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Skriven 2006-08-10 23:31:14 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0608102) for Thu, 2006 Aug 10
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Press Gaggle by Tony Snow
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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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