Podcast Summary: “Three Times 9/11” — Sarah Adams Warns Massive Terror Attack Hitting U.S. Soon

Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Host: iHeartPodcasts
Episode: Ep. 61
Original Air Date: September 29, 2025
Guest: Sarah Adams (Former CIA, counterterrorism expert)

Overview

This urgent episode features former CIA counterterrorism analyst Sarah Adams, who shares alarming intelligence indicating a large-scale terrorist plot against the United States—potentially “three times the size of 9/11.” Adams walks listeners through the structure, intent, evolution, and current threat level posed by Al Qaeda, ISIS, and a multitude of aligned terror groups, stressing their renewed coordination and sophisticated infiltration strategies. The conversation covers terrorist intermarriage, failed U.S. intelligence, compromised immigration pipelines, sleeper cell tactics, and local law enforcement preparedness, concluding with a candid call for national honesty and proactive security.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Scope and Details of the Threat

• The Plot:

  • Intelligence points to a plot “three times the size of 9/11,” involving:
    • Downing a dozen airliners with suicide bombers.
    • Siege-style ground attacks on U.S. soil, especially Washington D.C., modeled after the "Mumbai" style.
    • Community-level attacks targeting where Americans “live, work, and play”—churches, shopping centers, hospitals.
    • Focused effort to strike veteran-heavy communities “to make the veterans feel in their hometowns what they felt in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan.”
      (Sarah Adams, 03:07–04:32)

• Fused Terror Networks:

  • The current Al Qaeda, Taliban, and Haqqani networks are no longer separate; their families have intermarried.

    • “When you have the Minister of Defense of the Taliban, he’s the brother-in-law of Ham Laden... So, if they're intermarried, they’re no longer separate.”
      (Sarah Adams, 06:24)

  • A new organizational body, the Islamic Resistance Council, allows collaboration and resource-sharing among terror groups (Al Qaeda, ISIS, Al Shabaab, JNIM, and more).
    (Sarah Adams, 06:24–08:26)

2. U.S. Intelligence Gaps and Failures

• Shifted Attention:

  • U.S. counterterror resources shifted from Al Qaeda to ISIS for years, leading to exploitation by terrorists.
  • Intelligence agencies often accept falsified “kills” (e.g., reporting ISIS leaders killed who are later proven alive) and depend on information provided by terrorists themselves.
    (Sarah Adams, 09:38–11:54)

• Critical Quote:

  • “We killed the head of ISIS twice in Syria. Guess what? He’s alive. So we’re going to kill him a third time.”
    (Sarah Adams, 09:38)

• Government Reluctance:

  • Internal U.S. government reluctance even to name Al Qaeda as a current threat—until a recent memo by Joe Kent, which Adams praised as giving some hope for change.
    (Sarah Adams, 11:54)

3. Terrorist Recruitment, Training, and Infiltration

• Terrorist Training:

  • Modern terrorist external operations pipeline includes “selection,” language/cultural training, advanced urban warfare, suicide bombing, use of U.S. training facilities left behind in Afghanistan.
  • “They trained 2,500 external suicide bombers at a time. Every single one of those 2,500 is leaving Afghanistan.”
    (Sarah Adams, 16:14)

• Hierarchies and Leadership:

  • Terrorist “elite” are hand-selected by Hamza bin Laden or high-ranking ISIS leaders, blessed for missions, emphasizing generational succession and operational specialization.
    (Sarah Adams, 21:27)
  • “The airplane suicide bombers have always been special. Osama bin Laden put out his video, the Manhattan raid video, when he went in and actually chose the 20.”
    (Sarah Adams, 21:27)

4. Operational Tactics and U.S. Infiltration

• Entry to U.S.:

  • Multiple routes: via Latin America, official visas, refugee programs, or even aided by U.S. government evacuation efforts (“We also evacuated a number of these Al Qaeda and ISIS figures ourselves... our government put them on our military bases and brought them here.”)
    (Sarah Adams, 25:53)

  • Compromised SIV pipeline:

    • Al Qaeda and ISIS have exploited the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program with fake credentials (cost: $10k–$40k depending on group), using short, poorly vetted employment stints as cover.
      (Sarah Adams, 27:49)

• Integration and Cell Activity:

  • Cells enter with support, are already linked to a job/community, specialize in roles (“not all are sleepers; some make IEDs, others do intelligence collection or recruitment”).
  • “Some of them have been in country two years doing these processes... sleepers are very, very active.”
    (Sarah Adams, 29:31)

5. Domestic Security, Law Enforcement, and Community Vigilance

• Dispelling Myths About ‘Sleeper Cells’:

  • Modern cells avoid isolation and ethnic enclaves; they integrate into communities where they “make sense,” guided by cover, operational needs, and Westernization.
  • “They wanted to do the complete opposite of 9/11... These are going to be very westernized people. So this isn’t going to be someone who comes off as very extremist... just to let you know, the sleepers are very, very active.” (Sarah Adams, 36:19–39:26)

• Law Enforcement Readiness:

  • Small municipal police departments are underfunded and often unaware; only those with proactive members are seeking proper multi-shooter, multi-site attack training.
  • Adams urges agencies to use “active shooter” drills with multiple actors as a cover for real counterterror preparations.
    (Sarah Adams, 40:25, 42:19)

• Public Recommendations:

  • Focus on your family and immediate community—home defense, neighborhood organization, relationships with local law enforcement, veteran groups, and securing secondary emergency resources (like blood banks and alternative care sites).
    (Sarah Adams, 44:37)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “They want to do three times the size of 9/11. It’s very simple. They want to do another aviation plot, but this time their intent is to take down a dozen airliners… kind of like a siege on D.C.—very Mumbai style.”
  — Sarah Adams, 03:07

• “Now all their kids are in their forties… So first off, there seems to be a lot of confusion still in the government where they say Al Qaeda, Taliban, Haqqani... If they’re intermarried, they’re no longer separate.”
  — Sarah Adams, 06:24

• “The CIA got the assessment wrong that Hamza Bin Laden is dead. So they told it to President Trump… now they don’t want to go tell Trump because he’s obviously gonna wipe out their whole department, which he should do because... they’re covering their own butts.”
  — Sarah Adams, 10:53

• “The airplane suicide bombers have always been special. Osama bin Laden put out his video, the Manhattan raid video, when he went in and actually chose the 20... those have always been a top priority.”
  — Sarah Adams, 21:27

• “Our government put [terrorists] on our military bases... brought them here, which is going to blow the American people’s minds when we have dead terrorists and they ended up being shepherded out by the US government.”
  — Sarah Adams, 25:53

• “The only way to thwart a terrorist attack is you gotta be proactive against it, which we haven’t been. One way to be proactive against it is you gotta go after the masterminds.”
  — Sarah Adams, 47:42

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:07 — Adams presents the current threat: “Three times the size of 9/11.”
• 06:24 — Terrorist intermarriage eliminates boundaries between Al Qaeda, Taliban, Haqqani.
• 09:38 — U.S. intelligence blind spots and the “fake kill” problem.
• 13:30 — Modern terrorist selection, training, and role specialization.
• 16:14 — Mass suicide bomber production in Afghanistan.
• 21:27 — Terror chain of command: how elite attackers are chosen.
• 25:53 — How terrorists enter the U.S.; compromised SIV process.
• 29:31 — What “sleeper cells” do in America; their integration and roles.
• 36:19 — Myths about sleeper cell placement and operational security.
• 40:25 — Law enforcement readiness and realistic drills.
• 44:37 — Public advice for preparedness, response, and resilience.
• 47:42 — Adams’ recommendations for government action.

Conclusion: Expert Recommendations & Final Thoughts

Sarah Adams concludes with a call for the U.S. government to “tell the truth” to both the public and internal agencies, root out intelligence and security failures, aggressively target terrorist masterminds, and fix compromised immigration and intelligence pipelines. She urges local law enforcement and civilians to focus on realistic preparation, collaboration, and community resilience.

“Al Qaeda is going to do this massive attack, then they have to cut off the pieces of misinformation... The only way to thwart a terrorist attack is you gotta be proactive against it, which we haven’t been.”
— Sarah Adams, 47:42

This summary distills the urgent warnings and practical recommendations voiced by Sarah Adams, making clear the evolving and imminent nature of the threat, the sophistication of adversaries, and the essential need for vigilance and candor at all levels of American society and government.