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American Morning
U.S.: Al Qaeda Plans to Hijack International Flights
Aired September 05, 2003 - 07:03 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: Turning now to al Qaeda, with the second anniversary of 9/11 less than one week away, the Department of Homeland Security is issuing a new warning about al Qaeda. The agency said yesterday that the terror network may try to hijack airliners on international routes that go over the continental U.S.
Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live for us in Washington this morning.
Jeanne -- good morning.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Al Qaeda has plans to hijack airliners which are not slated to land in the U.S., but which may be transiting near or flying over the country. A Homeland Security official says most of the flights which fit that description originate in Canada, and the U.S. has been working with that country in the past month to tighten up security measures.
An advisory sent out to state and local officials and the private sector also says that terrorist operatives have been studying which countries have the least stringent requirements for entry. That could determine which flights would be easiest to board, take control of and crash into targets in the United States.
These are new details about threats to aviation, first revealed about one month ago, a threat said to last into September -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeanne, that advisory mentioned airliners. Were there any other targets or any other strategies mentioned potentially in that advisory?
MESERVE: There certainly were. This was a veritable laundry list. It talks about the risks of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack. It talks about threats to hard targets, like infrastructure; also to softer targets, like apartment complexes.
It says there is a risk of multiple attacks, but it also says there isn't specific information about location and timing, the kind of specific information that would warrant raising the threat level from yellow to orange -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve this morning. Jeanne, thanks.
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 September 5, 2003 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to al Qaeda, with the second anniversary of 9/11 less than one week away, the Department of Homeland Security is issuing a new warning about al Qaeda. The agency said yesterday that the terror network may try to hijack airliners on international routes that go over the continental U.S.
Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live for us in Washington this morning.
Jeanne -- good morning.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Al Qaeda has plans to hijack airliners which are not slated to land in the U.S., but which may be transiting near or flying over the country. A Homeland Security official says most of the flights which fit that description originate in Canada, and the U.S. has been working with that country in the past month to tighten up security measures.
An advisory sent out to state and local officials and the private sector also says that terrorist operatives have been studying which countries have the least stringent requirements for entry. That could determine which flights would be easiest to board, take control of and crash into targets in the United States.
These are new details about threats to aviation, first revealed about one month ago, a threat said to last into September -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeanne, that advisory mentioned airliners. Were there any other targets or any other strategies mentioned potentially in that advisory?
MESERVE: There certainly were. This was a veritable laundry list. It talks about the risks of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack. It talks about threats to hard targets, like infrastructure; also to softer targets, like apartment complexes.
It says there is a risk of multiple attacks, but it also says there isn't specific information about location and timing, the kind of specific information that would warrant raising the threat level from yellow to orange -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve this morning. Jeanne, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
