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CNN Live At Daybreak

Terrorist Moles in Military

Aired September 24, 2003 - 05:30   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Terrorist moles in the military. It is a huge concern now that an Islamic chaplain and an airman are suspected of espionage. The case appears to be growing.
CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Among the information allegedly passed to contacts in Syria, some in e-mails, details of the schedule of military flights in and out of the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And, one official says, unauthorized notes of interviews with detainees and laptop computer files were smuggled out of Camp Delta, the prison camp at the base for al Qaeda and Taliban detainees.

The suspect is identified as a senior airman, Ahmad al-Halabi, an American of Syrian descent who was an Arabic language translator at the camp. He was arrested July 23.

He faces more than 30 charges, including espionage, aiding the enemy, making false statements, bank fraud and failing to obey orders, and is being held at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Al-Halabi was taken into custody six weeks before the arrest of Army Captain James Yee, who spent four years studying Islam in Syria before becoming a Muslim Army chaplain. Yee is also suspected of possessing classified information about detainees at Guantanamo Bay but has not been charged.

Some in Congress are already suggesting the Pentagon blundered by allowing groups with suspected ties to terrorists to help certify clerics to become military chaplains.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: This fact is incredible, that a man who ends up as chaplain to potentially the most dangerous terrorists we have in our custody, was trained by groups who might well have a link to terrorism, almost defies the imagination. And yet that is what happened.

MCINTYRE (on camera): The hunt for moles in the military is not over, sources say, and some Pentagon officials indicate the next person taken into custody may be a member of the U.S. Navy.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE) 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 24, 2003 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Terrorist moles in the military. It is a huge concern now that an Islamic chaplain and an airman are suspected of espionage. The case appears to be growing.
CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Among the information allegedly passed to contacts in Syria, some in e-mails, details of the schedule of military flights in and out of the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And, one official says, unauthorized notes of interviews with detainees and laptop computer files were smuggled out of Camp Delta, the prison camp at the base for al Qaeda and Taliban detainees.

The suspect is identified as a senior airman, Ahmad al-Halabi, an American of Syrian descent who was an Arabic language translator at the camp. He was arrested July 23.

He faces more than 30 charges, including espionage, aiding the enemy, making false statements, bank fraud and failing to obey orders, and is being held at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Al-Halabi was taken into custody six weeks before the arrest of Army Captain James Yee, who spent four years studying Islam in Syria before becoming a Muslim Army chaplain. Yee is also suspected of possessing classified information about detainees at Guantanamo Bay but has not been charged.

Some in Congress are already suggesting the Pentagon blundered by allowing groups with suspected ties to terrorists to help certify clerics to become military chaplains.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: This fact is incredible, that a man who ends up as chaplain to potentially the most dangerous terrorists we have in our custody, was trained by groups who might well have a link to terrorism, almost defies the imagination. And yet that is what happened.

MCINTYRE (on camera): The hunt for moles in the military is not over, sources say, and some Pentagon officials indicate the next person taken into custody may be a member of the U.S. Navy.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com