Posted on 06/19/2002 4:31:39 PM PDT by jern
WASHINGTON (AP) - Intelligence agencies aren't sure if a conversation in Arabic intercepted Sept. 10 was a warning of the next day's attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon ( news - web sites), an intelligence source said Wednesday.
The conversation intercepted by the National Security Agency suggested that a big event was to take place the next day. It was not translated until Sept. 12.
The conversation has been brought to the attention of the House and Senate intelligence committees who are conducting a joint inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks. The panel is investigating the events surrounding the attack, problems in counterterrorism efforts and how future attacks can be averted.
Even if the Sept. 10 NSA intercept was a reference to the next day's attacks, the conversation provided no information that authorities could have acted on, the intelligence source said. The mere mention of a date was insufficient to provide any clue of what was to come, the source said.
On Wednesday, the congressional panel spent a second day behind closed doors questioning the head of the NSA, Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, as well as CIA ( news - web sites) Director George J. Tenet and FBI ( news - web sites) Director Robert Mueller.
Much of the questioning Wednesday addressed problems that have hindered intelligence-gathering, such as communications problems among agencies, a shortage of linguists and the difficulty of dealing with massive amounts of intercepted communications.
"There were missed opportunities for important information to be brought to the attention of law enforcement," said Sen. Richard Durbin ( news, bio, voting record), D-Ill.
Tenet was questioned in detail Tuesday about how the CIA had identified two of the future hijackers at a meeting with an al-Qaida operative in January 2000, but did little to alert U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Yet lawmakers said nothing they've heard so far offered clear evidence that the hijackings could have been prevented.
A U.S. intelligence official, while declining to comment on the NSA intercept, said Wednesday that a piece of raw intelligence that contains only a date provides little useful information.
The official said that both before and after Sept. 11, U.S. intelligence frequently has received threat information that consists of only a date and a vague notion something will happen — and then, nothing happens.
Lawmakers have declined to discuss the intercepts, citing the panel's secrecy. But on Tuesday, Sen. Richard Shelby ( news, bio, voting record), R-Ala., the Senate panel's top Republican, said that if certain information collected by the NSA had been translated and disseminated, "perhaps that would have been very useful."
Rep. Silvestre Reyes ( news, bio, voting record), D-Texas, said agencies collect "a tremendous amount of data" but using it to stop terrorism is difficult without knowing what kind of an attack is planned.
"Unless we have a clear understanding of a situation like 9/11 coming at us that we can isolate data, it would be pretty impossible," he said.
The intelligence hearings are scheduled to be opened to the public Tuesday, but several lawmakers say that could be postponed. They said the committee and staff need to sift through massive amounts of information and are working with the Justice Department ( news - web sites) to see what information can be presented in public.
Rep. Ray LaHood ( news, bio, voting record), R-Ill., said he doubts public proceedings will begin next week.
"We want to make sure that when we go public that the right people are there and are well prepared, so we don't look like we're flying by the seat of our pants," he said.
So what did Durbin expect? That W would Run around on the 10th and 11th screaming, "The sky is falling?"
On Thursday, several Congressional 'sources' were given permanent residence at Ft. Leavenworth for leaking classified information...
Film at 11.
- I thought Echelon intercepted and interpreted and transcribed all this (being speaker and language indemendent) in real-time -
- and THEN performed searches for words like 'bomb' and 'terrorist' and 'attack'?
I guess not ... huh ...
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