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FBI Agents Headed for Saudi Arabia

Aired May 13, 2003 - 10:18   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Back now to our top story this morning, the deadly suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia. The question before the break was what would the U.S. do in response to that with, now, ten Americans being declared dead in those bombings. Our Kelli Arena is in Washington with, perhaps, the first word on that response -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, the FBI is sending in a team of less than a dozen agents to start with, over to Riyadh. They are leaving today. Most of those agents coming from the Washington field office, but they are being led by John Pistole, who is the assistant director of counterterrorism at the FBI, so obviously, this is a very senior FBI official who is heading over, which underscores the -- how significant the FBI feels this event is. They are all heading to Riyadh to get on the ground as fast as they can to work right alongside with the Saudis. They are hoping for unfettered access to that site.

Of course, that is hard to predict. Once they get there, they'll figure out where the lines are drawn. The cooperation with Saudi Arabia on the terrorism front has had somewhat of a mixed path. The one example that most officials point to is the Khobar Towers bombing back in 1996 where there were some rough spots of cooperation with Saudi Arabia in terms of that investigation. Hopefully, post- September 11, and considering the new era of cooperation between countries and allied countries, this will be somewhat of a different experience for the bureau.

But just to underscore, they are leaving today, immediately, less than a dozen agents, but headed by a very senior official, and we will update you with more as we get it -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right. Great. Thank you, Kelli.

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 May 13, 2003 - 10:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Back now to our top story this morning, the deadly suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia. The question before the break was what would the U.S. do in response to that with, now, ten Americans being declared dead in those bombings. Our Kelli Arena is in Washington with, perhaps, the first word on that response -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, the FBI is sending in a team of less than a dozen agents to start with, over to Riyadh. They are leaving today. Most of those agents coming from the Washington field office, but they are being led by John Pistole, who is the assistant director of counterterrorism at the FBI, so obviously, this is a very senior FBI official who is heading over, which underscores the -- how significant the FBI feels this event is. They are all heading to Riyadh to get on the ground as fast as they can to work right alongside with the Saudis. They are hoping for unfettered access to that site.

Of course, that is hard to predict. Once they get there, they'll figure out where the lines are drawn. The cooperation with Saudi Arabia on the terrorism front has had somewhat of a mixed path. The one example that most officials point to is the Khobar Towers bombing back in 1996 where there were some rough spots of cooperation with Saudi Arabia in terms of that investigation. Hopefully, post- September 11, and considering the new era of cooperation between countries and allied countries, this will be somewhat of a different experience for the bureau.

But just to underscore, they are leaving today, immediately, less than a dozen agents, but headed by a very senior official, and we will update you with more as we get it -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right. Great. Thank you, Kelli.

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