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Ashcroft: FBI seeks nearly 200 people for questioning in attacks

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Attorney General John Ashcroft said Sunday that the FBI is seeking about 200 people to question in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

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"We maintain a watch list that's maybe in the 190-person range that we have not yet contacted," he told CBS' "Face the Nation."

Still, he said, U.S. authorities have arrested or detained nearly 700 people related to the attacks.

"We're going to do everything we can to disrupt the [terror] networks," he said. "I'd emphasize we're being sensitive to the constitutional rights of individuals. ... No one is being held who is not being charged with a violation."

The attorney general also said Sunday that "it's very unlikely" that all of the individuals associated with the September 11 terror attacks and other terror events have been apprehended.

"We are doing everything possible to disrupt, to interrupt, to prevent, to destabilize any additional activity," Ashcroft said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We will continue to act aggressively in every respect to prevent additional activity."

He said he doesn't believe it's fair to conclude that there are "no terrorist sympathizers or terrorists that would be in the United States. We are looking for individuals and are aggressively pursuing them."

Ashcroft, who said law enforcement in the United States remains on the highest alert, was asked on the NBC program how citizens can balance a state of vigilance and high alert with normal behavior.

He said the government wants Americans in a state of "preparedness," not "panic" or "paralysis" -- adjusting the way things are done, but not to stop doing things.

"I believe the American people can be a big part of our defense," Ashcroft said. "It is important for us to learn as a culture that there are things we can do to devalue risks while we conduct ourselves appropriately."