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American Morning
U.S. Uses Advanced Technology in the Hunt for Bin Laden
Aired November 23, 2001 - 07:24 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: As far as we know, U.S. forces have not yet pinpointed Osama bin Laden's location in Afghanistan, if he, indeed, is still there. This despite a full array of spy technology in the air and the troops on the ground.
Retired Air Force Major General George Harrison now offering some insight into the hunt for bin Laden. General, good morning to you.
MAJ. GEN. GEORGE HARRISON (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: Happy holiday the day after.
HARRISON: Thank you.
HEMMER: First, let's start way up in the air with a bit of technology called the Predator. We've talked about this a lot over the past two months. Tell us how the Predator would be employed right now in this hunt for bin Laden.
HARRISON: Well, first of all, there's a lot of planning that goes into a Predator mission. It's a fairly short range, medium altitude asset and it has a variety of sensors. It's a light aircraft so you can't put a lot of sensors on it. It will look at either the magnetic spectrum, the electronic spectrum, the infrared spectrum or the visual spectrum and pick out a particular thing that you're interested in as you move into an area.
HEMMER: Is this the type of technology that would be used to sense heat, electronics, other things on the ground?
HARRISON: Certainly. And, of course, that's put together with all of the other things. Now, this, when you think of Predator you can think of looking at something through a soda straw. It's not a broad view of an area so it has to be cued, just as you have to cue a TV camera. So when you cue the -- and it does have some TV cameras on board. So when you cue the Predator, you bring in a lot of other sources, like human intelligence, to bring it, to give you an idea of where to look specifically so that you can get this thing right in the area that'll pick out the signals that you're interested in.
HEMMER: Let's go from way up in space down to the ground. There is potential now for a new ally on the ground in Afghanistan, human intelligence from Taliban soldiers who have been taken captive who have either defected or al Qaeda who have been captured, as well. How do you employ that right now in this manhunt?
HARRISON: Well, as we've discussed, when the human intelligence comes in, you evaluate it, you figure out the reliability of it and try to make a decision as to how good the stuff is. Then when you've got an idea about how good it is and where it's going to go, then you cue the other sensors, put it all together into a single picture and then you know where you can go and get some good work done.
HEMMER: Then you have to figure out whether or not you can trust the information you're getting, too.
I want to go to the map here quickly.
HARRISON: Sure.
HEMMER: I'll go to the telestrator. And a lot of people have, to be frank with you, they have speculated as to his whereabouts. Many people suggest possibly here along the border with Pakistan, possibly in a narrow alleyway there. There are other indications, you know, we talk about Jalalabad, Kabul to the west or southeast of the capital city and certainly there is Kandahar, as well.
The point is in this, as we look at this map, general, so far as we know, no one truly knows.
HARRISON: True. That's correct. Now, what we're going to have to do is take a lot of sources -- the intelligence word for this is fusion -- take a lot of sources and put them together, fuse all this information and get an idea about where he might be. If he's going to do anything, he has to have some indication of what's going on. He has to have food. He has to transmit. He has to have heat, warmth. He has to exist in some fashion.
So if he's doing anything other than hiding in a cave, there will be indications and if we put all the information together the way we want to, the way we intend to, we'll find him.
HEMMER: It is getting colder in Afghanistan and some suggest that that enhances the ability through technology to locate him. How would that work?
HARRISON: Sure. If you're looking for an infrared signature, that is, the heat that he produces as a factor of his normal activity, the contrast between the natural environment, cold environment, and the heat that he produces gives you a much better clue than in a warm environment.
HEMMER: You think he's still there?
HARRISON: That's hard to guess. I suspect he is.
HEMMER: And if so, will he be found?
HARRISON: I believe he will found if he does anything other than hide and die in the cold.
HEMMER: Appreciate your time.
HARRISON: Sure.
HEMMER: We'll talk a bit later this morning, General.
HARRISON: OK.
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