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CNN Live Today
Congress Reviews Pre-9/11 Intelligence
Aired September 18, 2002 - 11:29 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: Investigators are going public today with their probe of intelligence failures prior to September 11. Members of joint House and Senate Intelligence Committees began their first open hearing last hour.
CNN national security correspondent David Ensor is live on Capitol Hill and he has the latest on what the agencies knew before 9/11.
Hi there, David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Fredricka.
This is a rather disturbing morning here on the Senate side as the joint Intelligence Committee holds its first open hearings and hears from its staff on what the intelligence community may have known prior to 9/11, what dots were not connected.
They also have heard from survivors of some of the victims of 9/11, who are obviously pressing for answers.
Here, let's listen for a second to Kristin Breitweiser.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Senate or House, but there is a vote involved. You would have to run it through -- the Congress itself would have to override that classification decision. The reason we did not originate this information under the classification...
Could we hear the sound of Kristin Breitweiser a few minutes ago?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... not be the Congress. So the only alternative would be to go through this rather, what I'm told is a --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTIN BREITWEISER, 9/11 WIDOW: Our intelligence agencies suffered an utter collapse in their duties and responsibilities leading up to and on September 11. But their negligence does not stand alone. Agencies like the Port Authority, the City of New York, the FAA, the INS, the Secret Service, NORAD, the Air Force and the airlines also failed our nation that morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ENSOR: So this was first chance for some of the survivors of families of people who lost family members on 9/11 to testify before Congress. As you noticed, they are spreading the blame fairly widely.
In the staff report that Eleanor Hill is now presenting -- starting to do that. We have got the copy here. Let me just run down a few of the things that are new that this report says U.S. intelligence had prior to 9/11.
First, in August of 1998, the intelligence community obtained information that a group of unidentified Arabs planned to fly an explosive-laden plane from a foreign country to into the World Trade Center. Now, the report says that information was passed on to the FAA and the FBI. They were skeptical about that possibility and did nothing about it.
In October of 1998, the intelligence community obtained information that al Qaeda was trying to establish an operative cell within the United States.
Then in the fall of 1998, the staff report says the intelligence community relieved information concerning a bin Laden plot involving aircraft in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas.
Finally, one more example: In April of 2001, the staff report says the intelligence community obtained intelligence information from a source with terrorist connections who speculated that bin Laden would be interested in commercial pilots as potential terrorists.
The report says that the source warned the United States not to just be concerned about embassy bombings and bombings overseas. This source said that the terrorists were seeking a spectacular and traumatic attack along the lines of the first World Trade Center bombing.
So in this report, again, a number of examples, multiple examples, of information that the intelligence community had prior to 9/11, dots that were not connected. Now, with the advantage of hindsight, some on the committee will probably argue, they should have been -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: David Ensor, thank you very much, from Capitol Hill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 18, 2002 - 11:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Investigators are going public today with their probe of intelligence failures prior to September 11. Members of joint House and Senate Intelligence Committees began their first open hearing last hour.
CNN national security correspondent David Ensor is live on Capitol Hill and he has the latest on what the agencies knew before 9/11.
Hi there, David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Fredricka.
This is a rather disturbing morning here on the Senate side as the joint Intelligence Committee holds its first open hearings and hears from its staff on what the intelligence community may have known prior to 9/11, what dots were not connected.
They also have heard from survivors of some of the victims of 9/11, who are obviously pressing for answers.
Here, let's listen for a second to Kristin Breitweiser.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Senate or House, but there is a vote involved. You would have to run it through -- the Congress itself would have to override that classification decision. The reason we did not originate this information under the classification...
Could we hear the sound of Kristin Breitweiser a few minutes ago?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... not be the Congress. So the only alternative would be to go through this rather, what I'm told is a --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTIN BREITWEISER, 9/11 WIDOW: Our intelligence agencies suffered an utter collapse in their duties and responsibilities leading up to and on September 11. But their negligence does not stand alone. Agencies like the Port Authority, the City of New York, the FAA, the INS, the Secret Service, NORAD, the Air Force and the airlines also failed our nation that morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ENSOR: So this was first chance for some of the survivors of families of people who lost family members on 9/11 to testify before Congress. As you noticed, they are spreading the blame fairly widely.
In the staff report that Eleanor Hill is now presenting -- starting to do that. We have got the copy here. Let me just run down a few of the things that are new that this report says U.S. intelligence had prior to 9/11.
First, in August of 1998, the intelligence community obtained information that a group of unidentified Arabs planned to fly an explosive-laden plane from a foreign country to into the World Trade Center. Now, the report says that information was passed on to the FAA and the FBI. They were skeptical about that possibility and did nothing about it.
In October of 1998, the intelligence community obtained information that al Qaeda was trying to establish an operative cell within the United States.
Then in the fall of 1998, the staff report says the intelligence community relieved information concerning a bin Laden plot involving aircraft in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas.
Finally, one more example: In April of 2001, the staff report says the intelligence community obtained intelligence information from a source with terrorist connections who speculated that bin Laden would be interested in commercial pilots as potential terrorists.
The report says that the source warned the United States not to just be concerned about embassy bombings and bombings overseas. This source said that the terrorists were seeking a spectacular and traumatic attack along the lines of the first World Trade Center bombing.
So in this report, again, a number of examples, multiple examples, of information that the intelligence community had prior to 9/11, dots that were not connected. Now, with the advantage of hindsight, some on the committee will probably argue, they should have been -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: David Ensor, thank you very much, from Capitol Hill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
