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American Morning

World Security Tight

Aired February 26, 2002 - 08:19   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Every Tuesday, CNN national security correspondent David Ensor joins us for a weekly intelligence brief. Among the items on his agenda, the possibility of al Qaeda sleeper cells still operating in the United States.

This morning, we find David in Washington.

Good morning.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: David, I'd love to start off with something that the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham, said over the weekend, on Novak, Hunt, & Shields, one of our shows, about al Qaeda.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: The estimate is that there are 100 or more al Qaeda operatives inside the United States, some who have been here for a considerable period of time, all of whom went through a training process to prepare them to carry out terrorist plots when they were called upon to do so. That probably is the most immediate threat of a terrorist attack against the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: All right, David, we've been warned about the possibility of the existence of these sleeper cells. I guess this is the most direct information we've been given -- 100 of these so-called agents believed to be in the United States. How did the intelligence community react to Sen. Graham talking about this publicly?

ENSOR: Some officials I talked to are a little surprised. They didn't realize that the U.S. had such specific information or that the number was so large. However, the senator is the chairman of the Intelligence Committee in the Senate. He gets the kind of high-level secure briefings that very few others even in the government get. So -- and he is standing by his numbers. We checked, so he may know something, and that is an alarming number. At the same time, it would be in a way good news if the U.S., if law enforcement has got that level of specificity about who's in here and what they're up to. ZAHN: So does that suggest possibly we know where these guys are?

ENSOR: It certainly suggests they're working on it, and it suggests that they're beginning to be able to kind of get some numbers, figure out how many people there are. It's -- once you know how many there are, you're getting closer to knowing who they are. So it's ...

ZAHN: All right, I'll ...

ENSOR: ... a step in the right direction.

ZAHN: All right, David, onto the speculation about where Osama bin Laden might be. You had two major newspapers yesterday, "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" suggesting that Osama bin Laden is alive somewhere in Afghanistan possibly near the Pakistan border. What have your sources told you? Is this a distinct possibility?

ENSOR: Very much so, Paula, yes. As a matter of fact, that's sort of what we've been reporting for months, that the best guess of U.S. intelligence is that he's still alive and that he's most likely in Afghanistan or very close to it in the Pakistani area. What officials say is one thing they're fairly confident of is that he's not dead.

After all, bin Laden -- you can assume that bin Laden's relatives, anyone close to bin Laden is being closely watched. Certain areas are being surveyed. They're fairly confident that if he were to die, that is something they would know, and they have heard no such information Paula.

ZAHN: All right, onto the issue of Daniel Pearl's murder. There is now some information that the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, actually withheld information on his kidnapping and that one of the chief suspects actually reportedly turned himself in a week before President Musharraf of Pakistan admitted that he had. Is this true?

ENSOR: Well it's a rather murky case, Paula, as I guess Americans are now seeing. U.S. officials tell me they cannot rule out the possibility that people connected with ISI , the Pakistani intelligence may have had information about the kidnapping and not given it to the authorities in a timely fashion in a way that could have helped save his life.

So there's concern about that. Now, of course, as you reported earlier on the program, the U.S. is asking for the extradition of Omar Sheikh. This murder was committed in Pakistan, however, and it is not clear

But the ISI involvement, the Pakistani intelligence involvement is something of great concern to American investigators. They're worried that the Pakistanis may not entirely come clean on this case.

ZAHN: Aren't they also worried that President Musharraf may not have control over his own intelligence agency? ENSOR: Well you know that agency was heavily involved in, in fact, the creation of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the fear is there may still be rogue elements in the ISI, that yes General Musharraf may not have complete control of.

ZAHN: All right, David, as always, we appreciate your briefing. We always learn a lot. Thank you. Have a good day.

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