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American Morning
Commission Investigating What Went Wrong Before September 11
Aired July 10, 2003 - 07:35 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington, the independent commission investigating what went wrong before September 11 is holding public hearings. Commission members yesterday took the Bush administration to task for not giving enough of what it needs to find the answers. They urged the government to provide documents and interviews in a more timely fashion. The commission's final report is due in May.
Kristen Breitweiser lost her husband Ron in the World Trade Center attacks.
She joins us this morning from New York.
Kristen, good morning and thanks for joining us.
KRISTEN BREITWEISER, HUSBAND KILLED IN WTC ATTACK: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: As we mentioned, your husband was killed in the attacks of 9/11 and you fought very hard to get this commission put together. Is the commission making any progress at all?
BREITWEISER: I think, first, I'd like to say that I think it was refreshing to see that the commission did do a public press conference. I think the public needs to stay on top of their work. At this point, I think it's a little slow moving. We are 21 months out from September 11. At this point, we still do not know many, many things. There are so many questions that need to be answered and we are no safer than we were on the morning of September 11.
O'BRIEN: You have said that the federal agencies have been too slow to get information to you, that you have many questions that you want answered. We're going to get to those questions in just a moment, but I'm curious to know, what do you think is the biggest stumbling block? Where's that coming from?
BREITWEISER: You know, honestly I really can't give you an answer. I just think that certainly there could be political pressure. There could be embarrassment on behalf of some of the agencies. I think everyone needs to share the same overriding goal and that is the safety of this nation.
There were so many failures on that morning. We are not any safer than we were that day. And I understand, my husband will never come home. His life will not be restored. But the safety of this nation can be restored and I think that that needs to be our mission as a nation and I think everyone needs to work towards that.
O'BRIEN: What do you want answered? What do you want to know?
BREITWEISER: Specifically, we would really like the two hours during the attacks when four American commercial airliners were hijacked over our air space, we would like to know what our nation's response was that morning, who was running this country, were jets scrambled on time, what time did the planes crash.
We want to be reassured that we are safe in this country and 21 months out, we do not have that assurance.
O'BRIEN: Do you think the commission has enough influence, enough power to get those answers?
BREITWEISER: I think we, you know, we have assurances from the White House. We spoke to them the night of the State of the Union address. We have their assurances that they are fully cooperating, they are behind this commission. So when you have the White House supporting it, I would think that if the commission is having trouble getting documents, the White House is going to make sure that that doesn't continue.
O'BRIEN: At the same time, you have federal agencies that say we are not dragging our feet, we can't give you this information because it'll compromise national security.
BREITWEISER: Look, certainly no one wants to compromise national security. But by the same token, I think that we need to have a thorough investigation. We need to have an examination. And, you know, the staff, the commissioners all have the highest level of clearance. And they will do a thorough job.
The whole point of this investigation is to make the nation safe. That is the point of national security. So why the agencies are not cooperating to their fullest capacity, it's very frustrating for us.
O'BRIEN: As we mentioned earlier, the final report is due in May. Is the pace fast enough right now to meet that deadline?
BREITWEISER: You know, we have concerns. Certainly if you look towards the joint inquiry of Congress that looked at the intelligence agencies, they ran out of time. We do not want that to happen with regard to the independent commission.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, Kristen Breitweiser, thanks for joining us this morning.
We certainly appreciate your time and your talking to us.
BREITWEISER: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks a lot.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired July 10, 2003 - 07:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington, the independent commission investigating what went wrong before September 11 is holding public hearings. Commission members yesterday took the Bush administration to task for not giving enough of what it needs to find the answers. They urged the government to provide documents and interviews in a more timely fashion. The commission's final report is due in May.
Kristen Breitweiser lost her husband Ron in the World Trade Center attacks.
She joins us this morning from New York.
Kristen, good morning and thanks for joining us.
KRISTEN BREITWEISER, HUSBAND KILLED IN WTC ATTACK: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: As we mentioned, your husband was killed in the attacks of 9/11 and you fought very hard to get this commission put together. Is the commission making any progress at all?
BREITWEISER: I think, first, I'd like to say that I think it was refreshing to see that the commission did do a public press conference. I think the public needs to stay on top of their work. At this point, I think it's a little slow moving. We are 21 months out from September 11. At this point, we still do not know many, many things. There are so many questions that need to be answered and we are no safer than we were on the morning of September 11.
O'BRIEN: You have said that the federal agencies have been too slow to get information to you, that you have many questions that you want answered. We're going to get to those questions in just a moment, but I'm curious to know, what do you think is the biggest stumbling block? Where's that coming from?
BREITWEISER: You know, honestly I really can't give you an answer. I just think that certainly there could be political pressure. There could be embarrassment on behalf of some of the agencies. I think everyone needs to share the same overriding goal and that is the safety of this nation.
There were so many failures on that morning. We are not any safer than we were that day. And I understand, my husband will never come home. His life will not be restored. But the safety of this nation can be restored and I think that that needs to be our mission as a nation and I think everyone needs to work towards that.
O'BRIEN: What do you want answered? What do you want to know?
BREITWEISER: Specifically, we would really like the two hours during the attacks when four American commercial airliners were hijacked over our air space, we would like to know what our nation's response was that morning, who was running this country, were jets scrambled on time, what time did the planes crash.
We want to be reassured that we are safe in this country and 21 months out, we do not have that assurance.
O'BRIEN: Do you think the commission has enough influence, enough power to get those answers?
BREITWEISER: I think we, you know, we have assurances from the White House. We spoke to them the night of the State of the Union address. We have their assurances that they are fully cooperating, they are behind this commission. So when you have the White House supporting it, I would think that if the commission is having trouble getting documents, the White House is going to make sure that that doesn't continue.
O'BRIEN: At the same time, you have federal agencies that say we are not dragging our feet, we can't give you this information because it'll compromise national security.
BREITWEISER: Look, certainly no one wants to compromise national security. But by the same token, I think that we need to have a thorough investigation. We need to have an examination. And, you know, the staff, the commissioners all have the highest level of clearance. And they will do a thorough job.
The whole point of this investigation is to make the nation safe. That is the point of national security. So why the agencies are not cooperating to their fullest capacity, it's very frustrating for us.
O'BRIEN: As we mentioned earlier, the final report is due in May. Is the pace fast enough right now to meet that deadline?
BREITWEISER: You know, we have concerns. Certainly if you look towards the joint inquiry of Congress that looked at the intelligence agencies, they ran out of time. We do not want that to happen with regard to the independent commission.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, Kristen Breitweiser, thanks for joining us this morning.
We certainly appreciate your time and your talking to us.
BREITWEISER: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks a lot.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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