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CNN Live At Daybreak

New Information U.S. Intelligence Had General Warning on September 10

Aired June 20, 2002 - 06:03   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 is new information this morning that U.S. intelligence had a general warning on September 10 about a major operation.

CNN's David Ensor explains why officials couldn't act on the material.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned the exact phrases used in two conversations intercepted by U.S. intelligence the day before the attack September 11, words warning something major was planned.

In one intercepted communication September 10 by the U.S. National Security Agency, congressional and other sources tell CNN, a person presumed to be from al Qaeda said -- quote -- "The match begins tomorrow." In another intercept that day, a different person said -- quote -- "Tomorrow is zero hour." The intercepts were not translated until September 12, the day after the attacks.

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: There is information perhaps in all of the agencies, if acted upon, that is if, for example, the NSA, if translated in a timely manner and then analyzed and disseminated, perhaps that would have been very useful.

ENSOR: General Michael Hayden, head of the NSA, which is the U.S. government's massive eavesdropping agency, was questioned at length Tuesday about the intercepts, according to congressional sources who were present at the House-Senate hearings behind closed doors, into missed clues prior to 9/11. The volume of intercepted communications each day is so huge, Hayden told them, sources say, that despite the size and high-tech resources of the NSA, there was and still is no way all of the potentially relevant material can be translated the same day.

(on camera): U.S. officials say even if they had such intercepts translated that day, there were no specifics upon which to act, nothing on when, where or how. Still, the chilling words "tomorrow is zero hour" and "the match begins tomorrow" heard from al Qaeda September 10 indicates, say some in Congress, that changes may be needed in the speed and quantity of U.S. intelligence analysis.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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