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Does Al Qaeda Have a Navy?

Aired December 31, 2002 - 13:04   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Does Al Qaeda have a navy? The Washington Post reports about 15 cargo freighters are available to the terrorist network and they could carry terrorists, arms, explosives, money or commodities around the world. The report says U.S. spy agencies scramble to keep track of these ships, but it's tough, because they keep getting new name, new paint jobs and new registrations. Joining us by phone to talk about this, J. Kelly McCann, our security analyst. Hi, Kelly.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Kyra, how are you?

PHILLIPS: Well, good, and thank you for being with us. I know it's your daughter's birthday and I appreciate it. Let's talk about the three main ways of how they keep track of the vessels. First, of course, let's talk about new operations.

MCCANN: Well, basically, you know, there is a way, a method of surveillance that was used most recently in the shipping of arms from North Korea to Yemen by over the horizon surveillance, where ships will stand off and follow in the wake of a ship that they're tracking. It's effective, but, of course, there's a time lag, if necessary to accelerate and catch that ship.

PHILLIPS: We are looking at video now. This is the maritime interdiction operations out in the Persian Gulf taking place. These boarding team go and follow these vessels all through the day and all through the night. Sometimes there are some high-threat situations where basically boarding teams become swat teams.

I know you were a part of this type of team when you were in the marines. Let's talk about that.

MCCANN: One of the most dangerous operations is to board a ship underway. If you can imagine the waves at sea, you experienced it when you were in the Gulf, a rise and fall of several feet, up to 10 feet, the wake of the ship that's cutting alongside and you having to go from water line to rail line with a hostile ship and a potential of a ship's defense system or people who are able to defend the ship. So it is a very, very dangerous operation. Similarly, inserting by helicopter, where you have to match the speed of the craft and still have to fast rope onto the deck laden with a combat load of up to 80 pounds and then immediately assault when you land. So it is a very dangerous undertaking.

PHILLIPS: You know, hopefully the situation is you don't have to board those vessels. You can track them possibly by surveillance pictures. A unit out there in the Persian Gulf, the Screaming Eagles, the P-3 Orion. They're flying over these areas and tracking ships and taking pictures. Let's talk about the surveillance from that end.

MCCANN: True enough. The other two methods that you were alluding to earlier is, of course, the P-3s that will track from, again a standoff and be able to rise above the vision line of the craft, looking down at the ship and following it through its shipping channels.

And then further up, of course, is the satellite imagery where we can basically snapshot pictures by directing overflights of satellites to capture images of where that ship's going and how it's conducting its business. All very classified.

PHILLIPS: So, for example, as we look at these pictures from the P-3, if they're not taking satellite images or sorry surveillance pictures this way, then, yes, you mentioned the satellites. And you also told us about this web site that we can actually look at, www.terraserver.com, where we could actually -- right now, we are looking at the satellite images. Tell us about this web site and what we're seeing and how this helps track rogue vessels.

MCCANN: It's a free access site, of course, and it gives you a glimpse of some of the capabilities of the U.S. spy satellites, but of course the acuity is not depicted here for open access. Suffice to say that really, you can -- all the way back to the Vietnam War when we did the raid on Santee, at that time just through SR-71 aircraft, we were able to read license plates. That was in the '70s. This is 30 years later. It gives you an idea of just how much we can drill down and see from those craft.

PHILLIPS: And, of course, not everybody is going to be able to be tracked down. There are rogue vessels that are going to get through to port. So then, let's look at that situation. Let's say a rogue vessel gets into a busy port. Then it's tough to track them, right? I mean, you have got to have a lot of human intelligence.

MCCANN: Absolutely. It's a handoff. And basically these three methods we just discussed then get handed off to, if you will, human intelligence assets on the ground in the port, because the fear that this ship moves into port and then it kind of gets lost in the flurry of activity in that port. It goes into like a dry dock situation where the flag is changed. The name is changed. They are able to repaint the vessel, and it comes out looking totally different, and that's the fear. Well, if we have human intelligence assets in the port, on the ground, they can track it through that.

Now, take it a step further, Kyra, and usually shipping then goes to by rail transportation where that's available in countries or by trucking and then to a distribution point. So the tendrils that have to go out now from the port into the country are significant. And it is a drain on human assets.

PHILLIPS: Intense, why we have a new Department of Homeland Security. J. Kelly McCann, our security analyst, thanks so much.

MCCANN: You bet, Kyra.

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 December 31, 2002 - 13:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Does Al Qaeda have a navy? The Washington Post reports about 15 cargo freighters are available to the terrorist network and they could carry terrorists, arms, explosives, money or commodities around the world. The report says U.S. spy agencies scramble to keep track of these ships, but it's tough, because they keep getting new name, new paint jobs and new registrations. Joining us by phone to talk about this, J. Kelly McCann, our security analyst. Hi, Kelly.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Kyra, how are you?

PHILLIPS: Well, good, and thank you for being with us. I know it's your daughter's birthday and I appreciate it. Let's talk about the three main ways of how they keep track of the vessels. First, of course, let's talk about new operations.

MCCANN: Well, basically, you know, there is a way, a method of surveillance that was used most recently in the shipping of arms from North Korea to Yemen by over the horizon surveillance, where ships will stand off and follow in the wake of a ship that they're tracking. It's effective, but, of course, there's a time lag, if necessary to accelerate and catch that ship.

PHILLIPS: We are looking at video now. This is the maritime interdiction operations out in the Persian Gulf taking place. These boarding team go and follow these vessels all through the day and all through the night. Sometimes there are some high-threat situations where basically boarding teams become swat teams.

I know you were a part of this type of team when you were in the marines. Let's talk about that.

MCCANN: One of the most dangerous operations is to board a ship underway. If you can imagine the waves at sea, you experienced it when you were in the Gulf, a rise and fall of several feet, up to 10 feet, the wake of the ship that's cutting alongside and you having to go from water line to rail line with a hostile ship and a potential of a ship's defense system or people who are able to defend the ship. So it is a very, very dangerous operation. Similarly, inserting by helicopter, where you have to match the speed of the craft and still have to fast rope onto the deck laden with a combat load of up to 80 pounds and then immediately assault when you land. So it is a very dangerous undertaking.

PHILLIPS: You know, hopefully the situation is you don't have to board those vessels. You can track them possibly by surveillance pictures. A unit out there in the Persian Gulf, the Screaming Eagles, the P-3 Orion. They're flying over these areas and tracking ships and taking pictures. Let's talk about the surveillance from that end.

MCCANN: True enough. The other two methods that you were alluding to earlier is, of course, the P-3s that will track from, again a standoff and be able to rise above the vision line of the craft, looking down at the ship and following it through its shipping channels.

And then further up, of course, is the satellite imagery where we can basically snapshot pictures by directing overflights of satellites to capture images of where that ship's going and how it's conducting its business. All very classified.

PHILLIPS: So, for example, as we look at these pictures from the P-3, if they're not taking satellite images or sorry surveillance pictures this way, then, yes, you mentioned the satellites. And you also told us about this web site that we can actually look at, www.terraserver.com, where we could actually -- right now, we are looking at the satellite images. Tell us about this web site and what we're seeing and how this helps track rogue vessels.

MCCANN: It's a free access site, of course, and it gives you a glimpse of some of the capabilities of the U.S. spy satellites, but of course the acuity is not depicted here for open access. Suffice to say that really, you can -- all the way back to the Vietnam War when we did the raid on Santee, at that time just through SR-71 aircraft, we were able to read license plates. That was in the '70s. This is 30 years later. It gives you an idea of just how much we can drill down and see from those craft.

PHILLIPS: And, of course, not everybody is going to be able to be tracked down. There are rogue vessels that are going to get through to port. So then, let's look at that situation. Let's say a rogue vessel gets into a busy port. Then it's tough to track them, right? I mean, you have got to have a lot of human intelligence.

MCCANN: Absolutely. It's a handoff. And basically these three methods we just discussed then get handed off to, if you will, human intelligence assets on the ground in the port, because the fear that this ship moves into port and then it kind of gets lost in the flurry of activity in that port. It goes into like a dry dock situation where the flag is changed. The name is changed. They are able to repaint the vessel, and it comes out looking totally different, and that's the fear. Well, if we have human intelligence assets in the port, on the ground, they can track it through that.

Now, take it a step further, Kyra, and usually shipping then goes to by rail transportation where that's available in countries or by trucking and then to a distribution point. So the tendrils that have to go out now from the port into the country are significant. And it is a drain on human assets.

PHILLIPS: Intense, why we have a new Department of Homeland Security. J. Kelly McCann, our security analyst, thanks so much.

MCCANN: You bet, Kyra.

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