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American Morning

FBI's Hunt For Five Men

Aired December 30, 2002 - 09:32   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: OK. We've got to get back to some serious business here and the FBI's hunt for five men. Does the agency's appeal for the public's help in locating these men mean that the five could pose some imminent threat? Let's travel to San Francisco and that's where we find former FBI Special Agent Don Clark.
Welcome back, sir. Good to see you again.

DON CLARK, FMR. FBI INVESTIGATOR: Good to see you, Paula. Good morning.

ZAHN: We just had a conversation with Kelli Arena, who had been on the phone with her contacts and they are describing this as having a very high level of concern. What do you make of the FBI going public with this information?

CLARK: Well, you know, Paula, I think there are a couple of "ifs" here. Obviously, it's very serious for them to go public with it. But if they had some information about these people, prior to them coming into the U.S., then that brings about a whole different set of circumstances, as to how did that information not did not get translated -- transformed to someone else.

If, on the other hand, that they did not have information about this, yet, these people have slipped into the country and they have, subsequently, gotten information about them, then they're obviously doing a good job to do that, but now that makes it a very difficult trail to follow. And I suppose they're going to have their hands full, trying to get their hands on these people to see just what they're up to.

ZAHN: This is what our justice correspondent had to tell us -- Kelli, just about 10 minutes ago -- that it appears, though, from her sources, that there was no information in the database on these men, that they, apparently, had what is called a clean slate. And she said the reason for concern was these would be the exact type of people who were pressed into service on 9/11 potentially.

CLARK: Yes. Well, you're right. If there's no information in the data base, Paula, what that, again, says is that look, that was not an investigation going on with these people because they had no information that actually led them to these particular people.

And it is not beyond any terrorist organization to try to find the best, the cleanest, if you will, type of person they can to infiltrate into this country, if they are planning to do some type of terrorist attack. So it would certainly fit the mold for some terrorist organization to try and identify people, such as these, to get them in. So now the business at hand is to try to identify these people through whatever false information or whatever information they can develop.

ZAHN: It has still not been confirmed whether they slipped into the country together or separately. But Kelli was told by her contacts that it is believed that they're probably together now. How, given that you'd have a couple of hundred million eyes, I suppose helping the FBI, how tough a task is it to find these men?

CLARK: Well, I think it's a tough task but it's not an impossible task, especially if you've got a group of people traveling together. What has to happen in the law enforcement community is that everybody at every level, Paula, from the local level, all the way up, to include our citizens, but particularly in the law enforcement community, has to get a focus on these five individuals, good clean identification information, as much as they possibly can, to try and feed it back to the authorities. That's how that they'll possibly be found.

ZAHN: What do you personally think? Are these guys up to no good?

CLARK: It's a possibility. Certainly, if you take a look what they've done -- they've slipped into the country, they've used false names, false identification to get into here. Nobody up to any good would go to that extent. So we would definitely have to make that assumption. And if I'm in the law enforcement community, I'm definitely going with that. And even outside, Paula, yes, I would think that we've got to find these people because they could very well be up to no good.

ZAHN: Yes. And at this point, we're told the FBI has pressed a service of 18,000 different law enforcement agencies, so always good to see you, Don. We always appreciate your getting up at, basically, in the middle of the night, your time, to join us. Thanks for your patience. I know we hit you a little bit later on, that we had hoped to this morning, but we're very interested in hearing what you had to say.

CLARK: No problem, Paula. Enjoyed it. Talk to you again.

ZAHN: Happy new year.

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 - 09:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: OK. We've got to get back to some serious business here and the FBI's hunt for five men. Does the agency's appeal for the public's help in locating these men mean that the five could pose some imminent threat? Let's travel to San Francisco and that's where we find former FBI Special Agent Don Clark.
Welcome back, sir. Good to see you again.

DON CLARK, FMR. FBI INVESTIGATOR: Good to see you, Paula. Good morning.

ZAHN: We just had a conversation with Kelli Arena, who had been on the phone with her contacts and they are describing this as having a very high level of concern. What do you make of the FBI going public with this information?

CLARK: Well, you know, Paula, I think there are a couple of "ifs" here. Obviously, it's very serious for them to go public with it. But if they had some information about these people, prior to them coming into the U.S., then that brings about a whole different set of circumstances, as to how did that information not did not get translated -- transformed to someone else.

If, on the other hand, that they did not have information about this, yet, these people have slipped into the country and they have, subsequently, gotten information about them, then they're obviously doing a good job to do that, but now that makes it a very difficult trail to follow. And I suppose they're going to have their hands full, trying to get their hands on these people to see just what they're up to.

ZAHN: This is what our justice correspondent had to tell us -- Kelli, just about 10 minutes ago -- that it appears, though, from her sources, that there was no information in the database on these men, that they, apparently, had what is called a clean slate. And she said the reason for concern was these would be the exact type of people who were pressed into service on 9/11 potentially.

CLARK: Yes. Well, you're right. If there's no information in the data base, Paula, what that, again, says is that look, that was not an investigation going on with these people because they had no information that actually led them to these particular people.

And it is not beyond any terrorist organization to try to find the best, the cleanest, if you will, type of person they can to infiltrate into this country, if they are planning to do some type of terrorist attack. So it would certainly fit the mold for some terrorist organization to try and identify people, such as these, to get them in. So now the business at hand is to try to identify these people through whatever false information or whatever information they can develop.

ZAHN: It has still not been confirmed whether they slipped into the country together or separately. But Kelli was told by her contacts that it is believed that they're probably together now. How, given that you'd have a couple of hundred million eyes, I suppose helping the FBI, how tough a task is it to find these men?

CLARK: Well, I think it's a tough task but it's not an impossible task, especially if you've got a group of people traveling together. What has to happen in the law enforcement community is that everybody at every level, Paula, from the local level, all the way up, to include our citizens, but particularly in the law enforcement community, has to get a focus on these five individuals, good clean identification information, as much as they possibly can, to try and feed it back to the authorities. That's how that they'll possibly be found.

ZAHN: What do you personally think? Are these guys up to no good?

CLARK: It's a possibility. Certainly, if you take a look what they've done -- they've slipped into the country, they've used false names, false identification to get into here. Nobody up to any good would go to that extent. So we would definitely have to make that assumption. And if I'm in the law enforcement community, I'm definitely going with that. And even outside, Paula, yes, I would think that we've got to find these people because they could very well be up to no good.

ZAHN: Yes. And at this point, we're told the FBI has pressed a service of 18,000 different law enforcement agencies, so always good to see you, Don. We always appreciate your getting up at, basically, in the middle of the night, your time, to join us. Thanks for your patience. I know we hit you a little bit later on, that we had hoped to this morning, but we're very interested in hearing what you had to say.

CLARK: No problem, Paula. Enjoyed it. Talk to you again.

ZAHN: Happy new year.

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