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CNN Live At Daybreak

Terror Threats Come Just Before Memorial Day Weekend

Aired May 22, 2002 - 05:01   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There may be specific targets in New York City, but the terror threats are general. Still, they come just before the Memorial Day weekend and at the beginning of the city's annual Fleet Week.

And as CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports, law enforcement officials are responding to the threats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty, American symbols. Now, sources say, possible terrorist targets. The FBI alerting New York's Joint Terrorist Task Force of new information. City landmarks may be at risk. Also warning the public in a statement that the United States government has received unsubstantiated and uncorroborated information that terrorists are considering attacks against landmarks in New York City.

The FBI has few other details -- no time, no date, no idea how such an attack would be carried out. It's America's new reality in the war against terrorists.

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER DETECTIVE, FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: We're in the game. We were in the game before 9/11 and a lot of people didn't realize we were in the game. And this game they're playing for keeps.

FEYERICK: Security in New York City already tight after 9/11, now even tighter. Police, who never comment on counter-terrorism operations, saying...

RAY KELLY, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: Certainly after 9/11 anything is possible, but I think we are doing the best that we reasonably can do to prevent another incident and to respond if, god forbid, there is one.

FEYERICK: Traffic at many New York bridges slowed by police checkpoints. And though tourists can travel to Liberty Island, the statue itself remains shut following the September attacks. With the holiday weekend coming up and 22 ships expected in New York Harbor for Fleet Week, officials are urging people to carry on as they usually do and not blow the warnings out of proportion. GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: We're going to have threats for the foreseeable future and we just have to have confidence that the federal officials, working with state officials and local officials and an alert system, are capable of responding and preventing and making sure that we don't get into the fear.

FEYERICK: Earlier, information on possible targets has come from al Qaeda detainees in custody on Guantanamo Bay and in Afghanistan, where hundreds of documents have also been seized and are being analyzed.

(on camera): Both the FBI and the New York City police downplay any possible attack. No one knows when or even if anything will happen. But in this period of full disclosure, everyone seems to be on the short list, getting whatever information is available.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The FBI agent who authored that so-called Phoenix memo is spending a second day in closed door Capitol Hill hearings. Agent Kenneth Williams appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Law makers praised Williams, but questioned why his memo fell through the cracks. The memo, written two months before September 11, said supporters of Osama bin Laden were attending flight schools in Arizona. Williams is scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee today.

The latest terror warnings come with their own advisory. U.S. officials say no matter how prepared the nation is, the government cannot defend against every possible terror attack.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre has that part of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even though the latest terrorist threats are based on unsubstantiated intelligence, Bush administration officials continue to issue ominous warnings.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Terrorist networks have relationship with terrorist states that have weapons of mass destruction and that they inevitably are going to get their hands on them and they would not hesitate one minute in using them.

MCINTYRE: This week officials have warned about everything from Palestinian style suicide bombings to the possibility al Qaeda might rent apartments to blow them up. But the national terrorism alert status remains in the yellow, or elevated, because all of the intelligence is vague.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR: And when we get specific information with regard to a terrorist threat, we will share it. It may not be actionable. And, again, this is a very difficult environment for Americans to accept. MCINTYRE: One problem is there are hundreds of nightmare scenarios for which the U.S. is unprepared.

SEN. HERB KOHL (D), WISCONSIN: No security whatsoever takes place on chartered aircraft, which would allow a terrorist to charter a large aircraft, board with his friends, carry on luggage with explosives and use that aircraft as a weapon against innocent civilians exactly as what happened on 9/11.

MCINTYRE: But even if security is tightened, administration officials continue to warn it will never be enough.

RUMSFELD: And it is physically impossible to defend at every time in every place against every conceivable technique. There is no way to do it.

MCINTYRE: The White House insists the recent spate of official warnings is not intended to deflect criticism of the handling of pre- September 11 intelligence.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There has been a recent increase in the chatter that we've heard in the system, and that was reflected in what they've said. So I think they're doing their level best to answer questions that people have.

MCINTYRE (on camera): One, the administration officials said while some in government may be speaking out now to avoid being criticized later, Pentagon officials insist Defense Secretary Rumsfeld has been saying pretty much the same things since the beginning of the war on terrorism.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The State Department's annual terrorism report notes what it calls "the unprecedented cooperation from other nations in the war on terror." Still, in introducing the report, Secretary of State Colin Powell says much remains to be done to root out terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The report accords the death toll in 2001 from terrorist attacks in which conventional weapons were used. It also confirms that terrorists are trying every way they can to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction, whether radiological, chemical, biological or nuclear. The terrorist threat is global in scope, many faceted and determined. The campaign against terrorism must be equally comprehensive, multi-dimensional and steadfast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The same seven countries as last year remain on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. They are Cuba, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Iran, North Korea and Iraq. U.S. officials say Sudan and Libya are closer to getting off the list than those other nations.

Law makers are divided along party lines over whether an independent commission should investigate what the Bush administration knew about possible terrorist threats prior to September 11.

CNN congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl reports on the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Setting up a collision course with the White House, the top Democrats in Congress called for a national commission to investigate what went wrong on September 11.

SEN. THOMAS DASCHLE (D-SD), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: There is a troubling trend that is now under way with regard to the administration's unwillingness to share information within the bureaus and the agencies of this White House and of the administration itself, as well as with Congress, regarding the attack of September 11. That trend is disturbing.

KARL: Daschle said a broad inquiry is needed in light of reports that the attorney general and the FBI director have known for almost eight months about the so-called Phoenix FBI memo that warned of Middle Eastern men training at U.S. flight schools.

DASCHLE: This is a very disconcerting new report and I think it's all the more reason why we have to get to the bottom of what it was we knew and when we knew it.

KARL: House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt echoed Daschle's call for a commission, but the idea drew a cool reception from Republican leaders.

TRENT LOTT (R-MI), MINORITY LEADER: We have a bipartisan, bicameral arrangement right now, House and Senate, Republican and Democrat, chairman of the House Republicans, chairman of the Senate Democrats, respected members that know how to get at the information that is needed. I don't think a commission would serve that good a purpose now and it would be weeks, months before it would ever produce anything.

KARL: The national commission would be separate from the joint House and Senate Intelligence Committee investigation now under way. That investigation, which will be conducted largely in secret, is examining the intelligence failure on 9/11. Although the White House has promised to cooperate with the Intelligence Committees, the president is opposed to a broader inquiry, arguing that it would divert resources away from the war on terrorism.

(on camera): Jonathan Karl, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Pilots will not be able to fight back with guns loaded with real bullets. You've no doubt heard about the idea of guns in the cockpit, but that idea is not going to fly. John Magaw, the undersecretary for transportation security, says the agency will not allow guns in the cockpits. Still, the agency is considering allowing pilots to carry non-lethal weapons, including stun guns and tasers.

You can get even more detailed coverage of America on alert, our coverage of the nation's response to terror, on our Web site. It's all there, the analysis, the history, very comprehensive information for you. The address is cnn.com, AOL keyword, of course, CNN.

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