For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 10, 2006
Press Gaggle by Tony Snow
Aboard Air Force One
En route Green Bay, Wisconsin
9:33 A.M. CDT
MR. SNOW: All right. Let me just begin briefly talking about the
story of the day.
In terms of the President's awareness of what has been going on, he has
been kept fully briefed, especially as the action by the Brits became
more and more imminent. He had full briefings through the weekend.
He's had two detailed conversations with the Prime Minister, the most
recent the one I told you about you yesterday, Nedra, that took place
just about as we were completing our gaggle. In addition, U.S. security
intelligence and law enforcement officials have been in constant
contact.
The President did approve the recommendation of the Homeland Security
Council that we raise the travel alert to red. That was done overnight,
as you know. And we remain in very close contact with our allies in
trying to follow up on details of the operation that took place, as we
said, overnight in Britain.
Q -- was this plot?
MR. SNOW: I'll leave that to the Brits. I think we want to be careful
about getting too much into detail, but there were some signals that
they thought it was time to move. And I will leave it either to the
Home Secretary -- I think it's probably important in this case, because
of security and legal concerns in Britain, to let them take the lead on
releasing such details, which they have not so far.
Q When did the President first learn about this plot and the
investigation into it?
MR. SNOW: Again, we're being a little careful on operational details.
I think it's safe to say to what I said before, which is he certainly
has been extensively briefed over the last few days as the operation
that took place became more and more imminent.
Q Was part of that during the teleconference on Sunday?
MR. SNOW: Let's see, what day was Sunday, that was the 6th? Yes. Yes.
Q How long is this red alert going to be in effect? Is it hard to
say?
MR. SNOW: I have no idea. The important thing is still to make it
clear to Americans that it is safe to travel. There are going to be
some inconveniences, obviously, but on other hand, we think it's
important that people not only be able to travel, but travel safely.
Q Did you all know that this was going to break today, yesterday,
when there was this massive response to the Connecticut primary,
discussion of terrorism, al Qaeda?
MR. SNOW: I don't want to get into operational details. This was not
-- however, it was not explicit -- let me put it this way, I don't want
to encourage that line of thought. I don't think it's fully accurate,
but I also don't want -- I know it's frustrating, but we really don't
want to get too much into who knew what, where, when.
Q Are you guys looking for anybody in the U.S.?
MR. SNOW: Not going into that, either.
Q Is he going to talk today about this, to us?
MR. SNOW: Yes.
Q How's he going to do it?
MR. SNOW: The statement when we get to the worksite.
Q Are there details about his talk with Blair overnight, you can
give? What time it occurred?
MR. SNOW: There was no overnight. That report is false, so there are
no details on the fallacious report.
Q But the President, himself, approved the red alert?
MR. SNOW: Correct. It was a recommendation by the Homeland Security
Council, by Secretary Chertoff and others.
Q When did he approve it?
MR. SNOW: Yesterday.
Q You said there is going to be some inconvenience to travelers.
There were some complaints this morning that all liquids and gels might
be going a little overboard on this. Do you guys have any comment on
that?
MR. SNOW: You can't go overboard when you're trying to protect lives.
Q Did U.S. officials have a say in the timing of the arrests and so
forth? I mean, did they consult with the Brits as to when the right
time was, or was that an entirely British --
MR. SNOW: Entirely British. No, you don't consult on timing of trying
to deal with terrorist activities. They're not done according to
political timelines, but in response to law enforcement judgments and
requirements.
Q But the Brits decided it was time that they were -- thought that
they were going to move, and it was time to go in?
MR. SNOW: That's correct.
Q Do you think they were -- you know, we're coming up on the
anniversary of September 11th. Do you think this had anything to do
with that?
MR. SNOW: I have no idea. What we do know is that there were some
people who were determined to try to carry out, as the Brits said, a
plot to kill people on a horrifying scale.
Q What's al Qaeda's role in this?
MR. SNOW: At this point, there's no confirmation of al Qaeda. As you
know, it's been described as being al Qaeda-like and I'm not going to
get out ahead of intelligence officials in trying to characterize
institutional --
Q What was the -- were these people British, of Pakistani descent, or
do you have any --
MR. SNOW: Again, I'll let the Brits -- I'm going to let the Brits
handle the release of information about that.
Q Is the President going to speak when he was scheduled to, on the
economy? Or is it going to be a separate statement to it?
MR. SNOW: I think it will be a separate statement. I think we'll have
something where he comes out and talks a bit about the event. So there
will still be an economic event, but, obviously, it's important that he
get out and speak about this, as well.
Q So there was -- I take it he wasn't awakened last night, and that
was because he already knew this was going to happen?
MR. SNOW: That is correct, although, we did have intelligence and
security people up all night maintaining constant contact with the
British.
Q To what extent does this take away the President's attention from
the Middle East problem?
MR. SNOW: It doesn't. He's been, obviously, actively engaged in the
Middle East, and at the same time this has been going on. It is in the
nature of a President's responsible in this kind of world that you have
to be able to keep your eye on a number of challenges at the same time,
and he has been and will continue to.
Q No plans to go back to Washington because of this?
MR. SNOW: No.
Q But you all are convinced that this is a very serious threat and
lives were at risk?
MR. SNOW: It was a very serious threat. Again, I don't -- I know you
want us to try to characterize timelines and when people were going to
do that -- you simply can't do that, for operational and intelligence
reasons. But it was a very serious and very credible threat.
Q How concerned was the President upon hearing all this in his
briefing?
MR. SNOW: I don't know. I mean, "concerned" is -- when you hear about
things like this, you know there is a necessity to respond and to
respond in the appropriate ways. And that's -- again, his approach is
we've got to deal with this, and that is what U.S. officials and our
allies have been doing.
Q Many of the states and other local officials are calling out for
extra help to -- during the security screenings and all the extra checks
that they're doing now. Is that something the TSA and the Department of
Homeland Security will help fund?
MR. SNOW: Better ask them. I don't know.
Q Tony, was this an operation all by British intelligence, or did the
United States intelligence officials help, as well?
MR. SNOW: I don't want to get in, again, to operational details here.
But the Brits did the arrests.
Q Has there been any contact with any of the U.S. airlines by the
administration, to talk to them about dealing with this?
MR. SNOW: Some of the effected airlines -- some of the targeted airline
heads were notified. Beyond that, again, I would refer you to TSA and
Homeland Security for any conversations with airlines.
Q When you say "notified" -- by the administration or by Department
of Homeland Security?
MR. SNOW: By the administration. I'm not sure which -- my guess is
Homeland Security may have done the notification. I honestly don't know
who did.
Q Can I ask you about timing again -- not to keep harping on this,
but yesterday when you talked about raising the white -- you know,
saying the Democrats might want to raise the white flag --
MR. SNOW: This was not done in anticipation. It was not said with the
knowledge that this was coming.
Q So the Vice President, when he did his incredibly rare conference
call with reporters, also didn't know about it at the time?
MR. SNOW: I don't think so. You'll have to ask, but I can say from our
point of view at that point we didn't.
Q Can you say anything about the possible al Qaeda connection?
MR. SNOW: No.
Q Can I ask on a different topic? Can you clarify the Karl Rove call
to Joe Lieberman and what that was all about?
MR. SNOW: It was a personal call. Yes, as I sent you -- in fact, I may
get Karl back here, if you're interested.
Q Yes.
MR. SNOW: It's probably best to let him describe, because he was in on
the call. But this was not a call after the polls closed; it was not a
political offer; it was not a political conversation. It was a personal
conversation. And, you know, he's expressed some willingness to do it,
so maybe I'll just grab him -- yank his tie and make him come back here.
Q That would be great.
MR. SNOW: Anything else before I go and try to dragoon the Deputy Chief
of Staff.
Q Is there any -- the economy speech today, anything in particular we
should look for?
MR. SNOW: No, just the President is going to talk about signs of
strength in the economy and also the importance of keeping it strong.
Q Just a logistical question, is the statement that he's going to
make prior to his economic statement -- will that be to tape, or we'll
be able to do that live somehow?
MR. SNOW: You're talking above my level of technical competence.
MR. DECKARD: Live.
MR. SNOW: Live. It's not above Deckard's level of technical
competence, however.
Okay, good.
END 9:43 A.M. CDT
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