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American Morning

Plot to Target British Airliner

Aired August 14, 2003 - 08:07   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: That sting this week came just as Saudi officials broke up a suspected al Qaeda cell. According to authorities, there was a plot to target a British airliner, possibly in Saudi Arabia. British Airways responded quickly, deciding to suspend, for now, anyway, all flights into the kingdom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER TO SAUDI CROWN PRINCE ABDULLAH: I believe it was a judgment call on the part of British Airways. They decided that given the threat that was there, given the possibility that the airline was targeted, that it may have, it may be wiser for them to suspend operations to Saudi Arabia temporarily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution back with us in D.C. this morning. He specializes in U.S. defense strategy and homeland security.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING here.

Good to have you, Michael.

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Thanks, Bill.

HEMMER: What do you know about this Saudi threat in Riyadh or somewhere else in the kingdom?

O'HANLON: I don't know the details. But, Bill, I think the important point here is we're not always going to know the details. We're relying on very good work by law enforcement and good luck and tip-offs about tactical intelligence to deal with this threat. That's not going to be good enough, because you're not always going to get this lucky. You're not always going to know what plot is being hatched. You're not always going to pull off successful sting operations.

I think it really is time that we get serious about this threat, and that means putting decoys and other counter-measures on civilian airliners quickly.

HEMMER: Yes, Michael, if you're going to try and connect the dots on this story from Saudi Arabia back to New Jersey, one thinks, obviously, perhaps there was information out there from this sting operation that led them to Riyadh.

Any truth to that from what you're hearing?

O'HANLON: I don't know, frankly. I think what happened in Saudi Arabia is, as you know, there were people arrested within the last couple of weeks who were involved in this kind of an effort there. And I would guess most of the intelligence came from those individuals and the uncovering of that plot as opposed to the links. There may be some linkages. But, frankly, this was a remarkable job of U.S. and Russian and British intelligence working together on one specific arms dealer. I am not sure how much this guy would have been in touch with or would have known about anything going on in Saudi Arabia.

There are so many surface to air missiles out there in the world, in al Qaeda hands and other hands, that we have to assume there are numerous potential plots that are independent of each other all being hatched more or less at the same time. This is a serious threat.

HEMMER: Your answer takes us back to a question we have all been pondering here for the past few days. And you just heard the U.S. attorney, his comments.

Why do you go after him now and why do you do it in a way where you know that he has not had, at least in the information we have at this point says he had no contact with any international known terrorists? If that's the case, were authorities in this country and authorities back in Russia just setting the bait and leading him along time after time for the past 18 months?

O'HANLON: It's a fair question, Bill. I'm not sure we're going to be able to expect any answers. As Mr. Christie was just saying, the state of the investigation and arraignment is such that you can't necessarily have all the information public just yet.

I think it's a fair question to ask over time. Whether this fish was worth netting by himself or we should have tried to let him lead us to others is another question. But frankly he was a long ways, apparently, from establishing ties to al Qaeda. I am not sure we could have realistically expected this sting to net any more terrorists if it had been postponed for a week or two.

So my instinct is that we handle this one correctly. But the point is we're not always going to get this lucky, we're not always going to be this good. Sometimes plots are going to happen that we're not aware of and we can't take the chance. Therefore we have to put decoys and counter-measures on airplanes.

HEMMER: Thank you, Michael.

Michael O'Hanlon down in D.C.

We'll speak again.

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 August 14, 2003 - 08:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: That sting this week came just as Saudi officials broke up a suspected al Qaeda cell. According to authorities, there was a plot to target a British airliner, possibly in Saudi Arabia. British Airways responded quickly, deciding to suspend, for now, anyway, all flights into the kingdom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER TO SAUDI CROWN PRINCE ABDULLAH: I believe it was a judgment call on the part of British Airways. They decided that given the threat that was there, given the possibility that the airline was targeted, that it may have, it may be wiser for them to suspend operations to Saudi Arabia temporarily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution back with us in D.C. this morning. He specializes in U.S. defense strategy and homeland security.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING here.

Good to have you, Michael.

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Thanks, Bill.

HEMMER: What do you know about this Saudi threat in Riyadh or somewhere else in the kingdom?

O'HANLON: I don't know the details. But, Bill, I think the important point here is we're not always going to know the details. We're relying on very good work by law enforcement and good luck and tip-offs about tactical intelligence to deal with this threat. That's not going to be good enough, because you're not always going to get this lucky. You're not always going to know what plot is being hatched. You're not always going to pull off successful sting operations.

I think it really is time that we get serious about this threat, and that means putting decoys and other counter-measures on civilian airliners quickly.

HEMMER: Yes, Michael, if you're going to try and connect the dots on this story from Saudi Arabia back to New Jersey, one thinks, obviously, perhaps there was information out there from this sting operation that led them to Riyadh.

Any truth to that from what you're hearing?

O'HANLON: I don't know, frankly. I think what happened in Saudi Arabia is, as you know, there were people arrested within the last couple of weeks who were involved in this kind of an effort there. And I would guess most of the intelligence came from those individuals and the uncovering of that plot as opposed to the links. There may be some linkages. But, frankly, this was a remarkable job of U.S. and Russian and British intelligence working together on one specific arms dealer. I am not sure how much this guy would have been in touch with or would have known about anything going on in Saudi Arabia.

There are so many surface to air missiles out there in the world, in al Qaeda hands and other hands, that we have to assume there are numerous potential plots that are independent of each other all being hatched more or less at the same time. This is a serious threat.

HEMMER: Your answer takes us back to a question we have all been pondering here for the past few days. And you just heard the U.S. attorney, his comments.

Why do you go after him now and why do you do it in a way where you know that he has not had, at least in the information we have at this point says he had no contact with any international known terrorists? If that's the case, were authorities in this country and authorities back in Russia just setting the bait and leading him along time after time for the past 18 months?

O'HANLON: It's a fair question, Bill. I'm not sure we're going to be able to expect any answers. As Mr. Christie was just saying, the state of the investigation and arraignment is such that you can't necessarily have all the information public just yet.

I think it's a fair question to ask over time. Whether this fish was worth netting by himself or we should have tried to let him lead us to others is another question. But frankly he was a long ways, apparently, from establishing ties to al Qaeda. I am not sure we could have realistically expected this sting to net any more terrorists if it had been postponed for a week or two.

So my instinct is that we handle this one correctly. But the point is we're not always going to get this lucky, we're not always going to be this good. Sometimes plots are going to happen that we're not aware of and we can't take the chance. Therefore we have to put decoys and counter-measures on airplanes.

HEMMER: Thank you, Michael.

Michael O'Hanlon down in D.C.

We'll speak again.

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