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CNN Live Sunday

CIA to Help FBI Analyze Terrorist-Related Info

Aired May 26, 2002 - 17:07   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Following criticism that the FBI and the CIA have not been working well together against terrorists, a government official says the CIA is offering the FBI more help in analyzing terrorism-related information.

CNN's Patty Davis is following the story from Washington. Hi there, Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Fredricka. A U.S. official says that the CIA is sending about 25 analysts to the FBI headquarters in Washington. Now, additional CIA analysts will be sent to some FBI field offices to help them review their terrorism casing and see if they've overlooked any clues. This is all intended to improve coordination, not only within the FBI but with other agencies as well, to help with information sharing. The FBI has been criticized for not piecing together the warning signs leading up to September 11 attacks.

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SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: Oh, I think that it's one of many steps that need to be taken to reform the FBI. I am very concerned about the incompetence demonstrated on so many occasions within the FBI over the course of the last year. We have got to fix it, we've got to resolve it, we've got to answer the criticisms by people within the FBI itself that are becoming public in recent days. That has to be done.

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DAVIS: Now, more criticisms for the agency as well for failing to link a memo from its Phoenix office suggesting the FBI look into Middle Eastern men learning to fly planes at U.S. flight schools, and the arrest of this man, Zacarias Moussaoui in Minneapolis. He's the so-called 20th hijacker and he also raised suspicions when he was attempting to learn to fly big jets.

Coleen Rowley, an FBI agent and lawyer in Minneapolis' FBI office, there are charges in a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller that FBI headquarters undercut her office's efforts to get a search warrant for Moussaoui's computer. She says that if the FBI had connected those two red flags, it's, quote, "at least possible we could have gotten lucky and uncovered one or two more of the terrorists in flight training prior to September 11" -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: And Patty, it's likely that Ms. Rowley will be part of the intelligence hearings that occur as early as next month.

Now, back to the CIA and the FBI. What exactly, if you can tell us, what might the CIA be able to contribute exactly to the FBI office?

DAVIS: Well, these CIA agents have a bigger picture. They are also looking internationally, so they have a bigger picture, maybe connect the dots. The FBI agents are more compartmentalized in their outlook, as you can see. Phoenix did not know what was going in Minneapolis, and Minneapolis did not know what was going on in Phoenix. So the hope here is to give kind of an overview, and lead them in a direction, perhaps, where they can put the pieces together more easily -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Patty Davis, thank you very much from Washington.

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