USS Cole commander recalls chilling 9/11 warning at CIA just 20 minutes before first plane hit

Just 20 minutes before the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 , the USS Cole's former commander made a chilling prediction inside CIA headquarters.

Speaking on the "Fox News Rundown" podcast commemorating the 25th anniversary of 9/11, retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold said the moment at Langley underscores a lesson he believes the nation cannot afford to forget.

Lippold said he had just finished a briefing with a senior CIA official about intelligence related to the USS Cole attack.

When asked for his assessment, Lippold warned that it would likely take a catastrophic event on U.S. soil for the American people to recognize the threat.

FOR 'HORRIBLE MOMENT,' BUSH WHITE HOUSE THOUGHT US MILITARY SHOT DOWN FLIGHT 93 "I said, 'I'm [going to] be honest with you, sir, America doesn't understand.

I believe it is going to take a seminal event probably in this country where hundreds, if not thousands, died before Americans realized that we are at war with this guy,' meaning [Osama] bin Laden," Lippold told Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson.

"20 minutes after I said that, the first plane hit the North Tower, and I was literally leaving the headquarters when the plane hit the South Tower," he added.

25 YEARS LATER, 9/11 MEMORIES ENDURE AS NATION GATHERS TO HONOR NEARLY 3,000 LIVES LOST The September 11 terror attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, while thousands more have died from related illnesses.

Less than a year before that day, Lippold was the commanding officer of the USS Cole when al Qaeda terrorists attacked the guided-missile destroyer.

On October 12, 2000, two suicide bombers in a small boat pulled alongside the ship in Aden, Yemen, offering friendly gestures before detonating explosives in their boat alongside the Cole.

Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed, and 37 others were injured in the blast, which ripped a hole near the ship's waterline.

AMERICA BUILT A FORTRESS AFTER 9/11.

THEN THE THREAT STARTED HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT That incident was one of several al Qaeda attacks in the years leading up to 9/11, including the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, that Lippold argues went largely unanswered by U.S. leadership.

For Lippold, watching the Pentagon burn on 9/11 reinforced his belief that the United States must aggressively confront terrorist groups around the globe.