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Intelligence Hearings Continue on Capitol Hill
Aired September 20, 2002 - 14:05 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: On Capitol Hill again today, the pieces that were not put together in the months and even years leading up to the 9/11 attacks.
Today's hearing has focused on two hijackers who slipped through the cracks, and CNN's David Ensor is following the proceedings for us all this morning. He brings us the latest -- hello, David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Well it has been a rather -- a tense session. Some of the witnesses are from the FBI and CIA and are behind a screen so that their identity will not be revealed since they worked in top-secret matters, and wish to continue to do so. A sharp disagreement broke out here among the senators about whether the hearing should even be held.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: We are revealing in open session today a lot of information about how we operate, which will be very useful to our enemies. That's not good, and it is not necessary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is important and it is a right of the American people to know what their government is doing. Those American people also include our colleagues, who have a right to know, and to assess the severity of the problems, to justify the reforms that I anticipate we are going to be recommending.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: Now the witnesses from the CIA and FBI are saying, in brief, they are saying that they really were overwhelmed by the amount of intelligence they were getting in the period prior to 9/11. They did their best. Sometimes their were communications problems. There was a plea from one CIA officer for more resources.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are also the kinds of misses that happen when people, even very competent, dedicated people such as the CIA officers and the FBI agents and analysts involved in all aspects of this story, are simply overwhelmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: Nonetheless, a staff report prepared by the staff of the committee catalogs a whole list of mistakes or omissions made by -- the reports says by CIA and FBI officers and agent, a number of occasions when the CIA had information about two of the hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, and could have put them on the watch list to keep them out of the United States, and did not do so. Communications problems between CIA and FBI, communications problems within the FBI itself.
And an acknowledgment in the report, quoting DCI, the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, he says he acknowledges "that the CIA should have acted to add these individuals to the State Department's watchlist in March of 2000." That is 18 months before September 11. And he "characterized this omission as a mistake."
So, an unpleasant day for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials, although at the same time, they are being praised by members of the committee for their patriotism, their hard work, and an acknowledgment that this isn't easy work -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: David, let's go back to Senator Kyl's criticism, that just by holding these hearings, the possibility exists that some trade secrets will get out there to the enemy. What sorts of things are being discussed in open session there that perhaps aren't already in the public domain one way or another?
ENSOR: Well, the sensitive area is sources and methods. A couple of times in the hearing, the subject has come up, for example, you know, they are talking about photographs of a particular individual, and where did these photographs come from, and how did you get them, and that sort of thing.
And a couple of times, one of the CIA officers has, for example, said Sir, sir, we can't get into that, that is dangerous territory, and has kind of pulled back the hearing from stepping over what he saw as a line into classified material that could be useful to the enemy -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's David Ensor on Capitol Hill, thank you very much. Appreciate that.
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 - 14:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: On Capitol Hill again today, the pieces that were not put together in the months and even years leading up to the 9/11 attacks.
Today's hearing has focused on two hijackers who slipped through the cracks, and CNN's David Ensor is following the proceedings for us all this morning. He brings us the latest -- hello, David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Well it has been a rather -- a tense session. Some of the witnesses are from the FBI and CIA and are behind a screen so that their identity will not be revealed since they worked in top-secret matters, and wish to continue to do so. A sharp disagreement broke out here among the senators about whether the hearing should even be held.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: We are revealing in open session today a lot of information about how we operate, which will be very useful to our enemies. That's not good, and it is not necessary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is important and it is a right of the American people to know what their government is doing. Those American people also include our colleagues, who have a right to know, and to assess the severity of the problems, to justify the reforms that I anticipate we are going to be recommending.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: Now the witnesses from the CIA and FBI are saying, in brief, they are saying that they really were overwhelmed by the amount of intelligence they were getting in the period prior to 9/11. They did their best. Sometimes their were communications problems. There was a plea from one CIA officer for more resources.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are also the kinds of misses that happen when people, even very competent, dedicated people such as the CIA officers and the FBI agents and analysts involved in all aspects of this story, are simply overwhelmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: Nonetheless, a staff report prepared by the staff of the committee catalogs a whole list of mistakes or omissions made by -- the reports says by CIA and FBI officers and agent, a number of occasions when the CIA had information about two of the hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, and could have put them on the watch list to keep them out of the United States, and did not do so. Communications problems between CIA and FBI, communications problems within the FBI itself.
And an acknowledgment in the report, quoting DCI, the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, he says he acknowledges "that the CIA should have acted to add these individuals to the State Department's watchlist in March of 2000." That is 18 months before September 11. And he "characterized this omission as a mistake."
So, an unpleasant day for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials, although at the same time, they are being praised by members of the committee for their patriotism, their hard work, and an acknowledgment that this isn't easy work -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: David, let's go back to Senator Kyl's criticism, that just by holding these hearings, the possibility exists that some trade secrets will get out there to the enemy. What sorts of things are being discussed in open session there that perhaps aren't already in the public domain one way or another?
ENSOR: Well, the sensitive area is sources and methods. A couple of times in the hearing, the subject has come up, for example, you know, they are talking about photographs of a particular individual, and where did these photographs come from, and how did you get them, and that sort of thing.
And a couple of times, one of the CIA officers has, for example, said Sir, sir, we can't get into that, that is dangerous territory, and has kind of pulled back the hearing from stepping over what he saw as a line into classified material that could be useful to the enemy -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's David Ensor on Capitol Hill, thank you very much. Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
