French Knew of Hijack Plot in January 2001?

According to this article, which will no doubt be the subject of a flurry of new CT claims:

France's foreign intelligence service learned as early as January 2001 that al-Qaida was preparing a hijacking plot likely to involve a U.S. airplane, former intelligence officials said Monday, confirming a report that also said the CIA received the warning.

Le Monde newspaper said it had obtained 328 pages of classified documents on Osama bin Laden's terror network that were drawn up by the French spy service, the DGSE, between July 2000 and October 2001. The documents included a Jan. 5, 2001, intelligence report warning that al-Qaida was at work on a hijacking plot.

But this part will get ignored:

"It wasn't about a specific airline or a specific day, it was not a precise plot," Lorenzi told The Associated Press. "It was a note that said, 'They are preparing a plot to hijack an airplane, and they have cited several companies.'"

And:

In a version declassified last September, the report shows that the Federal Aviation Administration's intelligence unit received "nearly 200 pieces of threat-related information daily from U.S. intelligence agencies, particularly the FBI, CIA, and State Department."

And this bit:

Le Monde quoted Pierre-Antoine Lorenzi, a former chief of staff for the intelligence agency's director, as saying, "You have to remember that up until 2001, hijacking an airplane did not have the same meaning as after September 11. At the time, that meant forcing an airplane to land in an airport to carry out negotiations. We were used to handling that."

There is quite a bit of speculation among conservative bloggers that this may be the information that Sandy Berger smuggled out in his pants. Jeff Goldstein:

And speaking of briefs, now would be a good time to find out just what, exactly, Sandy Berger was stuffing down his.

AJ Strata:

So I would wager the smoking gun Sandy Bergler risked serious jail time to destroy was something having to do with early warnings of a Bin Laden plot to highjack airlines, sourced or confirmed by the French.

I come down mostly where Curt of Flopping Aces does on this:

Personally, I'm not one that is into playing the "blame-game". We can point fingers all we want in a lot of directions, but I don't see it as particularly productive as we were all asleep (with a few exceptions) on the looming threat of terrorism on the grand scale of what happened on 9/11. It isn't Clinton's failure. It isn't Bush's failure.