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American Morning

Interview with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D)

Aired June 21, 2002 - 07:12   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: Back to Capitol Hill right now, where congressional leaders looking into the pre-9/11 intelligence activities now asking the Justice Department for an investigation of the investigation. The White House is concerned about leaks of classified information, such as the intelligence intercepts from September 10. First reported here on CNN earlier this week, those messages reading: "The match begins tomorrow," "tomorrow is zero hour."

Nancy Pelosi is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. She is live with us this morning in D.C. -- good to see you again -- good morning to you.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Good morning.

HEMMER: The White House is rather ticked off about this whole matter. Can you understand the reasoning for the anger that we are hearing right now from there?

PELOSI: Well, certainly the White House as is the Congress concerned about any leaks that might jeopardize our sources and methods for obtaining information. This intercept that was reported is not a hugely sensitive one. The problem with getting snippets of information is it sounds more salient than it really is in the full picture. The White House is disappointed that this information was made public; so are we in the Congress.

Before the vice president even called our chairman, we had decided that we would call for an investigation to see how the information was made public. It had been made public long before we had our hearing yesterday. One network told us they had it a couple of weeks ago.

So as we look into how Congress may have revealed this information, we also have to look into what may have come from the administration as well.

HEMMER: Let me take your attention back to October, October 5. The president penned a memo in which he wanted investigations to only include the leaders of the intelligence committees and no one else. Later, that memo was pulled back. Does this not highlight the concern the White House has right now for secret information getting out? Even though this one may have not been very incendiary in the intelligence side, who knows what may come out in the future. PELOSI: Well, I think that all of us who possess information have to recognize its sensitivity, be it the executive branch or the legislative branch or Congress. Right now, we are engaged in an inquiry into the attacks on September 11. We want to find answers for the American people, we want to reduce the risks to the American people, and we want to do it in a dignified way that gives some comfort to the families.

Certainly, we all share the vice president and the administration's concern about information that should not be appropriately made public -- being made public. But we all have to understand that the inquiry should prevail, and that the administration I am certain will continue to share information beyond the four of us, as they call it, the gang of four, the top Democrat and Republican in the House and the Senate on the intelligence committees.

HEMMER: Then, look at the committee in specific here. 1998, the U.S. had Osama bin Laden's cell phone number. Once the information went public, the cell phone died. It was never heard from again. How will this committee ensure the fact that secrets are indeed kept inside those private rooms?

PELOSI: Well, from the standpoint of Congress, one of the concerns that we had is that this information that was made public this week was made public as a confirmation of information that the press had from an earlier time, long before we started our committee hearings, weeks before we started our committee hearings.

So not -- we have to be careful about everyone who has the information, but Congress must have the information. We must get the answers, and while we are all disappointed that this was made public, we cannot over blow this, because it would come at the cost of the information being shared that is necessary for us to provide answers to the American people and to risk -- to reduce the risk of a future attack.

HEMMER: What then...

PELOSI: And I feel comfortable that that can happen.

HEMMER: What then do you think is the right punishment for the person when caught here?

PELOSI: Well, there are remedies in the law if a person violates cryptography, anything to do with cryptography, and that would include an intercept, those who would reveal the names of intelligence officers and a couple of other specific provisions in the law. And the law has the provisions that if someone violates that, then we should go forward with bringing charges.

HEMMER: If it then is a committee member, will they be kicked out?

PELOSI: Well, you know, some other information had been revealed right after September 11, and there were those of us who thought that action should have been taken then. I think if somebody willfully tried to provide information to the public that undermined our national security and jeopardized our sources and methods, that would be one thing.

So it's not just a question of did the person who may have confirmed or denied this piece of information be kicked off the committee. Well, it remains to be seen.

HEMMER: OK.

PELOSI: But we have to see where the press got that original piece of information. And again, we have to go forward in fairness, in dignity with the full knowledge that this committee must get the information from the administration. Congress has the same rights to that information as the White House does, except they control it, and we could not have the inquiry stifled because of an indiscretion of some staff or a member of the committee. But again, we have to look not only to Congress, but to the administration to see where that information...

HEMMER: All right. We are out of time.

(CROSSTALK)

PELOSI: ... may have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the public.

HEMMER: Thank you -- Nancy Pelosi in D.C. -- we'll talk again.

PELOSI: Thank you.

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