One document called "Future Works" appears to have been the product of discussions to find new targets and methods of attack, CNN said. German investigators believe it was written in 2009 -- and that it remains the template for Al Qaeda's plans. A year after the document was written, European intelligence agencies were scrambling to investigate a Mumbai-style plot involving German and other European militants which sparked an unprecedented US State Department travel warning for Americans in Europe.

"I think it is plausible to think that the 'Future Works' document is part of that particular project," investigative journalist Yassin Musharbash, a reporter with the German newspaper Die Zeit, who was the first to report on the documents, was quoted as saying. "The document delivers very clearly the notion that Al Qaeda knows it is being followed very closely," Musharbash told CNN. While "Future Works" does not include dates or places, nor specific plans, it appears to be a brainstorming exercise to seize the initiative-and reinstate Al Qaeda on front pages around the world, it said.