Fox Special Report With Brit Hume (18:00)

by Brit Hume, Carl Cameron, Jim Angle, Brian Wilson, and Molly Henneberg
Fox News
June 6, 2002



THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BRIT HUME, HOST: Welcome to Washington. I'm Brit Hume.

Hearings continued on Capitol Hill today about who knew what and when about the September 11th attacks, but in the meantime more reports are surfacing about missed leads by the CIA in the days leading up to 9/11, including clues on two of the hijackers. Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron has more.

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CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than a year before the attacks, the CIA was tipped off about this house in Vienna, Virginia. A neighbor reported suspicious Middle Eastern men coming and going 24 hours a day. Two days after the actual attack, it was learned that hijackers Ahmed Alghamdi and Waleed Alshehri, who flew the first plane into the World Trade Center, had lived there.

That's when Diane Albritton first went public with the fact that she had alerted the CIA months earlier about the house and its occupants.

DIANE ALBRITTON, NEIGHBOR: Just by my observations, I knew it was a rental house and people would come and go, but this was kind of beyond that. People would come at night, rental cars from out of state, constant turnover.

CAMERON: The house where the two hijackers lived is just three blocks from a CIA facility and just a few miles from the nation's capital. But Albritton said her call got little response.

ALBRITTON: I had seen what I thought was enough that maybe somebody else would be interested. Not. I did not have enough information to entice anybody to come forward.

CAMERON: For the CIA, it may be yet another example of information that critics say could have made a difference had it been handled differently. Standard procedures require CIA to notify FBI of such domestic information. But after several hours of checking, FBI officials told Fox News that they had not been able to find any record that CIA had shared information about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): And this is now day two of those select intelligence committee hearings behind closed doors on Capitol Hill and sources say this new information about the Vienna, Virginia home and the two hijackers who lived there and word that it had been shared that the house was suspicious will be looked into and added to the growing list of other information that many say could have been leads that could have prevented the attack from happening had they been handled differently.

All this while the investigation goes forward. Today Coleen Rowley, the Minnesota FBI agent who wrote a scathing letter to FBI Director Bob Mueller arrived in Washington and she too met behind closed doors with some members of that committee. Tomorrow she will testify in public before the Senate.

On this day, she had breakfast with Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, a Republican who is one of the harshest critics of the FBI and the CIA, and many think the sign that Rowley and Grassley had breakfast is a sign of the tenor of tomorrow's hearing, Brit.

HUME: Carl, back to the house in Vienna. That tape we showed of that woman being interviewed goes back to September 13th. That's two days after the hijacking, so we -- so what is new here?

CAMERON: Well, the idea that this information was available to the CIA, that she had in fact filed a complaint, an alert, if you will, to the CIA that there was something suspicious going on virtually across the street from her and that perhaps that information was not passed on to the FBI. But it is important to understand that the intelligence and law enforcement community has been getting and for years was getting lots of calls about suspicious people.

And as Mrs. Albritton said, she wasn't able to give more information other than the action was suspicious. The question is, did it get handed off to the FBI and what they did -- what did they do about it. And as of just a few minutes ago, they continue to check and they've not got any information that they were alerted as to her concerns.

HUME: Carl Cameron, thank you very much. The White House is offering full cooperation to the Select Intelligence Committee as that group prepares to delve into what was missed by the FBI and CIA and the September 11th attacks.

Senior White House correspondent Jim Angle joins us now live with details on that -- Jim.

JIM ANGLE, FOX NEWS SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Brit. Well, the congressional investigating committees, the two joint -- the joint intelligence committees, got a history lesson today, what one member called terrorism 101.

Now the investigators have a problem. It's not the lack of information from the FBI and the CIA, rather it's a flood of information and documents and interviews that threatened to overwhelm the small staff of the investigating operation.

Now, sources tell Fox that the CIA alone has made available 300 to 400,000 pages of documents for the committee look at. They remain at CIA headquarters in Langley. In addition to that, they have access to a timeline that goes back more than a decade ago in tracking the terrorists and what the U.S. knew about them all the way up to September 11th. A document, if unfolded, would be 327 feet long.

Now it has 2,700 entries, Brit, of significant events such as the USS Cole or the World Trade Center attack in 1993 or the arrest of those involved in plans to place a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport around millennium new year. In addition, more than 60 people at CIA headquarters have been interviewed by investigators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB GRAHAM, (D-FL), CHAIRMAN, SELECT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It was chronological starting in '86 for the purposes of the U.S. effort and in the early '90s as bin Laden emerged on the scene as a significant global terrorist.

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ANGLE: Now but the investigation staff itself is only about 25 people and about half of those, we've learned, Brit, are working at various intelligence agencies. Three or four at the CIA, three or four at the FBI, two at the National Security Agency, the international eavesdropping intelligence arm, others at other intelligence agencies. And some worry that this will overwhelm the small 25-member staff of the investigating committee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: Thus far, our professional staff feels they've been able to keep their head above water, and we'll be monitoring that. Our goal is to have a completely thorough review of all of the relevant information in order to be able to carry out our responsibility to tell the American people what we think happened, what it means, and what we're going to do about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANGLE: Now, of course, the White House points to all of that information, Brit, as a sign that the administration is cooperating, that the intelligence and law enforcement agencies are cooperating, and that this is working just fine the way this is going with the two intelligence committees investigating this, not a -- and there's no need for a broader effort, a commission, as some people call it, which many members on Capitol Hill have talked about. And Senator Daschle, the Senate Majority Leader, mentioned once again today saying there is growing sentiment for some sort of commission -- Brit.

HUME: Jim, so we might look forward to the committee staff having completed its review of these documents, what, sometime in the next century?

ANGLE: Well, that is certainly the way it sounds, Brit. And one intelligence official said when I asked if they would be overwhelmed by what was sent to them, he said, well, if they don't -- if they're not overwhelmed, they don't understand the problem. So this is clearly a microcosm, if you will, of what the intelligence agencies went through. They're giving the investigating committees a little taste of what it was like to be at the CIA and other intelligence agencies getting a flood of information, some of which is good, some of which is worthless, and the neverending effort to sort between the two -- Brit.

HUME: Yes, it seems it wasn't the gather problem, it's the sort problem.

ANGLE: That is exactly right, Brit. That's a problem at CIA. It's a problem at FBI, where there's never enough people to listen to things that are -- phone calls that are intercepted and that sort of thing, never enough people to translate it into English. There's never enough people to go through all of the things that the intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been able to gather -- Brit.

HUME: Jim, thanks very much.

Attorney General Ashcroft is proposing new anti-terrorism visa regulations designed to keep better tabs on tens of thousands of visitors to the United States. The new order is mostly focused on people from countries believed to harbor terrorists including many from Muslim and Middle-Eastern descent.

Fox News correspondent Brian Wilson reports.

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BRIAN WILSON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Desperate to gain control of porous U.S. borders, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced new rules designed to single out some foreign visitors for increased scrutiny. There are three parts to the plan. First, aliens who fit a high-risk profile will be photographed and fingerprinted at the border.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: By running the fingerprints of entering aliens against the prints that have been collected in the databases, we will be able to stop terrorists from entering the country.

WILSON: Second, these high-concern visitors will be required to check in with the INS.

ASHCROFT: And simply verify that they are doing what they said they came to America to do and living where they said they would live.

WILSON: Finally, exit controls will be tightened. The names of those who have overstayed their welcome will be placed in national crime computers.

ASHCROFT: The nation's 650,000 police officers check the system regularly when they make traffic stops or routine encounters.

WILSON: But just how will the Justice Department decide who should be scrutinized? On that, the attorney general was a little vague.

ASHCROFT: Those categories are fluid and can be adjusted from time to time to meet new requirements.

WILSON: This is troubling to groups representing Arab interests.

JAMES ZOGBY, PRESIDENT, ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE: We will, in effect, have three separate lines at airports, points of entry, U.S. citizens, non citizens, and people from Arab and Muslim countries.

WILSON: Already the plan is raising concerns on Capitol Hill.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: I get concerned about the long arm of the federal government when it comes to taking actions like this that may or may not be helpful and certainly may be invasive.

WILSON: Still, others believe such scrutiny is absolutely necessary.

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: Well, if it will help control the terrorists' opportunities, that is identifying them, fingerprinting them, knowing a little more about them, so be it.

WILSON (on camera): Current law already allows the photographing and fingerprinting of any alien who wants to enter this country, but in recent years such scrutiny has been limited just to those people who come from nations known to sponsor terrorism. Under these new guidelines, now any person from any country can be singled out for INS scrutiny if they fit the INS profile.

In Washington, Brian Wilson, Fox News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUME: Coming up next, yesterday's comments on Iraq by Congressman Dick Gephardt were well received by the Bush administration. Next, though, we'll find out how some of the other Democratic Party leaders felt about that, next.

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HUME: At a news conference with his British counterpart, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that Saddam Hussein has a -- quote -- "sizable appetite for weapons of mass destruction," and that as every month goes by, Iraqi weapons programs mature. This comes a day after President Bush said that while he had no plans to attack, he does have the option of using the military to topple Saddam.

As Fox News correspondent Molly Henneberg tells us top Democrats on Capitol Hill are now voicing support for that idea.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOLLY HENNEBERG, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fox News has learned that key senate Democrats led by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle met today in one of several recent closed-door meetings to discuss their position on Iraq and Saddam Hussein. No official statement yet, but Senator Daschle said earlier he believes that there is universal support in the Democratic caucus to oust Hussein from power.

DASCHLE: The question is when and how and under what circumstances.

HENNEBERG: Representative Dick Gephardt, who voted against the use of force prior to the 1991 Persian Gulf War, said on Tuesday he now supports the use of military power to get Saddam out. Senator Joseph Biden agrees with Gephardt that it's time for a regime change in Iraq, but he says that before that happens, there must be a long-term plan.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN, (D-DE), SEN. FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE: I don't know a single informed person who suggests that. You can take down Saddam and not be prepared to stay for two, four, five years to give the country a chance to be held together.

HENNEBERG: Sources tell Fox News that Democratic members of Congress have recently contacted Iraqi opposition groups to discuss a plan for democracy in Iraq after Saddam is gone, but military analysts say those who want a perfect post-Saddam plan are missing the point.

LT. GEN. TOM MCINERNEY (RET.), FOX MILITARY ANALYST: The number one priority is to really get rid of Saddam, a regime change, get a democratic government in there and let -- and free the Iraqi people.

HENNEBERG (on camera): Then General McInerney says the U.S. and the international community can provide advice and support to help the Iraqis build their own democracy. Now Bush administration officials caution that at this point there are no plans on President Bush's desk for any type of military action against Iraq.

In Washington, Molly Henneberg, Fox News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUME: And coming up next, we'll talk more with General McInerney about that and about the new buzz word in American defense policy: preemption. Be right back.

 

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