Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is a longtime and well-known member of the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list, which notes his role as the suspected mastermind of the US Embassy bombings in East Africa in August 1998.

But a more infamous date—September 11, 2001—is nowhere to be found on the same FBI notice.

The curious omission underscores the Justice Department’s decision to not seek formal charges against bin Laden for approving al-Qaeda’s most notorious and successful terrorist attack. The notice says bin Laden is “a suspect in other terrorist attacks” but does not provide details.

The absence has provided fodder for conspiracy theorists who think the US government or another power was behind the 9/11 hijackings. From this point of view, the lack of a September 11 reference suggests the connection to al-Qaeda is uncertain. Exhaustive government and independent investigations have concluded otherwise, of course.

FBI officials say the wanted poster merely reflects the government’s long-standing practice of relying on actual criminal charges in the notices.

David Kelley, the former US attorney in New York who oversaw terrorism cases when bin Laden was indicted for the embassy bombings there in 1998, said he is not at all surprised by the lack of a reference to September 11 on the official wanted poster. Kelley said the issue is a matter of legal restrictions and the need to be fair to any defendant.

“It might seem a little strange from the outside, but it makes sense from a legal point of view,” said Kelley, now in private practice. “If I were in government, I’d be troubled if I were asked to put up a wanted picture where no formal charges had been filed, no matter who it was.”

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