Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Controversy Brewing Over 9/11 Warnings

Aired May 17, 2002 - 07:06   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: Back to stateside news, the latest on the brewing controversy over the terror threat President Bush received last summer.

There could be huge fallout from this one. A political storm is brewing. Some folks say this is just about politics. Members of Congress are demanding full disclosure, and an investigation into why pre-9/11 warnings of terrorist attacks failed to set off alarms.

Senior White House correspondent, John King, has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The President was said to be angry but gave no hint of that in public. In private though, he told Senate Republicans: "There's a sniff of politics in the air," and others in the White House forcefully took issue with any suggestion that Mr. Bush had advance warning of the September 11th hijacking plot.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Had this President known of something more specific or known that a plane was going to be used as a missile, he would have acted on it.

KING: But the disclosure that Mr. Bush was told last August, even generally about the possibility of an al Qaeda hijacking, raised new questions about whether the government ignored clues a major strike was imminent.

U.S. SENATOR RICAHRD SHELBY (R) SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I think it was a lost opportunity if you put it all in context, not just the briefing of the President, but the FBI is involved here and I think they could have done a better job but they didn't.

KING: The President was vacationing in Texas last August, on the 6th in seclusion on his Crawford Ranch, Mr. Bush read a one and a half page classified analysis.

For the first time, the CIA warned of possible al Qaeda hijackings of American carriers, but said it believed the greater threat was on U.S. military and other installations abroad. The administration says it quickly took appropriate action, not only in the wake of the August intelligence briefing, but throughout the spring and summer months as reports of increasing al Qaeda activity poured in.

Overseas installations were ordered to improve security. The Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration were warned several times of a general hijacking threat here at home, and those agencies say that general information was passed on to the airlines.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is important to note that this was a non-specific threat that mentioned hijacking.

KING: One question now is why it took eight months for the White House to disclose the President had been told of a potential hijacking plot. Top Bush aides say the pre-September 11th briefing is public knowledge now because the White House is sharing information with congressional investigators. The administration says no one said anything in public about the alert before September 11th or in the eight months since because it was so vague.

RICE: There was nothing that said this is going to happen or this might happen. It said this is a method that these people might be considering. That was the nature of this, and it was very non- specific.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Now, the White House says questions about what the government knew in advance of those attacks are legitimate, and that it will fully cooperate with any congressional inquiries.

But we are also told in private the president is seething at a handful of Democrats he believes went way out of bounds yesterday by suggesting that perhaps he knew something and could have done something to prevent the attacks in the first place. The vice president added his voice to the growing political debate last night, saying some Democrats were acting in a way he considered wholly irresponsible -- Paula.

ZAHN: Nevertheless, John, the White House has had to brace itself now for this criticism. Walk us through the strategy it is using or it used yesterday when this news became public. Did they not have to make this look like it was not a cover-up?

KING: The White House decided yesterday to roll out one of the heavy guns, if you will, the national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice. She more than anyone, except the president and the vice president, is privy to the intelligence data, privy to everything the president knew in advance.

So she came out with a lot of details about everything the administration knew and everything the administration did, not only in August, but going back to April, May, June and July of last year. Her case was every time the administration got a sniff of a problem, it did something about it, and unfortunately, it just simply didn't know enough.

Members of Congress, though, say the FBI knew some things it didn't share with the CIA. Both agencies knew things perhaps they didn't share with the president. So the members of Congress say there are legitimate questions to be answered here.

There is a sense of siege here at the White House, if you will. This is one of the first times since September 11 this White House has been on the defensive. The one person we have yet to hear from about any of this, Mr. Bush himself -- Paula.

ZAHN: John, before we let you go, yesterday Senator Shelby was a guest on this show, and he said it was his expectation -- he of course, is in the Senate Intelligence Committee. It was his expectation the White House would hand over a copy of the president's briefing. But I am reading this morning that a lot of other of his colleagues do not expect that to happen. How do you think that will play out?

KING: There is some anxiety here, because that document, the president's daily briefing, is among the most sensitive documents in the U.S. government. A handful of people are cleared to have access to it, the president, the vice president, the national security advisor, the White House chief of staff.

The consensus here at the White House is if they felt confident they could give that document to the intelligence committees that it would be reviewed by those who have top-secret clearance and not made public. That would be acceptable.

Some concern here about setting a precedent of putting such a top-secret document, even months after the fact, into the public record, because they believe in the future then, committees would say you have done this once. Send it again. They are worried about that here at the White House.

ZAHN: All right. John King reporting from the White House this morning -- thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.