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Joint Hearings Begin Next Month into Intelligence Issues Prior to Terrorist Attacks

Aired May 24, 2002 - 12:28   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now more on the probe into what the government knew before September 11th. Joint hearings begin next month into intelligence issues prior to the terrorist attacks.

Our Jonathan Karl is live on the hill with more on that.

Hi there, Jonathan.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, these investigations really on a fasttrack of sorts. This is the investigation of the joint House and Senate Intelligence Committees looking into the intelligence failure of September 11th. The first closed hearing on this is actually going to take place on June 4th, with public hearings at the end of June and hearings going throughout the summer and into the fall are expected.

Now although this is looking at what went wrong on September 11th, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said that the stakes are much greater than simply assigning blame for September 11th. It really comes down to the best way to make the United States safe from a future terrorist attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PORTER GOSS (R), INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: It is intelligence that will prevent things from happening. The gates, guns and guards are great to have, but it's getting the good intelligence information, getting those plans and intentions. And we're talking about plain old classic espionage, and we've just got to get better at it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: And this is a pretty broad investigation of intelligence, Fredricka. It's actually going to go back to 1986, which is when the CIA first set up its counter-terrorism center. So you're talking about intelligence activity on the watch of four different presidents, going back to Ronald Reagan.

One major focus is going to be what happened in that first World Trade Center bombing back in 1993. What lessons were learned from that bombing, what could potentially have been done learning those lessons to prevent September 11th? And obviously another big focus is going to be what you talked about in your News Alert. This question -- the latest revelation coming out of the Minneapolis field office of the FBI.

The writer of the whistle-blowing letter is going to be one of the people that the committee has already spoken to. They spoke to her on Tuesday. They also plan to bring her back for further interviews and possibly to ask her to testify before the committee.

But, you know, this is all in the intelligence committees, and that means that many of these hearings will be closed hearings. That means that many up here on Congress, in light of the latest revelations coming out of Minneapolis, coming out of Phoenix, want to have a much broader inquiry into what went wrong on September 11th. A big public panel, a national commission to look into it.

And today, Senator Tom Daschle, citing what's been coming out of Minneapolis, said that he all the more reason wants to push for a big national blue ribbon commission to find out what went wrong on September 11th. To do that would require, though, a vote of the Congress -- back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, Jonathan, these private hearings could very well be a precursor to a very public hearing is still a very real scenario.

KARL: Yes, absolutely. And let me be very clear, the intelligence committees do much of their work in private. But both the Democratic chairman of the Senate committee and the Republican chairman of the House committee said that they are committed to at least holding some hearings in public and doing as much possible in public. And you should see public hearings on the intelligence failure as soon as the end of June.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, for security reasons, it only makes a lot of sense that these private hearings would take place initially.

KARL: Yes, absolutely.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much. Jonathan Karl from Capitol Hill.

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