Interestingly, Bob Schieffer of CBS was at Ari's briefing today. That isn't, um, normal. This exchange is kind of interesting:
Q I just want to ask you, did Mr. Clarke, as quoted in The Washington Post today, of the NSC, say in July that
"something really spectacular is going to happen here"? Is that accurate?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'd have to ask him. And if you're --
Q Well, it was in a major paper today.
MR. FLEISCHER: I know, but I don't ask --
Q -- get a briefing on that?
MR. FLEISCHER: I do not receive a daily briefing on his verbatim quotes.
Q Well, I mean, you must have anticipated you would be asked about that.
MR. FLEISCHER: No, as Dr. Rice indicated yesterday, and as the President said in his interview with The
Washington Post, that the reporting that we had over the summer, in the early moments of the summer, did
show that there was something building, mostly focused on somewhere foreign.
Q Well, according to the same story, George Tenet had been "nearly frantic", is the quote, with concern since
June 22nd. I don't recall that kind of thing being -- know anything.
MR. FLEISCHER: Let me just walk you through the facts of what Dr. Rice briefed yesterday in terms of the
timetable.
Q -- don't need to. I heard it. (Laughter.)
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm not in a position to tell you whether somebody's verbatim quote like that.
Q I'm trying to get at what the mind-set was in July and June. You didn't --
MR. FLEISCHER: Obviously people were taking these threats seriously.
Q Well, can I just follow up on the presidential directive, and Clarke's role, actually, because based on what
Condi told us yesterday, he was very much involved in these working groups and sort of bringing all the pieces
together --
MR. FLEISCHER: Correct.
Q -- that presumably led to the directive winding up on her desk. But he was also part of the Clinton
administration's counterterrorism team. He was there at the end of that administration. They had also been
working on a plan for dealing with bin Laden and al Qaeda. So would it be fair to say that -- I'm assuming,
when there was the transition, that he would have said to Dr. Rice, look, here's the deal, here's the plan we've
been working on, this is serious, we need to pay attention to this. Was there a delay, because of a changeover
in administration where she said, wait a minute, we're going to have to take our time here, we're new at all
this, and figure out what's a priority and what's not?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, I think just the opposite. As I indicated, the planning began during the transition period.
And the goal shifted to the dismantling of al Qaeda.
