Inside Al-Qaeda's Files
The discovery of computer materials belonging to al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan led American officials to warn of threats to specific facilities inside the U.S. Several hard drives and 51 computer discs recovered in Pakistan provide evidence that al-Qaeda has conducted extensive surveillance of U.S. targets. Surveillance reports found on the computers contain some 500 photographs of targeted buildings and discussions about how to hit them. A senior U.S. law-enforcement official gave TIME's Adam Zagorin a partial inventory of the material, including descriptions of potential attacks in the terrorists' words

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DATA GATHERED
The terrorists collected information on the structure of the building. It is unclear whether they were aware that the midtown-Manhattan building had engineering weaknesses and underwent structural modifications to correct them after its construction in 1977

POSSIBLE PLOT
Suicide attack. Terrorists recommended using "usual methods," most likely a large truck bomb. They specifically discussed using a heavy gasoline or oil-tanker truck but were worried that stealing or hijacking a vehicle could be difficult because many are equipped with GPS navigation devices that can be tracked The building, "like the World Trade Center, is supported on steel, load-bearing walls, not a steel frame," according to a terrorist surveillance report. Operatives discuss using an explosives-filled vehicle and "steering it in"
FROM THE AUG. 16, 2004 ISSUE OF TIME MAGAZINE; POSTED SUNDAY, AUG. 8, 2004

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