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American Morning
America on Alert for Terrorist Attacks
Aired February 17, 2003 - 07:13 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn now to the latest on the nation's state of alert against terror. There has been a run on duct tape and plastic sheeting for protection against chemical or biological attacks since the Bush administration raised the threat level more than a week ago to code orange, the second highest level.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge tells CNN that the threat level is reevaluated every morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Because we review the information in our intelligence on a day-to-day basis, we've maintained it at the orange level, but that could change within 24 to 48 hours. It really is an information intelligence-driven system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: For more on this now, we are joined from Washington by our own security analyst, J. Kelly McCann.
Good to see you again -- Kelly. Good morning.
J. KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Paula.
ZAHN: Did you have a good commute this morning?
MCCANN: It was challenging.
ZAHN: Yes, it is a challenging commute everywhere along the East Coast.
Let's talk about the threat of a terrorist attack. Is it as great this week as it was last week, even though the code level has not been changed yet?
MCCANN: Well, it was reported that one of the elements anyway that made it go to orange, one of those elements was less credible, because that person failed a polygraph. But we're seeing now almost a segue to war. So, the question is: Do they maintain this level of orange into another problem, which could be going to war? Or are they going to let that fall off and then maybe start up another threat alert right prior to going to war?
ZAHN: But, J. Kelly McCann, let me ask you this: How much credibility does the raising of this alert have when the American public finds out that in part it went up because of this information given to the government by a paid informant, and no one bothered to do a lie detector test on him before the code was raised?
MCCANN: Complex question. First, you know, the bottom line is, is they are always going to err on the side of safety and security. Secondly, polygraph results are not 100 percent. So, I mean, still there could have been some truth.
The big thing, Paula, is understanding the system and making sure that people are OK with understanding that when the threat level goes up, you're not going to see necessarily an incident attached to that, and that could be because the perpetrator decides not to do it, or because in fact it didn't rise to that level anyway. But we have to be OK with not knowing. No one is going to frivolously raise the threat level.
ZAHN: OK, even now, the secretary of Homeland Security is admitting it was not his intent to have everybody go out and sort of protectively start putting duct tape on the windows and plastic sheeting, and he's going to unveil his plan a little bit later on this week. What is it you can tell people to do to be ready for a potential attack?
MCCANN: The single biggest answer is to stay out of areas that would be seen as lucrative targets, and that would be places where routinely people mass, publicized events that are, you know, publicized well in advance that people know a lot of people are going to be at. If they are trying to do more with less, then they've got to use that kind of capability to maximize an improvised weapon.
And a lot of people won't want to hear that -- event planners, et cetera -- but it is the truth. In fact, the military even says the No. 1 individual protective measure is dont go to contaminated areas, or wear your suit if you know it's coming, which we dont have the benefit of.
So in truth, people need to understand ricin, they need to understand sarin. Once they understand the limitations of these kinds of things, they'll feel better.
ZAHN: Got 10 seconds left, Kelly. There is a report in the "L.A. Times" this morning that military buildup for a possible war against Iraq is hurting our own safety here at home, because many of those men and women called into duty are reservists. Are we more vulnerable because of this call-up?
MCCANN: Yes, and it simply can't not hurt us, because it's a simple manpower equation. And the other thing is, of course, these demonstrations don't help either, because think of the draw-down on security forces just to cover a demonstration.
ZAHN: J. Kelly McCann, as always, good to see you. Be careful commuting home.
MCCANN: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: Drive slowly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired February 17, 2003 - 07:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn now to the latest on the nation's state of alert against terror. There has been a run on duct tape and plastic sheeting for protection against chemical or biological attacks since the Bush administration raised the threat level more than a week ago to code orange, the second highest level.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge tells CNN that the threat level is reevaluated every morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Because we review the information in our intelligence on a day-to-day basis, we've maintained it at the orange level, but that could change within 24 to 48 hours. It really is an information intelligence-driven system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: For more on this now, we are joined from Washington by our own security analyst, J. Kelly McCann.
Good to see you again -- Kelly. Good morning.
J. KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Paula.
ZAHN: Did you have a good commute this morning?
MCCANN: It was challenging.
ZAHN: Yes, it is a challenging commute everywhere along the East Coast.
Let's talk about the threat of a terrorist attack. Is it as great this week as it was last week, even though the code level has not been changed yet?
MCCANN: Well, it was reported that one of the elements anyway that made it go to orange, one of those elements was less credible, because that person failed a polygraph. But we're seeing now almost a segue to war. So, the question is: Do they maintain this level of orange into another problem, which could be going to war? Or are they going to let that fall off and then maybe start up another threat alert right prior to going to war?
ZAHN: But, J. Kelly McCann, let me ask you this: How much credibility does the raising of this alert have when the American public finds out that in part it went up because of this information given to the government by a paid informant, and no one bothered to do a lie detector test on him before the code was raised?
MCCANN: Complex question. First, you know, the bottom line is, is they are always going to err on the side of safety and security. Secondly, polygraph results are not 100 percent. So, I mean, still there could have been some truth.
The big thing, Paula, is understanding the system and making sure that people are OK with understanding that when the threat level goes up, you're not going to see necessarily an incident attached to that, and that could be because the perpetrator decides not to do it, or because in fact it didn't rise to that level anyway. But we have to be OK with not knowing. No one is going to frivolously raise the threat level.
ZAHN: OK, even now, the secretary of Homeland Security is admitting it was not his intent to have everybody go out and sort of protectively start putting duct tape on the windows and plastic sheeting, and he's going to unveil his plan a little bit later on this week. What is it you can tell people to do to be ready for a potential attack?
MCCANN: The single biggest answer is to stay out of areas that would be seen as lucrative targets, and that would be places where routinely people mass, publicized events that are, you know, publicized well in advance that people know a lot of people are going to be at. If they are trying to do more with less, then they've got to use that kind of capability to maximize an improvised weapon.
And a lot of people won't want to hear that -- event planners, et cetera -- but it is the truth. In fact, the military even says the No. 1 individual protective measure is dont go to contaminated areas, or wear your suit if you know it's coming, which we dont have the benefit of.
So in truth, people need to understand ricin, they need to understand sarin. Once they understand the limitations of these kinds of things, they'll feel better.
ZAHN: Got 10 seconds left, Kelly. There is a report in the "L.A. Times" this morning that military buildup for a possible war against Iraq is hurting our own safety here at home, because many of those men and women called into duty are reservists. Are we more vulnerable because of this call-up?
MCCANN: Yes, and it simply can't not hurt us, because it's a simple manpower equation. And the other thing is, of course, these demonstrations don't help either, because think of the draw-down on security forces just to cover a demonstration.
ZAHN: J. Kelly McCann, as always, good to see you. Be careful commuting home.
MCCANN: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: Drive slowly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
