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CNN Live Today
New York Readies Security for July Fourth
Aired July 01, 2002 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN, fear of the Fourth, the Bush team is telling Americans go ahead and enjoy Independence Day but keep your eyes open. Behind the scenes, the government is quietly urging police departments to be on alert on Thursday. The warning is not based on a specific threat, but for that reason, it wasn't issued to the general public.
Our Jason Carroll joins us. He is in New York this morning following word of these potential threats, Jason, good morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Daryn. Let me start out and show you exactly where I am.
If you take a look right over here, you can see a number of people who are starting to get on the ferry here. This is the area where you gather if you want to head out to Ellis Island and see the Statue of Liberty. Before you're allowed to get on the ferry, you're going to have to go through a metal detector. Your belongings have to go through an X-ray machine.
Beefed up security here as well as out at the Statue of Liberty, this after federal authorities have issued an alert to state and local law enforcement agencies, warning of the possibility of a terrorist attack over the holiday. But as you said, it's not a specific threat.
New York City taking precautions anyway, some 4,000 police officers will be out in the streets during the weekend. They'll be searching bags. They'll be setting up security checkpoints, stepping up air patrols in the area as well.
In the nation's capitol, barricades are going up around Washington's Mall to control access to the Fourth of July celebration there. A subway stop near the mall is actually scheduled to be shut down on the Fourth, all in an effort to control the crowds that are going to be showing up there. D.C.'s mayor says that people are just going to have to allow for extra time to get to the celebration.
In Seattle, they're beefing up security there as well, while in the City of Las Vegas, the mayor there saying, nothing extraordinary will be done over the Fourth of July holiday. Even though these threats are vague, Secretary of State Colin Powell says that people should still be vigilant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: There are some general threat indications out there, nothing that's terribly specific, and this is a time for us to be cautious and to be prudent and to keep our guard up, but also to enjoy ourselves on the Fourth. It's our national holiday. It's a national celebration and if we want to give a message back to the terrorists, the message we ought to give them is we're not afraid of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: We've heard several of these non-specific threats before. They've been issued in the past and that's why some in government circles are concerned that people may be suffering from something called threat fatigue. In other words, they may not be taking these threats seriously.
Well, we wanted to take the pulse of some of the people who have gathered out here today. These are two of them, Graham Jackson (ph), he's from Tel Aviv, and Helen Leach (ph). She is from Nairobi. Both of them are from cities that know violence all too well unfortunately.
Graham, I'm going to start with you. Tell me about this whole idea of threat fatigue. Is that something that you can relate to?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sure it's something that we live with every day, whether you're in Tel Aviv or Haifa or Jerusalem. Whenever you go into a restaurant or a cafe, there are security guys on the doors. It's something we've gotten used to unfortunately, but we've learned to live with it.
CARROLL: Do you still take the threat seriously though?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Tel Aviv, yes you have to definitely. But here in New York, I can see that security's been beefed up but it's nowhere near as tight as it is in Tel Aviv.
CARROLL: All right, Helen (ph), I'm going to move on to you. Would an idea, even though it may be vague, would the idea of a possibility of a threat or some sort of a terrorist attack, would that prevent you from going out and visiting some sort of a national landmark wherever it may be?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it wouldn't. I believe that each one of us needs to live each day to the fullest and for people to stay home closeted in their houses really means that the terrorists have won, doesn't it?
CARROLL: And what do you make of the whole idea of threat fatigue?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, unfortunately the world has changed and what you refer to as fatigue is a daily fact of life for many people in the world, and I believe that we need to be addressing the root causes of terrorism. And, in fact, the organization that I work for in Nairobi does research to address these root causes, which are food and security and poverty. CARROLL: All right, Helen Leach (ph) and Graham Jackson (ph), once again both of you, thank you so very much for joining us. We certainly appreciate it.
Once again, Colin Powell pointing out that he wants people to be vigilant but he also wants people to get out and enjoy their holiday, and Daryn, that seems to be exactly what, at least people that we're talking to our here, seem to be doing -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Jason, what about other preparations? I was up there for two weeks in New York City and I got the feeling with Fourth of July coming up and people going out to watch the fireworks that there's going to be extra security out there, not just they want the people to be extra alert but they want the police to be extra alert as well.
CARROLL: Well again, yes. They'll have some 4,000 police officers out there. Some will be working undercover. Again, they'll be setting up checkpoints and they'll be having some of the officers stationed on particular buildings, looking down on the particular crowds.
And, in fact, just about a few minutes from now, New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be holding a press conference where he's scheduled to outline even more of what the city plans to do during the Fourth of July. Daryn.
KAGAN: Jason Carroll, getting ready to perhaps head out to the Statue of Liberty yourself. Thank you so much. Good to see you this morning.
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