U.S. Justice Department.

It is an investigative file that was distributed confidentially to European counter-terrorism agencies for help in tracking down the so-called al-Qaeda terrorist network.

It accidentally was posted on the internet in early October, 2001, by Finland's Financial Supervision Authority (RATA) which shut down the website when the error was spotted, but not before it had been mirrored elsewhere, hence the name Finnlist.

The FBI has strictly controlled the release of information on the 19 hijackers who they say took part in the September 11 attacks and they were reportedly furious over this breach of security.

The document contains raw data, often based on hearsay and unverified leads, on a myriad of Middle Eastern and Islamic names beyond the named hijackers, and it carries with it potential for misinterpretation and abuse.

However, it also provides the clearest view yet into the state of American intelligence at a particular moment in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.