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CNN Live Today
FBI, CIA Agents Testify at Terrorism Hearing
Aired September 20, 2002 - 13:02 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More questions being raised about the attacks the government failed to prevent, the ones that occurred in September.
CNN's David Ensor is on Capitol Hill, where a congressional investigation continues today.
Hello again -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Miles.
Rather an intense atmosphere in this hearing room right now. Senator Kyl and one or two others on the panel are arguing that this hearing should not even be happening. They are listening to several witnesses. A couple of them, as you can see, are behind a screen, one from the FBI and one from the CIA, because they are involved in top- secret work, and don't want their identities to be revealed, so they can continue to do that.
Senator Kyl just suggested that this kind of hearing, first of all, endangers the possibility that classified information might inadvertently be released, and secondly, might endanger the safety of some of the witnesses. So, controversy that it's even happening.
The subject is: What did the U.S. government -- what did U.S. intelligence and law enforcement know about any of the hijackers prior to September 11, 2001?
And as we have reported in the past, the CIA did know about two men, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Alihdhar -- these two. They attended -- the CIA knew this -- a terrorism summit of sorts in Kuala Lumpur in January of 2000. Now, that information was transmitted to the FBI.
The question is: Was it done with enough urgency, and were all of the details there?
Let me quote from a staff report that the committee received this morning. Quote: "A CIA communication in early January 2000 states that Alihdhar's travel documents, including his multiple entry visa for the United States, were shared with the FBI for further investigation. No one at the FBI recalls having received such documents at the time. No confirmatory record of the transmittal of the travel documents has yet been located at either the CIA or the FBI."
Now, this is important, because if the CIA had clearly transmitted to the FBI that this was someone who had a U.S. visa, that should have raised alarm bells with the FBI that this might be someone who should be put on the watch list.
Now, neither the CIA nor the FBI put these individuals on the watch list until August 23, 2001, just a couple of weeks before September 11, too late to find them, very unfortunately.
There is another element of drama that we have had here in the hearing room this morning, and that is an account -- I'm just going to run it for you -- from the FBI agent who is behind the screen. He was in New York at the time of the World Trade Center bombing, and he went to the area to try to see what he could do to help. And let me have him take the story from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FBI AGENT: By the grace of God, he turned to us and replied that he did not know what we could do, but that we were not going anywhere close to the buildings without a respirator. I do not know who he was, but I truly believed he saved our lives.
I also believe that based on the direction that he was looking, towards the southern tower, that moments later he entered that tower and perished in the attack. It's taken a while for a response, but I believe that the task before this committee, in some small way me being here today, is what the brave fireman is telling us, all of us, what we can do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: So, that FBI agent believes his life was saved by one of the firemen who later perished in New York -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: David Ensor on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.
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 20, 2002 - 13:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More questions being raised about the attacks the government failed to prevent, the ones that occurred in September.
CNN's David Ensor is on Capitol Hill, where a congressional investigation continues today.
Hello again -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Miles.
Rather an intense atmosphere in this hearing room right now. Senator Kyl and one or two others on the panel are arguing that this hearing should not even be happening. They are listening to several witnesses. A couple of them, as you can see, are behind a screen, one from the FBI and one from the CIA, because they are involved in top- secret work, and don't want their identities to be revealed, so they can continue to do that.
Senator Kyl just suggested that this kind of hearing, first of all, endangers the possibility that classified information might inadvertently be released, and secondly, might endanger the safety of some of the witnesses. So, controversy that it's even happening.
The subject is: What did the U.S. government -- what did U.S. intelligence and law enforcement know about any of the hijackers prior to September 11, 2001?
And as we have reported in the past, the CIA did know about two men, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Alihdhar -- these two. They attended -- the CIA knew this -- a terrorism summit of sorts in Kuala Lumpur in January of 2000. Now, that information was transmitted to the FBI.
The question is: Was it done with enough urgency, and were all of the details there?
Let me quote from a staff report that the committee received this morning. Quote: "A CIA communication in early January 2000 states that Alihdhar's travel documents, including his multiple entry visa for the United States, were shared with the FBI for further investigation. No one at the FBI recalls having received such documents at the time. No confirmatory record of the transmittal of the travel documents has yet been located at either the CIA or the FBI."
Now, this is important, because if the CIA had clearly transmitted to the FBI that this was someone who had a U.S. visa, that should have raised alarm bells with the FBI that this might be someone who should be put on the watch list.
Now, neither the CIA nor the FBI put these individuals on the watch list until August 23, 2001, just a couple of weeks before September 11, too late to find them, very unfortunately.
There is another element of drama that we have had here in the hearing room this morning, and that is an account -- I'm just going to run it for you -- from the FBI agent who is behind the screen. He was in New York at the time of the World Trade Center bombing, and he went to the area to try to see what he could do to help. And let me have him take the story from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FBI AGENT: By the grace of God, he turned to us and replied that he did not know what we could do, but that we were not going anywhere close to the buildings without a respirator. I do not know who he was, but I truly believed he saved our lives.
I also believe that based on the direction that he was looking, towards the southern tower, that moments later he entered that tower and perished in the attack. It's taken a while for a response, but I believe that the task before this committee, in some small way me being here today, is what the brave fireman is telling us, all of us, what we can do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: So, that FBI agent believes his life was saved by one of the firemen who later perished in New York -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: David Ensor on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
