I have no idea about that whole thing....but this ought make you feel more secure.....
the DAY before.....KEY WORDS.......
NO ACTION......they can't even take action when after all this time and their threats and fears, the White house can't even get AIR PROTECTION from a plane heading for it at SLOW speed YESTERDAY
Justice may probe leaked pre-9/11 intercepts
Arabic message warned 'Tomorrow is zero hour'
June 20, 2002 Posted: 10:08 PM EDT (0208 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Leaders of a
joint congressional panel probing
pre-September 11 intelligence lapses
have asked the attorney general to
investigate who leaked cryptic
intercepts that hinted of imminent
attacks.
The White House said Thursday that
President Bush has "deep concerns" about
the release of the information, which came
from communications intercepted by the
National Security Agency. And in a written
statement Thursday, the Justice
Department said it would "expeditiously
review this matter and take any
appropriate action."
Rep. Porter Goss, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he and
Sen. Bob Graham, his counterpart on the Senate panel, have asked the Justice
Department to investigate the leak. Goss, R-Florida; Graham, D-Florida; and the
ranking members of each committee signed a letter asking for an investigation.
Goss said the letter "asks for an investigation of those leaks, with particular
concern that if there is any inappropriate leak coming from the United States
Congress that we be so advised so we may take appropriate action."
The September 10 intercepts, details of which were
provided to CNN on Wednesday, came from
conversations in Arabic between individuals in
Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia that U.S. officials
believe were connected to al Qaeda. The intercepts,
however, were not analyzed until September 12, the
day after terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington killed more than 3,000 people.
Congressional and other sources said that in one
communication intercepted by the NSA, a person
said, "The match begins tomorrow." In another
intercept that same day, a different person said,
"Tomorrow is zero hour." In both instances, the two
people who said those words were in Afghanistan,
speaking to others in Saudi Arabia.
To this day, officials say, they do not know for sure
the identities of the two people who spoke.
Vice President Dick Cheney phoned the House and
Senate committee chairmen Thursday to complain
about the leaks. Cheney thinks an investigation by
the attorney general is a "good idea," a senior
administration official told CNN.
Bush signaled his displeasure with the leak of the
"alarmingly specific" information about the
intercepts and asked Cheney to phone the key
intelligence committee chairs to register his concerns, according to White House
press secretary Ari Fleischer.
"The president does have very deep concerns about anything that would be
inappropriately leaked that could in any way endanger America's ability to gather
intelligence information, and even that could harm our ability to maintain sources
and methods and anything that could interfere with America's ability to fight the
war on terrorism," Fleischer said.
The official said the idea for an investigation came from Congress and was
discussed generally during Cheney's conversations with the committee leaders.
Shelby: Public needs to know committee findings
"This is something the Congress, to its credit, these four leaders, feel strongly
about," the senior official said. "It is a federal crime to disclose information of this
type, and Congress made it a crime because of the impact such disclosure can have
on national security."
In 1998, according to Fleischer, an "unauthorized disclosure" of information about
Osama bin Laden's use of a satellite phone undermined U.S. intelligence gathering
efforts.
"As soon as it was publicly revealed, we never heard from that source again,"
Fleischer said. "We never again heard from that satellite phone."
But Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking minority member on Senate Intelligence
Committee, said the public needed to know about the lapses -- even though he
signed the letter sent to Attorney General John Ashcroft.
"I do believe that the American people need to know a lot about the shortcomings
of our intelligence community, but they also need to know the good things that are
going on, and what we are going to do in this investigation, I believe, is bring out
the best of both," Shelby, R-Alabama, said.
The NSA, which is the nation's eavesdropping intelligence agency, intercepts
literally millions of communications each day and must prioritize which intercepts
to translate immediately, which within days, and which within weeks.
U.S. officials said the communications intercepted September 10 would have been
translated within 48 hours even if the attacks had not occurred, given the high level
of interest in al Qaeda's activities.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said how the intercepts were handled
underscores the need to reform intelligence-gathering operations.
"It again demonstrates why we have to address the infrastructure of our
intelligence-gathering analysis and the actions that are taken as a result of that
analysis," said Daschle, D-South Dakota. "We've got a lot of work to do, and this is
just the most recent reminder that we've got a problem here and it's got to be fixed
and it's got to be done this year."
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, said it was "disconcerting that we did
have some kind of warning." He added that it was unfortunate the United States
apparently believed it had an "aura" that would protect it against terrorist attacks.
In the future, Hastert predicted, the United States would be more efficient at
analyzing threats.
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