Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

FBI Warns of Apartment Terror Strikes

Aired May 21, 2002 - 08:00   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: Up front this morning, Americans are on alert this morning following new terror warnings. The latest barrage of grim predictions come from the FBI, which is now warning apartment building managers that terrorists might be plotting a new way to bring down a tall building.

CNN's national security correspondent David Ensor joins us now with more from Washington -- good morning, David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: What can you tell us about this latest warning from FBI Director Robert Mueller? It's interesting to note that he didn't expect these comments to go public, did he?

ENSOR: He was talking to some district attorneys. It was his understanding it was a closed meeting, but, in fact, there were some reporters in the room and they felt that it was fair game.

What he was talking about was that he predicts that there will be suicide bombings in the United States. He called them inevitable. He said he didn't know when or where or how, but he feels they are coming. That tactic will come here, as it already has so terribly to Israel.

ZAHN: All right, David, let's move on to this other general threat that's being passed along about the potential of suicide bombers getting into apartment buildings, renting them, probably with false I.D.s, and then bringing whole buildings down.

How seriously is the FBI taking that threat?

ENSOR: The FBI is taking it seriously enough to let the word get out publicly to owners of large buildings. It is information that originally was culled by the U.S. intelligence services. They got it from two different places, I am told, and they believe that it is credible that al Qaeda was looking at this, at least a few weeks ago, as a tactic to try to fill up apartments with explosives and bring buildings down.

There's no suggestion, though, from officials I've spoken to that it got beyond the planning stages.

Still, it is a tactic they wanted to make sure that the FBI and people in the United States were aware of.

ZAHN: Let me ask you about another report that's getting some attention this morning, among others, from ABC News, that certain terror groups held a summit in Beirut not long ago, and there's even a suggestion that some al Qaeda representatives might have been there.

Can you confirm that?

ENSOR: Well, there was a meeting in March in Lebanon of Hamas and Hezbollah. That, in fact, was reported in the Lebanese papers at the time. This new reports suggests that members of al Qaeda were also at the meeting. I am told that that is, that cannot be confirmed. If there was anyone from al Qaeda at the meeting, they were lower level people.

To the suggestion that there may -- this may have been a summit to discuss cooperating on terrorism against the United States, officials told me there's no evidence that that's what it was. That would be an exaggeration, as one official put it.

ZAHN: All right, let's move on to the anthrax investigation. The Justice Department said Monday that they actually plan to give some lie detector tests to some of their employees. What's driving that?

ENSOR: Do you know, I really do not know. I do not know what that, what the reasoning behind that is, although there is obviously a great deal of concern about the anthrax investigation and some sense that some leads may have been dropped.

ZAHN: Is there a perspective there that they are potentially looking at one of their own?

ENSOR: I just don't know, Paula.

ZAHN: OK, sorry about that, David.

Can you tell us anything new about this bin Laden tape that has surfaced and whether it's giving investigators any new clues as to whether this guy is alive or not?

ENSOR: Well, the first, intelligence officials are looking at the tape. They haven't actually seen the whole 40 minutes yet. But their first take on it is that the tape is probably old. When it was released, of course, the suggestion was it was only eight weeks old and this is proof that bin Laden is alive and well, although not looking in as good health as he did many months ago. But as I say, the first take of U.S. intelligence officials, who are just starting to look at this thing, is it was most likely produced shortly after September 11, when, of course, we saw a flurry of tapes.

It's recycled, in other words, in their view.

ZAHN: All right, a final question for you this morning. Colin Powell expected to release the annual global terrorism report later today. Do we have any idea what's in it? ENSOR: Yes. It's double the size of last year. Obviously we've had September 11 in the interim. It lists the same seven countries that were, that have always been listed for years now -- Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. They are listed as state sponsors of terrorism. That's the same list as before. And it lists a grim death toll, the largest ever, of 3,547 killed in terrorism attacks worldwide.

And, of course, the largest number of those were Americans -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, David Ensor, thanks so much for that update. Appreciate it.

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