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American Morning

Interview with Sen. Bob Graham, Intelligence Committee

Aired May 15, 2002 - 09:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to the war on terror and renewed concerns about security here at home yesterday. Some new terror warnings. And the White House is taking some new steps to keep terrorists out of the U.S. President Bush just yesterday signed into law an immigration bill that would utilize new technology to enhance border security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No nation can be totally secure or more secure unless we're well-protected and unless our borders are well-screened. We must know who is coming in to our country and why they're coming. We must know what our visitors are doing and when they leave. That's important for us to -- knowledge necessary to make our homeland more secure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: This morning, "The New York Times" reporting that a classified memo written by an FBI agent last summer not only warned about Middle Eastern men training at U.S. flight schools, but also happened to mention Osama bin Laden by name. One of the people on Capitol Hill who is trying to make sure the U.S. keeps the hunt for bin Laden as a top priority is the chairman of the senate intelligence committee. Joining us now from Washington, Democratic Senator Bob Graham of Florida -- good to see you. Good morning, sir.

SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: Good morning.

ZAHN: So, first of all, were you aware that this FBI memo specifically named Osama bin Laden as perhaps being part of a plot?

GRAHAM: Yes, we had an extensive briefing on that memo, which is referred to as the "Phoenix Document," last Wednesday. And it was directed at flight schools in the Arizona area, which were alleged to have unusual number of Arab students and the suspicion that they had been sent there in a coordinated plot by Osama bin Laden in order to learn the U.S. civil aviation procedures.

ZAHN: Why didn't this memo set off all kinds of red flags?

GRAHAM: That is an excellent question for which we did not get a satisfactory answer on Wednesday. We're going to be starting soon a series of hearings of the House and the Senate Intelligence Committee on events that happened prior, on and after September the 11th. And a series of these types of reports and other pieces of investigative information which might have, if looked at together, given a picture of what was coming on September the 11th. Why those dots weren't seen and connected is going to be one of the key questions of our hearings.

ZAHN: Senator, would it be fair to say if this memo has been passed along to the right people, the tragedy of September 11 might have been prevented?

GRAHAM: Well, it might have been. If this had been seen in the context of other information, which indicated that there was a potential conspiracy to use commercial airliners as weapons of mass destruction, that that could have started a chain of events which would have disrupted September the 11th. But unfortunately, because the information was not placed in the right hands or was distributed too many places so there wasn't a single point of contact for analysis and reporting of what was going on, we failed to put the puzzle together before the horrific event.

ZAHN: And Senator Graham, I know you have made it abundantly clear in the last several weeks you don't think the U.S. is as secure as it should be, and you have actually gone as far to say that you believe that another terrorist attack is, quote, "a near certainty." Is there intelligence right now that really reinforces that? And if it is, are you able to share any of that with us this morning?

GRAHAM: Yeah. Paula, if the question is, is there intelligence that says when, how, who is going to launch such an attack, the answer is no. But we do know that there has been a rise in anti-Americanism around the world, particularly in the Middle East. We do know that there is a substantial number of trained operatives inside the United States who are here awaiting instructions as to launching an attack against the United States.

My own feeling is that while we ought to do everything we can, such as the measure that the president signed yesterday to give us greater border protection, that ultimately the war on terrorism is going to be won on the offensive by taking it to the terrorists where they live. And that key to protecting Americans at home is to have a continuous war being waged against the terrorists in all the places where international terrorist have found sanctuary.

ZAHN: But last week you actually said that you believe that militant members of Hezbollah might already be in the United States hatching plans.

GRAHAM: Yes, unfortunately, there are several international terrorist organizations, and several of those have operatives located in the United States, including al Qaeda and Hezbollah.

ZAHN: So what do we do about that?

GRAHAM: Well we need to increase our surveillance of those persons who are potential terrorists. We need to have a terrorist list that is broadly shared at the federal, state and local level. That's one of the provisions in a recently adopted bill by the Senate Intelligence Committee. We need to put a high priority on those intelligence agencies, such as the FBI, that have the primary responsibility for tracking terrorists within the United States.

But having said all of that, the key to winning the war on terrorism is going to be not on the defensive in the United States, but on the offensive. Taking out the capability to train, recruit and place operatives from places like Afghanistan and other sites, particularly in the Middle East, and to eliminate the infrastructure of terrorism.

ZAHN: Senator Graham, I just want to quickly close with your reaction to the so-called "photogate", the picture of President Bush that's being used to raise money for his party. Al Gore last night essentially said it was disgraceful. We've heard a lot of Democrats saying the same thing.

Do you think using this photo with the president communicating with the vice president is a disgraceful way to raise money?

GRAHAM: I would use a different phrase. I would say it was bad judgment. Here we are in a war, we're at a time when we are trying to maintain the unity of the nation. And I think the president has done an outstanding job of achieving that. Then using documents and items that are so reminiscent of key events over the past several months for a partisan purpose is contrary to achieving the national objective which the president has set, I think represents an act of very bad judgment and I hope will not be repeated.

ZAHN: Is bad judgment the same thing as exploitive?

GRAHAM: The fact that it wasn't seen that this was going to be a divisive step, taking a picture, whose whole context is related to the events of September 11 and using it to raise money for a particular political party or political candidate, is an inappropriate thing to do, contrary to the president's objectives of national unity. And it's an act of bad judgment that hopefully will not be repeated.

ZAHN: Senator Bob Graham, as always, thank you for your time here this morning. Good of you to drop by AM.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

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