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American Morning

Dirty Bomb Suspect Traveled to Pakistan, Switzerland, Egypt

Aired June 11, 2002 - 07:02   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, an American man is in military custody in South Carolina accused of plotting to use a dirty bomb in an attack on the United States. Federal officials say Abdullah Al Muhajir, also known as Jose Padilla, was acting as an al Qaeda operative.

National security Correspondent David Ensor joins us now with more -- good morning, David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Abdullah Al Muhajir, as he calls himself, in the last weeks before his arrest on the 8th of last month, traveled between Pakistan, Egypt and Switzerland. The attorney general was the one who made the announcement and talked about why this man would have been such a serious threat to the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Al Muhajir trained with the enemy, including studying how to wire explosive devices and researching radiological dispersion devices. Al Qaeda officials knew that as in citizen of the United States -- as a citizen of the United States holding a valid U.S. passport, Al Muhajir would be able to travel freely in the U.S. without drawing attention to himself.

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ENSOR: The first evidence that this man was working for al Qaeda came from Abu Zubaydah, the senior al Qaeda official who has been in American hands for quite some time now and is being interrogated. He did not give the name, but he gave enough information for U.S. intelligence officials to follow up and figure out who the man was.

This man, Jose Padilla, met with al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. He trained to make a bomb, according to U.S. officials. And he discussed with al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan the idea of using a radiological or dirty bomb somewhere in the United States.

Last night in a speech, the president of the United States, not referring directly to this case, talked about how serious a threat that could be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We face cold- blooded killers that hate the freedoms we cherish. And with the spread of chemical and biological and nuclear weapons, along with ballistic missile technology, freedom's enemies could attain catastrophic power. And there is no doubt that they would use that power to attack us and to attack the values we uphold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: A reference there then to the use of weapons of mass destruction. Of course, the president was talking in a more general sense than the specific radiological weapon that officials say this man may have been plotting to use in the United States -- Paula.

ZAHN: There is a lot of analysis this morning that the arrest of this man certainly proves a great deal of cooperation from the FBI and CIA. Can you enlighten us more on that point?

ENSOR: Well, clearly, FBI and CIA officials cooperated closely on this case, and officials were at pains to underscore that yesterday, since in the previous weeks, there had been stories in the press about how the FBI and CIA did not communicate in certain ways that they should have prior to September 11. So the Bush administration wants to underscore that there is cooperation now between these two crucial agencies, and clearly there is in most cases -- Paula.

ZAHN: David Ensor, thanks so much.

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