Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
News of General Warning Prior to September 11 That Bin Laden to Possible Hijacking
Aired May 16, 2002 - 05:02 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The news of a general warning prior to September 11 that linked Osama bin Laden to a possible hijacking comes as Congress prepares to hold hearings.
CNN's senior White House correspondent John King is covering the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We want to be very careful in how we say this because of the potential sensitivities, but the White House is disclosing for the first time tonight that the president was warned in his intelligence reports last summer about the possibility that al Qaeda might try to hijack a U.S.-based airliner.
Now, U.S. officials telling us that a hijacking was a number of a range of options in the president's daily intelligence briefing as officials raised concerns with the president and other senior U.S. officials about the possibility, they viewed it as the increasing likelihood, that the bin Laden network would try to launch an attack either on the United States or on U.S. interests overseas.
Now, officials stress that first and foremost the appropriate agencies were notified about the possibility of a potential hijacking and they also say, though, that there was no information at all about a specific date, about a specific target, about a specific airline and most importantly, they say, there was no information at all that this would be the use of a hijacking so that it would turn the airplane into a bomb, as what was done on September 11.
U.S. officials say it was very vague. It was considered credible but not specific. They say the president made sure this information was passed on to appropriate agencies and that he did all he could. Of course, it comes at a time when there are questions in the Congress about whether the government was prepared for what happened on September 11. So it is likely to be debated and questioned in the days and weeks ahead.
Again, for the first time tonight, the White House acknowledging the word hijacking, the potential of a hijacking was raised in the president's intelligence reports in the summer just prior to September 11 attacks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: John King reporting.
Hindsight is also 20/20 when it comes to FBI agents warning of terrorism plots prior to September 11.
CNN's Kelli Arena looks at two FBI memos that raise suspicions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Osama bin Laden's name was specifically mentioned in a memo written by an FBI agent in Phoenix last summer urging headquarters to investigate Middle Eastern men enrolled in flight schools. It's just the latest bit of information to trickle out about the classified memo which came to light back in October.
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D-FL), INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: 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.
ARENA: The mention of bin Laden did not lend special credence to the memo, as he's been at the top of the terror radar screen since 1993. But FBI Director Robert Mueller last week admitted headquarters gave the memo too little attention and offered this defense.
ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: There are more than 2,000 aviation academies in the United States. There are the latest figure I think I heard is something like 20,000 students attending them. And it was perceived that this would be a monumental undertaking without any specificity as to particular persons.
ARENA: But consider this. There was a note sent from an agent in Minneapolis about Zacarias Moussaoui, suggesting he might be planning to fly something into the World Trade Center. That sounds pretty specific. But several officials point out it was merely speculation at the time.
MUELLER: Red flags went up. The agent in Minneapolis did a terrific job in pushing as hard as he could to do everything we possibly could with Moussaoui. But did we discern from that that there was a plot that would have led us to the September 11? No.
ARENA: Moussaoui, you may recall, is in U.S. custody and investigators believe he was supposed to be the 20th hijacker. The FBI is undergoing a major overhaul. It's shifting its focus from crime fighting to intelligence gathering. And it's going to spearhead the fight against terrorism from headquarters, not from field offices.
NANCY SAVAGE, PRESIDENT, FBI AGENTS ASSOCIATION: We know that it still takes a case agent to make a case and I don't think anyone's trying to change that. They just want to make sure that all of the information is coalesced in a central point because these are national and international rings. ARENA (on camera): While the basic outline of the reorganization was made public months ago, specifics are still being ironed out. Mueller is meeting with special agents from around the country this week to fine tune his plan.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And you can find out more about the FBI's new terrorism fighting team and the pre-September 11 warnings on our Web site. Go to cnn.com, AOL keyword, of course, CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
