Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Interview with Mark Miller

Aired October 18, 2002 - 13:05   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us now for another perspective, a senior editor of "Newsweek" magazine, Mark Miller wrote the magazine's recent cover story on the search for the sniper, and he joins us right now from Washington -- Mark, good to see you.
MARK MILLER, "NEWSWEEK": Hi, Carol.

LIN: Have you or your magazine been able to make any sort of a connection between the sniper and al Qaeda?

MILLER: Well, you know, we've certainly been asking that question, both of the law enforcement sources that we've been talking to who are connected to the sniper investigation, but also of the sources that we have who have been investigating al Qaeda more generally, and that certainly is topic A here in Washington, as you know, and it's definitely in the chatter, and it's something that the law enforcement sources are taking very seriously.

It's something that the detainees in Guantanamo Bay have mentioned was part of their training overseas in Afghanistan. It's something that U.S. troops, when they found training manuals in Afghanistan were surprised to see was on the curriculum. For example, they found Marine training manuals, for example, over there in some of the camps that, somehow, the al Qaeda and Taliban forces had obtained.

But so far, there's no direct link between al Qaeda and -- or anyone affiliated with a terrorist group and this investigation.

LIN: Mark, when you were talking, we were showing some of the exclusive video that CNN obtained inside of Afghanistan of al Qaeda training exercises, and within that tape, there are videotapes of al Qaeda members with sniper rifles, practicing off the back of pickup trucks. You would think this really would have to add to the argument that al Qaeda has been training for this very sort of scenario here in Washington.

MILLER: Well, they have been training for attacks on political figures, and that's really the context in which you would expect to see this type of terrorist activity. It's not really, you would think, likely that they would be attacking in a suburban neighborhood, or at a remote gas station.

LIN: And Al Qaeda usually, typically, they warn of an attack and then they're fairly quick to take credit for it, aren't they?

MILLER: Well, they may or may not be quick to take credit for it, but remember, the network, as we now believe it to be, is dispersed. It's not the same network that it was pre-September 11. So you may now see smaller cells or even not necessarily cells in the traditional sense, but people inspired by al Qaeda or by bin Laden taking up the cause and launching attacks. But again, most of the investigators that we've talked to who are actively working this specific case don't believe that it is linked to terrorism. They think it's much more likely that it is a home-grown serial killer. It is someone that they think probably lives in Montgomery County or close to where the first shootings took place.

LIN: Now, the last shooting was on Monday. This is the longest lull since the attacks started about three weeks ago. What if this guy disappears and he doesn't strike again?

MILLER: Well, that's good news, I think, in some ways for the citizens of this town and this area, this city, because obviously it's a very terrifying situation for people who live outside of Washington, the city, and who live in the suburbs.

In some ways it's also a nightmare scenario for investigators, because right now, they have very little hard evidence to go on, and if he disappears, then that means they have very little to actually track him on.

LIN: But it sounds like they have got a lot. They have got ballistics, they have Tarot card, which, theoretically, the sniper wrote himself. They're going through dozens, if not hundreds of surveillance camera video of the scene.

MILLER: Which so far, we believe, has turned up nothing, actually. They do have 70,000 tips, and a lull in the shootings will give them time to go through those tips and will give them time to go through whatever other evidence they have, and presumably they have more evidence than what the press knows about, but their best chance of catching him is if he makes a mistake or if there's a good tip that actually leads the police to the killer.

And so far, that hasn't happened. So, if he goes to ground, there is something of a nightmare scenario that he's underground, not doing anything, and then resurfaces in a month or so when the police presence has diminished, and then he attacks again, when people aren't really looking.

LIN: Have you worked up your own theory about the sniper? Do you think he works alone? Is he working in a team?

MILLER: I go back and forth on whether he's working with someone. I personally think that it's someone who lives in this area. I think it's a home-grown killer. I don't personally believe the terrorism connection, because I've seen enough of these cases where I know that we produce enough of our own madmen to think that we don't have to go outside our own borders to have this kind of killer among us.

I don't know that he's working with someone else. I think that might increase his chances of being captured, if he did have an accomplice. That doubles your chances of slipping and up and making a mistake, but there is an argument that does lead one to believe that he has help. Someone to drive the car, for example, when the other person gets out and takes the shot, but it's just as easy to consider the idea that he takes a shot, and very quickly just gets back in his car and drives away, and melts into the scene.

LIN: All right. Well, Mark, of course we can't all -- we all hope that it does stay quiet and that the investigation is able to be furthered with the evidence that they have right now. Thank you very much, Mark Miller of "Newsweek" magazine.

MILLER: Thank you, Carol.

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 October 18, 2002 - 13:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us now for another perspective, a senior editor of "Newsweek" magazine, Mark Miller wrote the magazine's recent cover story on the search for the sniper, and he joins us right now from Washington -- Mark, good to see you.
MARK MILLER, "NEWSWEEK": Hi, Carol.

LIN: Have you or your magazine been able to make any sort of a connection between the sniper and al Qaeda?

MILLER: Well, you know, we've certainly been asking that question, both of the law enforcement sources that we've been talking to who are connected to the sniper investigation, but also of the sources that we have who have been investigating al Qaeda more generally, and that certainly is topic A here in Washington, as you know, and it's definitely in the chatter, and it's something that the law enforcement sources are taking very seriously.

It's something that the detainees in Guantanamo Bay have mentioned was part of their training overseas in Afghanistan. It's something that U.S. troops, when they found training manuals in Afghanistan were surprised to see was on the curriculum. For example, they found Marine training manuals, for example, over there in some of the camps that, somehow, the al Qaeda and Taliban forces had obtained.

But so far, there's no direct link between al Qaeda and -- or anyone affiliated with a terrorist group and this investigation.

LIN: Mark, when you were talking, we were showing some of the exclusive video that CNN obtained inside of Afghanistan of al Qaeda training exercises, and within that tape, there are videotapes of al Qaeda members with sniper rifles, practicing off the back of pickup trucks. You would think this really would have to add to the argument that al Qaeda has been training for this very sort of scenario here in Washington.

MILLER: Well, they have been training for attacks on political figures, and that's really the context in which you would expect to see this type of terrorist activity. It's not really, you would think, likely that they would be attacking in a suburban neighborhood, or at a remote gas station.

LIN: And Al Qaeda usually, typically, they warn of an attack and then they're fairly quick to take credit for it, aren't they?

MILLER: Well, they may or may not be quick to take credit for it, but remember, the network, as we now believe it to be, is dispersed. It's not the same network that it was pre-September 11. So you may now see smaller cells or even not necessarily cells in the traditional sense, but people inspired by al Qaeda or by bin Laden taking up the cause and launching attacks. But again, most of the investigators that we've talked to who are actively working this specific case don't believe that it is linked to terrorism. They think it's much more likely that it is a home-grown serial killer. It is someone that they think probably lives in Montgomery County or close to where the first shootings took place.

LIN: Now, the last shooting was on Monday. This is the longest lull since the attacks started about three weeks ago. What if this guy disappears and he doesn't strike again?

MILLER: Well, that's good news, I think, in some ways for the citizens of this town and this area, this city, because obviously it's a very terrifying situation for people who live outside of Washington, the city, and who live in the suburbs.

In some ways it's also a nightmare scenario for investigators, because right now, they have very little hard evidence to go on, and if he disappears, then that means they have very little to actually track him on.

LIN: But it sounds like they have got a lot. They have got ballistics, they have Tarot card, which, theoretically, the sniper wrote himself. They're going through dozens, if not hundreds of surveillance camera video of the scene.

MILLER: Which so far, we believe, has turned up nothing, actually. They do have 70,000 tips, and a lull in the shootings will give them time to go through those tips and will give them time to go through whatever other evidence they have, and presumably they have more evidence than what the press knows about, but their best chance of catching him is if he makes a mistake or if there's a good tip that actually leads the police to the killer.

And so far, that hasn't happened. So, if he goes to ground, there is something of a nightmare scenario that he's underground, not doing anything, and then resurfaces in a month or so when the police presence has diminished, and then he attacks again, when people aren't really looking.

LIN: Have you worked up your own theory about the sniper? Do you think he works alone? Is he working in a team?

MILLER: I go back and forth on whether he's working with someone. I personally think that it's someone who lives in this area. I think it's a home-grown killer. I don't personally believe the terrorism connection, because I've seen enough of these cases where I know that we produce enough of our own madmen to think that we don't have to go outside our own borders to have this kind of killer among us.

I don't know that he's working with someone else. I think that might increase his chances of being captured, if he did have an accomplice. That doubles your chances of slipping and up and making a mistake, but there is an argument that does lead one to believe that he has help. Someone to drive the car, for example, when the other person gets out and takes the shot, but it's just as easy to consider the idea that he takes a shot, and very quickly just gets back in his car and drives away, and melts into the scene.

LIN: All right. Well, Mark, of course we can't all -- we all hope that it does stay quiet and that the investigation is able to be furthered with the evidence that they have right now. Thank you very much, Mark Miller of "Newsweek" magazine.

MILLER: Thank you, Carol.

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