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CNN Live Sunday

White House Learns of Possible Terrorist Plot

Aired March 03, 2002 - 18:05   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.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to homeland security. Last October, the White House learned of a possible plot to bring a nuclear weapon into the United States, and that revelation triggered a series of fail safe measures. With more, Senior White House Correspondent John King. John.

JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jeanne, as you know from covering the homeland security beat, these intelligence reports come across the desk of senior U.S. officials. Many of them are viewed from the outset not to be very credible. This was one of them, a report from an intelligence source overseas that someone, terrorists, were trying to smuggle a stolen Russian nuclear device into the United States, possibly New York City.

Still, even though from the beginning the White House viewed this information as suspect, key government agencies were notified because of the magnitude of the allegation. In short order, the information was deemed to be not credible, but it is but one example of the nuclear alert, if you will, that President Bush has asked all relevant federal agencies to be alert for.

Continuing allegations that al Qaeda might have its hands, if not on a Russian nuclear device, then on some sort of a crude nuclear weapon in which it would have low-level radioactive material, a so- called dirty bomb. It could blow up. Discussing this, of course is very alarming. The government says it does not want to cause too much concern among the American people, but a key member of Congress, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, a member of the Intelligence Committee, says this threat unfortunately is very real.

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SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: And I believe the administration is very much on the alert there. We're doing everything we can to protect the security of the country against any possible nuclear weapons or a dirty bomb, but it's a real threat because of the proliferation of not only materials but we don't know how many bombs are missing from the Russian inventory. I hope none, but the records are not good by any measurement.

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KING: Again, the information that caused this alert back in October was deemed to be no credible, but a continuing risk. Some say a perceived threat of a nuclear strike, some sort of a nuclear strike against the United States is one of the reasons the administration has rushed to deploy new sensors at harbors and ports around the country, at major events like the Olympics and the Super Bowl, and one reason the President has that so-called standby government outside of Washington, about 100 senior administration officials at two secure bunkers in the eastern United States prepared to take over the operations of the government if, by any chance, Washington is paralyzed by a terrorist strike. Jeanne.

MESERVE: John, a weekend of extreme violence in the Middle East, more than a score of people dead. What is the White House saying and doing?

KING: The White House, the president briefed on this violence before returning from Camp David. White House officials say another sign of frustration that they can not get the Israelis and the Palestinians back to the bargaining table until the violence stops. More than 20 Israelis killed over the weekend, Palestinians killed in the retaliatory strikes from Israel.

This will be discussed this week between President Bush and the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He is across the street from the White House staying at Blair House, due here at the White House on Tuesday. In their discussions, they will discuss what to do with the new Saudi peace plan with the Saudis saying, if Israel would withdraw from all the occupied territories the Arab world would normalize relations with Israel.

It is not viewed as a breakthrough. Much of what is in the plan has been put out in the public before, but they are hoping the timing of this new proposal creates some new political impetus to get Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to crack down on terror, and perhaps to get the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be more open to returning to the bargaining table. Jeanne.

MESERVE: John King at the White House, thank you.

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