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American Morning

Joint Committee Talks to FBI, CIA, NSA

Aired June 18, 2002 - 08:21   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: There is a significant story today in Washington, D.C. The heads of the FBI, the CIA, and the National Security Agency will all be questioned by members of Congress. The Joint House-Senate Intelligence Committee right now investigating what U.S. intelligence agencies knew before the attacks of 9/11.

These are closed door hearings, but David Ensor in Washington is tracking all of it for us now -- what do they hope to get done today, David? Do you know?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. The members of the committees, the House and Senate members, want to try to figure out whether there were things that were known before September 11 -- which, if the pieces were put together, if the dots were connected, as the phrase has been going in Washington, could have allowed the U.S. government to prevent September 11.

There were some clues. There was -- you may remember, two weeks ago, a flurry of leaks, suggestions by some officials to Newsweek that the CIA was tracking a couple of people who later turned out to be hijackers, and didn't let the FBI know about it -- counter suggestions to CNN and others, that yes, in fact, in February -- on January 5 of 2000, the CIA did let the FBI know about at least one of these two people, that he was being tracked, and that they ought to investigate him further.

So, sort of a blame game going on. Since then, the President said that he wants to see the agencies cooperating better. And they're obviously doing that.

There are now, for example, 14 FBI officers in the CIA Counterterrorism Center. There's a lot of cooperation going on, and there have been some successful operations against al Qaeda in recent days.

There was also suggestion that the NSA might have picked up that something big was going to happen before September 11; officials replying that, look, if they -- if they stopped U.S. government activity every time they heard that, we wouldn't -- we wouldn't have a country operating anymore.

So, Bill, a lot to look into, but behind closed doors; we won't be hearing directly from these people today. HEMMER: David, there have been many who have criticized these hearings, from a number of different perspectives. One perspective is this thought that intelligence secrets may seep out, because they will be testifying about sensitive issues.

Are there serious concerns again today about the possibility of that happening?

ENSOR: There always are, and that is why the hearings are closed, and it's also why the intelligence chiefs will probably be somewhat circumspect, even though they are closed. There are a lot of secrets about the way the U.S. gathers intelligence that these men will want to keep very closely held. You won't be hearing about that, if they can -- if they can avoid it.

HEMMER: The "New York Times" reporting this morning -- and we have heard these reports for about a week's time now -- about Americans -- and now the Times is saying at least two Americans have been captured by Pakistani forces entering that country from Afghanistan.

Do we know anything about either the identity of these men, or if indeed they do hold American passports?

ENSOR: Well, as you say, Bill, it's been about a week now that various news organizations have at one time or another reported out of Pakistan -- the Pakistani officials there claiming some Americans are being held. Now you have the "New York Times" doing it as well.

I have to tell you that a lot of reporters have talked to a lot of U.S. officials about these reports, and I haven't seen anybody -- and I cannot find a U.S. official who is able to confirm that there are American citizens being held by the Pakistanis. Doesn't rule it out; there are a lot of Americans out there.

But so far, no corroboration of that, Bill.

HEMMER: Back inside the hearing room -- if homeland security is going to be reshuffled significantly, according to the President's plan and many members in Congress, both sides have already said they're much in favor of this.

Why hold these hearings, anyway? And if you're going to hold them, will that help clarify the future roles for that agency in Washington?

ENSOR: Well, I think people do want to know -- Americans want to know if any mistakes were made. They want to try to make sure those mistakes are not repeated.

There are also other questions about how this reorganization should best be conducted. Some in Congress suggesting, for example, that the counterterrorism capability of the FBI should be moved into a separate agency, a sort of an MI5, as in Britain, or perhaps into the Homeland Security department.

So there are some of those organizational questions that may come up in the hearings.

HEMMER: David, thank you. David Ensor, watching it and tracking it for us, in our nation's capital.

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