Cast Member and Experts Share Insights from “The Looming Tower”

Lawrence Wright, Wrenn Schmidt and Ali Soufan speak onstage as part of a public program at the Museum auditorium. Cliff Chanin, the executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs, is interviewing them.
Lawrence Wright, Wrenn Schmidt and Ali Soufan discuss “The Looming Tower” with Cliff Chanin, executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Photo by Monika Graff.

On Tuesday, March 13, author Lawrence Wright, former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Ali Soufan and actress Wrenn Schmidt gathered at the 9/11 Memorial Museum to discuss Hulu’s limited series “The Looming Tower.”

The series, based on Wright’s Pulitzer Prize–winning book, traces the rising threat of al-Qaeda in the late 1990s and exposes clashes between the FBI and CIA that may have undermined coordination to prevent the 9/11 attacks.

Starring Jeff Daniels, Tahar Rahim, Peter Sarsgaard and Wrenn Schmidt, the series premiered on Hulu on February 28, with new episodes streaming weekly on Wednesdays.

In the video clip below, Soufan discusses the much-improved relationship between the FBI and the CIA compared to the lack of interagency communication that characterized the agencies in the years leading up to 9/11.

“I think now the situation is a lot better,” said Soufan. “I think institutionally, both the FBI and the CIA put a lot of protocols in place that prevent individuals from playing this game that people played before 9/11. So I think we’re in a way better situation.”

You can watch the full program here.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

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