I just have to say I find it interesting that every person who blocked Mr. O'Neill and eventually ruined his career with the FBI all denied an interview in this documentary....to me that speaks volumes !

I teach a block on the September 11th attacks. I show this documentary to my high school students. Frontline and this documentary are outstanding. As a retired cop, I can honestly say I wish I could have met Agent John P. O'Neill.

I just watched the looming tower this week. Both of my parents had worked in the towers. My mother for American Express, my father for marsh & McLennan. When I was a young kid and my dad’s office was in the towers, I hated it and had nightmares about that space - because his office was on the 98th floor. On 9/11 I was in college in Philly, I was at Wharton when we watched live - a tv was dragged into class - after the crashes but before the buildings fell. That day, my dad was meant to be at a managing directors meeting on the 98th floor, but by then his office was at 1066 AoA where the monument wall is. I was following Chandra levy’s disappearance so while getting ready for class I happened to see the first plane crash live. I didn’t think to check on my dad until I was at class and it was significant enough that we were watching live news. I called his office and was told he was there - for a meeting. From before the towers fell until about 3 pm when I could connect to Manhattan again from Philly I thought he was dead. I mean, the first plan hit the floor he was meant to be on. He couldn’t have lived. But he was late to that meeting. The planes crashed before he was even downtown from Penn station. So he lived. Thank god. But between my two parents, they mourned over 500 people, at least 100 were actual friends. They kinda went nuts after. And then my mom died of cancer just a few years later, so I never got to discuss it with her as an adult, with perspective. ❤ Love to everyone affected directly or indirectly. ❤

This is infuriating! Those in the FBI who ignored him should be ashamed. RIP John 💔

*HOW is it possible that I’m just learning about John O’Neil now in 2022?* *Grateful I stumbled across this on KZfaq and now know who O’Neil was as a person, thank you.* 🙏🏻

The most horrific thing about this entire thing was John's ending. He was the one person who tried to warn everyone and yet he became a casualty of the thing that he pushed so hard for them to see.

John O'neil is a true hero in my eyes. He is the definition of the Army Values. Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage.

Thank you, Mr. O’Neill. Thank you for sacrificing so much for us all. I will tell my children, now 8.5 yo and 3 mo, about you, your struggle, and your legacy. Thank you to all of your colleagues that supported you and fought the good fight. Thank you, Ms. James, for giving him the base of support, love and energy he needed to fight for us all for so long. I am so very sorry for the loss of John and the sustained grief his absence brings. Last, thank you John Jr., for sharing your daddy with the rest of us. I am so sorry for your loss.

John O’Neill died during the attack on 9/11. His body was found on Sept 21. Rest In Peace Agent O’Neill. Thank you for your dedication.

I was asking myself "Why doesn't everyone know who this man is" and "he got closer than anyone else" but then I remembered how powerful the people who blocked him were. So that's by design.

So Ego's got 3,000 people killed🤦

There is a mini, very underrated TV Show about John that covers all this, and more, in detail. Very moving, very tragic, very real. For those inclined to see it, which I HIGHLY recommend doing so, the 9 episode series is called “The Looming Tower”. This man was a hero.

Unfortunately, I see this all the time, people with talent, like John O'Neill, being pushed aside by those in positions of power who fear for their own careers. It happens a lot in public administrations, but also in the private corporate world. Incompetence is better tolerated than swimming against the current.

This just makes me so angry, every American should know who this man was. God bless all the work he did to protect us, you are gone but not forgotten sir.

I'm so glad this video was produced and made public!!!! R.I.P. Agent O'Neill!

'A house divided against itself, will fall'

Typical government more worried about about who gets credit than putting the right people in place.

"When you run with the wolves, don't trip." That one kept me awake for hours.

This was highly educational and absolutely infuriating. The people who stood in the way of John doing his job have blood on their hands. If John had been in Yemen, he could've procured vital information and stopped everything from happening. The biggest event of the 21st century could have never happened if one single person was allowed to do their job. Incredible to think about.

Tom Pickard (quote) "Losing the briefcase was a big deal." I would argue that 4 hijacked planes was a slightly bigger deal.

Ego. That’s what this boils down to. This man lived and breathed for that agency just to be killed by the very attack he was trying his damnedest to prevent. R.I.P. Mr. O’Neil.

It's funny how all the people who seemed to block O'Neil's job didn't agree to give an interview.

This man had keen discernment and insight. The cowards that need power because they are weak were afraid of John's wisdom.

Betrayal. The ugliest stomach wrenching feeling in the world. Very sad.😔

Although an added tragedy of loss of the man who knew, we, the general public would not have known such details without such a documentary. Thank you to the entire team of people who produced this documentary. So well done.

I’m 30 and I swear I hated Frontline as a kid but damn, it’s better than most streaming series’s

One of the things distinguishing this documentary is that the writers supplied Will Lyman, the narrator, with more than the usual amount of range and expressiveness in his script. Lyman took it and ran with it without losing his trademark controlled-yet-expressive VO style. Masterful!

What a truly sad story. O'Neill was being done in by petty politics and jealousy - him being that careless and losing classified documents certainly didn't help. Being at WTC and dying in the attack is just unbelievable bad luck. What a guy, what a story.

It really sucks that this guy committed his life to his job, and got punished for it by the egotistical bureaucrats. He could have saved so many lives, instead he lost his own.

I graduated high school with John. He always knew what he wanted, and that was to belong to the FBI. Our school prepared us to go out and make a substantial difference in the world.

Is this man's life not a movie in the making? He tried to convince his superiors of a danger than actually came to pass, and was ignored? That ended in his own death? Bureaucracy at its worst. You can't write this stuff.

Louis Freeh, Tom Pickard and Barbara Bodine have all got blood on their hands. The incompetence shown by these three individuals is staggering. They should have been in the WTC the day it fell, their body parts returned to their families in a bag.

These PBS Frontline feature-length documentaries are just.... they're just mindblowingly fantastic! The are done so well, once you start watching, you can't stop and eventually are sad when you've reached the end. I have watched many of these and every single one I have watched multiple times. And I usually never watch something twice. That is just how good these are. Thanks to the PBS Frontline team for creating those world-class works and sharing them.

Right after reading the book, I was so moved that my wife and I took a 900-mile weekend road trip to visit his graveside. Before we left, I called a grave stone company to see if they might have a location for his grave. He didn't provide the headstone, but he knew where the grave was located. It's a beautiful stone picturing the twin towers with the crest of the FBI overlaying the towers. Very moving experience for me. It is worth a visit if you are so inclined.

A brilliant, complicated man. Those do tend to go hand in hand. Rest in peace, Mr. O’Neill. And thank you for your service.

This needs to be showed to every highschool social studies and civics student. John O'Neil is one of the greatest Americans to ever live and deserves to have a memorial to his professionalism, expertise and commitment to the safety and security of this country.

He sounds like my kind of man to work with. A government officer who pushes hard to get things done and knows his field very well. Great guy to have on your team.

I'm Canadian. I saw this doc when it first came out about 15 years ago. Dismayed that such an expert in terrorism, his ear to the ground, was ignored. So much tragedy and ripple effect. For years. Gov't bureaucracy ignoring the voices and the signs. I still think of John O'Neill from time to time. He deserved more recognition. It was easy, and cynical, to overlook his findings. He'd left the FBI. Took all his findings with him to the WTC. Suggests he was going to keep investigating. Destroyed with him when both towers collapsed.

We love you John. There will be no one like you BIG DON. You’re so high now no one can touch you. Rest in peace.

John P. O'Neill is what I do call a real hero ... He should have won a posthumous medal because of his devotion to his job and his high intelligence vision. Unfortunatelly it looks like ego matters were stronger than protecting people. John's ending is a irony of faith. Rest in Peace Sir.

Government should have honored John O Neil for all his work . RIP sir

The fact that I absolutely love Frontline now makes me feel so so old... LOL

Just heard a leading investigator speak these words. “In the investigations trades, there is no such thing as a coincidence.” This should be investigated further with no stone left unturned. What a sickening series of events. It is quite evident that John O’Neil’s thinking abilities were a direct threat to too many players in this world.

Wow. This documentary is a work of art. Powerful. Entertaining. Informative. They don’t make them like this anymore. RIP John.

I'm stunned. Sickened. Twenty one years later I see this? Why was this not a world wide headline back in 2002? The egos that stood, full weight on this dedicated civil servant ... I just pray they still hear his voice resonating in their heads every September. Every single year as summer days grind down and autumn closes in and leaves begin to fall, I hope his voice haunts them, every one and all.

The story of John O'Neil is compelling. And FRONTLINE is first class.

From the Challenger disaster to 9/11, it's tragic how many catastrophes are preceded by having everything we need to know in order to prevent it, but petty and mundane things get in the way. In the case of 9/11, it's heartbreaking that from this example all the way up to presidential briefings, the information was right there, waiting to be acted on.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TEACH CHILDREN THAT PERSONAL AMBITION IS THE HIGHEST VALUE.

This is one of the most chilling documentaries I’ve ever seen.

People trying to one up one another rather than work together got a whole bunch of people killed👍🏾

Cmon ppl get the likes up! I don’t care if it’s 2023 this man’s story needs to be told and shared with the world. You don’t and will never know if the lives he saved over the yrs could’ve been yours or one of your loved ones.

This PBS doc and the one about a brother's Lockerbie justice quest are the best among quite a good collection on Frontline. I watched this one quite a few years ago and was shocked about John O'Neill's foresight within the agency that fell on deaf ears...but, more shocked regarding the irony of John's death after he left the FBI. A story that might have gone untold save for Frontline.

Irony is doesn’t come close. He is a hero and he died fighting his battle.

The missing briefcase... who took it? How did it reappear hours later? Why didn't they say? Was it sabotage to hurt John O'Neil's career?

His colleague's father was right: all too often, it's the mavericks who have the understanding and insight lacking in those who are more "by the book". Flair and instinct aren't something something taught and are often augmented by sheer hard graft but you either have it or you don't. He did - they didn't - but their petty resentments had the ears of the decision-makers. Brief cases don't go walkabout of their own accord. Their petty gamesmanship caused America to go to war and he and the other people of the Twin Towers were first to pay the price..

The stupid & conceited Yemeni "ambassador" should apologize at this Late Stage. She owes the O'Neill estate as well as Americans a grave apology. Rest in Peace John O'Neill. You were one of the few, the proud, and the very Brave...

john O'Neil - 'i told you so' world champion

My mind is just blown right now…the tragedy of Agent John O’Neill dying as a result of the very thing he tried so hard to prevent.

Anyone here who has not read The Looming Tower and/or watched the limited series, it is excellent journalism, all about John O'Neill's crusade with input from a load of other people involved. Highly recommend.

O'Neil was a driven, intelligent man that was derailed by typical Washington sycophants. All of the waste since then is almost incomprehensible. I nearly died on the battlefield in Iraq, and like O'Neil, was ostracized and cast aside once I was no longer any "use" to the machine. I don't have all the answers, but the path our once great country follows now is very disheartening, and demoralizing. Great work by Frontline per usual, with clear and concise presentation.

We never miss FRONTLINE, always EXCELLENT and concise investigations and reporting!!

I had no idea. Thank you for posting!

Of all the tragedies of 9-11, this one makes me the saddest, and the most angry.

It's ironic that John O'Neill died that day as he predicted a major terrorist attack would happen. May he rest in peace. He was a great agent who stopped more tragedies like the 9/11 one.

As I watched The Looming Towers, one thing was clear to me. Nobody knows how horrible, difficult, nerve wrecking these type of jobs are. These jobs are not 9-5 jobs. They are 24/7 365. The level of stress is pretty high. I am sure that after having to leave, a part of him might had felt a big sigh of relieve. But once you developed a research mentality, you cannot stop that easy. If the withholding of information was true? Why they weren't punished for not fulfilling their jobs?

The dramatisation of this “The Looming Tower” was excellent

What a tragic story. The details of things he uncovered were terrifying, and the fact that he was murdered by the very people he was determined to stop…so sad. But I kind of think he knew that would happen, and that’s why he wanted to be there. To do what he could, and maybe send a loud and clear message to his former colleagues that they should have listened and taken him more seriously. He knew it would happen, and he went anyway.

He lived a full and rewarding life by keeping his word. Sounds like someone I would like to have known.

I hope Freeh and Pickard never have a good nights sleep for the rest of their lives

This documentary is from 2002. Brilliant. Well done PBS. But how is it I have never heard of him?

Excellent , yet so maddening that this man was not appreciated enough.

It’s so sad to know the petty childish people in charge. I hope none of them ever have a peaceful nights sleep again. Especially the woman in Yemen.

What's tragic is that the people who disregarded John O'Neil will never pay a price. How they sleep at night, I hope they hear the screams of all the poor souls who lost their lives on 9/11 forever.

He was the best of the best. Sacrificed it all, for all of us. I will carry his memory in my heart forever. ✨🇺🇸✨

If they just would of let the man do his job who knows what changes would of been in our history as a country.

It’s amazing humankind isn’t extinct because we would rather fight with each other than listen to each other. All that man wanted to do was prevent these acts and his higher ups would not listen to him. That is an absolute failure as leaders but hey that’s what our government is famous for especially now.

I've read about him in "The looming tower", the masterpiece about al-Qaeda and 9/11 written by Laurence Wright. Really this man's life was a tragedy, warned his superiors about incoming terrorist attacks, forced to resign from the job because of internal power struggle and then became the victim of an attack which he had tried so hard to prevent. Really he was a great man, keeping aside his personal life. Peace be upon him.

Barbara Bodine should be in prison

This should be retitled... The Man Who Tried to Save Us

They should probably rename The Edgar Hoover building in Washington after this fine gentleman.

The irony that John O'Neill left the job at FBI and went to work as security consultant at WTC towers on the same week it crashed! This man is twice unlucky!!

Unbelievable !!! A TRUE AMERICAN HERO

Power struggles cost people their lives.

I'm almost 40 yo & this is my first time, hearing about this hero. We need more humans like him. May he RIP ❤

What a sad infuriating story: classic story of the brash brilliant maverick set aside by weak leaders in the bureaucracy that needed him the most, at the time it needed him the most.

I met a man last week who bartended at a steakhouse in Washington DC right across the street from the FBI building and met John in the mid 90s. They had a friendship for about 4 years before they both moved away. John would only let this man serve him when he was working and would bring in important figures at times where they would use a back room to meet. He still has his business card to this day. He said even he knew John had been trying to sound the alarm on Osama for years. I then got into this rabbit hole and its sad realizing that the man I met lost a friend at the end of the day. Its not just about a conspiracy or crazy story, real people who lived during that time and knew this man lost a friend, a dad, etc. I love our country but I hate the corruption in our government. John never deserved to die that way and fought for what was right. Rest in peace brother!

I remember watching this when it first aired. It was still archived on PBS website years later and I watched it many times more. I went to high school with Barbara Bodine.

This particular episode when I fist saw it years ago .. haunted me so much & still does to this day. It’s compelling viewing how one man’s intuition could have prevented 9/11. But egos stepped in & blocked his safeguarding of a nation destined for a war that has been 20 years in the cleaning up.

So many awesome documentaries to watch, thank you!

I have rarely seen anything as good as this

How sad that due to egos a lot of people perished including the main protagonist. I do hope this episode is used to train future potential leaders as an abject lesson in how not to behave in similar circumstances.

I imagine Johns wife and children feel they paid a high personal cost as well.

This video, a Masterpiece. You don't destroy a Maverick", REST IN PEACE, SIR".

To me, the greatest lesson here is to recognize how large governmental bureaucracies, by their very nature, turn out to be incompetent to deal with the responsibilities they are assigned.Almost immediately upon their constitution, they develop interests that mitigate against their ability to succeed. The personality characteristics of those like John O'Neil -- the characteristics that would enable the bureaucracy to succeed in its mission -- are the very characteristics that such bureaucracies are threatened by, and who they therefore actively shut down. If a majority of Americans could become aware of the fact that U.S. government bureaucratic incompetence allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps we might have a chance to reclaim our country. But timing is everything. The time to know the facts in this documentary would have been immediately following Sept. 11, 2001 when everyone was still reeling from the incident. Of course, that was never possible except among the very bureaucrats responsible for the failure, and who therefore had an interest in keeping it quiet. (Consequently, those who refused to do interviews for the documentary). As it is, this sort of people -- like the bureaucrats mentioned in this documentary -- are the ones now running our country. There's no need to wonder why it all seems to be slipping away. It's because of very smart people in high places who are more interested in their own personal aggrandizement than they are in the interests of those they are appointed to serve. That would be you and me. This makes it all the more interesting that as a people we manage to develop intuitions of the true situation without actually becoming aware enough to do anything effective about it. We come up with slogans like "Drain the Swamp," without fully realizing that this is precisely what needs to be done, and doing it quickly.

I blame Ambassador Bodine who didnt want John to go back into Yemen as to why his career came to an end!! SHE WAS THE ONE

this dude is possibly the best narrator we could have the pleasure to listen to. keeps you involved , great voice. his name should be super thermite.

Tom Picard was obviously envious of John, Picard’s is a disgrace, he probably took the briefcase too!

❤RIP John O'Neil 🙏🏿Thank you😢

NOBODY does it better than FRONTLINE.

I am watching this on the day our 13 brave soldiers were brought home from Afghanistan. God bless their families.