Pentagon panel unaware of 1998 warning of ship attack in Yemen

Zinni told CNN the United States "never had a specific threat for the ships in Aden"

FBI heard of plot to attack U.S. ship before USS Cole bombing

In this story: 'Not brought to our attention' Warning may have been overlooked RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon commission that declared there was no intelligence glitch that left the USS Cole open to attack was unaware that a suspected terrorist had warned the FBI of a plot to attack a U.S. warship in Yemen years before the bombing.

Pentagon officials continued Wednesday to downplay the significance of the warning, noting it was two years old and came from a suspect being questioned in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya who was seeking to make a deal with U.S. authorities.

Officials noted that the attack -- which the suspect said had been planned for two months later -- never took place, and they say the information about the threat was part of a flood of similar information received in the aftermath of the Africa attacks.

"The warning was uncorroborated, of unknown accuracy, from an undisclosed source," a senior defense official said, noting the suspect, Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, was seeking a plea bargain with U.S. prosecutors.

The attack on the USS Cole last October 12 in the Port of Aden harbor was conducted by suicide bombers on a small boat -- not with a rocket. Seventeen sailors were killed and another 39 wounded in the attack.

Jury selection is nearing completion in New York for al-'Owhali, a 24-year-old Saudi, and three other men who face trial on charges connected with the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Prosecutors say all four men are linked to Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, 43, who is accused of leading a decade-long worldwide conspiracy to kill Americans and destroy U.S. government property, and with ordering the embassy bombings.

U.S. officials suspect bin Laden may be linked to the Cole bombing.

'Not brought to our attention'

When the Pentagon's Cole Commission released its report on January 9, one of the retired officers who headed the commission, Adm. Harold Gehman, said, "We found no credible intelligence that could have predicted the attack on board the USS Cole."

The October 12 bombing of the USS Cole killed 17 sailors

But through a spokesman, Gehman said Wednesday the commission was not aware of the 1998 warning, in which a suspect being questioned in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya told the FBI of plans for a possible rocket attack against a U.S. warship in Yemen.

Gehman would not talk to CNN directly, but through a Pentagon spokesman said that the 1998 warning was "not brought to our attention."

The four-star general in command of the U.S. forces in the region at the time, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, also appeared unaware of the warning when he testified before Congress shortly after the attack.

Zinni defended his decision to have U.S. ships bypass other ports in the region to refuel in Yemen.

"Aden never had a specific terrorist threat," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee a week after the Cole attack. "All the other ports that have been mentioned here that we should have considered as options have had specific terrorist threats."

Warning may have been overlooked

Contacted by CNN Wednesday, Zinni said he may have received the threat warning, but that at the time, August of 1998, the United States was not sending ships to Yemen, so it may have received little attention, especially because the warning was vague, and of uncertain accuracy.

It wasn't until December of 1998, Zinni said, that he secured agreements that would allow refueling in Yemen, and that the actual refueling stops didn't begin until the beginning of 1999.

Zinni told CNN Wednesday that once U.S. ships began making stop in Yemen, "We never had a specific threat for the ships in Aden."

Pentagon officials insist the omission does not call into question one of the main findings of the commission, namely that there was no intelligence that would have caused U.S. commanders to suspect that there was a heightened risk of attack for U.S. ships refueling in Yemen.

CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.

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