WASHINGTON – As President Bush toured one of America's most secretive spy agencies, the White House said Bush could not confirm reports that Egyptian intelligence officials warned their U.S. counterparts about an impending Al Qaeda attack in the week before Sept. 11.
Before referring reporters to the intelligence agencies and the Egyptian government for further comment, Fleischer said he'd seen nothing to confirm Mubarak's account.
However, Fox News has previously reported that several other countries, including Israel, India, Germany, France and Great Britain, all warned the United States in the month leading up to Sept. 11 about an impending Al Qaeda attack.
Before referring reporters to the intelligence agencies and the Egyptian government for further comment, Fleischer said he'd seen nothing to confirm Mubarak's account.
However, Fox News has previously reported that several other countries, including Israel, India, Germany, France and Great Britain, all warned the United States in the month leading up to Sept. 11 about an impending Al Qaeda attack.
Before referring reporters to the intelligence agencies and the Egyptian government for further comment, Fleischer said he'd seen nothing to confirm Mubarak's account.
However, Fox News has previously reported that several other countries, including Israel, India, Germany, France and Great Britain, all warned the United States in the month leading up to Sept. 11 about an impending Al Qaeda attack.
Bush left the White House Tuesday morning for the National Security Agency, which is informally called the "puzzle palace." The NSA collects information by intercepting communications around the world.
During his tour of the NSA facility, Bush acknowledged that the CIA and FBI were having problems communicating prior to Sept. 11, but none of the clues could have stopped the terror attacks.
"In terms of whether or not the FBI and the CIA were communicating properly, I think it is clear that they weren't. Now we have addressed that issue. The CIA and the FBI are now in close communication," he said. "I have seen no evidence to date that said this country could have prevented the attack."
Bush gave a closed speech to NSA employees before returning to the White House to discuss welfare policies.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak -- who meets with Bush at Camp David this weekend, his second visit in three months -- told The New York Times in Tuesday's edition that Egyptian intelligence agents infiltrated Al Qaeda last year and informed American officials a week before Sept. 11 of Al Qaeda's plans to attack an American target.
In the Times report, an unnamed U.S. intelligence official denies this was the case, saying Egypt only gave the United States non-specific threat information earlier in 2001.
Before referring reporters to the intelligence agencies and the Egyptian government for further comment, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said he'd seen nothing to confirm Mubarak's account.
However, Fox News has previously reported that several other countries, including Israel, India, Germany, France and Great Britain, all warned the United States in the month leading up to Sept. 11 about an impending Al Qaeda attack.
Fleischer said the president has confidence in America's intelligence agencies, and the president said he supports a congressional probe into the events surrounding Sept. 11 as long as it's not a multiple-committee formula that will just bottle up Congress. A joint House-Senate intelligence panel was starting a series of closed-door hearings Tuesday to conduct its business in "a serious ... non-political fashion."
After his NSA meeting, the president was to return his focus to welfare reform. The historic 1996 welfare reform law is set to expire this year and the president wants to make some changes to it. He was set to speak with welfare-to-work graduates in the East Room to discuss his plans.
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