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Alert Comes from Unnamed al Qaeda Official

Aired September 10, 2002 - 14:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the government's decision to ratchet-up the status of the terror threat and terror precautions, in the hours leading up to September 11.
Let's get straight to David Ensor. He is in Washington -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, intelligence officials tell me that first and foremost, the information upon which this new heightened alert is based comes from a senior al Qaeda official who has been in the hands of another government for a couple of months now. This official has only recently begun to talk, to tell things that are believed to be useful to the government that is holding him, and of course, that information is being shared with the United States.

Intelligence officials say they have cross-checked it in recent days with other information they had, and they now believe he is giving them specific and credible information about possible threats to U.S. targets.

Now, as you have reported earlier, the concern is particularly high in Southeast Asia, where U.S. embassies and military installations are on a heightened state of alert, but there is also concern about the possibility of low level attacks, really, anywhere in the world, from car bombs down to suicide attacks, the feeling that lower level al Qaeda members may be looking for a way, even without organized orders from on high, to commemorate the anniversary tomorrow. So a heightened state of alert in the United States based on this intelligence information coming first and foremost from this one senior al Qaeda official. We're told it is not someone we've heard of before, not Abu Zubaydah, not some of the others that we know, publicly announced to have been either in U.S. or friendly hands. This is another al Qaeda official, his name has not yet been made public -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: David, another question for you -- when John Ashcroft and Tom Ridge held this news conference just moments ago, the reporter asked John Ashcroft specifically, do we need to worry about an attack on September 11, are you expecting an attack on September 11, and John Ashcroft paused. He didn't say yes. He didn't say no. He just said, We really hope we default any attempt of terrorist activity. Why is he not being more specific?

ENSOR: The reason is they don't have specific information about an organized al Qaeda attack on a specific target on 9/11. But, there is intelligence information suggesting that some lower level members may be seeking, perhaps, less sophisticated sorts of attacks as their own personal statement of commemoration of the day.

So, there is concern that there might be lower level attacks, that there might be attacks organized by an individual, or a very small cell, and that could be anywhere, including the United States. That is why this heightened state of alert -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: He did make the point, small strikes could be expected, not just large ones. David Ensor, thank you so much.

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