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CNN Live Saturday

Another Attack Imminent?

Aired May 18, 2002 - 22:03   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.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Up first, intercepted messages that might mean another terrorist attack is being planned. But where and when? At the same time, the second guessing continues over similar warnings before September 11.

The very latest on this from our White House correspondent Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As President Bush tries to contain the furor over what his administration knew before September 11, U.S. intelligence agencies are picking up signs suggesting another al Qaeda terrorist operation could be in the works.

A senior administration official told CNN there has been an "increased level of chatter and activity" over the past few months, but the official said it's non-specific in nature. Vice President Cheney, in a speech Thursday warning Democrats not to play politics with any investigation of the pre-9/11 warnings, hinted there's a heightened level of concern.

RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: An investigation must not interfere with the ongoing efforts to prevent the next attack because without a doubt a very real threat of another perhaps more devastating attack still exists.

WALLACE: The vice president's comments were also part of a coordinated offensive with Bush advisers and Republicans charging that recent Democratic criticism of the president crossed the line.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), KANSAS: Insinuating that the president had information and then sat back and did not take appropriate action to prevent a real tragedy. I think that's unconscionable.

WALLACE: Democrats say the White House wants to paint this as a partisan fight, instead of what they say is an attempt to find out what happened, so future attacks can be prevented.

REP. HAROLD FORD (D), TENNESSEE: The tone I hear from the White House is not one of how do we get beyond this, it's more so Democrats are to blame and they are attempting to divide. By no means is that the case. WALLACE: So far, this week's disclosure that Mr. Bush learned in early August that al Qaeda could consider hijacking American planes has not affected his sky-high popularity, with 73 percent of Americans in a Newsweek poll saying they approve of his job performance, the same level since mid-February.

But when asked if the president did all that he should have with the pre-9/11 warnings, 48 percent say he did, and 39 percent say he didn't do enough.

(on camera): The administration is likely to face growing pressure to support a wider congressional probe of any intelligence failures, especially as U.S. officials say they are seeing signs of increased activity similar to what they saw in the months before the September 11 attacks.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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