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American Morning
Bomb Squad Teams on Scene at Cafe in Turkey
Aired May 20, 2003 - 08:05 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Bomb squad teams on the scene at a cafe in Turkey, the capital city of Ankara, earlier today. This while the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. expressing fears that a large terror attack could be imminent. There are concerns yet again today the United States could be next on the list.
Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia of the Senate Intelligence Committee is our guest now live in D.C.
Senator, thanks for your time.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R-GA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Sure.
HEMMER: I want to take you back to yesterday. Prince Bandar making the statement in Riyadh, talking about chatter that he has heard.
Do you know and can you shed more light on why he would make such a statement last evening?
CHAMBLISS: Well, Bill, we know that al Qaeda is alive and well, as are the other terrorist organizations around the world, and there has been increased chatter recently and any time you have increased chatter, there is cause for concern because you think that there may be some attack in the works.
Now, we hear this from time to time and we know how smart these people are. There are times when they try to throw us off guard, try to make us increase the threat level just to test our will. And what happens, what we're doing, in the process of doing right now is trying to determine whether or not this chatter really is significant, whether there's any substance behind the chatter.
And...
HEMMER: Yes, so you sit on...
CHAMBLISS: ... it's difficult to do that.
HEMMER: I apologize, Senator. You sit on the Intelligence Committee. Are you saying that the Prince's comments were based on intelligence?
CHAMBLISS: Well, certainly it's based on intelligence that's been gathered over the air waves through human assets that we have out there that are listening to people. That's the type of chatter that he's referring to. HEMMER: There are reports this week that suggest that the homeland security department needs to elevate the security level here in the U.S.
Do you think now is the time to do that?
CHAMBLISS: Well, that obviously is a decision that Secretary Ridge makes based upon the quality of chatter that we're picking up from the terrorist community. What we do know is that the terrorist community around the world does not want to see a peace process proceed with, between the Palestinians and the Israelis. It's not to their advantage for that to happen.
With that moving in a positive direction, you've certainly seen an increase in activity in that part of the world. We know that al Qaeda would like for the world to think that they are truly alive, well, back on the road to carrying out terrorist attacks. So you have concern and some trepidation about all of these groups moving forward, for different reasons.
HEMMER: Yes, what is the status right now of this FBI memo that went out to all enforcement agencies across this country? First they warned about overseas. They're also saying about targets possibly here in the U.S. Can you give us a better indication about the nature of this memo that was sent out and upon what that was based?
CHAMBLISS: Well, two things that are significant about that, Bill. First of all, one of the criticisms of our intelligence community as well as our law enforcement community prior to September 11 was the fact that they did not share information, either horizontally with other agencies or vertically within the agencies themselves, and all the way down to the local -- the state and local law enforcement level. They are now doing this by virtue of this memorandum and other things. You're seeing better cooperation, better information sharing.
With respect to the memo itself, obviously there are no specifics that are contained therein with regard to where an attack may occur or when it may occur. But the fact that we're gathering information and the fact that we're doing a better job of analyzing that information, the fact that we are sharing that information makes us better prepared and, we think, has certainly interrupted and disrupted a significant number of potential attacks by terrorist groups in the United States, as well as outside the United States, post-September 11.
HEMMER: Senator, I'm short on time here. The "Washington Post" reporting today that members of al Qaeda may have fled Saudi Arabia, coming here to the United States.
Can you add more clarification on that report?
CHAMBLISS: Well, all I can tell you is that we are monitoring that situation very, very closely. We do know that there are probably a number of sleeper cells, as they are referred to, of al Qaeda within the United States. We're just trying to make sure that any bad guy trying to come into the United States is kept out. If somebody has a very suspicious background, they're going to be monitored very closely.
HEMMER: Senator, thank you.
Saxby Chambliss, Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, live on Capitol Hill.
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 May 20, 2003 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Bomb squad teams on the scene at a cafe in Turkey, the capital city of Ankara, earlier today. This while the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. expressing fears that a large terror attack could be imminent. There are concerns yet again today the United States could be next on the list.
Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia of the Senate Intelligence Committee is our guest now live in D.C.
Senator, thanks for your time.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R-GA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Sure.
HEMMER: I want to take you back to yesterday. Prince Bandar making the statement in Riyadh, talking about chatter that he has heard.
Do you know and can you shed more light on why he would make such a statement last evening?
CHAMBLISS: Well, Bill, we know that al Qaeda is alive and well, as are the other terrorist organizations around the world, and there has been increased chatter recently and any time you have increased chatter, there is cause for concern because you think that there may be some attack in the works.
Now, we hear this from time to time and we know how smart these people are. There are times when they try to throw us off guard, try to make us increase the threat level just to test our will. And what happens, what we're doing, in the process of doing right now is trying to determine whether or not this chatter really is significant, whether there's any substance behind the chatter.
And...
HEMMER: Yes, so you sit on...
CHAMBLISS: ... it's difficult to do that.
HEMMER: I apologize, Senator. You sit on the Intelligence Committee. Are you saying that the Prince's comments were based on intelligence?
CHAMBLISS: Well, certainly it's based on intelligence that's been gathered over the air waves through human assets that we have out there that are listening to people. That's the type of chatter that he's referring to. HEMMER: There are reports this week that suggest that the homeland security department needs to elevate the security level here in the U.S.
Do you think now is the time to do that?
CHAMBLISS: Well, that obviously is a decision that Secretary Ridge makes based upon the quality of chatter that we're picking up from the terrorist community. What we do know is that the terrorist community around the world does not want to see a peace process proceed with, between the Palestinians and the Israelis. It's not to their advantage for that to happen.
With that moving in a positive direction, you've certainly seen an increase in activity in that part of the world. We know that al Qaeda would like for the world to think that they are truly alive, well, back on the road to carrying out terrorist attacks. So you have concern and some trepidation about all of these groups moving forward, for different reasons.
HEMMER: Yes, what is the status right now of this FBI memo that went out to all enforcement agencies across this country? First they warned about overseas. They're also saying about targets possibly here in the U.S. Can you give us a better indication about the nature of this memo that was sent out and upon what that was based?
CHAMBLISS: Well, two things that are significant about that, Bill. First of all, one of the criticisms of our intelligence community as well as our law enforcement community prior to September 11 was the fact that they did not share information, either horizontally with other agencies or vertically within the agencies themselves, and all the way down to the local -- the state and local law enforcement level. They are now doing this by virtue of this memorandum and other things. You're seeing better cooperation, better information sharing.
With respect to the memo itself, obviously there are no specifics that are contained therein with regard to where an attack may occur or when it may occur. But the fact that we're gathering information and the fact that we're doing a better job of analyzing that information, the fact that we are sharing that information makes us better prepared and, we think, has certainly interrupted and disrupted a significant number of potential attacks by terrorist groups in the United States, as well as outside the United States, post-September 11.
HEMMER: Senator, I'm short on time here. The "Washington Post" reporting today that members of al Qaeda may have fled Saudi Arabia, coming here to the United States.
Can you add more clarification on that report?
CHAMBLISS: Well, all I can tell you is that we are monitoring that situation very, very closely. We do know that there are probably a number of sleeper cells, as they are referred to, of al Qaeda within the United States. We're just trying to make sure that any bad guy trying to come into the United States is kept out. If somebody has a very suspicious background, they're going to be monitored very closely.
HEMMER: Senator, thank you.
Saxby Chambliss, Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, live on Capitol Hill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
