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American Morning

Al Qaeda May Possess Shoulder-Fired Missiles

Aired May 31, 2002 - 07:01   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, the FBI warns U.S. airlines that terrorists may have smuggled shoulder-fired air missiles into the country with plans to shoot down a plane.

Here now with more on the story, CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon -- good morning, Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Well, the FBI has sent out an intelligence bulletin to various agencies, including the airlines and local law enforcement, warning them to be on guard for the possibility of terrorists using shoulder- fired missiles against U.S. commercial aircraft.

This follows the discovery earlier this month of an expended SA-7 missile launcher, a launcher tube near the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. There is no evidence at this point that there was -- that missile was actually fired at a plane, but a subsequent investigation by the FBI has concluded that this might be linked to al Qaeda.

The FBI, in its warning, said -- and I quote -- "subsequent investigation suggests that the discovery of that missile launcher is likely related to al Qaeda targeting efforts against U.S.-led forces on the Arabian peninsula." But then the FBI went on to say that the "FBI possesses no information indicating that al Qaeda is planning to use Stinger missiles or any type of portable anti-aircraft weapons against commercial aircraft."

At the Pentagon briefing yesterday, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs insisted at this point they still don't know if a U.S. plane was targeted in Saudi Arabia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Regardless, we take very seriously the fact that our opponents do have surface-to-air missiles, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, and we take precautions on the ground and in the air any time we have our aircraft arriving and departing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Now, administration officials say that this latest alert that was circulated as part of a regular series of bulletins that are meant to inform local police and authorities was not based on a specific plan, but again, part of the abundance of caution that's been following September 11 to tell people to be alert for this possibility. If al Qaeda terrorists might have tried this in Saudi Arabia, the thinking is they may try it in the United States. There are no specific precautions that are being required, just extra vigilance looking for any place where these missiles might be able to be used near a U.S. airport -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, Jamie, I am trying to understand what that means, if they are not taking any special precautions, but they want folks to remain extremely vigilant. So where are our agents supposed to look? Where are we supposed to look?

MCINTYRE: Well, you know, this went to local police and law enforcement authorities. So for instance, here in Washington at the Reagan National Airport there is a park nearby where people gather to watch planes. This is the kind of thing that if you are a police officer in that jurisdiction, you want to make sure that they are patrolling those areas. That there are perhaps -- make sure that shrubbery and things are trimmed back, so that there isn't some place someone could hide. That they just take all of the common sense precautions to make sure that it's as difficult as possible for anybody to try to use a shoulder-fired missile anywhere near a U.S. airport.

ZAHN: So once again, commercial airlines have not been given any special advisory here to do anything differently.

MCINTYRE: Well, they did receive this information in a circular, but it didn't require them to take any specific action, just to be alert for this possibility.

ZAHN: All right. Jamie McIntyre, thanks so much for that late report from the Pentagon this morning.

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