DH B7 Planes as Weapons 1 of 2 Fdr- Entire Contents- Media Transcripts and Reports- 1st Pgs for Ref

8/14/2019 DH B7 Planes as Weapons 1 of 2 Fdr- Entire Contents- Media Transcripts and Reports- 1st Pgs for Ref

1/10

LEXIS -NEXIS View Printable Page Page 1 of 140

Lox isNox isCopyright 2002 eMediaMillWorks, Inc.(f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.)FDCH Political Transcripts

M ay 16,2002 ThursdayTYPE: NEWS BRIEFINGLENGTH: 5572 wordsHEADLINE: CONDOLEEZZA RICE HOLDS NEW S BRIEFING ON PRE-9/11 INTELLIGENCEINFORMATIONSPEAKER:CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATION AL SECURITY ADV ISERLOCATION: WASHINGTON, D.C.BODY:

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER HOLDS NEWS BRIEFING ON PRE-9/11INTELLIGENCE INFORMATIONMAY 16, 2002SPEAKER: CONDOLEEZZA RICENATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER

RICE: Good afternoon.I'm going to give you a chronology of the events that occurred during the spring and summer of 2001,but I want to start with a little definitional work. When we talk about threats, they come in manyvarieties. V ery often we have uncorroborated information. Sometimes we have corroborated bu t verygeneral information. But I can tell you that it is almost never the case that we have information that isspecific as to time, place or method of attack.In the period starting in December 2000, the intelligence community started reporting increase in trafficconcerning terrorist activities. In the April-May time frame, there w as specific threat reporting about AlQaeda attacks against U.S. targets or interests that might be in the w orks.Now, there was a clear concern that something was up, that something was coming, but it was

^ principally focused overseas.RICE: The areas of most concern were the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and Europe. In the June

http://www.nexis.com/research/search/submitViewTagged 1/8/2004


2/10

Bl'owse Display Page 1 of 19

Content and programming Copyright 2002 Cable News Network Transcribed under license byFDCH e-Media, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.)- Formatting Copyright2002 FDCH e-Media, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.). All rights reserved.No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attributionto Cable News Network. This transcript may not be copied or resold in any media.

CNNSHOW: CNN INSIDE POLITICS 16:00

May 16, 2002 ThursdayTranscript # 051600CN.V15

SECTION: News; InternationalLENGTH: 9244 wordsHEADLINE: Condoleezza Rice Holds Press Conference About Terrorism Warnings Prior toSeptember 11; Some Democrats Say There is a Lack of Leadership in the Administration;Senator Shelby and Senator Graham Say Bush Acted ResponsiblyGUESTS: Bob Graham, Richard ShelbyBYLINE: Candy Crowley, Jonathan Karl, David Ensor, John King, William Schneider, WolfBlitzerHIGHLIGHT:A panel discusses what the Bush Administration knew about Osama bin Laden's threat to theU.S. before September 11. Then, Condoleezza Rice holds a press conference, addressingquestions from the press on this issue. Finally, Senator Shelby and Senator Graham givetheir reactions to the conference and discuss national security.BODY:THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BEUPDATED.CANDY CROWLEY, C N N A N C H O R : I'm Candy Crowley in Washington. National Securityadviser Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to hold a briefing shortly. We will carry it live. She willface many questions about terror warnings received by the Bush administration beforeSeptember 11.The White House confirms that President Bush was warned during an intelligence briefinglast summer, that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network might try to hijack a U.S. airliner.Spokesman Ari Fleischer says the information was vague and there was no indication thatjets would be deliberately crashed. He says the White House took appropriate steps inresponse to that warning and others that surfaced last summer.But many lawmakers of both parties want to know why this information wasn't revealedmuch earlier.We have with us a cast of characters here to help sort through this story while we await thebriefing. Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill. Jonathan, is that the main complaint on the Hill, thatw hy wasn't this information put out there earlier?

http://www.nexis.com/research/search/documentDisplay?_docnum=17fe_ansset=W -WA -W... 1/8/2004


3/10

Jrowse Display Page 1 of 17

[j Content and programming Copyright 2002 Cable News Network Transcribed under license byFDCH e-Media, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.)- Formatting Copyright2002 FDCH e-Media, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.). All rights reserved.No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attributionto Cable News Network. This transcript may not be copied or resold in any media.

CNNSHOW: CNN WOLF BLITZER REPORTS 17:00

May 16, 2002 ThursdayTranscript # 051600CN.V67

SECTION: News; DomesticLENGTH: 7773 wordsHEADLINE: 9-11 Warnings: Who Knew What, When?GUESTS: John Edwards, Saxby Chambliss, Mark Foley, Bill Lyon, Lou CannonBYLINE:Wolf Blitzer, Kelly Wallace, David Ensor, Richard Roth, Ash- Har Quraishi, FredrickaWhitfield, Jeff FlockHIGHLIGHT:Special edition: 9-11 warnings, and who knew what andwhen?BODY:THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BEUPDATED.WOLF BLITZER, C NN A N C H O R : Now, on this special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: 9-11 warnings. Who knew what, and when?(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)AR I FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: The administration received heightenedreporting on threats.(END VIDEO CLIP)BLITZER: Did the White House drop the ball? Congress wants answers.(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)UNIDENTIFIED MAL E : I think it should have been acted upon, but it wasn't.(END VIDEO CLIP)BLITZER: It looked like 9-11 all over again in skies over Sydney: Why some Australians wentinto a panic.Israeli forces may have foiled a double-suicide bombing. I'll take you to places where the

http://www.nexis.com/research/search/documentDisplay?_docnum=21&_ansset=W-WA-W... 1/8/2004


4/10

Browse Display Page 1 of 15

Content and programming copyright 2002 MSNBC.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.Transcription Copyright 2002 FDCH e-Media(f/k/a/ Fed eral D ocument Clearing House, Inc.)ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.MSNBCSHOW: THE NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS 21:00May 16, 2002 T hursday

TRANSCRIPT: # 051601cb.453SECTION: N E WS; INTERNATIONALLENGTH: 7428 wordsHEADLINE: Did Bush A dministration Know About 9/11 Beforehand?; Ground Zero CleanupAbout Finished; MSNBCBYLINE: Brian Williams; Campbell Brown; Pete Williams; Jim Miklaszewski; Tim Russert;D avid Bloom; Kevin Tibbies; Lester HoltGUESTS: D avid Gergen; E van Bayh; S tansfield TurnerHIGHLIGHT:How Much of the 9/11 Terrorist Attack did the Bush A dm inistration Know about B efore itHappened?; Clean up at ground zero is just about finished. Finally,BODY:THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOTBE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BEUPDATED.BRIAN WILLIAMS, MSNBC NEWS ANCHOR: Tonight, what did they know and when did theyknow it? The Bush White House with a lot of questions to answer about the various pieces ofthe puzzle that the president was briefed on prior to September llth.Who was told? Couldmore have been done?(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NAT'L SECURITY AD V I S E R : W e knew that they were -- that they ha dthought about hijackings in a number of places.UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did it take eight months for us to receive this information?ARI FLE ISCHER, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: The president did not - not receive informationabout the use of airplanes as missiles by suicide bombers.(END VIDEO CLIP)A N N O U N C E R : For NBC News, this is THE N E W S WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS.WILLIAM S: G ood evening. Remember how quickly the White House and the intelligenceestablishment in this country seemed to know that September llthwas the work of Osamabin Laden? That's because it turns out there were indications that something was coming. Allwe know for sure is this. There were sniff (ph) reports, fragments of information that bin

http://www.nexis.com/research/search/documentDisplay?_docnum=6&_ansset=W-WA-W-... 1/8/2004


5/10

.ABCNEWS.com : Bush W arned of Hijackings Before 9/11 Page 1 of 4

f JACKSON S I G H AM ER I C A

Search the Web and ABCNEWS.com

M G H R

January 8 , 2 0 0 4H O M E PA G EN E W S S U M M A R YUSIN T E RN A T IO N A LMO NE YSc opeW E A T H E RLO C AL N E W SENTERTAINMENTESPN SPORTSSCI/TECHPOLITICSHE ALT HT R A V E LVIDEO & AUDIO

U.S.

What Happened?Bush Was Warned of HijackingsBefore 9/11; LawmakersWant PublicInquiry

May 16, 2002 The Bush administration defended its handling of the information aboutpossible hijackings of American planes by Osama bin Laden's terrorist network ascongressional leaders called for a public inquiry into what White House officials knewand how they responded.

fiOUERTISEMENT

rtatdh.com*

FE AT U RE D S E RV IC E SRELATIONSHIPSSHOPPINGWIRELESSE-MAIL CENTERB O ARD S

White House officials acknowledged that U.S.intelligence officials informed President Bush weeksbefore the Sept. 11 attacks that bin Laden's terroristnetwork might try to hijack American planes, and thatinformation prompted administration officials to issue aprivate warning to transportation officials and nationalsecurity agencies.Ina press briefing, National Security AdviserCondoleezza Rice said the threats were very generaland did not mention a specific time, place or mode ofterrorist attack. Rice described a chronology of eventsdetailing the how agencies dealt with the informationabout terrorist threats and how Bush was informed.Officials, Rice said, were primarily concerned that theattacks would take place overseas in the Middle East,the Arab Peninsula and Europe, and thought terroristgroups would choose a more "traditional" mode ofhijacking. They thought terrorists would hijack anairplane and hold passengers captive and demand therelease of one of their operatives. The FBI, Rice said,reported that there was no way to predict a terroristattack domestically, but that it remained a concern.In July, there was a heightened sense that there wouldbe an attack because of unrest in the Middle East, andofficials were concerned that terrorists were targetingParis, Rome and Turkey, she said. The FederalAviation Administration became so concerned it issued

pES

MORE

CJ FULI A m er i c afrom SepttM VIDE IntelligerTer r o r Atbf t * C O N FBI's Ne\y C< O O D R L Timelineof Possibh NASA FeTempt Te r Feds Get FAA RecHijacker Suspect9/11 Note' Love BioZero Flight ScWeighed F

A L S C Can Terrfrom Fly How to YNipping Early OsLikely to

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/warningmemo020516.html 1/8/2004


6/10

JJrowse Display Page 1 of 5

Copyright 2002 Bergen Record CorporationThe Record (Bergen County, NJ)May 17, 2002 Friday All Editions

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. aOlLENGTH: 1862 wordsHEADLINE: TERROR ALERTS PU T BUSH AIDES ON DEFENSIVE;FROMBOTH PARTIES, QUESTIONSOVER WHITE HOUSEDECISIONSSOURCE: Wire servicesBYLINE: RO N FOURNIER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESSDATELINE: WASHINGTONBODY:With Democrats in Congress leading impassioned calls for answers, the White House onThursday defended President Bush for not disclosing intelligence before the Sept. 11 attacksthat Osama bin Laden wanted to hijack U.S. airplanes."You would have risked shutting down the American civil aviation system with suchgeneralized information," said national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. "You would haveto think five, six, seven times about that, very, very hard. " As politically charged hearingsloomed, the White House scrambled to shield Bush from damage, and Democrats sought toexploit a potential crack in the president's record-setting popularity. Worried aidesdispatched an extraordinary number of senior advisers, including Rice and Vice PresidentDick Cheney, to public venues as the controversy mushroomed."What we have to do now is find out what the president what the White House knewabout the events leading up to the events of 9/11, when they knew it, and, mostimportantly, what was done about it," said House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo.Rice said the intelligence, tucked in a 1 1/2-page terrorism report given to Bush during anAug. 6 briefing while on vacation in Texas, mentioned Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and"hijacking in a traditional sense" not suicide hijackers slamming fuel-laden planes intoAmerican landmarks."The most important and most likely thing was that they would take over an airliner, holdingpassengers, and demand the release of one of their operatives," Rice said. The reportdiscussed a variety of methods terrorists might deploy against the United States, includingbiological and radiation weapons, sources said.Democrats and some Republicans pressed Bush to hand over the top-secret CIA analysisgiven to Bush on Aug. 6 and release an FBI memo written even earlier that warnedheadquarters that many Middle Eastern men were training at at least one U.S. flight school.White House officials were divided over whether to release them.Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee,said, "There was a lot of information. I believe andothers believe if it had been acted onproperly, we may have had a different situation on Sept. 11. " Bush had no public comment

http://www.nexis.com/research/search/docurnentDisplay?_docnum=73&_ansset=W-WA-W... 1/8/2004


7/10

LEXIS-NEXIS View Printable Page Page 48 of 140

Copyright 2002 The Chronicle Publishing Co.

The San Francisco ChronicleMAY 17, 2002, FRIDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. AlLENGTH: 1605 wordsHEADLINE: White House defends decision not to publicize hijack warning;VAGUE GENERALITIES: Rice says there was was no hint of plan to use planes as missilesSOURCE: W ashington Bureau ChiefBYLINE: Marc SandalowDATELINE: WashingtonBODY:Intelligence reports last summer suggesting that terrorists might be planning to hijack airplanes were sovague that the W hite House n ever considered alerting the public, National Security A dviser

^ Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.President Bush's top security adviser offered a fuller explanation of the inform ation available to thepresident prior to Sept. 1 1 as concerned lawmakers demanded a full investigation of what the presidentknew and when he knew it.Rice said the "vo lume of chatter" amo ng suspected terrorists had spik ed last sum mer but that most of thethreats were seen to be in the Middle East and Europe. While general information surfaced that Osamabin Laden was interested in hijacking planes, no one envisioned anything resembling the Sept. 1 1 attack."This government did everything that it could in a period in which the information was very generalized,in which there w as nothing specific to react to," R ice said at a news co nference hastily arranged torespond to m edia reports that Bush knew more than he had previously acknowledged."Had this president known of something more specific, or known that a plane was going to be used as amissile, he would have acted on it."DEMOCRATS ASK QUESTIONSSome Democrats suggested that the new revelations could fundamentally alter the public's view ofBush's role in handling the terrorist threat. Why did it take eight months for the White House toacknowledge that the president had advance warning of potential hijackings , and why was thisinformation not more widely distributed? Democrats asked before microphones and television camerason the floor of the House and Senate.Though some Republicans joined in the call for a wider investigation into the intelligence failures, mo st

http://www.nexis.com/research/search/submitViewTagged 1/8/2004


8/10

irowse Display Page 1 of 21

Copyright 2002 Bulletin Broadfaxing Network, Inc.The Bulletin's FrontrunnerMay 17, 2002 Friday

SECTION: Leading The NewsLENGTH: 13783 wordsHEADLINE: White House Defends ResponseTo Pre-9/11 Intelligence Reports.BODY:CBS (5/16, lead story, Rather) reports, "The Bush Administration spent this day trying toexplain what President Bush knew about terror threats before the September 11 attack onAmerica, why he never shared what he knew with the public, and why US intelligence couldnot in the phrase of the day -- 'connect the dots,' and possibly prevent the attack. Thisfollows the story CB S ' David Martin broke on this broadcast last night, that President Bushwas told in August that Osama bin Laden might be planning an attack involving the hijackingof US aircraft. The White House now insists there was no indication an aircraft would be ineffect turned into a missile." CBS(Roberts) adds, "It was a revelation the White Househadno intention of making public. And officials spent the entire day in full damage control,insisting last August's [briefing] about possible al Qaeda hijackings contained no specificthreat." CBSadds, "National security advisor Rice claims intelligence pointed only totraditional hijackings, where al Qaeda may attempt to trade hostages for prisoners;specifically the Blind Sheik who masterminded the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center.Airlines were given a routine notification by the FAA to be on alert for hijackings, and watchout for a new generation of weapons to carry them out." Rice was shown saying, "They wereconcerned about some reports that the terrorists had made breakthroughs in cell phones,key chains and pens as weapons." CBS adds, "CIA officials say they had plenty of goodintelligence on the structure and strategies of bin Laden's network even knew he wasplanning a major strike but they were missing a critical piece of the puzzle." CIA DeputyDirector of Operations Jim Pavitt was shown saying, "We never found the tacticalintelligence, never uncovered the specifics that could have stopped those tragic strikes thatwe all remember so well." CBS adds, "The White House today argued the August intelligencereport is being viewed through a post-9/11 prism in which hijackings have a completelydifferent meaning." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was shown saying, "I think it's fairto saythat if I walked up to you in August of 2001 andsaid, 'W e have information thatMuslim extremists seek to hijack American airplanes,' you'd have said, 'S o what?Everybody's known that for a long, long time.'"ABC News (5/16, lead story, Jennings) reports, "All over the country today people arewondering whether the White House knew more about the possibility the country would beattacked by Osama bin Laden's terrorists." ABC (Moran) adds, "The August 6 briefing memowas 1 1/2 pages long. Near the bottom of it came the analysis that Al Qaeda could attempthijackings in the US. The big question, what was done with that information? Administrationofficials said today during the summer of 2001 there were at least a half dozen advisoriesissued by the FAA o the aviation industry to be on high alert, primarily overseas. Butofficials insist the information the government had was too general to issue an alert to thepublic. ... Onequestion stalked officials here today. Why did it take so long for all thisinformation to come out? The answer, is that officials say it is only now as Congress rampsup its investigation into the events leading up to September llththat officials here arebuilding their record of what the President knew and when he knew it."NB C (5/16, lead story, Brown) reports, "The atmosphere here today, one of damage control,with White House officials insisting they did everything they could, given the nature of the

http://www.nexis.com/research/search/documentDisplay?_docnum=8&_ansset=W-WA-W-... 1/8/2004


9/10

Browse D isplay Page 1 of 4

Copyright 2002 The Washington Post

washingtonpost.comThe Washington PostMay 19, 2002 SundayFinal Edition

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A09LENGTH: 1560 wordsHEADLINE: Clues Pointed to Changing Terrorist Tactics;Foiled Plots, FBI Data Showed Al Qaeda Groups Might Use Airplanes as Missiles

BYLINE: Steve Fainaru, Washington Post Staff WriterDATELINE: NEW YORKBODY:

A broad array of signals from foiled plots to FBI field interviews suggested for yearsthat al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups had considered employing airplanes as missiles andU.S. flight schools as pilot training grounds.The clues included a 1995 plot to blow up 11 American jetliners over the Pacific Ocean, thencrash a light plane into CIA headquarters a suicide mission to have been carried out by aPakistani pilot who had trained at flight schools in North Carolina, Texas and NewYork.FBI investigators visited two of the flight schools in 1996 after the plot was uncovered in thePhilippines, school operators said. In 1998 and 1999, analysts warned federal officials thatterrorists might crash hijacked aircraft into landmarks such as the Pentagon and the WorldTrade Center. Then, last July, the Italian government closed airspace over Genoa andmounted antiaircraft batteries based on information that Islamic extremists were planning touse an airplane to kill President Bush."There's a lot of stuff that was out there," said Stephen Gale, a terrorism specialist at theUniversity of Pennsylvania who presented an analysis warning of airborne attacks to FederalAviation Administration security officials in 1998. "The question is in what form it was outthere, who was presenting and collating the information and what was the context in whichthe information was presented to the president."The Bush administration, fending off questions about how it acted on intelligence aboutterrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks, has asserted that although officials receivedgeneralized warnings about hijackings, there was no information indicating terroristsaffiliated with Osama bin Laden might use hijacked airplanes as manually guided weapons.National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that an intelligence briefinggiven to Bush on Aug. 6 mentioned hijacking only "in the traditional sense."

http://www.nexis.com/research/search/documentDisplay?_docnum=20&_ansset=W-WA-W... 1/8/2004


10/10

Browse Display Page 1 of 17

Copyright 2002 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.ABC NewsSHOW: This Week (10:30 AM ET) - ABC

May 19, 2002 SundayTYPE: ProfileLENGTH: 8638 wordsHEADLINE: Condoleezza Rice comments on warnings of terrorist attacks prior to SeptemberllthSenator Joseph Lieberman discusses forming an independent committee to investigateintelligence lapses; Correspondents discuss warnings prior to September llthRepresentative Joseph Lieberman & Jorge MasSantos of the Cuban American Foundationdiscuss Cuba and Bush's new Cuban policy; Commentary on the 1950s and death ofProfessor and author David RiesmanANCHORS: SAM DONALDSON; COKIE ROBERTSREPORTERS: BRIAN ROSS; PIERRE THOMAS; TERRY MORAN; GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS;GEORGE WILLBODY:Announcer: From ABC News in Washington, THIS WEEK with Sam Donaldson and CokieRoberts.SA M DONALDSON, co-host:This morning, troubling messages hinting at a new attack by al-Qaeda.This, as questions erupt over intelligence warnings in the months before September llthUnidentified Reporter: Why didn't he level with the American people about what he knew?DONALDSON: Are they legitimate?Ms. HILLARY CLINTON: The president knew what? My constituents would like to know theanswer to that and many other questions.DONALDSON: The White House says it's politics Washington style.President GEORGE W. BUSH: It's the kind of place where second-guessing has becomesecond nature.COKIE ROBERTS, co-host:For answers we'll speak with the woman in charge of national security, Condoleezza Rica andSenate Democrat Joseph Lieberman who's calling for a full review of the terrorist attacksconducted by a blue ribbon panel.DONALDSON: Also THIS WEEK, at issue: change in Cuba. As former President Carter returnsfrom his historic trip and President Bush prepares a new policy. Is it time to lift the 43-year-old trade embargo?

http ://ww w.nexis.com/research/search/documentDisplay?_docnum= 18&_ansset=W- WA -W... 178/2004

DH B7 Planes as Weapons 1 of 2 Fdr- Entire Contents- Media Transcripts and Reports- 1st Pgs for Ref

Documents

Transcript of DH B7 Planes as Weapons 1 of 2 Fdr- Entire Contents- Media Transcripts and Reports- 1st Pgs for Ref