Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
FBI Watching Up to 100 Suspected al Qaeda Operatives
Aired July 12, 2002 - 08:01 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, though, al Qaeda terrorists. Government sources tell CNN they are here among us, operating in at least four of our biggest cities. The FBI is said to be closely watching as many as 100 suspected operatives.
Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena joins us now from Washington with more -- good morning, Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Paula, we have been reporting for some time that there are al Qaeda operatives in the United States and that the FBI has some of them under surveillance. What is new at this point is that we finally have an answer to where some of those operatives may be.
Well, it turns out, according to government sources, that they are in some of America's biggest cities, including Seattle, Detroit, Chicago and Atlanta.
The attorney general addressed the threat that those individuals pose in testimony before Congress yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are not under any illusions. There remain sleeper terrorists and their supporters in the United States who have not yet been identified in a way that will allow us to take preemptive action against them. And as we limit the access of foreign terrorists to our country, we recognize that the terrorist response will be to try and recruit U.S. citizens and permanent residents to carry out their attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARENA: Now, Ashcroft pointed to Jose Padilla, the American accused of trying to build a dirty bomb, as an example of an American recruited by al Qaeda -- Paula, back to you.
ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about some of the concerns of the American public when they hear this information for the first time. They say OK, the FBI knows where these guys are. Why don't they arrest them and question them and figure out what they have planned?
ARENA: Well, they are under surveillance. And, first of all, I want to clear something up there. There have been several reports about the number of so-called al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers here in the United States. The fact is that law enforcement just simply does not know how many operatives or sympathizers or people that are attached to the cause there may be.
But they do have, the number that we're talking about, which is less than 100, are people who are under active, 24 hour surveillance.
Now, surveillance means that they're watching to see who they contact, what, where they go, what they may try to purchase in terms of materials or possible weapons or -- I'm not saying that we have any evidence of this, but these are people who may be here quite legitimately and have not done anything wrong and are just being surveilled. Other people who may be here not legitimately but are, but still have not committed a crime, other than visa violation, who are being watched.
If the FBI have any indication that anyone was, had committed a crime or was just about to, like Jose Padilla, they would be in custody -- Paula.
ZAHN: OK, Kelli, the other question that arises is something a guest in the last hour essentially put out there. And he said we shouldn't read too much into the list because these particular cities we talked about may not be the cities where future attacks are planned.
What else can you tell us about that to...
ARENA: That's true. That is very true.
ZAHN: ... allay some of the concerns of folks waking up to this information and seeing their city on the map?
ARENA: Right, living in Detroit. Right. Well, these are places where these alleged operatives are. As we heard earlier, that does not mean that that is where they will be actually committing an act of terrorism. That's just where they happen to be in this country. And they may never do anything. These are people who are under surveillance who have a terrorist connection in some way. There has been intelligence that has been gathered that makes this person a person of interest to law enforcement, to the intelligence community.
They may very well leave the country without ever doing anything. But the FBI has no choice but to put the priority people under surveillance, keep a watch on them.
ZAHN: OK, Kelli Arena, thanks so much.
ARENA: You're welcome.
ZAHN: We'll have a little bit more on this in about five minutes from now when J. Kelly McCann, our security analyst for CNN, drops by.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
