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Warning Issued by Homeland Security Department
Aired July 29, 2003 - 13:17 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: A warning today about possible plans to launch a second September 11 in the coming weeks. U.S. airlines are now on notice Al Qaeda terrorists may be plotting another big attack with hijacked passenger planes.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve helped break this story. She's standing by live in Washington with more -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, possible hijacking, possibly this summer, possibly in the U.S., or against U.S. interests overseas. That's the information that was developed, in part, from interrogations of high-level Al Qaeda detainees, according to intelligence officials.
Although some government officials question the credibility of the information, one official calling it, quote, "dubious," it was taken seriously enough by the Department of Homeland Security for it to send out an advisory to the aviation community and state and local governments. It warns that national symbols, sites of economic importance and venues where there would be high casualties are possible targets, both in the U.S. and overseas.
Sources say the possible scenario authorities are looking at is different from that used on 9/11 in that it would not require the hijackers to have had any type of flight training. Officials say the hijackers might try to lead passengers to believe that they are facing a conventional hostage situation rather than the use of the aircraft as a weapon. One official says by doing this the hijackers might hope to minimize the chances that passengers would take preemptive action, as they did on United flight 93.
Passengers on that September 11 flight were aware a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center, and apparently decided to attack the hijackers who had commandeered their plane before it could be used to hit another target.
There are no plans to heighten the nation's threat level at this point, but the aviation sector is encouraged to be on the lookout and to implement new random security measures, though officials won't say what those are. They don't want to give terrorists a blueprint.
One airport official said there has been so many warnings, it's hard to get worked up about this one, but he says he understands why the Department of Homeland Security put out this information, saying if they did not and something happened, there would be hell to pay -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jeanne Meserve, thank you.
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 July 29, 2003 - 13:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A warning today about possible plans to launch a second September 11 in the coming weeks. U.S. airlines are now on notice Al Qaeda terrorists may be plotting another big attack with hijacked passenger planes.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve helped break this story. She's standing by live in Washington with more -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, possible hijacking, possibly this summer, possibly in the U.S., or against U.S. interests overseas. That's the information that was developed, in part, from interrogations of high-level Al Qaeda detainees, according to intelligence officials.
Although some government officials question the credibility of the information, one official calling it, quote, "dubious," it was taken seriously enough by the Department of Homeland Security for it to send out an advisory to the aviation community and state and local governments. It warns that national symbols, sites of economic importance and venues where there would be high casualties are possible targets, both in the U.S. and overseas.
Sources say the possible scenario authorities are looking at is different from that used on 9/11 in that it would not require the hijackers to have had any type of flight training. Officials say the hijackers might try to lead passengers to believe that they are facing a conventional hostage situation rather than the use of the aircraft as a weapon. One official says by doing this the hijackers might hope to minimize the chances that passengers would take preemptive action, as they did on United flight 93.
Passengers on that September 11 flight were aware a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center, and apparently decided to attack the hijackers who had commandeered their plane before it could be used to hit another target.
There are no plans to heighten the nation's threat level at this point, but the aviation sector is encouraged to be on the lookout and to implement new random security measures, though officials won't say what those are. They don't want to give terrorists a blueprint.
One airport official said there has been so many warnings, it's hard to get worked up about this one, but he says he understands why the Department of Homeland Security put out this information, saying if they did not and something happened, there would be hell to pay -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jeanne Meserve, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
