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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
United States on Notice for Possible Attack; Breakthrough Arrest in Kidnapping of Daniel Pearl
Aired February 12, 2002 - 17:00 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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Now on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: America on notice for a possible attack that could happen as early as today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I encourage individuals to report anything they consider to be suspicious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Could these people bring this country a new round of terror?
A breakthrough arrest in the kidnapping of an American journalist. Will it pay off?
And, how did Enron go down?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just not possible to determine why the Enron ship is at the bottom of the ocean, unless you hear from the captain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The captain speaks.
Controversy on ice: all that glitters is not gold in Salt Lake City.
Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. In our news alert today, the United States on high alert.
The FBI says a Yemeni man and more than a dozen associates may be planning an attack on U.S. interests, and the attack could happen as early as today. One FBI agent says there is no indication, however, the suspects have entered the United States. Much more on this coming up in just a moment.
From Pakistan, optimism that the kidnapped American journalist, Daniel Pearl, could be freed very soon. The prime suspect in his abduction, now in custody, says Pearl is still alive. The militant, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was captured earlier today, and police say he told them Pearl is still in Karachi.
An Algerian-born pilot, linked to one of the September 11th hijackers, is freed on bail in Britain. This, after U.S. officials said they will not seek to extradite Lotfi Raissi on terrorism charges. However, they are pursuing other charges, including conspiracy to submit a false immigration claim.
Here in Washington, he took the oath, and then took the Fifth. Former Enron chairman and CEO Ken Lay told a Senate committee he wants to talk, but his lawyers advised against it. Senators accused him of being an "accomplished confidence man," questioning his integrity, honesty and business skills.
Now back to our top story, a possible new terror plot that puts U.S. security forces around the world on high alert today. Authorities say the attack could happen any time. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The FBI knows when an attack might come: today or over the next few days. The big question, where? And what kind of attack could it be? The Justice Department taking the threat very seriously.
ASHCROFT: While this alert is not specific to any particular locality, I want to encourage all law enforcement officials and frankly, all Americans everywhere to be on the highest state of alert in regard to these individuals.
FEYERICK: The FBI believes an attack could take place in the United States, or against U.S. interests in Yemen. Thirteen pictures are posted on the FBI Web site, a list of 17 men agents want to find. At the top of the list, the alleged point man, Fawaz Yahya Al-Rabeei. His name turned up after a detainee in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told investigators about the plot. Investigators followed up with a detainee in Afghanistan, who pointed out Al-Rabeei.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The information was derived from multiple sources and it was deemed to be credible. It was deemed to be specific by name. A photo was available. In several cases, there were more than one photo.
FEYERICK: Al-Rabeei has more than a dozen known aliases, most different spellings or variations of his name. One that stands out: Furqan the Chechen. Al-Rabeei is about 22 years old. The FBI believes he is a Yemeni national born in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the country where 15 of the 19 suspected September hijackers came from. The attorney general says Al-Rabeei may have ties to the al Qaeda terror network.
The FBI also wants to find some of Al-Rabeei's friends who could be involved in the possible attack. What do they share in common? They're between 24 and 34 years old. Almost all are from Yemen, with several born in Saudi Arabia. The FBI warns the men are considered extremely dangerous. JAMES STEINBERG, FMR. DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Getting these names out, identifying individuals, gives us a better chance of trying to interrupt some of these potential terrorist actions.
FEYERICK: Since the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, America's been put on the alert three times. This warning is extraordinary because of the exact date, and because the information came as a result of the capture and questioning of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): Several police and FBI sources around the country say they were surprised that they heard about the warning first through the press. As for security at the Olympics in Salt Lake City, with 10,000 federal and military security forces, it's arguably one of the safest places to be. And in New York, one top police source tells me, "it couldn't get any higher than it already is." Wolf.
BLITZER: Having said that though, Deborah, the decision to make this alert public must have come at a very high level.
FEYERICK: Absolutely. I think they were very concerned because of the fact that they had the date. If they had not had the date, then it would have been a different question. But because they were able to sketch it to one particular man and then broaden that out to all the people he knew, they felt they had enough to go on, and so they put everybody on notice.
BLITZER: OK, Deborah Feyerick, thank you very much.
And, one man who knows quite well the investigative and intelligence operations of the FBI is Buck Revell. He's a former deputy director of the FBI. He's with us now in Dallas.
Thanks, Buck for joining us. This is not an easy decision, I take it, for the FBI to issue this kind of high alert. What goes into the decision-making process?
BUCK REVELL, FMR. DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: Well, the state of alert is already very high across the country, so this one really probably wasn't too difficult to release, because essentially you're providing more information to the elements that are already on alert, as to what to look out for -- which is better than simply saying: be on alert. In this case, at least you have names, photographs and some other descriptive information, such as country of origin.
So, Wolf, I think this one, probably as soon as they verified it, as far as corroborating the information that came from the detainees, it was probably a very quick decision to get it out throughout the American law enforcement community, which in itself is some substantial task, whether it be some 18,000 agencies, not all of which are equipped with state-of-the-art communications.
BLITZER: But releasing these pictures and the names, they're hoping, obviously, someone recognizes one of the pictures or one of the names, and has some information. But there's no guarantee any of these individuals are in the United States right now. If they're not, that makes it a lot more complicated, right?
REVELL: Well, these pictures and names will be released worldwide. It will go throughout law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies, and also through all the U.S. embassies. So what we see in the United States is a reflection of what will be done around the world.
And of course, we'll be seeking out information from all sources on these individuals, their activities, their last known locations, and of course, if there's any activity of them coming in and out of the United States, as we had with the September 11th group.
BLITZER: Supposedly, the origin of these individuals, the names, these terrorist suspects, came from a detainee or a couple of detainees at the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo, who said they heard something when they were back in detention in Kandahar. How do you know that they're actually telling the truth, as opposed to trying to make themselves look good with those who are holding them in captivity?
REVELL: Well, with detainees or suspects of any kind, you always accept the information with condition that you be able to verify it, or at least partially corroborate it. In this situation I'm sure there were probably multiple sources. The detainees, some of which are now trying to better their situation, are cooperating. And I think that this points out how important it was for President Bush not to put the detainees in a POW status, but to put them in a detainee status so they could continue to be questioned.
But you're not going to go forward with this on one person's say. You're going to have verified the information. And obviously, they had contact with probably the Yemeni government, to get the photographs, the passport information, and some of the aliases that have been used.
BLITZER: Some have complained, though, the earlier alerts were not very specific -- didn't have any names, any dates, unlike this alert -- seems to be making the American public increasingly numb. How serious of a problem is it for the FBI, that if you do this over and over again, the public is not going to listen to you the next time.
REVELL: Well, you have the Chicken Little syndrome. Unfortunately,if you live in a time where you withheld any information at any time, under any circumstance, and something happened, you'd be crucified. So, the bottom line is, information is going to be spread ubiquitously to law enforcement. And once it goes out to 18,000 agencies, it's in the hands of the public.
Certainly there needs to be focused information, if there is a specific site or venue. And that probably would not be spread, or certainly shouldn't be spread, if there is an opportunity to interdict and to contain such an operation. But when there is no specific site, no specific date, you simply have to go with the broadest possible spread of the information.
BLITZER: Buck Revell, the former deputy director of the FBI, thanks for joining us.
REVELL: Glad to be here, Wolf.
BLITZER: And our Web question of the day is this: how worried are you about the FBI's terror alert? You can vote at cnn.com/wolf. That's my Web page. While you're there, let me know what you're thinking. There's a "click here" icon on the left side of the page. You can send me your comments and I'll read them. Some of them on the air each day. That's also, by the way, where you can read my daily on-line column. Once again, cnn.com/wolf.
And now the latest on the kidnapped American journalist, Daniel Pearl. His release could come, officials say, as early as today. That word from Pakistani officials after they arrested the key suspect in the kidnapping. Pearl disappeared nearly three weeks ago in Karachi. The suspect, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, has told authorities "The Wall Street Journal" correspondent is still alive. We get the latest from CNN's Ben Wedeman, in Karachi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pakistani authorities describe Saeed as the ringleader of the group holding the American journalist. The 27-year-old Islamic militant has been the focus of an intense nationwide manhunt. According to senior police sources, in the course of a preliminary interrogation, Saeed told them that Daniel Pearl is alive and is in Karachi. The same sources said that with Saeed in custody, and apparently cooperating, the release of Daniel Pearl may not be far off.
Chief Omar Saeed is not new to kidnapping. He was arrested in 1994 in India, for involvement in the abduction of British and American tourists. Five years later he was released, as part of a deal to end the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight diverted to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Intelligence sources believe that Sheikh Omar Saeed has close ties with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, network and wired funds to two of the hijackers involved in the September 11th attacks on the United States.
(on camera): While hopes for Pearl's release have been raised before, only to be dashed, the police here are increasingly confident that the ordeal of the American journalist may be about to come to an end. I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Karachi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: The intelligence and defense analyst David Isby joins me now to talk more about the man believed to be responsible for Daniel Pearl's kidnapping. David, thanks for joining us.
DAVID ISBY, INTELLIGENCE DEFENSE ANALYST: Thank you.
BLITZER: What do you think about Sheikh Omar Saeed? Is he the guy who kidnapped him, and potentially could help free him?
ISBY: First, we don't know. Secondly, he's a good person to speak to. He certainly is at the nexus of this. Sheikh Omar has a long history, as you've heard, dealing with the kidnapping of foreigners. His group, Jegi Mohammed (ph), linked to Harakat in Mujahedeen. Harakat Yensaw (ph), groups which have used kidnapping, kidnapping of foreigners, among their tactics for years. And indeed, he himself was freed after the hostage situation in Kandahar some years ago.
BLITZER: It's interesting that he was born in England and went to the London School of Economics. So he's obviously Western educated and western oriented.
ISBY: Educated here at Aitchison College in Pakistan, which is one of the best schools there. Obviously a well-educated person, comes from the leadership classes. But then, throughout history, so have many of the leading revolutionaries.
BLITZER: What makes someone with that western background in effect become a leader of an Islamic militant group like this?
ISBY: Many things happen. Some of it is dissatisfaction with Pakistan, with the lack of development. Others is just the excitement. Some of it may have been caught up in the jihad, supporting the Afghans in previous years -- which brought in people from throughout the Islamic world, just as the Spanish civil war brought in left-wing people to support the Spanish Republic in the 1930s.
BLITZER: Pakistani police authorities are saying that Danny Pearl will be freed soon, very soon, perhaps even later, today -- within hours, maybe. Is that -- can we trust the Pakistani police to make that kind of assessment?
ISBY: No. I hope it's true, but I wouldn't bet vast amounts of money on it. He is certainly a key person, but that whole religious/terrorist infrastructure is now so fractured by the events of Afghanistan, this could have been done by people coming back from Afghanistan who revere him, but are not under his command.
BLITZER: Under whose command?
ISBY: Maybe bin Laden, maybe just themselves. It's very hard to say now.
BLITZER: But you don't suspect that there's any complicity with authorities in Pakistan -- authorities of President Pervez Musharraf, who is right now in Washington, preparing for his big meeting with President Bush tomorrow?
ISBY: This is a key issue. Pakistani intelligence, especially ISI, the military interservices intelligence -- the government has had limited control over them for years. And now they have largely, it seems, lined up behind the president. But you cannot say all members, especially retired members. And they recently arrested some retired ISI men for supporting the radicals. That still is an issue.
BLITZER: No doubt President Musharraf would love nothing more than to be able to go into the Oval Office and meet with President Bush tomorrow, with Danny Pearl a free man.
ISBY: Certainly, he has his great interest in having his own people there on the ground, just as the people who are holding him want to prevent that, to show that Pakistan's future is not with supporting the United States, but looking towards Islamic groups.
BLITZER: Bottom line there, is that those holding Danny Pearl presumably are enemies of President Musharraf himself?
ISBY: That's certainly what seems to be the case.
BLITZER: OK. David Isby, thanks as usual.
You hear from Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf directly later tonight on "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN," 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.
And Enron collapsed under his watch. Today Ken Lay stepped into a lion's den on Capitol Hill. He expressed regrets, but that didn't satisfy hungry senators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN LAY, FMR. CEO, ENRON: As chairman, I come here today with a profound sadness about what has happened to Enron.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Later, anger at Salt Lake. Did the judges give the gold to the wrong Olympians? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're following a developing story at Fairfield University in Connecticut, where a former student claims he has a bomb and is holding 10 students, at least 10 students, hostage. His demands are unclear at this point. We are following this story. We'll have much more as it becomes available. But once again, at Fairfield University in Connecticut, a former student is holding at least 10 people hostage. He claims he has a bomb.
Meanwhile here in Washington, the former head of Enron stepped up to the microphone today and told Congress: nothing. As expected, Ken Lay clung to his Fifth Amendment right and refused to testify before the Senate commerce committee. In turn, senators were anything but silent. CNN Congressional Correspondent, Jonathan Karl, is on Capitol Hill. He's covering all of this and joins us now with details -- Jon.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Ken Lay sat there patiently for a full 75 minutes while senator after senator on that committee berated him. One for his role in Enron's collapse, but also for his decision not to answer their questions. When Lay finally took his place at the witness table, he quoted a recent Supreme Court decision that said one of the primary functions of the Fifth Amendment is to protect innocent men.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAY: Mr. Chairman, I come here today with a profound sadness about what has happened to Enron, its current and former employees, retirees, shareholders and other stakeholders. I have also wanted to respond, to the best of my knowledge and recollection, to the questions you and your colleagues have about the collapse of Enron. I have, however, been instructed by my counsel not to testify, based on my Fifth Amendment constitutional rights. I am deeply troubled about asserting these rights, because it may be perceived by some that I have something to hide. But after agonizing consideration, I cannot disregard my counsel's instruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And Lay will have to agonize yet again on Thursday. He's under subpoena to appear before a House committee, where he says he will again exercise his Fifth Amendment rights. Meanwhile, Wolf, I want to bring you up on two other things, very quickly.
One, Jeff Skilling, who did testify -- the former CEO of Enron who did testify last week before a House committee -- has fired off an angry letter to the chairman of that committee. Because several members of the committee went out on talk shows over the weekend -- including yours -- and talked about how Skilling had been less than truthful with the committee, and suggested that he committed perjury. The lawyers said those are baseless charges, that his client testified honestly and completely.
And the other thing is that Sherron Watkins, the Enron whistle blower, is also expected to appear on Thursday before yet another House committee investigating the Enron situation. That's expected to be a very closely-watched hearing, the first time we'll hear publicly from Sherron Watkins.
BLITZER: Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill, thank you very much for that report. It was truly an extraordinary experience in the Congress today. Ken Lay sat stoic, as members of the Senate commerce committee attacked him one by one. Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald, of Illinois, is on that committee, and he had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. PETER FITZGERALD (R), ILLINOIS: I'd say you were a carnival barker, except that wouldn't be fair to carnival barkers. A carny will at least tell you up front that he's running a shell game. You, Mr. Lay, were running what purported to be the seventh-largest corporation in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Senator Fitzgerald joins us now live. Senator, you obviously seem to have made up your mind about what he was up to. How do you know he was guilty of what you suggest?
FITZGERALD: Well, the documents that I've reviewed are giving me the impression, Wolf, that most of Enron's earnings were coming from fictitious transfers and transactions. And in fact, the board of director's own report, the so-called power report, says that at least 71 percent of Enron's earnings during the 15-month period they were looking at, was derived from bogus transactions with just one set of questionable partnerships.
And so, if Mr. Lay and Mr. Skilling didn't know that all this was going on, then what we're being asked to believe is that Mr. Lay and Mr. Skilling didn't even have the vaguest notion of how their company was earning money. And that's a little bit hard for me to swallow.
BLITZER: Well, as you know, there's have been some suggestions that the former chief financial officer of Enron, Mr. Fastow, was the brains behind those offshore bookkeeping partnerships at the center of the collapse of Enron, and maybe he was trying to hide it from both Mr. Skilling and Mr. Lay. You don't accept that?
FITZGERALD: Well, Wolf, today we had more questioning of Dean Powers, the board member from the law school in Texas. And he admitted that his report, which looked at all the Fastow partnerships, only looked at the Fastow partnerships. In fact, Dean Powers said that his report only looks at three partnerships. And there are over 2,000 partnerships. So it appears that we haven't even scratched the surface here.
And I questioned Dean Powers as to why they only looked at the Fastow-controlled partnerships, because apparently there's many more. And some which have been discussed in the print media already, but aren't even the subject of the Powers report. So, that furthered my impression that there were so many bogus transactions occurring for such a long period of time, involving so many partnerships that it really becomes difficult to buy the argument that Skilling or Lay really wouldn't have known that this was going on. Then they really couldn't have known what their company was all about.
BLITZER: "The Washington Post," in an editorial today wrote, this. And I'll put it up on the screen. "No fewer than 11 Congressional committees are competing to investigate Enron, and the 248 members of those committees are staging their own micro-contests to see who can sound most outraged by the scandal."
Is this any possibility that these committees will consolidate their work, have a joint House-Senate special committee, for example, and eliminate all the various overlap that's going on?
FITZGERALD: Well, Senator Hollings, the chairman of the Senate commerce committee and, of course, one of the longtime senators, he has recommended just that. He has recommended a special committee. He was joined by Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, a Republican. They have both recommended that to the leaders, that they create a special committee.
My understanding is that the leaders have decided not to do that yet. We'll just have to wait and see. The bottom line, too, is that this is a significant event, and its significance goes way beyond one company, Enron. We have to make sure that American investors have faith that they can get a fair shake when they invest in the stock market. And that's why we've got to get to the bottom of this and find out what we can do to make sure it doesn't happen again.
BLITZER: Senator Peter Fitzgerald, thanks for joining us.
FITZGERALD: Good to be with you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you very much. And while Ken Lay and other top Enron executives are not talking, there is one person who is. CNN's Mark Potter now, on how one woman stood up to the men of Enron.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The attorney for whistle blower Sherron Watkins says because of her courage she was threatened with her job and had her computer seized. The man who allegedly wanted her fired, Andrew Fastow, Enron's former chief financial officer, who refused to testify before Congress last week.
Attorney Philip Milder says Cindy Olson, Enron's head of human resources, told Watkins that Fastow wanted her out. Watkins wasn't fired, but she transferred to another department. It all happened after Watkins wrote the now-famous letter to former Enron chairman, Kenneth Lay. In it, she said she feared the company "will implode in a wave of accounting scandals." She said Enron was hiding losses, in what she called an elaborate accounting hoax.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were going to file bankruptcy, and so I knew...
POTTER: Last week in testimony before Congress, Cindy Olson said Watkins told her of her concerns about the company, and asked for a meeting with Ken Lay. That conversation between Olson and Watkins last August is the subject of a motion filed by Enron employees who lost retirement savings when the company collapsed. They're asking a federal judge to remove and replace the trustees of Enron's 401(k) plan, including Cindy Olson, for not warning employees the company faced disaster. Their attorney says that failure to protect them cost employees hundreds of millions of dollars.
ELI GOTTESDIENER, PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY: They are still in charge of our client's money, and our clients don't want that. They listened to the testimony of Ms. Olson last week. They want her removed, they want somebody that they can trust, who will look out for their interests, and not their own personal interests, like Ms. Olson was doing.
POTTER: Olson's attorney would not comment to CNN. Neither would the attorney for Andrew Fastow.
(on camera): Meanwhile, Sherron Watkins is now scheduled to tell her full story under oath before a House committee this Thursday morning, and before a Senate committee on February 26th. Mark Potter, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Now back to a story we reported just a few minutes ago. A hostage situation unfolding in Fairfield, Connecticut. Joining us now on the phone is Officer Mark Farcassini. He is with the local police authorities in Fairfield. Officer, tell us what is going on.
MARK FARCASSINI, FAIRFIELD POLICE: As of right now, at 4:05 p.m. tonight, I received a call from Fairfield University. They said they had an ex-student in a second floor classroom with what he purported to be an explosive device. As we responded to the scene, we found out he is in fact on the second floor of Canisius Hall, and he does have hostages. And that's all we have right now for you.
BLITZER: Do you know, Officer, how many hostages he has?
FARCASSINI: No, we don't at this time.
BLITZER: And when you say an explosive device, does that mean a bomb?
FARCASSINI: That's what he purports to be an explosive device, yes.
BLITZER: And has he made any demands, as far as his grievances?
FARCASSINI: Not as of yet. I'm waiting for another update on from the scene.
BLITZER: Are you in touch with the individual holding these people?
FARCASSINI: I do not have that information for you as of yet.
BLITZER: Talk about the community a little bit. This is at Fairfield University, which is in Fairfield, Connecticut. What kind of school is it?
FARCASSINI: It's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) university, it's a Catholic university in the town of Fairfield.
BLITZER: And, Canisius Hall, what is that -- is it a dormitory, or is it a student union, a classroom setting? What kind of room, building is it?
(CROSSTALK)
FARCASSINI: ... is a classroom setting, correct.
BLITZER: And was this a student who had been there recently or a long time ago?
FARCASSINI: That I don't have for you yet. I don't know. All I have right now is it is an ex-student.
BLITZER: An ex-student. You don't have a name of this individual?
FARCASSINI: No, not as of yet.
BLITZER: And you don't know how many hostages are being held right now?
FARCASSINI: No, sir. We will have updates for you.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Local authorities are already on the scene.
FARCASSINI: Correct.
BLITZER: And they are dealing with it.
FARCASSINI: Correct.
BLITZER: Have students been evacuated from the campus?
FARCASSINI: The campus center is closed off. Yes, everybody has been pulled back, correct.
BLITZER: All right, Officer, thanks for the update. We'll be back as this story continues to unfold. Appreciate it very much.
The government says be on guard, but the public already is. Coming up: What do these warnings of possible terror attacks really tell us? Among my guests in the second half hour of our program: security director of New York state and investigator of the TWA crash, former FBI special Agent James Kallstrom. And also ahead: Slobodan Milosevic hears harsh words at his war crimes trial at The Hague.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We want to update on a breaking story we are following out of Connecticut. Authorities in Connecticut have evacuated parts of Fairfield University because of a hostage standoff. School officials say a student is holding at least 10 other students in a classroom in the religious studies building of the campus. The hostage-taker reportedly claims to have an explosive device, perhaps a bomb.
Investigators, though, haven't determine if that's the case. We will continue to monitor this story. You're looking at live pictures from that development in Connecticut at Fairfield University -- once again, a former student holding perhaps 10 students hostage on the campus right now.
Now more on the latest terror alert issued by the FBI: Security officials around the world are on high alert after word that a possible attack against U.S. interests could take place as early as today.
Joining me from New York to talk more about the alert and what it means is James Kallstrom. He is the director of the New York State Office of Public Security and a former assistant director of the FBI.
Mr. Kallstrom, thanks so much more joining us.
Practically speaking, can you go on any higher state of alert than people, law enforcement authorities in New York state are already on?
JAMES KALLSTROM, DIRECTOR, NEW YORK OFFICE OF PUBLIC SECURITY: Not really, Wolf.
We are pretty much up there already and have been for a long, long time, although I must say it is helpful to have some information. We have some names and we have some photographs that we can get out to state and local police, which really are our first line of defense against terrorism. So that's good news.
BLITZER: When were you officially notified of these suspects, that they are now wanted, that there was a specific apparent plot in the works that has caused so much concern?
KALLSTROM: Yesterday, Wolf.
BLITZER: Is this a good idea for -- obviously, for law enforcement authorities to be notified -- but for the public at large to be made aware of these kinds of threats as well?
KALLSTROM: Well, I was listening Buck Revell earlier about, you know, no good deed goes unpunished. And, you know, I don't know. It cuts both ways, Wolf. I think it is important, as the president has said -- and I discussed this matter with Governor Pataki last night -- it is good, I think, that the public realize that we're in this for the long haul. This is not going to go away quickly. So they need to be vigilant. They need to part of, really, the Army. They need to be part of our civil defense. So, from that standpoint, I think it's good.
We don't want to get them on a roller-coaster. We kind of want to keep them at a fairly high alert.
BLITZER: Our viewers are looking at those pictures. And I want to see if we can get those pictures of the suspects on the screen. If one of our viewers has any information regarding any of these individuals, what should they do?
KALLSTROM: Call your local police or your local FBI office immediately and give them as much information as can you. And don't try to interfere yourself. That's what I recommend everybody does.
BLITZER: Well, what if someone knows something about some of these individuals, but they want to be anonymous? Can they provide information anonymously?
KALLSTROM: Absolutely, Wolf. I think that would obviously be honored by law enforcement and taken into account.
BLITZER: In your experience -- and you go back many years. Many of us, of course, remember you involving a lot of earlier cases,including the crash of that TWA flight. How extraordinary is this overall terrorism threat facing the United States right now?
KALLSTROM: Wolf, it is pretty extraordinary. It took us a long time to get here. Obviously, this war has been going on for a long, long time, starting probably back one of the benchmarks, the bombing of the Marine barracks '83, the World Trade Center, the blind sheik case, the Manila air conspiracy, the bombings of our embassies, the bombings in Saudi Arabia, the USS Cole.
So this war was being waged for a long time. The battlefield has changed to the USA again from the first time the Trade Center was hit. So we have to be here for a long time, Wolf. It took a long time. We have let them get very entrenched around the world. And it is going to take some time to sort out. We will be successful. I believe that. I think we are unified from A to Z. But we need to look for the long haul. And the citizens need to understand that.
BLITZER: James Kallstrom, I always appreciate having your insight into these kinds of stories. Appreciate your taking the time in joining us today.
KALLSTROM: Thank you, Wolf. My pleasure.
BLITZER: Thank you very much.
And this latest terror alert is one of several issued since the September attacks against the United States. The last one was issued just last month. So how are Americans handling all of these alerts? Are they having an effect on the country's emotional well-being?
Psychiatrist Helen Morrison joins us now from Chicago. She has been taking a look at this and has some answers.
A lot of people woke up this morning, saw those scary headlines, been watching television, Helen, and are nervous. How should people react and try to stay calm in a situation where there could be yet another terror attack against the United States?
HELEN MORRISON, PSYCHIATRIST: Well, I wish there was one answer, but it depends on the individuality of the people.
I think you showed earlier a statistic that only 28 percent of the people that you polled were not worried. So that leaves 72 percent of people out there who are worried, with a constant LOWRY: level of anxiety. And it is not only just the emotional; it's the physical impact that sustained anxiety has on an organism. And we are going to be seeing a lot more physical complaints than we have. But some people...
BLITZER: Excuse me.
When you say physical complaints, are you suggesting sleeping disorders; the anxiety could affect other parts of their physical well-being?
MORRISON: Absolutely.
High blood pressure can be affected. The level of blood sugar can be affected. So a diabetic may begin to have difficulty controlling their sugar levels -- obviously, the sleeping, the appetite, the inability of someone to focus well on their work.
And for the people who still have tremendous effects from September 11, you're going to see those symptoms come out more: fear, flashbacks, all of those issues that relate to not being able to deal with what happened September 11. And, again, coping depends on the individual. I have had many people come to my office requesting anti- anxiety medication because they feel anxious. They can't seem to get a handle on this. They can't seem to control. And every time an alert comes out, those requests increase.
BLITZER: And there have been several alerts. In fact we will put up on the screen, show our viewers the number of alerts that have been issued since September 11. If you look back, October 11, the first FBI alert. Then there was another one October 29. December 3, they reissued an alert for the month of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month. January 3, they extended it through March 11, and now this latest alert.
Is there a possibility, though, that the American public could get numb to all of these alerts and not necessarily pay all that much attention, as much attention as they should be paying?
MORRISON: Some people will. They will decide to shut it out, not deal with it, live in a state of either ignoring or denial, which is a way of coping for people.
However, if they are in a situation where one of these alerts comes to fruition, they are going to have an even worse reaction to an event. Other people will say: "OK, I'm nervous about it, but I've got to go on. I'm not going to live in this fear. I'm going to move on because I can't control what's going to happen to me." And that works for some people.
Other people become so obsessed, so focused on this fear that they almost become paralyzed at least in thinking and action and they can't move beyond that.
BLITZER: Helen Morrison, thanks for your insight. Appreciate it very much.
MORRISON: Thank you, Mr. Blitzer.
BLITZER: Thank you.
And up next: We'll get an update on the hostage situation unfolding at Fairfield University in Connecticut. Also, the biggest war crimes trial since Nuremberg: the gruesome charges leveled against Slobodan Milosevic. And later: a royal farewell that is anything but traditional.
Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We want to update you on the hostage situation at Fairfield University in Connecticut.
As of right now, we are told 18 people are being held hostage by a former student. You are looking at a live picture of Canisius Hall on the campus of Fairfield University: 17 students, one faculty member being held hostage. The former student claims to have an explosive device, perhaps a bomb. Five individuals have been released by the student, all women. We're told it took place in the course of a religious studies class at Canisius Hall on the campus.
Once again, a former student at this campus -- you are looking at the live picture -- holding 18 people, 17 students, one faculty member, hostage. Right now, police authorities are on the scene, as we heard earlier this hour. We will update this story as more information becomes available.
But let's check some other stories making headlines around the world: The war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic is under way in the Netherlands. The former Yugoslav president is accused of crimes against humanity in Croatia, genocide in Bosnia, and crimes against humanity in Kosovo. He's being tried at The Hague. It's the biggest European war crimes trial since Adolf Hitler's associates were tried at Nuremberg, Germany after World War II.
There are no signs of survivors so far from the crash of an Iranian jetliner. The plane with 117 people on board crashed into a mountain this morning southwest of the Tehran. Bad weather is believed to be the cause of the crash.
Britain's Princess Margaret will be cremated after a private funeral later this week, that word today from Buckingham Palace. That cremation, which marks a break with royal tradition, was included in Margaret's funeral plans. The princess, who was Queen Elizabeth's younger sister, died Saturday from a stroke.
Referees are used to being second-guessed, but criticism for judges at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games is going one step further. Coming up: Why are they skating on thin ice? And Hollywood finds out who's up for a gold, Oscar gold.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: In Salt Lake City, the controversy hits the Winter Games. It happened last night on the ice. Today, much of the action was on the slopes.
Here to fill us in on all of it, CNN Sports Illustrated's Tom Rinaldi. He's in Park City, Utah -- Tom.
TOM RINALDI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, while the Olympic flame still burns, now the fires of controversy are being stoked for the Winter Games as well. And one more time it happens in figure skating, this time pairs figure skating in the finals that were decided last night at the Ice Center in Salt Lake City.
The big question: whether the Russian team that won the gold medal actually deserved it and beat out the Canadian team, which won the silver, on the ice -- in this case, the Russian pair, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia, the question as to whether they actually skated a better program technically and artistically. Did they deserve to beat out the Canadian pair of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier?
A 5-4 judges' decision which has brought down a rain of criticism as a result of the order and who got the gold and who got the silver -- the ISU, the International Skating Union, decided today to launch a formal inquiry into that decision, to question whether the judges not only were inaccurate, but whether they were unethical. There are questions about whether these judges' decisions were actually fixed, whether there were national voting blocs which tainted this particular order of gold and silver.
And there was very strong criticism, 16,000-plus fans raining the arena with boos as soon as the decision was announced -- very strong reaction, including reaction from the Canadian pair. Here's what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID PELLETIER, SILVER MEDALIST, PAIRS SKATING: We are sad about it, because, you know, I would rather be here talking about my performance. But we all know this is not what everybody is here for. It puts some dirt on what we did. So we are sad. I mean, I'm not going to -- I will spare your time with the cliche and tell you, "We gave 100 percent" and all that stuff. But we did give 100 percent and we ended up with silver. And sometimes the silver medal is won by a gold-medal performance. And that's what we did.
JAMIE SALE, SILVER MEDALIST, PAIRS SKATING: We are on a high because we skated great and we had such a good experience here. And we have nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone here in the audience, Canadians, Americans, even around the village -- we went for breakfast really early this morning and a lot of the other athletes were coming up to us and saying: "You guys were so good and we are so proud of you guys," and we should have won the gold.
And it is neat. It's really neat. But Dave and I are so proud of what we have done. And you can't take that away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RINALDI: From the ice to the slopes, from the controversial to the sentimental: Picabo Street, America's sentimental favorite in the women's downhill, does not earn a medal. She finishes well back in the pack. Near the top of the mountain after the first two splits, she was in fact in the lead, but lost a lot of time toward the bottom. The winner: Carole Montillet of France, 28-year-old customs officer.
In the men's moguls, more medals for America. Travis Mayer of the United States, just 19 years old, he told his family not to buy tickets to the event because he did not think would he medal. He proves wrong. More X-Game domination from the Americans here at the Winter Games -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Tom Rinaldi, thank you very much. Too bad for Picabo Street.
From our "Newswire" today: Hollywood reveals its nominees for the Academy Awards. Here is a look at some of the top categories. The nominees for best motion picture are: "A Beautiful Mind, "Gosford Park," "In the Bedroom," "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings" and Moulin Rouge."
For the best actor category, after last year's win, Russell Crowe is back again, this time for his role in "A Beautiful Mind." Other nominees include Sean Penn in "I Am Sam," Will Smith for "Ali," Denzel Washington for "Training Day" and Tom Wilkinson for "In the Bedroom."
In the best actress category, the nominees are: Halle Berry for her role in "Monster"s Ball," Judi Dench for "Iris," Nicole Kidman for "Moulin Rouge," Sissy Spacek for "In the Bedroom," and Renee Zellweger for "Bridget Jones's Diary."
Oscar night, of course, is set for March 24.
Let's good to New York and get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE," which begins right at the top of the hour -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE": Wolf, thank you very much.
Another terrorist threat against the United States -- we will assess the danger with security experts Paul Bremer and Jules Kroll. Henry Kissinger will also be here. We will hear his perspective on the war against terrorism and the axis of evil. Senators blast former Enron CEO Ken Lay after he refuses to testify before Congress. And we will tell you why stock prices ended the day slightly lower. All of that begins at the top of the hour. Please join us.
Now back to Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you very much, Lou, an excellent rundown as usual.
And the results from our Web question of the day and your e-mail when we come back.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Our Web question of the day, take a look at these results. We will have a new question tomorrow, CNN.com/Wolf, where you can also drop me your comments.
And, by the way, here is one of them.
Richard from Henderson, Nevada writes this: "I believe it is only fair that all recipients of political donations from Enron be returned, from the president down both parties. Let's do something to help those who lost everything. Where is Robin Hood when you need him?"
Robert from South Caroline writes: "CNN reported that President Bush said that drug use abets terrorism by providing a source of funds. The same could be said of oil consumption. The administration seems conservative in every area but conservation."
And I'll be back here in one hour in the CNN "War Room." Among my guests, Senator Evan Bayh of the Intelligence Committee and the former CIA director, James Woolsey. Then, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight, a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: We'll take a close look at the FBI's latest terror alert. John Walsh, the host of "America's Most Wanted," joins me at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.
And let's update once again on the latest breaking news coming out of Fairfield, Connecticut, where we are told one former student is holding 18 people hostage, 17 students, one faculty member, in this building, Canisius Hall, on the campus of the Catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut about 20 miles outside of New York City. Police are on the scene. No word of any developments, although police do say the suspect is believed to have an explosive device. We will continue, of course, to monitor the story and have late developments as they unfold.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" begins right now.
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