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CNN Live Sunday

Homeland Security Raises Threat Level To Orange

Aired August 01, 2004 - 17:00   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.


JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the points during the press conference was interesting when one of the reporters asked why the threat level in New York City has not been elevated. As you know, Fredericka, New York City already at a heightened level of alert, level orange. Mayor Bloomberg and the police commissioner basically saying although the threats are specific, there's no time frame to them. And that is part of the reason why the threat level here in New York City has not been elevated beyond orange.
Another interesting point is it becomes obvious that what's going to have to happen is, Fredericka, is the city is really going to have to do somewhat of a balancing act with all of this because they said they definitely have to allocate resources to these new sensitive sites, but you can't allocate so many resources to these new sites that you ignore sensitive sites. National landmarks for example. So somewhat of a balancing act that the city has to do here. One other very final point here is a point that the mayor has made repeatedly over the past several months and that is the public has to do its part as well and remain as vigilant as ever. Fredricka?

FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Jason Carroll, thanks very much from New York. So lots of security challenges for New York City and DC and you heard from the New York mayor and the police commissioner that they feel they're up to it. And momentarily we're expecting to hear from DC Mayor Anthony Williams on his response following Tom Ridge's new announcement. Let's check in with military terrorism analyst out of DC Ken Robinson to give us a sense, Ken, these are significant challenges. Even though we heard the mayor say that no expenses will be spared. What are these law enforcement agencies up against?

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: First all, Fred, I think that was one of the best press conferences on a terrorism threat I've heard in a long, long time. They were very candid, they were very specific with what they were being told, and they were very clear what law enforcement has to do now. Jason just said it in his reporting and Jeanne did before also. The answer is vigilance, eternal vigilance, because it's just as dangerous today as it was the day before we heard about this. And the responsibility of the law enforcement now is to do it in a measured way where they don't lose resources and they carefully cover the high-value targets and the symbolic targets.

WHITFIELD: Interesting messages that are being sent to citizens. They're asking, these New York officials are asking people to go on about their business but expect there will be traffic delays because there will be spontaneous vehicular checks, et cetera and even on subways, but, you know, you have to wonder if there is a new challenge being presented by a fear that certainly will permeate among citizens as well as knowing there is stepped-up security. How do you strike a balance?

ROBINSON: Well, you know, that's the new reality in the 21st century, because these threats are going to transcend administrations and it's amazing how resilient Americans seem to be in terms of rising to the occasion, I don't think that that's what's going to occur. I believe as long as Americans are fully informed, I think they'll take this in stride, and as the threats present themselves, they'll adjust. We've seen that during crisis. We've seen that during natural disasters, and we've seen it during 9/11. And I think the cities will rise to the occasion.

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about the potential vulnerabilities that some of these other landmarks or other financial institutions, particularly in the New York City area may be facing, since there have been named locations where the stepped-up security will be. Is it your view that some places will be--hold on a thought for that, Ken Robinson, we're going to go down the street you from in Washington and listen in to DC Mayor Anthony Williams.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

WHITFIELD: Similar to what we heard out of New York City, DC Mayor Anthony Williams as well as the Metro Police Chief Charles Ramsey reiterating that in order for them to be the most effective in providing the best security for the people in the DC area, citizens must be vigilant. Let's get a little more on what this all means from our security analyst Mike Brooks. You used to work on metro police or at least metro law enforcement.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Right, I was with the Metropolitan Police Department. Yeah.

WHITFIELD: What does this mean, when citizens hear they need to be vigilant. What does that really specifically mean? Because a lot of people still throw up their hands and say "What do I do with that?"

BROOKS: This is focused mainly on the financial services sector. But anyone else in Washington, DC whether you've gone to work, you're on vacation, you're at a ball game, anything at all, you have to know what's going on around you. If you see a suspicious package call the police. If there's something in your gut that tells you, yeah, that doesn't seem right, let someone know, the police are out there, the metropolitan police, you just heard from Chief Ramsey, the metropolitan police, one of the best police departments in the country. They also have representatives on the joint terrorism task force, they've been working also with the private sector for years on preparation for anti- and counterterrorism activities. They'll go to building managers to give them tips on what to look for. But people, you know, you can't help those that don't want to help themselves, if you're out there and see something suspicious, let someone know about it. The police is there to respond. They don't mind--the bomb squad doesn't mind coming out and x-raying a package and say it's a homeless clothes or it's a bag of trash. That's what they're there for, they don't mind at all. See something suspicious, call the police.

WHITFIELD: And we heard from Chief Ramsey who described that has been in communication with the FBI and homeland security offices for at least the past couple of days. There is no plan as of yet for metro police to shut down roads around the IMF or World Bank. But he said say they'll be beefing up security outside those structures as well as the Bureau of Engraving.

BROOKS: That's correct. The Metropolitan Police Department has a specialized operations division that handles all special events such as. They have an emergency response team similar to what we're seeing in New York with the emergency services and the Hercules teams. They are extremely well trained. They are professional at what they do. You are going to see a probably large amount those folks down by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on 19th Street as well as the Department of--Bureau of Engraving down by the Tunnel Basin. Again, very, very close to the White House. But, DC Is a unique city, the metropolitan police works hand in hand with the FBI. They have a representative on the joint terrorism task force. I was the DC police representative on the JTTF when I was there. They also work with the Secret Service extremely closely and there are 21 different police agencies within the boundaries of 67 square miles.

WHITFIELD: There's a great advantage to that. But at the same time there are major challenges.

BROOKS: There are major challenges but they train all the time together, they have exercises to see exactly if something happens, who is the lead agency in charge if something happens in DC, they know who is to do what does and where, so I think they're probably one of the best prepared cities in the country.

WHITFIELD: Alright. Military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson is also joining us. He is from Washington. I had to cut him off a little bit earlier so that we could take the DC mayor press conference there. Ken, let's pick up where we left off. For New York, they were very specific about there are going to be spontaneous random vehicular checks. There is going to be quite a bit of sweeping in subways. What else might we see in New York that we also may see in Washington? These are two very different cities that operate, law enforcement- wise, very differently?

ROBINSON: Well, it's the one thing they delicately did not talk about, and it's the ugly baby. That is and improvised vehicle borne munition, a truck bomb. If you think about Timothy McVeigh and the federal building in Oklahoma City, you don't have to check an ID bomb for a truck bomb, you simply have to cross the 14th St. Bridge or come across a New York bridge and so surveillance on our highways systems leading into the cities is going to be incredibly important to be able to learn and identify what types of vehicles will give a signal that will identify it as being suspicious.

WHITFIELD: Well, how will be that policed in a city like the Washington, DC area, where you have the Beltway and you've got so many arteries taking you into the downtown areas? ROBINSON: Well, as Mike said, it's all of the departments and agencies that are in law enforcement that are together, and they have what they call BOLO, be on the lookout for, and they have their people vigilant at all times looking for any type of vehicle that may look suspicious, that may look like it might introduce one of those devices. And then they do routine stops.

WHIFIELD: And let me bring in Mike Brooks again on that. As you helped us, ken; think about something else in terms of the arteries. The camera systems you mentioned. That is something that will aid law enforcement?

BROOKS: Absolutely. There's a surveillance camera system that the District of Columbia police department, the Metropolitan Police Department operates out of their command center. If they see a demonstration, see some suspicious activity they can go right to the camera, it's an extremely powerful tool as Ken was just saying, on surveillance. Because if you see something out of place, they can respond to it quickly, and the surveillance camera system they have works extremely well. I've seen how it works, they've showed it to me before, and we've done stories on, and it's very, very, very, very effective on just even from narcotics but now on the counterterrorism side, a very, very useful tool.

WHITFIELD: Well, Ken, let me ask you with this very specific information, do you have any reservations or concerns that while we're enjoying for the first time this kind of specificity, might this backfire?

ROBINSON: Well, I think if the government treats it responsibly like they're doing right now, it won't. Remember, since Lockerbie, there's been a rule that says you must warn if there is intelligence information that comes into the community that shows that it may threaten Americans, the intelligence community has an obligation to warn and that's what we're seeing playing out right now. However, they're also stressing the fact there's not a specific time or place. It's no shock to anybody that yesterday and tomorrow it's still a dangerous world. The issue is how do people go about their lives and the government is doing their part to protect public health and to do the things, do the rehearsals, do the check and balances in terms of security and living in a free society, and Americans are very resilient about getting on with their lives, and this is simply the new reality that we have.

WHITFIELD: And something we didn't hear come out of DC officials but did hear coming out of New York, particularly Ray Kelly saying even some buildings are being cautioned about safeguarding their heating and air conditioning units for any kind of biological contaminants in that manner?

ROBINSON: And the City of New York and the city of Washington, DC are two of the most prepared cities for that. In the offices of emergency management there's been multiple exercises for the introduction of chemical biological or radiological threats. And the key to those is going to be that intelligence, awareness, the event recognition that it has occurred, and the ability to measure the meteorological conditions effectively to know where the downwind hazards are going to be to protect public health.

WHITFIELD: Ken Robinson, thanks so much for joining us from Washington. And Mike Brooks here in Atlanta, any final thoughts on the best advice you might give to citizens in New York, Washington, Northern New Jersey to better equip them to help law enforcement.

BROOKS: Well, I think the key word is vigilance, Fredericka. But we also can't forget we talked about New Jersey, New York and Washington. No one said anything about the West Coast. People in the West Coast cannot also let their guard down. They also must remain vigilant. We haven't heard any direct threats there. But, again, a lot of times they feel so removed. But they too have to remain vigilant. If they seen anything suspicious, contact law enforcement.

WHITFIELD: Alright. Thanks very much, Mike Brooks. And we appreciate you joining us for our special coverage as the nation goes on heightened security alert in specific financial districts in Washington, DC, New York, and northern New Jersey. We're going to continue our coverage throughout evening. For now we're going to go to "NeXT@CNN" already in progress

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 August 1, 2004 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the points during the press conference was interesting when one of the reporters asked why the threat level in New York City has not been elevated. As you know, Fredericka, New York City already at a heightened level of alert, level orange. Mayor Bloomberg and the police commissioner basically saying although the threats are specific, there's no time frame to them. And that is part of the reason why the threat level here in New York City has not been elevated beyond orange.
Another interesting point is it becomes obvious that what's going to have to happen is, Fredericka, is the city is really going to have to do somewhat of a balancing act with all of this because they said they definitely have to allocate resources to these new sensitive sites, but you can't allocate so many resources to these new sites that you ignore sensitive sites. National landmarks for example. So somewhat of a balancing act that the city has to do here. One other very final point here is a point that the mayor has made repeatedly over the past several months and that is the public has to do its part as well and remain as vigilant as ever. Fredricka?

FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Jason Carroll, thanks very much from New York. So lots of security challenges for New York City and DC and you heard from the New York mayor and the police commissioner that they feel they're up to it. And momentarily we're expecting to hear from DC Mayor Anthony Williams on his response following Tom Ridge's new announcement. Let's check in with military terrorism analyst out of DC Ken Robinson to give us a sense, Ken, these are significant challenges. Even though we heard the mayor say that no expenses will be spared. What are these law enforcement agencies up against?

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: First all, Fred, I think that was one of the best press conferences on a terrorism threat I've heard in a long, long time. They were very candid, they were very specific with what they were being told, and they were very clear what law enforcement has to do now. Jason just said it in his reporting and Jeanne did before also. The answer is vigilance, eternal vigilance, because it's just as dangerous today as it was the day before we heard about this. And the responsibility of the law enforcement now is to do it in a measured way where they don't lose resources and they carefully cover the high-value targets and the symbolic targets.

WHITFIELD: Interesting messages that are being sent to citizens. They're asking, these New York officials are asking people to go on about their business but expect there will be traffic delays because there will be spontaneous vehicular checks, et cetera and even on subways, but, you know, you have to wonder if there is a new challenge being presented by a fear that certainly will permeate among citizens as well as knowing there is stepped-up security. How do you strike a balance?

ROBINSON: Well, you know, that's the new reality in the 21st century, because these threats are going to transcend administrations and it's amazing how resilient Americans seem to be in terms of rising to the occasion, I don't think that that's what's going to occur. I believe as long as Americans are fully informed, I think they'll take this in stride, and as the threats present themselves, they'll adjust. We've seen that during crisis. We've seen that during natural disasters, and we've seen it during 9/11. And I think the cities will rise to the occasion.

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about the potential vulnerabilities that some of these other landmarks or other financial institutions, particularly in the New York City area may be facing, since there have been named locations where the stepped-up security will be. Is it your view that some places will be--hold on a thought for that, Ken Robinson, we're going to go down the street you from in Washington and listen in to DC Mayor Anthony Williams.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

WHITFIELD: Similar to what we heard out of New York City, DC Mayor Anthony Williams as well as the Metro Police Chief Charles Ramsey reiterating that in order for them to be the most effective in providing the best security for the people in the DC area, citizens must be vigilant. Let's get a little more on what this all means from our security analyst Mike Brooks. You used to work on metro police or at least metro law enforcement.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Right, I was with the Metropolitan Police Department. Yeah.

WHITFIELD: What does this mean, when citizens hear they need to be vigilant. What does that really specifically mean? Because a lot of people still throw up their hands and say "What do I do with that?"

BROOKS: This is focused mainly on the financial services sector. But anyone else in Washington, DC whether you've gone to work, you're on vacation, you're at a ball game, anything at all, you have to know what's going on around you. If you see a suspicious package call the police. If there's something in your gut that tells you, yeah, that doesn't seem right, let someone know, the police are out there, the metropolitan police, you just heard from Chief Ramsey, the metropolitan police, one of the best police departments in the country. They also have representatives on the joint terrorism task force, they've been working also with the private sector for years on preparation for anti- and counterterrorism activities. They'll go to building managers to give them tips on what to look for. But people, you know, you can't help those that don't want to help themselves, if you're out there and see something suspicious, let someone know about it. The police is there to respond. They don't mind--the bomb squad doesn't mind coming out and x-raying a package and say it's a homeless clothes or it's a bag of trash. That's what they're there for, they don't mind at all. See something suspicious, call the police.

WHITFIELD: And we heard from Chief Ramsey who described that has been in communication with the FBI and homeland security offices for at least the past couple of days. There is no plan as of yet for metro police to shut down roads around the IMF or World Bank. But he said say they'll be beefing up security outside those structures as well as the Bureau of Engraving.

BROOKS: That's correct. The Metropolitan Police Department has a specialized operations division that handles all special events such as. They have an emergency response team similar to what we're seeing in New York with the emergency services and the Hercules teams. They are extremely well trained. They are professional at what they do. You are going to see a probably large amount those folks down by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on 19th Street as well as the Department of--Bureau of Engraving down by the Tunnel Basin. Again, very, very close to the White House. But, DC Is a unique city, the metropolitan police works hand in hand with the FBI. They have a representative on the joint terrorism task force. I was the DC police representative on the JTTF when I was there. They also work with the Secret Service extremely closely and there are 21 different police agencies within the boundaries of 67 square miles.

WHITFIELD: There's a great advantage to that. But at the same time there are major challenges.

BROOKS: There are major challenges but they train all the time together, they have exercises to see exactly if something happens, who is the lead agency in charge if something happens in DC, they know who is to do what does and where, so I think they're probably one of the best prepared cities in the country.

WHITFIELD: Alright. Military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson is also joining us. He is from Washington. I had to cut him off a little bit earlier so that we could take the DC mayor press conference there. Ken, let's pick up where we left off. For New York, they were very specific about there are going to be spontaneous random vehicular checks. There is going to be quite a bit of sweeping in subways. What else might we see in New York that we also may see in Washington? These are two very different cities that operate, law enforcement- wise, very differently?

ROBINSON: Well, it's the one thing they delicately did not talk about, and it's the ugly baby. That is and improvised vehicle borne munition, a truck bomb. If you think about Timothy McVeigh and the federal building in Oklahoma City, you don't have to check an ID bomb for a truck bomb, you simply have to cross the 14th St. Bridge or come across a New York bridge and so surveillance on our highways systems leading into the cities is going to be incredibly important to be able to learn and identify what types of vehicles will give a signal that will identify it as being suspicious.

WHITFIELD: Well, how will be that policed in a city like the Washington, DC area, where you have the Beltway and you've got so many arteries taking you into the downtown areas? ROBINSON: Well, as Mike said, it's all of the departments and agencies that are in law enforcement that are together, and they have what they call BOLO, be on the lookout for, and they have their people vigilant at all times looking for any type of vehicle that may look suspicious, that may look like it might introduce one of those devices. And then they do routine stops.

WHIFIELD: And let me bring in Mike Brooks again on that. As you helped us, ken; think about something else in terms of the arteries. The camera systems you mentioned. That is something that will aid law enforcement?

BROOKS: Absolutely. There's a surveillance camera system that the District of Columbia police department, the Metropolitan Police Department operates out of their command center. If they see a demonstration, see some suspicious activity they can go right to the camera, it's an extremely powerful tool as Ken was just saying, on surveillance. Because if you see something out of place, they can respond to it quickly, and the surveillance camera system they have works extremely well. I've seen how it works, they've showed it to me before, and we've done stories on, and it's very, very, very, very effective on just even from narcotics but now on the counterterrorism side, a very, very useful tool.

WHITFIELD: Well, Ken, let me ask you with this very specific information, do you have any reservations or concerns that while we're enjoying for the first time this kind of specificity, might this backfire?

ROBINSON: Well, I think if the government treats it responsibly like they're doing right now, it won't. Remember, since Lockerbie, there's been a rule that says you must warn if there is intelligence information that comes into the community that shows that it may threaten Americans, the intelligence community has an obligation to warn and that's what we're seeing playing out right now. However, they're also stressing the fact there's not a specific time or place. It's no shock to anybody that yesterday and tomorrow it's still a dangerous world. The issue is how do people go about their lives and the government is doing their part to protect public health and to do the things, do the rehearsals, do the check and balances in terms of security and living in a free society, and Americans are very resilient about getting on with their lives, and this is simply the new reality that we have.

WHITFIELD: And something we didn't hear come out of DC officials but did hear coming out of New York, particularly Ray Kelly saying even some buildings are being cautioned about safeguarding their heating and air conditioning units for any kind of biological contaminants in that manner?

ROBINSON: And the City of New York and the city of Washington, DC are two of the most prepared cities for that. In the offices of emergency management there's been multiple exercises for the introduction of chemical biological or radiological threats. And the key to those is going to be that intelligence, awareness, the event recognition that it has occurred, and the ability to measure the meteorological conditions effectively to know where the downwind hazards are going to be to protect public health.

WHITFIELD: Ken Robinson, thanks so much for joining us from Washington. And Mike Brooks here in Atlanta, any final thoughts on the best advice you might give to citizens in New York, Washington, Northern New Jersey to better equip them to help law enforcement.

BROOKS: Well, I think the key word is vigilance, Fredericka. But we also can't forget we talked about New Jersey, New York and Washington. No one said anything about the West Coast. People in the West Coast cannot also let their guard down. They also must remain vigilant. We haven't heard any direct threats there. But, again, a lot of times they feel so removed. But they too have to remain vigilant. If they seen anything suspicious, contact law enforcement.

WHITFIELD: Alright. Thanks very much, Mike Brooks. And we appreciate you joining us for our special coverage as the nation goes on heightened security alert in specific financial districts in Washington, DC, New York, and northern New Jersey. We're going to continue our coverage throughout evening. For now we're going to go to "NeXT@CNN" already in progress

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com