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American Morning

Tenet: Al Qaeda is Coming After Us

Aired October 18, 2002 - 09:39   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: Back to the issue of some of the ominous news we heard yesterday from the director of the CIA. He says Al Qaeda is now in what he says is its execution phase and he thinks the terror network will go after Americans again, both overseas and here on U.S. soil. George Tenet delivered this assessment yesterday to congressional intelligence committees.
Our national security correspondent David Ensor joins us now live from Washington.

Was there anything special about the timing of this yesterday, David?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the timing was brought about by the committee, but it certainly was a dramatic warning from the CIA director and, of course, George Tenet sees all of the intelligence there is. He is worried. That is clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: No more sighs of relief. We are in this for a long time. We have to get about the business of protecting the country with the private sector, the chiefs of police, the state and locals now, because the threat environment we find ourselves in today is as bad as it was last summer, the summer before 9/11. It is serious. They have reconstituted. They're coming after us. They want to execute attacks. You see it in Bali. You see it in Kuwait. They plan in multiple theaters of operation. They intend to strike this homeland again, and we better get about the business of putting the right structure in place as fast as we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: Now, Tenet got the attention of all the media. He's on the front page of most of the major newspapers today. This warning is getting America's attention. He was talking the same way, though, Paula, last summer 2001, he was warning there would be attacks, and that was before 9/11. We did a story or two, but most of the media were pretty much focused on Chandra Levy that summer.

So the attention is now there. Homeland security department officials say they don't, for the moment, plan to raise the threat level warning from yellow up to orange. But they are taking some measures. They have put out a message to state and local and some key officials at infrastructure places in the United States, asking them to take certain measures to improve the security of this country against terrorism -- Paula. ZAHN: So, David, anybody listening to what Mr. Tenet had to say yesterday has got to be pretty nervous about the kept of his message. How vulnerable are we supposed to feel when he made it abundantly clear that we're in the same situation we were in that summer preceding September 11th, 2001?

ENSOR: He's making a push for the Congress to pass the Homeland Security Act, creating that department for the American public to understand that we live in a different world, and unfortunately, we are never going back to that old world. There is going to be a level of threat from now on. And the intelligence that he is seeing suggests that the threat is especially high now. And you've seen all of those attacks overseas in the last week or two. That's part of what has got him worried.

ZAHN: But everybody also knows that there will be a huge time lag, if he gets what he wants in his homeland security bill.

ENSOR: That's true, that's true. Not much we can do about it. It doesn't look like Congress is going to pass this law before it goes away for the elections.

ZAHN: Thank you, David, for that update. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 18, 2002 - 09:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the issue of some of the ominous news we heard yesterday from the director of the CIA. He says Al Qaeda is now in what he says is its execution phase and he thinks the terror network will go after Americans again, both overseas and here on U.S. soil. George Tenet delivered this assessment yesterday to congressional intelligence committees.
Our national security correspondent David Ensor joins us now live from Washington.

Was there anything special about the timing of this yesterday, David?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the timing was brought about by the committee, but it certainly was a dramatic warning from the CIA director and, of course, George Tenet sees all of the intelligence there is. He is worried. That is clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: No more sighs of relief. We are in this for a long time. We have to get about the business of protecting the country with the private sector, the chiefs of police, the state and locals now, because the threat environment we find ourselves in today is as bad as it was last summer, the summer before 9/11. It is serious. They have reconstituted. They're coming after us. They want to execute attacks. You see it in Bali. You see it in Kuwait. They plan in multiple theaters of operation. They intend to strike this homeland again, and we better get about the business of putting the right structure in place as fast as we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: Now, Tenet got the attention of all the media. He's on the front page of most of the major newspapers today. This warning is getting America's attention. He was talking the same way, though, Paula, last summer 2001, he was warning there would be attacks, and that was before 9/11. We did a story or two, but most of the media were pretty much focused on Chandra Levy that summer.

So the attention is now there. Homeland security department officials say they don't, for the moment, plan to raise the threat level warning from yellow up to orange. But they are taking some measures. They have put out a message to state and local and some key officials at infrastructure places in the United States, asking them to take certain measures to improve the security of this country against terrorism -- Paula. ZAHN: So, David, anybody listening to what Mr. Tenet had to say yesterday has got to be pretty nervous about the kept of his message. How vulnerable are we supposed to feel when he made it abundantly clear that we're in the same situation we were in that summer preceding September 11th, 2001?

ENSOR: He's making a push for the Congress to pass the Homeland Security Act, creating that department for the American public to understand that we live in a different world, and unfortunately, we are never going back to that old world. There is going to be a level of threat from now on. And the intelligence that he is seeing suggests that the threat is especially high now. And you've seen all of those attacks overseas in the last week or two. That's part of what has got him worried.

ZAHN: But everybody also knows that there will be a huge time lag, if he gets what he wants in his homeland security bill.

ENSOR: That's true, that's true. Not much we can do about it. It doesn't look like Congress is going to pass this law before it goes away for the elections.

ZAHN: Thank you, David, for that update. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com