For over two decades, the FBI’s official timeline of the 9/11 hijackers has stood as the foundation for understanding how the attacks were planned and executed. But in Parallax 9/11: Part 1, author R. Taylor Hopkinson challenges a key detail: the supposed date Mohamed Atta first entered the United States.
According to the official record, Atta arrived in Newark, New Jersey on June 3, 2000. Yet multiple testimonies—including some documented in legal cases and confirmed by polygraph—suggest Atta was in Florida as early as April of that year, raising critical questions about the accuracy of the timeline and the broader investigation.
One of the most significant accounts comes from Johnelle Bryant, a USDA loan officer based in Homestead, Florida. Bryant says Atta visited her office seeking a $650,000 loan to purchase and retrofit a crop-dusting aircraft. During their meeting, he mentioned Bin Laden, referenced the Pentagon, and made alarming threats. Her description of the event was detailed and consistent. More importantly, it placed Atta in the U.S. several weeks before the date provided by the FBI.
Bryant passed a lie detector test when recounting the encounter. Her testimony was reported but never became central to the 9/11 Commission’s investigation. Why? That’s one of the key questions Hopkinson raises.
The story becomes even more complicated with the case of Keith Chapman, a British man killed in a hit-and-run accident in May 2000 while on holiday in Florida. Chapman’s friends, who witnessed the incident, later identified the driver as none other than Mohamed Atta—after seeing his image on the news post-9/11. Their reaction wasn’t vague. It was immediate, emotional, and filled with disbelief.
Hopkinson, who was representing Chapman’s family at the time, initially approached the case like any other. But these revelations led him to reexamine the timeline, the evidence, and the possibility that the U.S. government may have either overlooked or omitted key pieces of the puzzle.
Parallax 9/11 doesn’t point fingers. It doesn’t claim conspiracy. But it does demand accountability and curiosity. If Atta was indeed in the country earlier than reported, what else in the timeline may be inaccurate? And more urgently, what opportunities for prevention might have been missed?
This isn’t just about correcting dates. It’s about understanding how an operation of this magnitude was able to unfold under the radar, even after apparent encounters with U.S. officials.
Hopkinson’s legal background lends the book a unique credibility. He presents witness testimony, legal documents, and personal investigation with precision, allowing readers to form their own conclusions. The book asks us not to rewrite history, but to complete it.
Was Mohamed Atta in the U.S. earlier than we’ve been told? The evidence suggests it’s possible. And if that’s true, it’s not a minor discrepancy—it’s a call to revisit how truth is recorded, remembered, and acted upon.
Parallax 9/11: Part 1 is now available. Read the story that may change how we see one of the most pivotal events of our time.