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CNN Live Today

Rep. Gephardt Would Establish Independent 9/11 Commission

Aired May 21, 2002 - 11:09   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: Dick Gephardt has a lot of ideas, including he wants to establish an independent commission to investigate the 9/11 attacks. The White House is of course against that.

We want to go live to Washington now to talk to Kelly Wallace about that.

Independent commission, Kelly? Is the White House still absolutely dead set against that?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House is very much against that, Carol. Ari Fleischer, the president's spokesman, in fact, was asked about that again today. And he said that Vice President Cheney and other U.S. officials have made it clear they believe this investigation into what the administration knew before September 11th and how it handled that information should really be restricted to the intelligence committees in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. That most of the hearings should be closed.

The administration saying that is the best way to protect intelligence information as this war against terror continues. We didn't hear, though, from the House democratic leader there. But my understanding, talking to some Democratic sources, is that Democrats are likely to point to this latest development, the fact that we know that the FBI Director Robert Mueller and Attorney General John Ashcroft were briefed in the days after September 11th about the general suspicions that this FBI agent in Phoenix happened to be raising concerns that Middle Eastern men possibly tied to Osama bin Laden were taking flight classes in the United States and that that information was not communicated to the White House until very recently.

So my understanding from some Democrat sources I've talked to is that they're going to use this development as another reason that Democrats believe there should be an independent commission, an outside panel that the House of Representatives, the Senate, the White House can choose members. But that it should be an outside panel. That this so important it should really be an outside review panel into what the administration knew and how it handled it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Kelly, I've been wanting to ask you this for a long time. The FAA did know about this Phoenix memo. Why isn't more heat being placed on the FAA?

WALLACE: Well, that's a very good question as well. I do know that the FAA did know about this memo. A big question is why this information not communicated potentially to the airlines. We do know that the FAA issued I think it's more than a dozen or maybe around that ballpark figure of warnings to the airlines over the past several months last summer. Concerns about the possibility of a terrorist attack in the United States. Concern of a possible hijacking; that that information was communicated to the airlines.

And you know, Carol, what you heard Kelli Arena say -- and we're getting this from officials here -- is that this memo about concerns raised about flight classes in the United States that immediately -- almost right after the September 11th tragedy -- the immediate focus was on flight classes on the United States. Who was taking classes, who else was possibly taking classes, what was going on?

So a lot of U.S. officials are saying that was immediately done after September 11th. They accept that there should be questions as to how that memo handled before September 11th. But they say looking at in the days after, it's almost really not a point, because there was an immediate focus on flight schools in this country -- Carol.

COSTELLO: One other question for you. Dick Gephardt just said he wants to give the director of homeland security more authority with the budget and operational matters. He wants him to be allowed to testify before Congress. Do you think that will ever be possible?

WALLACE: Well, you now, this is sort of ongoing call by members of Congress. They would like to see that office, a cabinet level post. That means giving the director budgetary authority, the ability to make and enforce budgets, statutory authority, making it a cabinet position. The administration's position is that right now Tom Ridge and his staff are trying to craft a national strategy to deal with homeland security. That strategy is expected to be unveiled sometime this summer.

And at that point, the administration looking into whether any structural changes should be made, such as, should this position become a cabinet level post? So the administration saying let this office do its work right now. And as it reviews its plans, it will make a determination if that is something the president could support. Because up until now, he and his aides have not supported that move -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. We'll follow Gephardt's bill through Congress. Thank you. Kelly Wallace, reporting live from Washington today.

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