Did Echelon Overlook Terrorist Threat?

The US National Security Agency engaged the so-called Echelon communications monitoring network, following on warnings of possible terrorist attacks, as long as three months ago, a German publication, Allgemeine Zeitung, has reported. Western and Middle East intelligence services received warnings more than six months ago that terrorists were planning attacks using hijacked airplanes against prominent symbols of American and Israeli culture in the United States and elsewhere