Some 573 000 lines of messages sent to pagers on September 11, 2001 have been published by a website that posts documents that are “classified, censored or otherwise opaque to the public record.”

Members of the private-sector, governmental and unclassified military pagers were recipients of the message.

The site WikiLeaks explains the disclosures like this:

From 3AM on Wednesday November 25, 2009, until 3AM the following day (US east coast time), WikiLeaks will release over half a million US national text pager intercepts.

The intercepts cover a 24 hour period surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.

To foster a deeper understanding, the messages will be released to the global community “live”. That is, the first message, corresponding to 3AM September 11, 2001, five hours before the first attack, will be released at 3AM November 25, 2009 and the last, corresponding to 3AM September 12, 2001 at 3AM November 26, 2009. …

The archive is a completely objective record of the defining moment of our time. We hope that its revelation will lead to a more nuanced understanding of the event and its tragic consequences.

CBS News authenticates the messages — though they were posted anonymously.

“This trove of messages is likely to become a boon for historians, a new source of concern for privacy advocates, and, depending on the details, a point of embarrassment or pride for the government agencies and corporations whose internal conversations have been divulged.”

London’s Telegraph, meanwhile, writes that conspiracy theorists are “hoping that the messages will reveal a ’smoking gun’ showing that US intelligence agencies had advanced knowledge of the attacks.”

Over 3000 people died on September 11, 2001.