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American Morning

Is New York Ready?; London Terror

Aired July 08, 2005 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up, a live report from Anderson Cooper, who is on the scene there, and we'll talk to New York Governor George Pataki about security in the U.S. and on the trains and how the commutes are going.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: You talked about Anderson Cooper. He's in London. Let's get right to him with the very latest.

Anderson, I know you've been talking to folks this morning. Give us a sense of the tone as Londoners made their way through the commute.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the commute has gone on. I mean, I think there's a real sense of resolve here. You hear that over and over again. One person I heard on a talk radio station saying, you know, I took the subway today, and I wanted to get on a train, because if I didn't, if I was scared to do that, then the terrorists have won. And you hear that over and over again. Another man talking about his office actually gave people the option to take the day off, they gave them to opportunity to stay home, and he said everyone came in, even people who were supposed to take vacation today came in, because they wanted to make a point that this city, which is a city of commerce, a city of business, is open for business and is alive and is continuing.

It is a strange atmosphere, though. I'm at the King's Cross Station, which is the scene of the worst blast yesterday. Some 20 people were killed underneath us.

Essentially right now, I mean, it is still a grave site, really. There's an active forensic investigation still going on, but authorities haven't even been able to get to the train car where the bomb was placed, because the wreckage is so severe. They're simply not able to get there yet. It's too dangerous, and simply too crowded. So that is still going on. But you don't get much sense of that standing above the train station. Standing on the street where I am, people are going about their business, going to work and getting on buses. And life continues here in London, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you, obviously, Anderson, have traveled in and around -- into and around London. Give me a sense of what you're seeing security wise. Overwhelming presence, sort of not overwhelming presence? What do you see?

COOPER: There's a big security presence, not heavy-handed though. I mean, it's British bobbies walking down the street. You don't see heavily armed troops. You don't heavily armed police. As you know, London police rarely are armed. So we've seen a lot of bobbies on patrol. I've seen some police on horseback. There are, of course, security cameras all over London. You see signs saying CCTV in this area, you know, closed-circuit cameras. But there's not a sense of panic; there' a sense really of resolve and of determination to, you know, try to find the people who did this, but to continue about and to continue about the business of London -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Anderson Cooper for us in London. Anderson, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: People here in New York City have been living with the threat of another terror attack for almost four years now, since the horror of course of 9/11. How prepared is the city to avoid an attack like that one in London? And for that matter, how's the state of New York and the other states doing? New York Governor George Pataki is my guest now.

Governor, good to have you with us.

GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: Nice being with you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: You rode the number four train yesterday. What was that like? What did you see? What were people saying to you?

PATAKI: Well, people were just going about their business. And of the great things was yesterday we had normal ridership on the subways, on the commuter trains, and people weren't showing fear, and that's what we want; we want them to show the confidence that they're entitled to have as New Yorkers. They have to be aware of their surroundings. We know since September 11th, it's a different world, but let the law enforcement officials do the job of protecting the people, be aware of your surroundings, but ride with the confidence and go about your normal activities the way you would.

M. O'BRIEN: A lot of security analysts are saying the concerns these days is not so much 9/11 as it is 3/11, referring of course to the Madrid attacks a year ago March on the commuter trains there. Do you think that really the security response in this country has matched that concern? All the many spent on airlines and money for mass transit on the surface actually being cut.

PATAKI: Well, we in New York have stayed at level orange since September 11th. We never took down our level of security, because we know New York will always be a target for those who detest freedom. So we have been at a heightened level of alert, and since that time, we have invested literally hundreds of millions of dollars in state capital along with federal capital, close to $600 million, simply for capital security measures that are under way or on the verge of being completed. We've increased dramatically the law-enforcement presence. The MTA police are up by almost 40 percent. Bridge and tunnel police are up 260. We're doing everything we can, but we know that we have a vast system, eight million riders a day. You can't have a police officer standing next to every one of those riders, and we depend on the public for their vigilance and awareness.

M. O'BRIEN: I was talking to the Homeland Security secretary a little while ago, and they've actually asked for a budget cut for mass transit on the federal level, and part of his point is, well, those numbers are kind of misleading, because of what you just described as kind of a state and local issue, handling mass transit. Should the federal government, though, when you consider all the billions spent on airlines, should some of that money be going towards making these subway systems and bus systems safer?

PATAKI: Miles, absolutely. There's no question in my mind that we have to allocate more of the federal homeland security funds on a threat-based analysis. And obviously mass transit, as you've seen, not just New York, but mass transit across the country now is at level orange. So from the beginning we've been arguing for more of those homeland security dollars to go to places that are inherently more vulnerable, not just systems like New York, but systems like the MTA bus and subway system.

M. O'BRIEN: Is it likely that's going to happen, though?

PATAKI: Well, I certainly hope so. We're going to continue the fight, and I understand particularly in the Senate, senators are going to fight for their states, but the this is not something where we should be partisan or parochial. This is something where on September 11th and the days and weeks thereafter we showed enormous solidarity, enormous understanding that we're all in this together. New York was attacked as a symbol of America, and that's what I would like to see continue in Washington, that sense that we're all in it together as free members of a great civilized country, and forget the parochialism of trying to get a little more for your state; do it based on where the threats exist, and certainly mass transit is one of those areas.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, when you heard about this yesterday, this has to bring up a nightmare scenario for -- especially for New York City, but for many cities in this country. How concerned are you? I mean, is it just as they've said out of London repeatedly, it is it just a matter of when, not if.

PATAKI: We are trying to do everything in our power to prevent any attack from occurring again. The first step is to try to prevent attacks. But we also have to prepare in an event there are attacks. We've seen Madrid. We've seen now London. We've see the Bali nightclub. We're engaged in a war, an the war is not over, and the front lines are not just Iraq and Afghanistan; they're the subways of London or streets of New York. So we're doing everything we can, and we're preparing in the event there is one. I think the American people understand that. We have got to win this war against these barbarians.

M. O'BRIEN: Governor George Pataki, thanks for your time.

PATAKI: Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Appreciate.

Let's get another check of the headlines now. Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks a lot, Miles.

Well, we're awaiting a news conference from British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the next half hour. Meantime, new pictures from the G-8 Summit in Scotland show the prime minister and other world leaders in the traditional class photo. Earlier, Blair said, the group is committed to fighting terrorism, and has agreed to give $3 billion in aid to the Palestinian Authority. World leaders are also pledging to double aid to Africa.

It's being called extremely dangerous, and people in Florida are heeding the warning and heading out. Hurricane Dennis is a Category four and could intensify before hitting the U.S. sometime this weekend. People in the Florida Keys and along the Florida Panhandle are evacuating. Take a look at this bridge now in Haiti just being swept away. Five deaths are being blamed on Hurricane Dennis there.

And right now in Cuba, they're feeling the effects of Cuba with the eye of the storm some 200 miles southeast of Havana.

Much more on Dennis' path straight ahead.

And NASA leaders are watching Hurricane Dennis very closely. The shuttle discovery is scheduled to launch next week. The crew has been preparing for this date since the Shuttle Columbia disaster two-and-a- half years ago. And NASA will decide around noon Eastern today whether to move it back to its hangar.

And Vice President Dick Cheney is getting a routine physical this morning. Cheney arrived at a hospital in Washington D.C. a short while ago. Doctors will check on a hi-tech pacemaker that was placed in his chest in June of 2001. The vice president is due back to work later on today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the preparations now. CNN's Dan Lothian is in Gulf Shores in Alabama. Lots of anxiety, I've got to imagine, Dan, there.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, certainly. This is an area that has had its share of hurricanes, of powerful hurricanes with devastating effects in 1979. And then, of course, Hurricane Ivan last year. Now Dennis is threatening this area, threatening to cause more damage and nobody here wants that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN (voice-over): On this beautiful day, as tourists play and sing on the white stands of Gulf Shores...

(MUSIC)

LOTHIAN: ... it's hard to focus on bad weather and Hurricane Dennis, brewing hundreds of miles off shore. But that's exactly what restaurant owner Fred Peninger is doing.

FRED PENINGER, RESTAURANT OWNER: It's scary when it's out there and it's coming and they get...

LOTHIAN: Tropical Storm Cindy delivered another scare.

PENINGER: Like a sandstorm, coming straight across.

LOTHIAN: But now there's the threat of something much bigger. So, the front deck awning is coming down. And if Dennis stays on course, windows and doors will be boarded up.

(on camera): When you see a headline like this, what does it make you -- what goes through your mind?

PENINGER: I am hoping that this prediction is wrong.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Peninger has been down this road before with devastating results. Last year, it was Hurricane Ivan.

(on camera): So the water just came through your restaurant or...

PENINGER: Came through here, picked up the front deck. It was battered. Yes. Everything you see out front here was just like a rag doll and just pulled up, moved up.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): He says his two and a half-year-old island grill restaurant was buried in ten feet of water.

PENINGER: They said all they could see was the roof line.

LOTHIAN: When Peninger returned after three days, the damage was extensive, but because of tougher codes when this structure was built, it wasn't a total loss. $300,000 and four months later, he reopened with a little help from his insurance company. But right next door...

PENINGER: They're still gutted out from the last hurricane.

LOTHIAN: And up and down the beach, many other businesses and homes are still fenced off and boarded up. The wait for insurance money, contractors or buyers causing delays. But, overall, this city is in the midst of a rebuilding and new construction boom. So residents are praying another storm won't set them back. Peninger says, despite this area's history with hurricanes, he has no plans to sell and leave. After all...

PENINGER: The beach right here, the Gulf of Mexico.

LOTHIAN: Paradise is just across the street.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN: As we heard a little bit earlier from the police chief, who's also the head of emergency management, they've already started evacuating those non-residents, those tourists who have been here for their vacations. They will wait over the next few hours to determine exactly when they will put into place mandatory evacuations for everyone -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Dan, I've got to tell you that the sight over your shoulder, though, it looks absolutely beautiful. It's kind of hard to imagine that there is a big storm and it's on the way. Thanks a lot for that update.

Ahead this morning, a new jobs report out. Andy's "Minding Your Business." He's got some of the details, plus some new clues in the London bombings as investigators review security tapes. The very latest on just who is responsible, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Continuing our coverage now of the bombings which rocked London more than 24 hours ago now, four separate bombings. And at this juncture, more than 50 dead, several hundred injured in the wake of it. And a very active police investigation under way, as there is reason to believe they were not suicide bombers.

The deputy assistant commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Department is Brian Paddick. Commissioner, good to have you with us. If you could just tell us what the thinking is as you try to begin an investigation. What sort of threads of evidence do you have to work on as you try it pursue this cell?

BRIAN PADDICK, DEPT. ASST. POLICE COMM.: It's going to be a long, painstaking process. First of all, we've got hundreds of closed circuit television cameras across London. The subway network is covered by closed circuit television and a lot of the streets are, as well. So we're going to be examining hundreds of hours of CCTV footage.

We're going to be sifting through the debris at the four different scenes, trying to capture every single piece of the devices that exploded and all the surrounding damage and sifting through those. And we have an excellent track record of piecing together these things, even though they're in millions of pieces, and gaining clues from that as to who might have carried out this sort of attack.

The other element, of course, is looking at intelligence sources, tapping into our communities. And I have it say, the Muslim community in the U.K. is just as horrified by this atrocity, as all the other faith groups and all the other people in London. And we're all pulling together to try and bring these people to justice.

M. O'BRIEN: In the case of the Madrid bombing, I realize it was cell phone records that were actually a very key thing. It actually got this -- the conversations and, of course, cell phones were used at least partially as the detonators to set off the bombs. Are you going through that kind of thing right now? Where do you even begin to start an investigation like this?

PADDICK: Well, it's too early to tell, but it's doubtful that cell phones were used to detonate the bombs on the subway because the radio signals wouldn't penetrate the tunnels. It is a case of painstaking investigation, trying to piece together the devices themselves from all the debris. We have different problems in the three subway sites. The scenes are actually contained within the tunnels, so all the debris is there and ready for us to collect. As far as the one that was on the upper deck of the double-decker bus, clearly the debris is over a wide area. That all needs to be collected in and sifted through, piece by piece.

So, it's going it be long, hard work. It could be that members of the community have intelligence source, information, people they saw behaving suspiciously. We've got a confidential hotline for them to call, and through that mechanism, we might get a fast-track route to who's carried out this terrible atrocity. But we are making every effort. We've got big teams of experienced detectives on this case and we're determined to catch the perpetrators.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, as far as this attack goes, it really wasn't that sophisticated. It was simply a matter of some synchronicity and getting at least four people, we know of now, to act in concert with each other. And as a result, they may not have left much of a trail behind. Is that a big concern of yours?

PADDICK: Clearly, we don't know how many people were involved. It looks like, in order to make sure that the devices were planted where they wanted them to be and for them to go off all at the same time, that they may have been four -- at least four people involved in the organization of it. It's not like Irish Republican terrorism that we've dealt with before, where you've got a hierarchical organization maybe that's going to -- that were better lead in that particular case. It is a very difficult case to crack, but as I say, we have a wealth of expertise. We've been dealing with these sort of terrorist attacks over decades now, and we have some of the most experienced detectives in the world working on the case.

M. O'BRIEN: Brian Paddick is the deputy assistant commissioner for London's Metropolitan Police. We thank you for your time -- Soledad.

PADDICK: It's a pleasure.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, the big jobs report for June is out. Were more jobs created for Americans who are looking for work? Andy's going to take a look at that. He's "Minding Your Business," just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Are more Americans finding success when they look for jobs? With a look at that and a check of the markets at home and in Europe as well, Andy Serwer is here to mind your business.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

Kind of a mixed picture here, Soledad. Just crossing the tape minutes ago, the jobs report for the month of June, the economy creating 146,000 jobs. That's below what was anticipated. We're looking for 188,000 jobs. And you basically need 150,000 jobs to keep up with population growth and keep up with the economic growth. So we're slightly below that.

The good news, Soledad, is the five percent unemployment rate that you saw there on the screen, and that matches the lowest rate we've seen since September of 2001, right around 9/11, of course, and that's good news. That's down. Also good news is the fact that the job's report raised the number of jobs created for the month of April and May. So more jobs added there, as well.

S. O'BRIEN: What sector?

SERWER: Well, mostly in the service sector because, as a matter of fact, in the manufacturing sector, we lost jobs again, and we've seen that for months and really years now, so that trend continues.

I want to talk a little bit about the markets this morning. Futures are up strongly, again, sort of rebounding from the bombings and the sentiment there in London. Also this job's report is seen sort of as a positive, because it means that the Federal Reserve might not have to raise interest rates so much.

Let's check out in London what's going on. People very interested to see what's happening there. The stock market there continues to rally. Again, we're seeing the resolve of the British markets, as well as the British people, and we're basically back at the levels there that we saw before the bombings occurred.

And just one final note here, the Nasdaq exchange will have a moment of silence, which is a little funny, because it's not really an exchange, but they're going to have a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. No word yet on that from the NYSE.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thank you.

SERWER: Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up in just a moment, a look at today's top stories, plus the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, he's expected to speak at the G-8 summit in just a little bit. We're going to carry that live when it happens.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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