Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Seven Arrested in Miami for Alleged Terror Plan; FBI Director Speaks; Chicago Office of Emergency Management Holds Briefing on Sears Tower Plot

Aired June 23, 2006 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, we're standing by for two live events at the City Club of Cleveland. And you can see seated FBI Director Robert Mueller. He is set to begin a speech there very soon. And on the right side of your screen, that is the city of Chicago. Emergency officials are going to be giving a news conference there, talking about the Sears Tower as a possible target of a terrorist plot.
While we wait those news conferences, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales spoke about the case that we've been talking about all morning at a news conference earlier today. You saw it live here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Has every known member of the cell been arrested?

GONZALES: What I can say is the investigation continues, but I can't comment beyond that.

And let me just remind everyone, because I know there's going to be a desire for additional facts: This is an ongoing criminal investigation. And so with respect to disclosure of facts beyond the indictment, I can't do that.

QUESTION: What can you tell us about the cooperating informant, the one who posed as an al Qaeda representative? How was he known to the members of the plot?

GONZALES: He was known as someone who was a member of al Qaeda. But I can't provide any additional information beyond that.

QUESTION: Did any of the men have any actual contact with any members of al Qaeda that you know of?

GONZALES: Any?

JOHN PISTOLE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: No.

GONZALES: The answer to that is no.

QUESTION: Did they have any means to carry out this plot? I mean, did you find any explosives, weapons?

GONZALES: No, and you raise a good point. You know, our philosophy here is that we try to identify plots in the earliest stages possible, because we don't know what we don't know about a terrorism plot. And that once we have sufficient information to move forward with a prosecution, that's what we do. And that is what has occurred here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And we're going to go from that taped sound to what's happening live right now in Cleveland. Here is FBI Director Robert Mueller, giving a speech on homegrown terrorism.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

ROBERT MUELLER, DIRECTOR, FBI: ... and that is three times the amount used in the Oklahoma City bombing. And although the Canadian authorities uncovered this plot before these men harmed anyone, we face that sobering fact that yet another group of extremists planned a terrorist attack and took steps to execute that attack.

Like the terrorists responsible for both the London and the Madrid bombings, the Toronto suspects lived in the area they intended to attack. They were not sleeper operatives sent on suicide missions, they were students and business people and members of the community. They were persons who, for whatever reason, came to view their home country as the enemy.

And I want to talk today about the changing shape of terrorism, and in particular the threat of home-grown terrorism. I do want to talk about the radicalization process, how an extremist becomes a terrorist and what we are doing to address this new threat.

For more than a decade, al Qaeda has been the driving force of terrorism, moving thousands of people through training camps in Afghanistan and providing the motivation, the money and the management for worldwide attacks.

In the past five years, with our military, law enforcement and intelligence partners around the world, we have disrupted al Qaeda's central operations. We have captured or killed many of their key leaders, including the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, as well as al-Zarqawi and many of his associates in Iraq.

We have destroyed their training camps and disrupted both their funding and their means of communication. And through these efforts we have transformed al Qaeda from a strong hierarchy that plans and executes attacks to being a decentralized and amorphous group.

And unfortunately, while al Qaeda may well be weakened, it is not dead. We continue to face threats from al Qaeda and its offshoots in Saudi Arabia, in Iraq, in East Africa. And their plots included in recent times a plot to blow up a shopping mall here in the Columbus area, as well as the recently reported cyanide attack on the New York City subway system. But we also face threats from organizations affiliated with al Qaeda, like Ansar al-Sunna in Africa and Jemaah Islamiah in Southeast Asia. These groups continue to train, to recruit and to plan attacks. But the chain of command are fractured and they are not as stable as they were a number of years ago.

And while we have made great strides in disabling traditional terrorist models like al Qaeda, the convergence of globalization and technology has created a new brand of terrorism, and today terror threats may come from smaller, more loosely defined individuals and cells who are not affiliated with al Qaeda, but who are inspired by a violent jihadist message. And these home-grown terrorists may prove to be as dangerous as groups like al Qaeda, if not more so.

We've already seen this new face of terrorism on a global scale in Madrid, in London and in Toronto, and we have also witnessed this so-called self-radicalization here at home.

In Torrance, California, for example, four men were indicted last year, charged with plotting to attack United States military recruiting facilities and synagogues in the Los Angeles area.

In Toledo, three men were recently charged with conspiring to provide money, training communications, computers to extremists in the Middle East. As alleged in the indictment, these men taught themselves how to make and use explosives, and they conducted their own training exercises, and they did it all here in Ohio.

Just this morning, the FBI and the Department of Justice announced the indictment of seven individuals involved in what appears to be another homegrown terrorist cell.

The leader is a United States citizen living in Miami, and he and six others are alleged to have plotted to attack the Sears Tower in Chicago, as well as federal buildings in Miami-Dade.

These extremists are self-recruited, self-trained and self- executing. They may not have any connection at all to al Qaeda or to other terrorist groups.

They share ideas and information in the shadows of the Internet. And they gain inspiration from radical Web sites that call for violence. They raise money by committing low-level crimes that do not generate much attention; do not answer to a particular leader, but to an ideology.

In short, they operate under the radar screen, and that makes their detection that much more difficult.

To detect homegrown terrorists, it helps to understand the radicalization process. How does an individual become a radical extremist? And how does an extremist then become a terrorist?

We have found that radicalization is fluid. It does not follow a set formula or a set timetable. Radicalization often starts with individuals who are frustrated with their lives, with the politics of their home governments.

They may be U.S.-born or, as we saw in London, second-generation citizens. Some may be lonely or dissatisfied with their role in society. Others may have friends or mentors who encourage membership for social reasons.

And once a person has joined an extremist group, he or she may start to identify with an ideology, one that encourages violence against a government and its citizens. And they become increasingly isolated from their old lives, drift away from family and friends, and spend more time with other members of the extremist group.

As they become more and more involved in the group, they may decide to take action to support the cause, actions such as selecting targets, conducting surveillance and raising money, procuring materials.

And as talk moves to action, an extremist can become a terrorist. The evolution from extremism to terrorism can take place just about anywhere, from academic settings, prisons and community centers to the Internet.

Schools and universities, for example are both open as well as isolated. Many students are at impressionable age and are seeking ways to establish their own unique identities.

Prisons are also fertile grounds for extremists. Inmates may be drawn to an extreme form of Islam because it may help to justify their violent tendencies. These persons represent a heightened threat because of their criminal histories, their propensity for violence and their contacts with fellow criminals.

The four suspected terrorists arrested last year in Torrance, California, were recruited by Kevin James, the founder of the radical group called JIS. James founded JIS from his cell in Folsom Prison in California. He recruited fellow inmates and radicals outside prison to join his mission, which was to kill those he saw as infidels.

We are working with prison officials, academic leaders across the country to help identify potential recruiting venues, but we also must identify the recruiters themselves who sometimes acting as the leaders of these homegrown cells.

In recent cases, we have seen one key person, such as Kevin James who brought the Torrance group together. These are not always spiritual leaders, they can be mentors or friends, and regardless of their role, they can transform their followers from radicals to terrorists.

Radical fundamentalists are particularly difficult to pinpoint in cyberspace. There are between 5,000 to 6,000 extremist Web sites on the Internet encouraging extremists to initiate their own radicalization and to cultivate relationships with other like-minded persons.

And although we have destroyed many terrorist training camps in the past five years, extremists increasingly turn to the Internet for virtual instruction.

And, of course, not every extremist will become a terrorist. And with the radicalization processes become more rapid, more widespread and anonymous in this Internet age, making detection that much more difficult for all of us.

Now, whether we are talking about al Qaeda's operations overseas or sleeper operatives who have been place for years or the emergence of home-grown terrorists, our greatest challenge is in mapping these underground networks. This is and can be tedious intricate work, but it's absolutely essential to the safety of this country.

We need to see how certain individuals fit into the big picture. We need to know where to set the trip wires to identify the line between the extremist and the operator.

To meet that mission, we are relying on three things. Number one, firstly, intelligence, secondly, technology, and, thirdly, partnerships

Intelligence is key to preventing terrorist attacks. We must be able to transform bits and pieces of information into actionable intelligence, and then disseminate that intelligence to the people who need it, all within an exceptionally tight time frame.

In the past five years, we have doubled the number of intelligence analysts in the FBI and placed field intelligence groups in every one of our offices.

Together, analysts, agents, linguists, surveillance specialists, collect and analyze vital intelligence and share it with our partners in the law enforcement and in the intelligence communities.

As part of this effort, agents and analysts in each of our field offices are taking a good, hard look at their communities. Here in Cleveland, for instance, we have learned more about the mass transit system, the ports on Lake Erie and the many airports, airstrips and heliports in the area.

We increased our knowledge of Ohio's agricultural base and its key industries, academic institutions and its people. And we call it knowing your domain. We need to know the risk factors and the potential targets for criminal and terrorist activity.

And with this information, we can find and stop homegrown terrorists before they strike.

Intelligence provides the information we need, but technology enables us to find the patterns and connections in that intelligence.

Using searchable databases, we can track suspected terrorists through biographical information, travel histories and criminal and financial records. Using our investigative data warehouse agents, analysts and law enforcement officers on joint terrorism task forces across the country can search any number of databases. In 2005 alone, users ran more than 10 million inquiries with an average response time of under 8 seconds. Our Terrorist Screening Center provides federal, state and local officials with real-time connectivity to the terrorist watch list.

We maintain a database of more than 200,000 known and suspected terrorists. And when a police officer encounters a suspicious person, that officer can access the Screening Center on the spot for further information and direction.

But we are not the only ones making ready use of emerging technology. Terrorists are doing it as well. To keep pace, we must be able to identify the links between extremists and their activities.

While technology provides the means to make those connections, partnerships are absolutely essential. With the emergence of homegrown terrorism, the role of our partners in state and local law enforcement becomes that much more important. They are the feet on the street, the first to see new trends in crime and in terrorism.

The FBI is a relatively small organization with about 12,000 agents -- compared to 800,000 law enforcement officers across the United States. And that is why partnerships such as our joint terrorism task forces are so vital.

Police officers and others in the federal government -- including the CIA, the Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, to name just a few -- sit side-by-side with FBI agents and analysts, cooperating on investigations and sharing information with their own departments and agencies. In the Torrance investigation, for example, the police officers who arrested two of the suspects in what looked like a routine gas station robbery found evidence that these two were planning a terrorist attack.

They passed the information on to the local joint terrorism task force. And together they traced the steps of these terrorists and exposed the entire cell.

Without the initial information from the Torrance Police Department and the work of the Los Angeles Sheriffs and Police Departments, we might not have made the connection between the terrorist criminal activities and their plans to undertake the attack.

These partnerships also extend overseas. The ongoing Toronto terrorism investigation is an outstanding example of high-level coordination, coordination between international law enforcement and intelligence agencies in Canada, here in the United States, Denmark, Britain, Bosnia, Bangladesh, and in other countries.

We have come together to share information and to address the terrorist threat. And we are investigating possible ties between the Toronto suspects and terrorist cells around the world.

And we must continue to work together. We cannot stop global terrorism without global cooperation. As well, our partnerships with you in the private sector are equally important. Countering the spread of global terrorism will take more than just the capture of terrorist leaders.

We are doubling our efforts to reach out to communities across the country. In recent months, we have hosted town meetings from Los Angeles to New York.

We are also meeting with community leaders and minority groups to demystify the work we are doing.

KAGAN: We've been listening into FBI Director Robert Mueller. He's giving a speech in Cleveland today about homegrown terrorism. He will be having a news conference a little bit later. We make a transition now to Chicago. Officials there having a news conference talking about the Sears Tower as a possible target of terror.

JOHN HUSTON, EXEC. V.P., SEARS TOWER: I would like to say thank you to all of those that responded to this situation and to express my pride in the way that they, in fact, responded. I am very proud of the cooperation and coordination that has occurred between our security people and law enforcement.

Over the last day, I have witnessed the highest level of competence and professionalism from our security staff at the Sears Tower, from our operations people and from our property management team. This team of people at the Sears Tower is the best in the business, and they bring the highest level of security, safety and protection to the building.

This morning -- this morning -- at the Sears Tower, it is business as usual. Our tenants are in their offices, performing as they usually do. Our sky deck is open for business, and attendance is good. And obviously, you're here. Our broadcast facilities are fully functional.

Again, thank you to our team at the Sears Tower. I'm very proud of all of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Huston. At this time, we will take any questions.

QUESTION: Mr. Turner (ph), given that these folks never had more than boots and a camera, do you think the media is kind of blowing this out of proportion and perhaps negatively affecting rental rates at the Sears Tower?

BARBARA CARLEY, SEARS TOWER MANAGING DIR.: I think you answered your own question, but as far as negatively affecting rental rates, I think that as the news continues to come out, people are seeing this for exactly what it is.

And as John said, it is business as usual at Sears Tower. Sears Tower isn't any more a target of a terrorist threat than any other building in the city or any other building in the country, so we're pretty confident that things are fine there. QUESTION: Mrs. Carley, at the press conference with Attorney General Gonzales this morning, they did say that one of these individuals once worked there. Can you tell us what did you do (INAUDIBLE).

CARLEY: I don't think he said he worked at Sears Tower. I think they said he was from the city of Chicago.

QUESTION: He also said that he had once worked at the building.

CARLEY: I'm not aware that he was ever working at the building.

QUESTION: Ms. Carley, are there any plans to increase security at this point in time?

CARLEY: The security level at the Sears Tower is the highest in the industry, it's a model for security. It is vigilant, it is appropriate. Nobody is getting in the building that doesn't belong there, there isn't any need to increase it.

QUESTION: What is the occupancy rate normally at Sears Tower?

CARLEY: It's about 80 percent.

QUESTION: I'm sorry?

CARLEY: about 80 percent.

QUESTION: Does this issue of terrorism ever coming up as an issue of (INAUDIBLE).

CARLEY: Does the issue of terrorism come up? I think people are concerned about terrorism in general, so we have discussions with tenants that come in the building. We have tenants that lease space in the building despite any talk of terrorism in the country and are happy to be there, continue to be there, renew their space there and continue to come to see space there.

QUESTION: The two from Tampa, was this Narseal Batiste known to Chicago police?

DEP. SUPT. JOHN RISLEY, CHICAGO POLICE: He was arrested back in '93 on a misdemeanor charge, and that's the only thing we have on him in Chicago.

QUESTION: Do you know the nature of that charge?

RISLEY: Criminal damage to property.

QUESTION: Lieutenant, would you say that Chicago police were in on the investigation with the FBI from the beginning? Are we talking hours, days, have you known about it for weeks?

RISLEY: Well, we have officers assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Chicago with the FBI and with other agencies. This investigation took place in Miami, but there was things that needed to be checked out in Chicago that the Joint Terrorist Task Force did.

QUESTION: At what point were the Chicago police notified of this noncredible threat?

RISLEY: Well, I mean, the FBI notified us on Wednesday of this week that the arrests were going to take place this week.

QUESTION: Superintendent, did you have gang affiliation in there?

RISLEY: Not that we can find, no.

QUESTION: And do you know (INAUDIBLE).

RISLEY: No, I don't.

QUESTION: Lieutenant, (INAUDIBLE).

RISLEY: No, I think if you look at -- and we're not going to play our hand, but we have probably the highest level of security in the financial districts in the downtown area. With the Taste of Chicago coming up, we will have extra security there. We've had it there every year since 9/11 and we believe that the most important thing is having intelligence and having visible security and those two combinations ...

KAGAN: We've been listening into this news conference in Chicago. Emergency officials there holding are a news conference because the Sears Tower that you see on the right part of your screen, allegedly one of the targets of a terror plot that was busted up in south Florida overnight.

Seven people have been indicted and arrested. They are charged with pledging support for al Qaeda in order to wage war against the U.S. government. We're going to have lot more coverage on this ahead. The FBI Director Robert Mueller is expected hold a news conference as well.

Also ahead on "LIVE FROM" with our Kyra Phillips, a story out of Reno, Nevada, the guy there looking for -- accused of killing his wife and shooting a judge there has been found in Mexico. She'll have the latest on that story.

But that's going to wrap it up for me. I'm Daryn Kagan, "LIVE FROM" coming up at the top of the hour. I will see you on Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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