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CNN Live Today
Lawmakers Investigating Intelligence Failures Before 09-11
Aired June 05, 2002 - 11:08 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's move on now to Capitol Hill. That is where lawmakers are investigating intelligence failures before September 11th. They are set to review and interview an FBI whistle- blower today. Members of a joint House and Senate Intelligence Committee are holding closed-door hearings.
But that doesn't stop our Kate Snow. She is on Capitol Hill with the latest.
It would take more than a closed door to get in your way, Kate. Good morning.
KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Daryn. Good morning.
As you mentioned, Coleen Rowley, an FBI agent from Minneapolis, Minnesota is here in town. She'll be meeting this afternoon, sitting down with investigators, congressional investigators, about 2:30 this afternoon. And we understand that she will be under oath for this questioning. That's according to Senator Bob Graham.
Investigators looking for her insights about the relationship between headquarters and the FBI field office in Minneapolis. She, of course, has said that the headquarters mishandled the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, who is now accused of taking part in planning September 11th. Rowley wrote a scathing letter about this to FBI Director Mueller, saying that headquarters had stymied their investigation. And then she said they circled the wagons to cover that up.
Now she earned her law degree from Iowa Law School. She was hired back in 1980 as a special agent with the FBI. So a long career with the FBI. In 1995 she become chief counsel of the Minneapolis field office.
We can switch pages a little bit more about Coleen Rowley. She wrote the first draft of that memo in early May and she spent about a week editing it. And then she hand delivered copies up here to Capitol Hill to the committees that are investigating. She's just 2 1/2 years, by the way, away from retirement now.
Senator Graham says that she's not the only one they're going to talk to, obviously. They're going to call a number of different witnesses up here to Capitol Hill throughout this investigation. And he said they will start with people who can take them all the way back to the mid-80s, looking at the failures of intelligence gathering.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D) INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: ... the broad picture of what was happening before September 11th so that we can then, as we get into our public hearings, begin to put the pieces together. This is a situation like an artist. You want to know what the whole painting is going to look like before you put the first brush of paint on the canvas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: And the joint Intelligence Committee, that's Graham's committee, may start with some witnesses behind closed doors, of course, tomorrow when they meet again. They're meeting, of course, this afternoon as well behind closed doors. But, Daryn, the big show is going to be tomorrow publicly with another committee, a separate committee up here, the Senate Judiciary Committee. They're bringing up Coleen Rowley, that same woman, publicly for an open-door hearing.
Also, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and Glenn Fine, who is the Justice Department's inspector general, who has been running an internal investigation of 9/11.
Back to you.
KAGAN: And, Kate, what do we know of Coleen Rowley's future. You mentioned she is only 2 1/2 years from retirement. Whistle-blower protection perhaps for her. And I think the strongest thing I heard out of director Mueller's mouth, "Well, she won't be fired." Not exactly the most encouraging thing.
SNOW: Well, and Attorney General John Ashcroft has said that as well. She will not lose her job. Now he was pressed a little bit, I think over the weekend, about whether that meant she would be moved around or shuffled somewhere else. And the bottom line is she will not lose job. She does have whistle-blower protection. She's asked for that, and that, of course, is a law on the books they can provide that.
The FBI has own rules about whistle-blower protection. So she's going to get that.
KAGAN: She's probably not enjoying the spotlight too much. But probably that may be the best protection she has, as our cameras follow her around.
SNOW: Exactly.
KAGAN: Kate Snow on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.
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