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CNN Live Today

Who Knew About the So-Called Phoenix Memo and When?

Aired May 21, 2002 - 13:01   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: First up this hour, now the latest from the White House on intelligence failures surrounding the 9/11 attacks and the congressional call for a probe into what went wrong.

Kathleen Koch outside the White House front lawn for more on this, and there continues to be a number of branches on this tree.

Kathleen, good afternoon.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good, afternoon, Bill.

One of the first questions that Press Secretary Ari Fleischer got today was about the August briefing that the president received in which he learned that al Qaeda operatives might try to target, might try to hijack U.S. aircraft. Now there are plenty of people in Congress, plenty of members, senators and congressmen, who would like to see that memo and Ari Fleischer today said that is not going to happen.

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ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If the presidential daily brief, which is a highly sensitized -- the most highly sensitized, classified document in the government, if document were to be at risk of public reporting, public release, the people who prepare it will hold back and not give the president of the United States, the person who needs most of the -- the most information, they will be inclined to give him less rather than more because they fear that it will get made public and that could compromise sources or methods.

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KOCH: Now despite some hints over the last few days that some parts of that briefing might be shown to members of the House or Senate Intelligence Committee, perhaps excerpted, Ari Fleischer today said that is not going to happen. But that is why, again he says, they continue working with these two committees, with their ongoing investigations which is where the White House believes the investigation needs to remain.

However, there are plenty of members of Congress, primary among them the House Minority Leader Congressman Dick Gephardt, who today renewed his call for a public inquiry, a very broad inquiry into what happened on September 11 and whether or not the intelligence agencies and the president did enough to try and stop it.

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REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: That's the reason I think we need a commission, in addition to the good work that's going on in the intelligence committees, to get answers to these questions as quickly as possible. I think that we need to move on both of these fronts. I think that information that was available needs to be put out.

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KOCH: Now there were a lot of questions about this so-called Phoenix memo, a memo written by an FBI agent in July that expressed some concern about Middle Eastern men taking flight lessons at an Arizona flight school and the concern that they might be connected with al Qaeda. Now sources tell CNN that FBI director Robert Mueller and Attorney General John Ashcroft learned about that memo in the days after 9/11, with the attorney general getting a broader, more extensive briefing on the exact contents about a month ago. However, we're learning today that the president himself only heard about that memo over the last couple of weeks.

Now Ari Fleischer when confronted with questions about whether or not that was a problem, said that no, that looking backwards, in the White House's opinion, is now the job of those House and Senate Intelligence Committees to find out what fell through the cracks and why in the days before 9/11. And he said that the news that al Qaeda operatives attended flight schools become readily apparent after 9/11. That's why the federal government, federal agencies immediately descended on many flight schools, investigating them, making sure there were no more perpetrators with plans in the works such as what happened on 9/11. And again, despite questions -- other questions whether or not the president had confidence in his staff, in the attorney general and Robert Mueller, he said he did.

Back to you.

HEMMER: Kathleen, thank you. Kathleen Koch at the White House.

And we hear today from two government sources that FBI director Robert Mueller and the Attorney General John Ashcroft both made aware, at least in general terms anyway, of the so-called Phoenix memo in the early aftermath, the days after 9/11. Mueller and the memo's author are both due to meet with senators today on Capitol Hill.

And for more on this, to Kelli Arena who covers the Justice Department for us.

Kelli, good afternoon.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.

Well the FBI agent who wrote that now famous memo will be debriefed by the Senate Judiciary Committee later this afternoon. Now officials hope that once agent Kenneth Williams provides some context that the controversy will finally be put to rest. Now in July, Williams raised concerns about some Middle Eastern men who were attending a flight school in Arizona and he raised broader questions about such men attending flight schools nationwide. Now while that memo was sent to two terrorism task forces at FBI headquarters, no action was taken.

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SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: There are some very fundamental questions to be answered here which do not get into any of the confidential memos or any sources and methods and that is why director Mueller and the FBI did not turn over the Phoenix memo to the Judiciary Committee on their own before it was sought after and why the FBI did not tell the CIA this fundamental information so the CIA would have it when they were briefing the president.

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ARENA: The focus today is on when the president was informed about the memo. Now that did not happen until April, but as has been previously mentioned, the suspicions raised in that memo were all too clear on September 11, and the basic information in that memo was known by both the FBI director and the attorney general just after the attack. Now administration officials say what is really important is what happened before 9/11 and what can be done to fix the lines of communication -- Bill?

HEMMER: Kelli, thanks. Rest your voice, you've been working hard.

ARENA: I'll try.

HEMMER: Kelli Arena live in D.C., thank you.

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