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American Morning
FBI Manhunt
Aired December 30, 2002 - 07:05 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 big FBI story, more on the search for five men believed to have entered the U.S. illegally within the past week.
Now, these are what the men apparently are supposed to look like. They are posted, these pictures, on the bureau's Web site.
Why does the FBI so urgently wish to question them? Joining us from Washington now to answer some of those questions is our law enforcement analyst, Mike Brooks.
Good morning -- Mike. Nice to have you with us on this holiday week.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: So, Mike the FBI says these men, they don't believe, are linked to any terrorist organizations, and yet, they are mobilizing some 18,000 law enforcement agencies, and they're asking for a couple of hundred million of us to keep our eyes out for them. Why?
BROOKS: Well, I think right now, as we've seen since September 11, Paula, the FBI and law enforcement has been -- they've been in basically a full-disclosure mode, if you will. So, these folks came across the border using false names from Canada.
So, they -- right now, I think law enforcement would like to find out who they are. They've put out their lookouts, their pictures, all across the country to all of law enforcement on the street.
So, if they happen to pull these folks over, run the name, see the picture, or see their face and be able to compare that with the picture, they'll try to find out exactly where they are. Now, they don't know if they are or not involved in any terrorist organization.
So, I think that's what they want to do. They want to find out who these people are, get them in pocket and find out exactly what they're doing here in the United States and what kind of business they were doing in Canada.
ZAHN: Sources told the FBI they may have information that may shed some light on security concerns here in the United States. Do you know anything more about that?
BROOKS: You know, this basically I think is not that big of a story actually. I think that we should be concerned about these people, because we don't know exactly what they are here for. They used false names, they used false documents to get into Canada.
Now, the problem I have -- and we have seen people come across from Canada before. The problem I have, Paula, and I would be concerned with, and the United States should be concerned with, is, you know, how are these people getting into Canada so easily and coming across?
We look back before the millennium celebrations, and we had Rasam (ph) come across the border in Port Angeles, Washington. He apparently had gotten into Canada with using some false identification, some false documents.
You know, how are they getting into Canada that easily? And how are they getting into the United States that easily? You know, that's what we need to do. We need to go back and take a look at how they got into Canada and were able to slip into that country so easily.
ZAHN: Right, because it's not even clear whether these guys came across together or whether they came in separately. I guess my question to you is, if the FBI is saying they weren't tracking these guys, why are they tracking them now?
BROOKS: Well, I think they knew of these folks, they knew of these people. After they came in, they found out they did come in illegally. They took a look at all of the people that were coming across the border from Canada. That's why they had their pictures. If they weren't looking at them for a while, you wouldn't all of a sudden just have their pictures.
So, they had been looking at these folks for a little while, and I think now they want to find out exactly who they are, what they're doing here and make sure that they have them in pocket.
ZAHN: And as you know, Mike, as we close off here, there are people who think the FBI are putting their names out there simply to scare them. So, I guess all of this will come together in the hours and days to come. Mike Brooks, thanks for your perspective this morning -- appreciate it.
BROOKS: Thank you, Paula.
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 December 30, 2002 - 07:05 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 big FBI story, more on the search for five men believed to have entered the U.S. illegally within the past week.
Now, these are what the men apparently are supposed to look like. They are posted, these pictures, on the bureau's Web site.
Why does the FBI so urgently wish to question them? Joining us from Washington now to answer some of those questions is our law enforcement analyst, Mike Brooks.
Good morning -- Mike. Nice to have you with us on this holiday week.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: So, Mike the FBI says these men, they don't believe, are linked to any terrorist organizations, and yet, they are mobilizing some 18,000 law enforcement agencies, and they're asking for a couple of hundred million of us to keep our eyes out for them. Why?
BROOKS: Well, I think right now, as we've seen since September 11, Paula, the FBI and law enforcement has been -- they've been in basically a full-disclosure mode, if you will. So, these folks came across the border using false names from Canada.
So, they -- right now, I think law enforcement would like to find out who they are. They've put out their lookouts, their pictures, all across the country to all of law enforcement on the street.
So, if they happen to pull these folks over, run the name, see the picture, or see their face and be able to compare that with the picture, they'll try to find out exactly where they are. Now, they don't know if they are or not involved in any terrorist organization.
So, I think that's what they want to do. They want to find out who these people are, get them in pocket and find out exactly what they're doing here in the United States and what kind of business they were doing in Canada.
ZAHN: Sources told the FBI they may have information that may shed some light on security concerns here in the United States. Do you know anything more about that?
BROOKS: You know, this basically I think is not that big of a story actually. I think that we should be concerned about these people, because we don't know exactly what they are here for. They used false names, they used false documents to get into Canada.
Now, the problem I have -- and we have seen people come across from Canada before. The problem I have, Paula, and I would be concerned with, and the United States should be concerned with, is, you know, how are these people getting into Canada so easily and coming across?
We look back before the millennium celebrations, and we had Rasam (ph) come across the border in Port Angeles, Washington. He apparently had gotten into Canada with using some false identification, some false documents.
You know, how are they getting into Canada that easily? And how are they getting into the United States that easily? You know, that's what we need to do. We need to go back and take a look at how they got into Canada and were able to slip into that country so easily.
ZAHN: Right, because it's not even clear whether these guys came across together or whether they came in separately. I guess my question to you is, if the FBI is saying they weren't tracking these guys, why are they tracking them now?
BROOKS: Well, I think they knew of these folks, they knew of these people. After they came in, they found out they did come in illegally. They took a look at all of the people that were coming across the border from Canada. That's why they had their pictures. If they weren't looking at them for a while, you wouldn't all of a sudden just have their pictures.
So, they had been looking at these folks for a little while, and I think now they want to find out exactly who they are, what they're doing here and make sure that they have them in pocket.
ZAHN: And as you know, Mike, as we close off here, there are people who think the FBI are putting their names out there simply to scare them. So, I guess all of this will come together in the hours and days to come. Mike Brooks, thanks for your perspective this morning -- appreciate it.
BROOKS: Thank you, Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
