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American Morning
Discussion of Likelihood of Terrorist Attack at Home
Aired May 21, 2003 - 07:33 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: We're going to talk more about the new alert status and the likelihood now of a terrorist attack here at home.
Brian Jenkins, terrorism expert with the Rand Corporation, our guest now in D.C.
Good morning to you, Brian.
BRIAN JENKINS, SENIOR ADVISER, TERRORISM EXPERT: Good morning.
HEMMER: What do you make of this news from Saudi Arabia, three arrests, links to al Qaeda, possibly hijacking a plane in Jeddah?
JENKINS: Well, it's not unexpected. Several weeks ago, even before the bombing in Riyadh, the Saudis did discover indications that there were, they indicated, 19 people who were, who they wanted, 19 suspects. Some, not all of those, were killed in the Riyadh bombing. One official even spoke about some hard core group of about 40 to 50 individuals that they were looking for.
So further attacks were expected and this may well have been one of those.
HEMMER: Does this indicate to you progress in that country? Or is that something we have to wait and see right now?
JENKINS: What it represents, first of all, is clearly an escalation by al Qaeda against Saudi Arabia. Now, historically they have been against the Saudi government, particularly because of its relationship with the United States. And they have been determined to break that relationship and get the U.S. troops out. They have, in the past, carried out some operations in that country. But what we're seeing now would represent not only a surge of activity, but an escalation in their campaign. And that may, in fact, cost them some politically because we know that they have in the past received some financial contributions from supporters in Saudi Arabia.
HEMMER: Let's take this conversation back to this country and the terror alert announced yesterday, about three o'clock in the afternoon in D.C. You say it's based on noise and surmise. What does that mean? Explain.
JENKINS: Well, what people have to understand is that these threat alerts really represent a means by which we consolidate all available intelligence and communicate a judgment. And the key word here is a judgment about the threat level. It can be based upon surmise. That is, we look around the world, we see this new offensive being launched by al Qaeda and its allied groups around the world. It can be based upon so-called chatter. This is simply the volume of noise that we hear connected with these terrorist groups.
HEMMER: But I think we keep on coming back to this question, though, if it is not specific, what is the value here? What is it worth?
JENKINS: Well, the primary recipients of these alert levels is not the average citizen. Really what the federal government is doing is communicating to the 50 states and 18,000 police jurisdictions in this country, as well as those in the private sector with security responsibilities. Now, in those cases, state governments, local governments, those in the private sector, they have contingency security plans that they will implement depending on the threat level.
So the threat level really is a message to them. It doesn't tell us how afraid we should be.
HEMMER: Brian Jenkins live with us in D.C., something we'll look at throughout the morning.
Thanks for your thoughts today.
We'll talk again.
JENKINS: Thank you.
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 21, 2003 - 07:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to talk more about the new alert status and the likelihood now of a terrorist attack here at home.
Brian Jenkins, terrorism expert with the Rand Corporation, our guest now in D.C.
Good morning to you, Brian.
BRIAN JENKINS, SENIOR ADVISER, TERRORISM EXPERT: Good morning.
HEMMER: What do you make of this news from Saudi Arabia, three arrests, links to al Qaeda, possibly hijacking a plane in Jeddah?
JENKINS: Well, it's not unexpected. Several weeks ago, even before the bombing in Riyadh, the Saudis did discover indications that there were, they indicated, 19 people who were, who they wanted, 19 suspects. Some, not all of those, were killed in the Riyadh bombing. One official even spoke about some hard core group of about 40 to 50 individuals that they were looking for.
So further attacks were expected and this may well have been one of those.
HEMMER: Does this indicate to you progress in that country? Or is that something we have to wait and see right now?
JENKINS: What it represents, first of all, is clearly an escalation by al Qaeda against Saudi Arabia. Now, historically they have been against the Saudi government, particularly because of its relationship with the United States. And they have been determined to break that relationship and get the U.S. troops out. They have, in the past, carried out some operations in that country. But what we're seeing now would represent not only a surge of activity, but an escalation in their campaign. And that may, in fact, cost them some politically because we know that they have in the past received some financial contributions from supporters in Saudi Arabia.
HEMMER: Let's take this conversation back to this country and the terror alert announced yesterday, about three o'clock in the afternoon in D.C. You say it's based on noise and surmise. What does that mean? Explain.
JENKINS: Well, what people have to understand is that these threat alerts really represent a means by which we consolidate all available intelligence and communicate a judgment. And the key word here is a judgment about the threat level. It can be based upon surmise. That is, we look around the world, we see this new offensive being launched by al Qaeda and its allied groups around the world. It can be based upon so-called chatter. This is simply the volume of noise that we hear connected with these terrorist groups.
HEMMER: But I think we keep on coming back to this question, though, if it is not specific, what is the value here? What is it worth?
JENKINS: Well, the primary recipients of these alert levels is not the average citizen. Really what the federal government is doing is communicating to the 50 states and 18,000 police jurisdictions in this country, as well as those in the private sector with security responsibilities. Now, in those cases, state governments, local governments, those in the private sector, they have contingency security plans that they will implement depending on the threat level.
So the threat level really is a message to them. It doesn't tell us how afraid we should be.
HEMMER: Brian Jenkins live with us in D.C., something we'll look at throughout the morning.
Thanks for your thoughts today.
We'll talk again.
JENKINS: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
