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CNN Live At Daybreak

Al Qaeda May Target Apartment Buildings

Aired May 20, 2002 - 06:06   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: FBI guidance for apartment managers to be vigilant taken with last week's disclosure about pre-9/11 terror warnings begs a question or two. What should you be told about terrorism threats, and when should you be told?

CNN's Patty Davis has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Renters at this apartment building in San Francisco warned by the property manager this weekend about new U.S. intelligence, Osama bin Laden's terrorist group may target buildings such as theirs.

DONALD DANIEL, RENTER: I can be vigilant. I can be aware of my neighbors and my surroundings. And if I do see something suspicious, I can report it.

DAVIS: Also over the weekend, an administration official says the U.S. is picking up an increased level of al Qaeda chatter and activity that could mean another terrorist attack is in the works. Those threats released as a Bush administration fights charges it should have warned Americans about possible attacks prior to September 11.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What's the right point at which you want to alert everybody, and at one point do you hold off on the grounds that that would be more disruptive or the quality of intelligence at this point is vague?

DAVIS: In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, a dilemma for the White House, what to tell Americans about new terrorist threats, even if they are vague.

ROB BROWNSTEIN, POLITICAL ANALYST: It is a little bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. The times they have been criticized for scaring or frightening the public with threats that didn't bear out. On the other hand, the cost of not going forward with information that does bear could be politically enormous.

DAVIS (on camera): Some terrorism experts say the warnings, including those for possible attacks on banks in the northeast, on malls, and the possibility of dirty bombs, are useful to the public. BRIAN JENKINS, TERRORISM EXPERT: The information may have some utility, even when it is vague, if nothing else to remind us to be vigilant, to remind us that we are at war.

DAVIS (voice-over): Many of the threats now being passed along to help prepare Americans for another terrorist attack, which the Bush administration says is not a matter of if, but when.

Patty Davis, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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