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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Bush To Be Inaugurated on Thursday; Defending America

Aired January 18, 2005 - 22:00   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.


AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
Spring is not in the air. With less than two days to go until the president raises his right hand, security if everywhere. So, too, are the hopes, the plans, the challenges, and they are many of four more years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: The President of the United States and Mrs. Laura Bush.

BROWN (voice-over): The president savors a moment but it's a different moment this time around. We'll look at the vast changes from then to now.

We'll hear as well from the president himself on the work ahead and lessons learned.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think this time around it will be a little different. I'll be a better spectator than I was the first time.

BROWN: Also tonight, a commander in the new normal where threats to life and limb could appear anywhere anytime, not a real M.D. but you can call him doctor defending America.

And we'll round things out on a patch of the old normal here in Washington, D.C. where children are dying but hope somehow stays alive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: More in the hour ahead.

We begin with the reason we're here in the first place. In two days' time, George W. Bush will be sworn in for the second time. He will have by his reelection created a true political dynasty, the Bush family, and continue the task of building a legacy. That much is certain. Based on the last four years, little else is.

We begin tonight with CNN's Jeff Greenfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: Defend the Constitution of the United States. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So help me God.

BUSH: So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations, Mr. President.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): It will be the same president standing on the same west front of the Capitol taking the same inaugural oath but everything else has changed radically from the political fortunes of the president and his party to the gravity of what he faces.

(on camera): The president more or less staggered across the finish line four years ago. Half a million more Americans had voted for the other guy and it came down to 500 or so votes in Florida and a one vote decision by the Supreme Court. Democrats had also picked up four Senate seats making that body just about evenly split.

(voice-over): Even a veteran conservative advocate, like Paul Weyrich, was convinced that Bush would have to govern from the center.

PAUL WEYRICH, FREE CONGRESS FOUNDATION: Well, you know, there is no point to denying reality. I mean he can't come in as if he won a landslide victory.

GREENFIELD: But the landscape on which the new president looked out four years ago couldn't have been sunnier. The Cold War was over. Peace was a sure thing. The United States was the lone, surely invulnerable super power.

At home, while the markets were slipping, unemployment was barely 4.5 percent and the chief dilemma of the government was what to do with an estimate $5 trillion in surpluses, pay off the national debt, cut taxes, fix Social Security and Medicare, maybe all of the above and by a 56 to 41 margin Americans said they were more or less satisfied with the way things were going.

Today, the landscape is shadowed by the memory and the anxiety of terror in the heart of the homeland, by a war whose successful end is not in sight and by trillions of dollars in debt just as the huge baby boom generation is about to claim its Medicare and Social Security benefits. Today, most Americans say they are not satisfied with the way things are going.

REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: And I do not think that they are the majority party with regard to Social Security, with their overhaul of the tax code, certainly not with the budget.

GREENFIELD: But if today the president faces difficulties unimagined four years ago, he does it from a far stronger political base. His victory this time was clear. He got three million more votes than the other guy, gained among almost every voting group.

His party has four more seats in the Senate and has modestly strengthened its hold on the House. And, last November for the first time in decades, as many voters called themselves Republican as Democrats.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: Now that he had four of the toughest years any president's ever had and has been reelected, I think he feels probably as secure and strong as any president would.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

GREENFIELD: Not that this guarantees smooth sailing. Bush's very vulnerability persuaded Republicans to rally round, to mute their criticisms of his spending and Iraq policies. This time with reelection secured they may not hold their tongues.

KING: There are some Republicans who will want to stray off and, you know, some of it is legitimate debate. Others just get nervous. They feel the president is home free and they still have to get reelected in two years.

GREENFIELD: Still, this is another lesson that if you are looking for constants in politics, you're wasting your time. Today, a president with a much stronger political hand than he held four years ago is facing a set of problems that make the landscape of 2000 look like a picture from an ancient history book.

Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Oddly enough what at first appeared to be yet another sign of the times here in Washington really isn't. There have always been disturbed people doing strange things and worse outside the White House.

Today authorities surrounded a van about a block away from the White House grounds after a man inside threatened to blow up a container of gasoline he was carrying. Police believe he was distraught over a child custody case but it happened along the route the president will take on Thursday.

As we showed you briefly at the top, inaugural activities kicked off today, the president attending a rally for the troops at the MCI Center here in Washington. He later dropped by a youth concert at D.C. Armory where Hilary Duff and JoJo serenaded him.

Earlier today, however, it was all business, the president sitting down with our Senior White House Correspondent John King who joins us now. The president has been for a week or so in a talking mood.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He has been trying to build up some support as he heads into a second term for the many ambitious things Jeff just talked about in his piece.

We talked in our conversation about where we are in the war on terrorism, about what at least many would say are things that are wrong and were wrong in Iraq. I thought one of the more interesting points is when I asked the president if he could just do one thing, just one thing to improve our homeland security, our defense in the war on terror what would it be?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: The human intelligence, the ability to get inside somebody's mind, the ability to read somebody's mail, the ability to listen to somebody's phone call, that somebody being the enemy.

KING: Part of the threat comes from the desire to attack America that some obviously have and still have. You have spoken about working with your new Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on a public diplomacy campaign in the Muslim world.

I want to ask what you think has failed in that regard so far in the sense that the State Department did reach out and hire a Madison Avenue ad executive to try to help. You had an office of global communication here in the White House, at one point offices in London and Islamabad. We've created an Arab language television network paid for by the taxpayers in the United States. Where have we failed so far?

BUSH: The propagandists have done a better job of depicting America as a hateful place, a place wanting to impose our form of government on people and our religion on people and it's -- we're behind when it comes to selling our own story and telling people the truth about America.

KING: Do you ever worry that it's personal, fairly or unfairly that these groups have decided so long as you were president of the United States they will not change?

BUSH: You know, I don't know. I try not to take things personally in the political world. I can remember people condemning Ronald Reagan's decisions and I don't see how they could condemn him personally because he was such a good guy but he made some very difficult decisions, which happened to be right in retrospect and I believe the decisions I have made will end up making the world a better place. So, I don't take it personally when people are critical.

KING: You've talked about changing your language a bit in the second term that perhaps people found you too blunt when you said things like "dead or alive" about Osama bin Laden or "bring it on" in the early days of the Iraq insurgency. What about "with us or against us," that was a defining moment when you spoke about terrorism that countries around the world are either with us or against us? Some found that too black and white, too confrontational. Do you change that?

BUSH: Not at all. I mean we got to win and we got to make it clear that people have to make a choice and I'll be -- I will continue to be straightforward and plainspoken about my view that freedom is necessary for peace and that everybody deserves to be free. But, you're right, some of my language in the first four years was, you know, had an unintended consequence and I'm mindful of that. KING: About Iraq, obviously there's the debate about WMD. Some would say that there was perhaps a greater failing, either of intelligence or in planning in the idea of the troop levels going in or the statements from some of the administration that the Americans would be greeted as liberators. As you look back now was that an intelligence failing? Was there a misjudgment somehow in the planning?

BUSH: I think it was -- I think what you've just described is what normally happens in war is that some things happen that you don't expect and some things you expect don't happen and, for example, I can remember the briefings I had on what to do with mass refugee movements or hunger, you know what you would expect as a result of a military action, which did not take place.

What did take place was a very swift defeat of Saddam's army, which allowed some Ba'athists to head to the hills and then let them live to fight another day and that's what we're dealing with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Now this is a president who is against the family rules, Aaron, to brag but he clearly is happy and in an update mood right now. He was very mad when his father was denied a second term. I asked him if he felt vindicated, if there was a Bush family vindication now? He wouldn't touch that.

He said he doesn't want to make it personal but he was rather reflective in saying this time he wants to enjoy it and soak it in. He realizes there are no more campaigns. There will be no more inaugurations but, yes, he has a big speech to give but he says he also wants to enjoy it a bit.

BROWN: I thought that was an interesting comment. The other thing that jumped out at me is when you talked about the American image in the Islamic world. He sees it as essentially a PR problem.

We haven't been as good at selling our story and not a policy problem that a lot of people in that part of the world, whether it's the Palestinian-Israeli dispute or American support for some regimes that are hardly freedom loving regimes, is a real problem there and some would say much more so than the PR part of the problem.

KING: I think they understand that. I think they're wary about articulating it that way right now because this is a president who saw what Bill Clinton did in the Middle East with the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. He dabbled in it briefly once, sort of pulled back a little bit.

That will be a top priority for Condoleezza Rice once she is confirmed. She will try to get the Israelis and the Palestinians back at the table. Everyone will tell you, including in the Bush administration that if you can do that, you can at least rebut the arguments in the Arab world and in the Muslim world that we don't care about the Palestinians. The question is every president has been burned, this one a little bit and I think they're still a little wary about the whole thing.

BROWN: Thank you, John. It's good to see you back from Asia, John King our Senior White House Correspondent.

It was, as we said at the top, grindingly cold in Washington today, except perhaps for Condoleezza Rice, the president's nominee to be secretary of state who got a grilling by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Odds are she will get the job. We'd be shocked if she didn't. The Senate hasn't voted down a nominee since John Tower (ph) back in the '80s. That said, there were questions going in and questions today from morning until night.

Here's CNN's Andrea Koppel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Condoleezza Rice sought to highlight her new role as presidential adviser turned top U.S. diplomat.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE NOMINEE: The time for diplomacy is now.

KOPPEL: But Democrats quickly took her to task.

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: And the time for diplomacy, in my view, is long overdue.

KOPPEL: Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry grilled Rice on Iraq.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The current policy is growing the insurgency not diminishing it.

KOPPEL: And Kerry warned the January 30th elections could make things worse.

KERRY: The dynamics of the election could actually without the proper actions provide a greater capacity for civil war.

KOPPEL: Rice urged patience.

RICE: The political process, as you well know and you all know better than I, is one of coming to terms with divisions.

KOPPEL: California Democrat Barbara Boxer took the gloves off suggesting Rice deliberately hyped the Iraq threat and used the image of a nuclear mushroom cloud to scare the American people.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: This is my personal view that your loyalty to the mission you were given to sell this war overwhelmed your respect for the truth and I don't say it lightly.

RICE: I have to say that I have never, ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. It is not my nature. It is not my character.

BOXER: If you were rolling out a new product, like a can opener, who would care about what we said? But this product is a war and people are dead and dying.

RICE: Senator, I'm happy to continue the discussion but I really hope that you will not imply that I take the truth lightly.

KOPPEL: Known by some as the velvet hammer for her steely composure, Rice grew up in the segregated south. Now poised to become the first African American woman secretary of state, history was clearly on her mind.

RICE: I personally am indebted to those who fought and sacrificed in the civil rights movement so that I could be here today.

KOPPEL (on camera): During ten hours of tough questioning, Rice gave no ground and made no apologies but if she's confirmed as expected, Secretary of State Rice is sure to face many more days like this one.

Andrea Koppel, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And on the program tonight the checkered history of second terms, we'll talk with a pair of insiders who have watched a few up close.

And later, a corner of Washington where it matters very little whether it's a first or second term president, the problems run deeper than that.

From the nation's capital tonight, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Just about the time the dancing ends late Thursday night or more likely early Friday morning, the clock will begin ticking on George W. Bush's presidency. Not all second terms go badly but many seem to for a variety of reasons.

Two guests tonight with thoughts on the road ahead, Stephen Hayes who writes for "The Weekly Standard" and Leon Panetta, a former Congressman, former chief of staff for President Clinton. We're pleased to see them both.

Mr. Panetta, in brief the dangers that all second term presidents, Democrats or Republicans, face are?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER CLINTON CHIEF OF STAFF: Well there are several. First of all, there's just an energy level difference from the first term. When you first come in you're a new team. There are new ideas. There's change. It's all very invigorating.

Second term you've been there, it's a little, you know, it's hard to maintain the same energy level. Secondly, issues catch up with you in the second term. I mean you can't just blame past administrations for the problems that you're facing, so whether it's foreign policy or domestic policy or economic policy, these policies are now yours and you're going to take responsibility for them.

And lastly, you're a lame duck whether you like it or not and ultimately members of Congress are going to look at you and say four years he's not around. In four years I'm still around.

BROWN: With luck. One of the problems with second term presidents is often their best ideas they've run out in their first term. They come to the second term with less, not true here. The president has some big, bold, in some cases even radical visions for where he wants to take the country.

STEPHEN HAYES, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": I think that's right and it's important to note that in the first term I think the ideas that he had, the policies that he pursued were, as much as they were his they were also sort of thrust upon him with the events of September 11th, the need to defend the country, the need to dramatically change the intelligence services, things of that nature.

I think now he's looking to turn his attention to the domestic agenda in a certain sense with things like Social Security reform, which I don't think anybody would say is not a bold policy move.

BROWN: It's a huge policy move. Does it -- Mr. Panetta, does it become the equivalent of the Clinton health care plan to him? He's got all the chips on the table on this.

PANETTA: It's a dangerous and bold move. It has a lot of risk, as I think all of us know that dealt -- have tried to deal with Social Security because it still remains very much the third rail in politics. And so, having decided to take that on and, you know, very frankly Social Security does need to be dealt with.

If he's going to do it, he's going to have to really reach out and it's going to exercise tremendous leadership in order to get it done, if it's going to happen. Otherwise, it could hurt him. If he loses this battle, it will hurt his presidency.

BROWN: He can sell the idea. I think that Social Security needs to be dealt with. Where I think the battle comes, it's not like there's just one way to deal with it. There are a variety of ways to deal with it and selling his vision is where I think even with some Republicans, Stephen, it's going to get a little sticky.

HAYES: I think that's right. I mean I think there is skepticism in some Republican circles. I think in some -- for some Republicans it's because they're not sold on the policy. For others, they're worried about the politics, although I would disagree a little bit with Mr. Panetta in one respect.

I do think he has shown that Social Security is no longer the third rail of American politics. He campaigned on it twice now, more vigorously the second time and he's spoken in bold terms each time and I don't think it hurt him politically.

Now, if he doesn't succeed or if we don't make some progress towards coming up with a solution, whatever that solution may be, then it hurts him politically but I think in terms of campaigning he's shown that, in fact, it's no longer the third rail of American politics.

PANETTA: Well, but the problem is he hasn't really been frank about the hard choices.

BROWN: He's talked about one-half of the equation.

PANETTA: Yes, exactly. He's talked about creating these private accounts as kind of the answer to Social Security but he hasn't talked about how we're going to pay for it, what we're going to have to do on benefits, what we're going to have to do with regards to revenues.

BROWN: How does Iraq and how events play out in Iraq impact not just foreign policy, obviously they'll do that, but his ability to pass a domestic agenda?

PANETTA: I think it's big. I think, you know, he ran as a war president. I think Iraq is there. I think most people in this country now worry about what's going to happen there. They read about the deaths. They're impacted in many cases in their families.

I think they're worried about where that's headed and, to a large extent, whether Iraq ultimately stabilizes will determine, I think to a large measure, the success or failure of George Bush as a war president.

BROWN: Stephen, I think when we talked to your earlier you worried that he would be in foreign policy less bold, in fact, in the second term than he has been in the first. Do I remember that right?

HAYES: Well, I think one of the risks of the second term, as Mr. Panetta put it earlier, is that you have to -- these are your policies. You have to own them in a way that isn't necessarily the case in a first term and certainly wasn't the case necessarily with George W. Bush, given as I said the events of September 11th and the subsequent wars.

I think one of the concerns about a Bush second term is that he's made these bold statements. He's talked about the United Nations proving itself to be more than just a debating society. I mean, in fact, he threw down the gauntlet and said "You need to show that you're an effective organization."

Some would argue, I'm one of those, that the United Nations has, in fact, shown itself to be little more than a debating society and the president hasn't really called them on that I think. That's just one of the ways that I think he's going to -- the language from his first term is going to come back and show itself again in the second term.

BROWN: Nice to see you both. Have fun at whatever event you end up at.

PANETTA: Back to California.

BROWN: Back to California -- for the rest of the week. It's good to see you. Come back and see us. Thank you.

Still ahead tonight, after the tragedy in Beslan where hundreds of children were killed and wounded, what it takes to make our schools safe here at home.

And keeping watch in the windy city, one man's job to prepare in case of a terrorist attack, both part of tonight's coverage of "Defending America." We'll take a break first.

From Washington this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: On CNN's security watch tonight, when terrorists stormed a school in Beslan, Russia last September and took over 1,200 people hostage we watched and waited hoping for a peaceful resolution, three days later our worst fears and theirs realized.

After a horrible gunfight over 350 people died, many of them kids, 700 more wounded. That event puts security experts in this country into high gear, their job to make certain it did not happen here.

In our ongoing series on "Defending America," we have two stories tonight, beginning first with CNN's Jill Dougherty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Salem, Oregon, the state capital, a quiet town, one of the last places you'd think would attract the attention of terrorists. But last August, the Salem school district sent its head psychologist to a terrorism conference. There from an expert he heard a shocking warning.

JOHN VAN DREAL, DISTRICT THREAT ASSESSMENT: He actually made the prediction that the next big event he thought would be at a school and it was, I think, eight days later that the event in Russia took place.

DOUGHERTY: As she followed reports of the Beslan school attack, Salem Public School Superintendent Kay Baker worried.

KAY BAKER, SUPERINTENDENT, SALEM-KEISER PUBLIC SCHOOLS: You put yourself there. Then you put yourself in the place of that administrator that's there and those teachers that are there and the kids that are there and what -- how frightful that must be to them.

DOUGHERTY (on camera): The massacre in Beslan shocked parents, teachers and students around the world. Here in Salem, as in many towns across America, people ask themselves could it happen here? Are my children potential targets for terrorists? (voice-over): Then Superintendent Baker got a disturbing call from the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. troops in Iraq had found a computer disk with information on U.S. schools, including her district.

BAKER: There was the Salem Public Schools were on that disk and that's all we know.

DOUGHERTY: It turned out to be academic research, not an attack blueprint but it was another wake-up call. The Salem School District already had a well developed security plan in place but after all of this it revised and beefed up its planning.

JIM ADAMS, PRINCIPAL, CROSSLER MIDDLE SCHOOL: This is part of our security system. It's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

DOUGHERTY: At Salem's Crossler Middle School, for example, Principal Jim Adams tells me outsiders cannot enter without being buzzed in.

ADAMS: A little click and you're open.

DOUGHERTY: Surveillance cameras outside, electronic scanners inside, if there's a threat...

ADAMS: What we have here is an emergency lockdown card, so if we needed to lock down the building, what I would do is take this card out and, as you can see it says lockdown card, and we would use this in the case of an emergency. I would walk over to the door, open the door, find the scanner on the outside, scan it and our entire building would be locked down.

DOUGHERTY: Just immediately?

ADAMS: Immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you guys have your hall passes with you? Can I see them? Thanks, guys, appreciate it.

DOUGHERTY: The district schools also have campus monitors, like Ross Zeismer (ph) who patrol the corridors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where you at?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm on the second floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

DOUGHERTY: And uniformed armed police.

RAYMOND BYRD, SECURITY MANAGER, SALEM-KEISER PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I don't think that anybody can say that they're absolutely prepared for every situation but we have a plan that is in place and that we're prepared to work.

DOUGHERTY: Students in other school districts, however, may not be as lucky.

BAKER: Each school district makes it up as they go along. There is not a centralized clearinghouse, as you say, that we could all send our plans into.

DOUGHERTY: Carl Garner is a teacher, as well as a parent of five children. He still finds it hard to fathom how terrorists could target kids. His family, he says, was stunned by news of Beslan, Russia.

CARL GARNER, PARENT: At home with my kids as we were sitting there watching coverage that came on the news. And it was wow.

And I have this sign right here.

DOUGHERTY: And, yet, Garner has no illusions that his town, his school, his family is immune.

GARNER: I've very many times said to my wife, I'm glad we're here, instead of other places, because I know that there are systems in place to deal with crises that should occur, knowing full well that it's impossible to prevent everything from happening. It's just impossible in the world we live in.

DOUGHERTY: But there's a fine line between security and turning a school into a prison. Student Council members at West Salem High School say they feel comfortable with that balance.

CHRISTINE KRAMER, STUDENT: Knowing that there's an adult keeping an eye on that door all day makes me feel safe. Knowing that the officer's office is right near that door makes me feel safe.

DREW PHILLIPS, STUDENT: You come to school. You go to your classes. And folks in your -- are trying to get into colleges, but really it's something that, if you have the knowledge that things are being taken care of, it lets you not have to worry about it.

DOUGHERTY: When superintendent Kay Baker thinks about keeping her students out of harm's way, the balance is clear.

BAKER: If we're going to err in one way or other the other, we want to err on the side of being safe.

DOUGHERTY: In Salem, Oregon, in Beslan, Russia, the challenge is the same, keeping children safe, but giving them the freedom just to be kids.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Salem, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Big cities have always had someone in charge of emergencies. Mostly, they worried about a chemical spill here or a bad fire there. Today, they worry about a dirty bomb or poisons in the subway system. In the world of first-responders, they are in charge, in charge of planning, of imagining, in charge of worrying about all it takes to protect their city and defending America.

So, from Chicago tonight, here's CNN's Keith Oppenheim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How it's going, John?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chicago's Soldier Field. A man arrives with a question, and with him, it always seems to be the same one. What if?

RON HUBERMAN, CHICAGO OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MGT. & COMMUNICATIONS: What happens if you have got a full event going on here and we decide to do an emergency exit from here? How would that interact with the rest of the citywide evacuation plans?

OPPENHEIM: Ron Huberman is the executive director of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. And the way he sees it, it's his job to second-guess just about everything.

(on camera): Isn't it the nature of emergency response that you always have to be posing that next question and getting your people to do the same thing?

HUBERMAN: The reality is, when the emergency occurs, it's simply too late to being to ask the tough questions then.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): So the tough questions start early. At 6:00 a.m., Huberman calls his staff.

HUBERMAN: We may be implementing the extreme weather plan.

OPPENHEIM: Scanning papers and Web sites for any tidbit that might give him an edge.

HUBERMAN: Let's see if she can e-mail you those few slides for the PowerPoint for the boss tomorrow.

OPPENHEIM: He is constantly on the go and on the phone. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Ron Huberman was a Chicago cop for nine years. Just 33 years old, he is now leading an emergency staff of 800.

HUBERMAN: Hey, morning, everyone.

OPPENHEIM: Pushing them to a higher level of preparedness.

HUBERMAN: We are on extra alert for terrorist-related activity.

OPPENHEIM: This room is the nucleus of Chicago's security system, whereas, at any moment, staff monitor hundreds of surveillance cameras located throughout the city. Some cameras are hidden. All are focused on public places. Huberman's pride and joy, cameras that detect gunfire.

(on camera): The camera will respond to the sound? HUBERMAN: Yes, of the gunshot. And in the operation center, at OEMC, at our office, an alert goes off and then they're able to instantly view the image and respond. The camera actually instantly turns in the direction of the gunshot.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In this case, the camera turned directly in the direction of our interview.

HUBERMAN: Pan, tilt, zoom.

OPPENHEIM: Right.

HUBERMAN: All of that, they're able to control remotely.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): And the images were recorded. Huberman believes this technology is a major deterrent to crime, what he sees as the breeding ground of terrorism.

HUBERMAN: What our surveillance network of cameras do is put criminals, make them paranoid in a sense, because they are fearful that they'll be caught.

OPPENHEIM: Huberman's command of communications and technology give him a unique role in Chicago. While fire and police officials take charge of most emergencies...

HUBERMAN: What's the efficiency we're operating at right now?

OPPENHEIM: Ron Huberman and his team of coordinators would take the lead if a major disaster struck. It's called unified command, the mantra of Chicago Mayor Richard Daly and the method of avoiding confusion and crisis.

HUBERMAN: I have a very strong team of people who I work with in the whole emergency management community, which includes police and fire and other parts of government, and just making sure that everyone is on the same page, coordinated and focused on the mission.

OPPENHEIM: Now Huberman wants to bring live surveillance video directly to the computer screens of 911 dispatchers, who in some cases could actually see what a caller is telling them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have ears now. Now we're going to have eyes.

OPPENHEIM: In Ron Huberman's eyes, a city pumped up with cameras is like a workout routine, good for Chicago's health. To him, the technology is neither an invasion of privacy, nor a total answer. But when used well, he believes it sends a dual message, that citizens can be reassured and that terrorists will be stopped.

HUBERMAN: In these scary times, post-9/11, when a terrorist attack is always looming and always potentially ominous, it's important that we instill confidence in the population of our country that, as a government, we're prepared and we're ready and that we can truly ensure that we're as able to respond and as able to secure, certainly from my perspective, Chicago as we can be.

OPPENHEIM: Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still to come tonight, more disturbing pictures of alleged prisoner abuse in Iraq, this time not Americans at the center of it, and morning paper, as always.

From Washington, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: With only 12 days now until the election in Iraq, a deadly game of cat and mouse has developed between the insurgents and the candidates. Today, at least two candidates were gunned down. Now other candidates aren't telling anyone they're running, for fear of being assassinated.

Also today, a Roman Catholic archbishop who was captured yesterday was released.

And, in London, a trial is under way that definitely has a familiar ring.

From there, here's CNN's Walter Rodgers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The photographs of alleged Iraqi prisoner abuse by British soldiers have shocked this country, because the British have long believed their soldiers were the best, the most disciplined in the world.

Now this. Lance Corporal Darren Larkin is shown standing on a largely naked Iraqi captive. Another British soldier appears ready to punch a bound and blindfolded prisoner. Another Iraqi prison is shown here lashed to a forklift truck and left to dangle over a steep grade. In addition to images of physical abuse, there are other photographs of Iraqi prisoners allegedly forced by British soldiers to commit simulated sexual acts.

Britain's chief of defense staff had this to say.

SIR MIKE JACKSON, BRITISH CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF: We condemn utterly all acts of abuse. Where there is evidence of abuse, this is immediately investigated .

OPPENHEIM: The photographs were made public as three British soldiers appeared before a court-martial at a base in Germany. They face a total of 22 separate charges.

One of the royal fusiliers admitted to assault, but all claim they are not guilty of photographing and humiliating the Iraqis, offenses under the Geneva Conventions. Each of the soldiers also claims he was only following orders. They allege a senior officer ordered them to -- quote -- "work hard" Iraqi prisoners after a food storage depot was broken into and looted.

International human rights groups want a full investigation.

KATE ALLEN, DIRECTOR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL U.K.: What we are calling for is something that looks at how this happens, how far up the chain of command does this go, what is the culture that allows this to take place.

OPPENHEIM: During the American Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, the phrase culture of brutality gains currency. Now the British must wrestle with the same embarrassment, although preliminary indications are the British incidents occurred all at one time, and, unlike Abu Ghraib, there is no evidence of more widely spread prisoner abuse.

All of this came to light when photographs of the alleged prisoner abuse were sent for processing to this shop. Upon seeing them, a clerk called the police.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, a look at the other war, not fought in some far-off country, but about a mile or two from where we sit. Also tonight, we'll check morning papers from around the country, because this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We spent a brief moment last night talking about the notion of distance here in Washington, not physical distance -- the metro gets you from one end of town to the other pretty well -- but all the other kinds.

The inauguration only underscores it, the distance between rich and poor, between protected and overlooked, between normal and the kind of normal too many young Washingtonians live and die with.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): In Washington, D.C., just down from the grand war memorials, there is a makeshift memorial to a war of a different kind.

MONTORIA FREELAND, MEMBER, HOLY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: There's a war going on right within our communities. Yes, there is a war on terrorism, but there's a war within -- amongst our children.

BROWN: A war with real casualties. This past year, 24 people under 18 were murdered in the district, more than double than the year before. But statistics don't tell the story. Statistics are not children. They don't hold funerals for statistics at Holy Christian Missionary Baptist Church in Northeast Washington nearly every Sunday.

REV. STEPHEN YOUNG, HOLY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: Just like from January to April, we had about 24 of homicides. Then they kind of slacked up, which I was kind of thankful, because I would get up on Sunday morning and tell our people, we don't have no funerals this week. They would just applaud. They would be happy.

YOUNG: No suffering can compare to eternal glory.

BROWN: No one is immune here. The Reverend Stephen Young has lost a brother and two sons to murder. He's grown weary of constant funerals, constant loss.

YOUNG: It never stops. It's just ongoing. "Pastor Young, my son got killed. Pastor Young, my father got killed. Pastor Young, my uncle got killed. Pastor Young, my mother, my sister, my daughter. It never stops."

TIARA BEVERLY, MEMBER, HOLY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: It happened so often, people started to feel like, oh, another person got that -- or something like that. My brother was killed. I miss him, and sometimes I'm just happy that he's not here struggling with life.

BROWN: Tiara Beverly's brother, Anthony Wilson Sr., was shot more than 20 times. That was three years ago. No one arrested. Her mother, Sandra Beverly, is still grieving and still angry.

SANDRA BEVERLY, MEMBER, HOLY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: Ripped my heart and my kids' soul out. And we see it every day. And we hear that it's smaller and younger people that are dying. And the pain is even dearer when it's a young person.

BROWN: This year, the church buried two of its youngest; 8-year- old Chelsea Cromartie was sitting in her living room when she was liked by a stray bullet. Princess Hansen, just 14, shot execution style after witnessing another murder.

They are remembered, along with dozens of others, on a wall of remembrance in the lobby of the church.

S. BEVERLY: My son's picture is on the wall, as well as all the members in Life After Homicide, their children, their loved ones, husbands, wives.

Anybody need any extra love? Anybody need any extra attention?

BROWN: Sandra Beverly leads Life After Homicide, a support group at the church. They meet every Wednesday night.

PELEANA LEWIS, LIFE AFTER HOMICIDE MEMBER: I lost my husband three years ago, and my husband's death has been tremendously tragic to me and my children. When my husband was taken away from me, a part of me was taken away. My heart was taken away.

TAWANDA TATUM, LIFE AFTER HOMICIDE MEMBER: It hurts when I talk about my son. Every morning, when I wake up, I go to my phone. I have a message on my phone that he left on the phone. I listen to that message three times a day, where I hear his voice. FREELAND: It's like no one is really dying from natural causes anymore. And that's terrifying. Unfortunately, it seems like it's a never-ending story.

BROWN: But at this church, a church so accustomed to death, if that is possible, people try to find grace where they can.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually thanked God the day of my son's funeral that he blessed me with 20 years with my son. And there's a lot of people that don't even -- their children don't even live that long, 1-year-old, to your 10-months-old. You know, so I had to thank God for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The nation's capital.

Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world.

We haven't seen "The Christian Science Monitor" of late, so that's where we'll start. "The Second Term Hopes and Hazards. As Bush Begins Second Term, He Joins Lofty Club With a History of Political Peril," as we discussed earlier. I like this story. We will spend some time on it next week. "Iraqi Expats Will Play Major Role in Election. Up to One Million Iraqis Outside the Country Expected to Vote."

I wonder how many actually have any intention of moving back to Iraq. And, if they don't, why are they voting? I don't know.

"Stars and Stripes." "1st A.D. Gets Notice of Likely Return to Iraq. Some Soldiers Say Orders Warn of New Deployment." Logical lead for "The Stars and Stripes."

"The Washington Times," this is interesting, how they led the Rice testimony today. Most people led it with Iraq. "Rice Targets Six Outposts of Tyranny. Secretary of State Pick Pledges to Protect the United States." Well, it would be a lead if she don't, wouldn't it? And two nice pictures, one where she looks quite tough and the other where she looks quite sweet, don't you think? That's "The Washington Times" today.

Oh, down here at the bottom, "Fatter Options Back on the Menu at Food Chains. Customer Support Cited." The Monster Thickburger with 1,400 calories back on the menu.

Just as I predicted, by the way, the Eagles trounced the Vikings over the weekend. And that's because "The Linc" -- that's Lincoln Financial Field -- "Gives Eagles a True Home-Field Advantage." That's the lead in "The Philadelphia Inquirer." I did say that last week, didn't I? I think I did.

"No Schedule For Iraq Exit" is the lead in "The Cincinnati Enquirer."

And one more before we get to the weather. "The Des Moines Register" leads local. "Bishop Accused of Abuse. Retired Now, He Was a Priest in Davenport, Iowa, in Diocese There in the '60s." That's a good local lead.

The weather tomorrow in Chicago, I'll take it for granted, "C- plus," they say in the "Chicago Sun-Times."

We'll wrap it up in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we leave you tonight, a quick look ahead to tomorrow, a night CNN will devote entirely to our series "Defending America." Our special coverage begins at 7:00 Eastern time. At 10:00, defending Los Angeles through the eyes of someone who knows the enemy quite literally firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MILLER, COMMANDING OFFICER, LAPD COUNTERTERRORISM BUREAU: I feel I understand bin Laden, and perhaps understand him more than others who are in this role in other places. Los Angeles encompasses some things that, if you are Osama bin Laden, goes to the heart of what you don't like about America, yet some of our favorite things about ourselves, in a word, Hollywood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That's John Miller in L.A. Frank Buckley did the reporting. A complete night of reporting, "Defending America," begins tomorrow, 7:00.

We'll see you tomorrow night. Good night from Washington.

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 January 18, 2005 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
Spring is not in the air. With less than two days to go until the president raises his right hand, security if everywhere. So, too, are the hopes, the plans, the challenges, and they are many of four more years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: The President of the United States and Mrs. Laura Bush.

BROWN (voice-over): The president savors a moment but it's a different moment this time around. We'll look at the vast changes from then to now.

We'll hear as well from the president himself on the work ahead and lessons learned.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think this time around it will be a little different. I'll be a better spectator than I was the first time.

BROWN: Also tonight, a commander in the new normal where threats to life and limb could appear anywhere anytime, not a real M.D. but you can call him doctor defending America.

And we'll round things out on a patch of the old normal here in Washington, D.C. where children are dying but hope somehow stays alive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: More in the hour ahead.

We begin with the reason we're here in the first place. In two days' time, George W. Bush will be sworn in for the second time. He will have by his reelection created a true political dynasty, the Bush family, and continue the task of building a legacy. That much is certain. Based on the last four years, little else is.

We begin tonight with CNN's Jeff Greenfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: Defend the Constitution of the United States. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So help me God.

BUSH: So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations, Mr. President.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): It will be the same president standing on the same west front of the Capitol taking the same inaugural oath but everything else has changed radically from the political fortunes of the president and his party to the gravity of what he faces.

(on camera): The president more or less staggered across the finish line four years ago. Half a million more Americans had voted for the other guy and it came down to 500 or so votes in Florida and a one vote decision by the Supreme Court. Democrats had also picked up four Senate seats making that body just about evenly split.

(voice-over): Even a veteran conservative advocate, like Paul Weyrich, was convinced that Bush would have to govern from the center.

PAUL WEYRICH, FREE CONGRESS FOUNDATION: Well, you know, there is no point to denying reality. I mean he can't come in as if he won a landslide victory.

GREENFIELD: But the landscape on which the new president looked out four years ago couldn't have been sunnier. The Cold War was over. Peace was a sure thing. The United States was the lone, surely invulnerable super power.

At home, while the markets were slipping, unemployment was barely 4.5 percent and the chief dilemma of the government was what to do with an estimate $5 trillion in surpluses, pay off the national debt, cut taxes, fix Social Security and Medicare, maybe all of the above and by a 56 to 41 margin Americans said they were more or less satisfied with the way things were going.

Today, the landscape is shadowed by the memory and the anxiety of terror in the heart of the homeland, by a war whose successful end is not in sight and by trillions of dollars in debt just as the huge baby boom generation is about to claim its Medicare and Social Security benefits. Today, most Americans say they are not satisfied with the way things are going.

REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: And I do not think that they are the majority party with regard to Social Security, with their overhaul of the tax code, certainly not with the budget.

GREENFIELD: But if today the president faces difficulties unimagined four years ago, he does it from a far stronger political base. His victory this time was clear. He got three million more votes than the other guy, gained among almost every voting group.

His party has four more seats in the Senate and has modestly strengthened its hold on the House. And, last November for the first time in decades, as many voters called themselves Republican as Democrats.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: Now that he had four of the toughest years any president's ever had and has been reelected, I think he feels probably as secure and strong as any president would.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

GREENFIELD: Not that this guarantees smooth sailing. Bush's very vulnerability persuaded Republicans to rally round, to mute their criticisms of his spending and Iraq policies. This time with reelection secured they may not hold their tongues.

KING: There are some Republicans who will want to stray off and, you know, some of it is legitimate debate. Others just get nervous. They feel the president is home free and they still have to get reelected in two years.

GREENFIELD: Still, this is another lesson that if you are looking for constants in politics, you're wasting your time. Today, a president with a much stronger political hand than he held four years ago is facing a set of problems that make the landscape of 2000 look like a picture from an ancient history book.

Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Oddly enough what at first appeared to be yet another sign of the times here in Washington really isn't. There have always been disturbed people doing strange things and worse outside the White House.

Today authorities surrounded a van about a block away from the White House grounds after a man inside threatened to blow up a container of gasoline he was carrying. Police believe he was distraught over a child custody case but it happened along the route the president will take on Thursday.

As we showed you briefly at the top, inaugural activities kicked off today, the president attending a rally for the troops at the MCI Center here in Washington. He later dropped by a youth concert at D.C. Armory where Hilary Duff and JoJo serenaded him.

Earlier today, however, it was all business, the president sitting down with our Senior White House Correspondent John King who joins us now. The president has been for a week or so in a talking mood.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He has been trying to build up some support as he heads into a second term for the many ambitious things Jeff just talked about in his piece.

We talked in our conversation about where we are in the war on terrorism, about what at least many would say are things that are wrong and were wrong in Iraq. I thought one of the more interesting points is when I asked the president if he could just do one thing, just one thing to improve our homeland security, our defense in the war on terror what would it be?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: The human intelligence, the ability to get inside somebody's mind, the ability to read somebody's mail, the ability to listen to somebody's phone call, that somebody being the enemy.

KING: Part of the threat comes from the desire to attack America that some obviously have and still have. You have spoken about working with your new Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on a public diplomacy campaign in the Muslim world.

I want to ask what you think has failed in that regard so far in the sense that the State Department did reach out and hire a Madison Avenue ad executive to try to help. You had an office of global communication here in the White House, at one point offices in London and Islamabad. We've created an Arab language television network paid for by the taxpayers in the United States. Where have we failed so far?

BUSH: The propagandists have done a better job of depicting America as a hateful place, a place wanting to impose our form of government on people and our religion on people and it's -- we're behind when it comes to selling our own story and telling people the truth about America.

KING: Do you ever worry that it's personal, fairly or unfairly that these groups have decided so long as you were president of the United States they will not change?

BUSH: You know, I don't know. I try not to take things personally in the political world. I can remember people condemning Ronald Reagan's decisions and I don't see how they could condemn him personally because he was such a good guy but he made some very difficult decisions, which happened to be right in retrospect and I believe the decisions I have made will end up making the world a better place. So, I don't take it personally when people are critical.

KING: You've talked about changing your language a bit in the second term that perhaps people found you too blunt when you said things like "dead or alive" about Osama bin Laden or "bring it on" in the early days of the Iraq insurgency. What about "with us or against us," that was a defining moment when you spoke about terrorism that countries around the world are either with us or against us? Some found that too black and white, too confrontational. Do you change that?

BUSH: Not at all. I mean we got to win and we got to make it clear that people have to make a choice and I'll be -- I will continue to be straightforward and plainspoken about my view that freedom is necessary for peace and that everybody deserves to be free. But, you're right, some of my language in the first four years was, you know, had an unintended consequence and I'm mindful of that. KING: About Iraq, obviously there's the debate about WMD. Some would say that there was perhaps a greater failing, either of intelligence or in planning in the idea of the troop levels going in or the statements from some of the administration that the Americans would be greeted as liberators. As you look back now was that an intelligence failing? Was there a misjudgment somehow in the planning?

BUSH: I think it was -- I think what you've just described is what normally happens in war is that some things happen that you don't expect and some things you expect don't happen and, for example, I can remember the briefings I had on what to do with mass refugee movements or hunger, you know what you would expect as a result of a military action, which did not take place.

What did take place was a very swift defeat of Saddam's army, which allowed some Ba'athists to head to the hills and then let them live to fight another day and that's what we're dealing with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Now this is a president who is against the family rules, Aaron, to brag but he clearly is happy and in an update mood right now. He was very mad when his father was denied a second term. I asked him if he felt vindicated, if there was a Bush family vindication now? He wouldn't touch that.

He said he doesn't want to make it personal but he was rather reflective in saying this time he wants to enjoy it and soak it in. He realizes there are no more campaigns. There will be no more inaugurations but, yes, he has a big speech to give but he says he also wants to enjoy it a bit.

BROWN: I thought that was an interesting comment. The other thing that jumped out at me is when you talked about the American image in the Islamic world. He sees it as essentially a PR problem.

We haven't been as good at selling our story and not a policy problem that a lot of people in that part of the world, whether it's the Palestinian-Israeli dispute or American support for some regimes that are hardly freedom loving regimes, is a real problem there and some would say much more so than the PR part of the problem.

KING: I think they understand that. I think they're wary about articulating it that way right now because this is a president who saw what Bill Clinton did in the Middle East with the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. He dabbled in it briefly once, sort of pulled back a little bit.

That will be a top priority for Condoleezza Rice once she is confirmed. She will try to get the Israelis and the Palestinians back at the table. Everyone will tell you, including in the Bush administration that if you can do that, you can at least rebut the arguments in the Arab world and in the Muslim world that we don't care about the Palestinians. The question is every president has been burned, this one a little bit and I think they're still a little wary about the whole thing.

BROWN: Thank you, John. It's good to see you back from Asia, John King our Senior White House Correspondent.

It was, as we said at the top, grindingly cold in Washington today, except perhaps for Condoleezza Rice, the president's nominee to be secretary of state who got a grilling by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Odds are she will get the job. We'd be shocked if she didn't. The Senate hasn't voted down a nominee since John Tower (ph) back in the '80s. That said, there were questions going in and questions today from morning until night.

Here's CNN's Andrea Koppel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Condoleezza Rice sought to highlight her new role as presidential adviser turned top U.S. diplomat.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE NOMINEE: The time for diplomacy is now.

KOPPEL: But Democrats quickly took her to task.

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: And the time for diplomacy, in my view, is long overdue.

KOPPEL: Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry grilled Rice on Iraq.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The current policy is growing the insurgency not diminishing it.

KOPPEL: And Kerry warned the January 30th elections could make things worse.

KERRY: The dynamics of the election could actually without the proper actions provide a greater capacity for civil war.

KOPPEL: Rice urged patience.

RICE: The political process, as you well know and you all know better than I, is one of coming to terms with divisions.

KOPPEL: California Democrat Barbara Boxer took the gloves off suggesting Rice deliberately hyped the Iraq threat and used the image of a nuclear mushroom cloud to scare the American people.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: This is my personal view that your loyalty to the mission you were given to sell this war overwhelmed your respect for the truth and I don't say it lightly.

RICE: I have to say that I have never, ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. It is not my nature. It is not my character.

BOXER: If you were rolling out a new product, like a can opener, who would care about what we said? But this product is a war and people are dead and dying.

RICE: Senator, I'm happy to continue the discussion but I really hope that you will not imply that I take the truth lightly.

KOPPEL: Known by some as the velvet hammer for her steely composure, Rice grew up in the segregated south. Now poised to become the first African American woman secretary of state, history was clearly on her mind.

RICE: I personally am indebted to those who fought and sacrificed in the civil rights movement so that I could be here today.

KOPPEL (on camera): During ten hours of tough questioning, Rice gave no ground and made no apologies but if she's confirmed as expected, Secretary of State Rice is sure to face many more days like this one.

Andrea Koppel, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And on the program tonight the checkered history of second terms, we'll talk with a pair of insiders who have watched a few up close.

And later, a corner of Washington where it matters very little whether it's a first or second term president, the problems run deeper than that.

From the nation's capital tonight, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Just about the time the dancing ends late Thursday night or more likely early Friday morning, the clock will begin ticking on George W. Bush's presidency. Not all second terms go badly but many seem to for a variety of reasons.

Two guests tonight with thoughts on the road ahead, Stephen Hayes who writes for "The Weekly Standard" and Leon Panetta, a former Congressman, former chief of staff for President Clinton. We're pleased to see them both.

Mr. Panetta, in brief the dangers that all second term presidents, Democrats or Republicans, face are?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER CLINTON CHIEF OF STAFF: Well there are several. First of all, there's just an energy level difference from the first term. When you first come in you're a new team. There are new ideas. There's change. It's all very invigorating.

Second term you've been there, it's a little, you know, it's hard to maintain the same energy level. Secondly, issues catch up with you in the second term. I mean you can't just blame past administrations for the problems that you're facing, so whether it's foreign policy or domestic policy or economic policy, these policies are now yours and you're going to take responsibility for them.

And lastly, you're a lame duck whether you like it or not and ultimately members of Congress are going to look at you and say four years he's not around. In four years I'm still around.

BROWN: With luck. One of the problems with second term presidents is often their best ideas they've run out in their first term. They come to the second term with less, not true here. The president has some big, bold, in some cases even radical visions for where he wants to take the country.

STEPHEN HAYES, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": I think that's right and it's important to note that in the first term I think the ideas that he had, the policies that he pursued were, as much as they were his they were also sort of thrust upon him with the events of September 11th, the need to defend the country, the need to dramatically change the intelligence services, things of that nature.

I think now he's looking to turn his attention to the domestic agenda in a certain sense with things like Social Security reform, which I don't think anybody would say is not a bold policy move.

BROWN: It's a huge policy move. Does it -- Mr. Panetta, does it become the equivalent of the Clinton health care plan to him? He's got all the chips on the table on this.

PANETTA: It's a dangerous and bold move. It has a lot of risk, as I think all of us know that dealt -- have tried to deal with Social Security because it still remains very much the third rail in politics. And so, having decided to take that on and, you know, very frankly Social Security does need to be dealt with.

If he's going to do it, he's going to have to really reach out and it's going to exercise tremendous leadership in order to get it done, if it's going to happen. Otherwise, it could hurt him. If he loses this battle, it will hurt his presidency.

BROWN: He can sell the idea. I think that Social Security needs to be dealt with. Where I think the battle comes, it's not like there's just one way to deal with it. There are a variety of ways to deal with it and selling his vision is where I think even with some Republicans, Stephen, it's going to get a little sticky.

HAYES: I think that's right. I mean I think there is skepticism in some Republican circles. I think in some -- for some Republicans it's because they're not sold on the policy. For others, they're worried about the politics, although I would disagree a little bit with Mr. Panetta in one respect.

I do think he has shown that Social Security is no longer the third rail of American politics. He campaigned on it twice now, more vigorously the second time and he's spoken in bold terms each time and I don't think it hurt him politically.

Now, if he doesn't succeed or if we don't make some progress towards coming up with a solution, whatever that solution may be, then it hurts him politically but I think in terms of campaigning he's shown that, in fact, it's no longer the third rail of American politics.

PANETTA: Well, but the problem is he hasn't really been frank about the hard choices.

BROWN: He's talked about one-half of the equation.

PANETTA: Yes, exactly. He's talked about creating these private accounts as kind of the answer to Social Security but he hasn't talked about how we're going to pay for it, what we're going to have to do on benefits, what we're going to have to do with regards to revenues.

BROWN: How does Iraq and how events play out in Iraq impact not just foreign policy, obviously they'll do that, but his ability to pass a domestic agenda?

PANETTA: I think it's big. I think, you know, he ran as a war president. I think Iraq is there. I think most people in this country now worry about what's going to happen there. They read about the deaths. They're impacted in many cases in their families.

I think they're worried about where that's headed and, to a large extent, whether Iraq ultimately stabilizes will determine, I think to a large measure, the success or failure of George Bush as a war president.

BROWN: Stephen, I think when we talked to your earlier you worried that he would be in foreign policy less bold, in fact, in the second term than he has been in the first. Do I remember that right?

HAYES: Well, I think one of the risks of the second term, as Mr. Panetta put it earlier, is that you have to -- these are your policies. You have to own them in a way that isn't necessarily the case in a first term and certainly wasn't the case necessarily with George W. Bush, given as I said the events of September 11th and the subsequent wars.

I think one of the concerns about a Bush second term is that he's made these bold statements. He's talked about the United Nations proving itself to be more than just a debating society. I mean, in fact, he threw down the gauntlet and said "You need to show that you're an effective organization."

Some would argue, I'm one of those, that the United Nations has, in fact, shown itself to be little more than a debating society and the president hasn't really called them on that I think. That's just one of the ways that I think he's going to -- the language from his first term is going to come back and show itself again in the second term.

BROWN: Nice to see you both. Have fun at whatever event you end up at.

PANETTA: Back to California.

BROWN: Back to California -- for the rest of the week. It's good to see you. Come back and see us. Thank you.

Still ahead tonight, after the tragedy in Beslan where hundreds of children were killed and wounded, what it takes to make our schools safe here at home.

And keeping watch in the windy city, one man's job to prepare in case of a terrorist attack, both part of tonight's coverage of "Defending America." We'll take a break first.

From Washington this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: On CNN's security watch tonight, when terrorists stormed a school in Beslan, Russia last September and took over 1,200 people hostage we watched and waited hoping for a peaceful resolution, three days later our worst fears and theirs realized.

After a horrible gunfight over 350 people died, many of them kids, 700 more wounded. That event puts security experts in this country into high gear, their job to make certain it did not happen here.

In our ongoing series on "Defending America," we have two stories tonight, beginning first with CNN's Jill Dougherty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Salem, Oregon, the state capital, a quiet town, one of the last places you'd think would attract the attention of terrorists. But last August, the Salem school district sent its head psychologist to a terrorism conference. There from an expert he heard a shocking warning.

JOHN VAN DREAL, DISTRICT THREAT ASSESSMENT: He actually made the prediction that the next big event he thought would be at a school and it was, I think, eight days later that the event in Russia took place.

DOUGHERTY: As she followed reports of the Beslan school attack, Salem Public School Superintendent Kay Baker worried.

KAY BAKER, SUPERINTENDENT, SALEM-KEISER PUBLIC SCHOOLS: You put yourself there. Then you put yourself in the place of that administrator that's there and those teachers that are there and the kids that are there and what -- how frightful that must be to them.

DOUGHERTY (on camera): The massacre in Beslan shocked parents, teachers and students around the world. Here in Salem, as in many towns across America, people ask themselves could it happen here? Are my children potential targets for terrorists? (voice-over): Then Superintendent Baker got a disturbing call from the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. troops in Iraq had found a computer disk with information on U.S. schools, including her district.

BAKER: There was the Salem Public Schools were on that disk and that's all we know.

DOUGHERTY: It turned out to be academic research, not an attack blueprint but it was another wake-up call. The Salem School District already had a well developed security plan in place but after all of this it revised and beefed up its planning.

JIM ADAMS, PRINCIPAL, CROSSLER MIDDLE SCHOOL: This is part of our security system. It's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

DOUGHERTY: At Salem's Crossler Middle School, for example, Principal Jim Adams tells me outsiders cannot enter without being buzzed in.

ADAMS: A little click and you're open.

DOUGHERTY: Surveillance cameras outside, electronic scanners inside, if there's a threat...

ADAMS: What we have here is an emergency lockdown card, so if we needed to lock down the building, what I would do is take this card out and, as you can see it says lockdown card, and we would use this in the case of an emergency. I would walk over to the door, open the door, find the scanner on the outside, scan it and our entire building would be locked down.

DOUGHERTY: Just immediately?

ADAMS: Immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you guys have your hall passes with you? Can I see them? Thanks, guys, appreciate it.

DOUGHERTY: The district schools also have campus monitors, like Ross Zeismer (ph) who patrol the corridors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where you at?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm on the second floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

DOUGHERTY: And uniformed armed police.

RAYMOND BYRD, SECURITY MANAGER, SALEM-KEISER PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I don't think that anybody can say that they're absolutely prepared for every situation but we have a plan that is in place and that we're prepared to work.

DOUGHERTY: Students in other school districts, however, may not be as lucky.

BAKER: Each school district makes it up as they go along. There is not a centralized clearinghouse, as you say, that we could all send our plans into.

DOUGHERTY: Carl Garner is a teacher, as well as a parent of five children. He still finds it hard to fathom how terrorists could target kids. His family, he says, was stunned by news of Beslan, Russia.

CARL GARNER, PARENT: At home with my kids as we were sitting there watching coverage that came on the news. And it was wow.

And I have this sign right here.

DOUGHERTY: And, yet, Garner has no illusions that his town, his school, his family is immune.

GARNER: I've very many times said to my wife, I'm glad we're here, instead of other places, because I know that there are systems in place to deal with crises that should occur, knowing full well that it's impossible to prevent everything from happening. It's just impossible in the world we live in.

DOUGHERTY: But there's a fine line between security and turning a school into a prison. Student Council members at West Salem High School say they feel comfortable with that balance.

CHRISTINE KRAMER, STUDENT: Knowing that there's an adult keeping an eye on that door all day makes me feel safe. Knowing that the officer's office is right near that door makes me feel safe.

DREW PHILLIPS, STUDENT: You come to school. You go to your classes. And folks in your -- are trying to get into colleges, but really it's something that, if you have the knowledge that things are being taken care of, it lets you not have to worry about it.

DOUGHERTY: When superintendent Kay Baker thinks about keeping her students out of harm's way, the balance is clear.

BAKER: If we're going to err in one way or other the other, we want to err on the side of being safe.

DOUGHERTY: In Salem, Oregon, in Beslan, Russia, the challenge is the same, keeping children safe, but giving them the freedom just to be kids.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Salem, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Big cities have always had someone in charge of emergencies. Mostly, they worried about a chemical spill here or a bad fire there. Today, they worry about a dirty bomb or poisons in the subway system. In the world of first-responders, they are in charge, in charge of planning, of imagining, in charge of worrying about all it takes to protect their city and defending America.

So, from Chicago tonight, here's CNN's Keith Oppenheim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How it's going, John?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chicago's Soldier Field. A man arrives with a question, and with him, it always seems to be the same one. What if?

RON HUBERMAN, CHICAGO OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MGT. & COMMUNICATIONS: What happens if you have got a full event going on here and we decide to do an emergency exit from here? How would that interact with the rest of the citywide evacuation plans?

OPPENHEIM: Ron Huberman is the executive director of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. And the way he sees it, it's his job to second-guess just about everything.

(on camera): Isn't it the nature of emergency response that you always have to be posing that next question and getting your people to do the same thing?

HUBERMAN: The reality is, when the emergency occurs, it's simply too late to being to ask the tough questions then.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): So the tough questions start early. At 6:00 a.m., Huberman calls his staff.

HUBERMAN: We may be implementing the extreme weather plan.

OPPENHEIM: Scanning papers and Web sites for any tidbit that might give him an edge.

HUBERMAN: Let's see if she can e-mail you those few slides for the PowerPoint for the boss tomorrow.

OPPENHEIM: He is constantly on the go and on the phone. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Ron Huberman was a Chicago cop for nine years. Just 33 years old, he is now leading an emergency staff of 800.

HUBERMAN: Hey, morning, everyone.

OPPENHEIM: Pushing them to a higher level of preparedness.

HUBERMAN: We are on extra alert for terrorist-related activity.

OPPENHEIM: This room is the nucleus of Chicago's security system, whereas, at any moment, staff monitor hundreds of surveillance cameras located throughout the city. Some cameras are hidden. All are focused on public places. Huberman's pride and joy, cameras that detect gunfire.

(on camera): The camera will respond to the sound? HUBERMAN: Yes, of the gunshot. And in the operation center, at OEMC, at our office, an alert goes off and then they're able to instantly view the image and respond. The camera actually instantly turns in the direction of the gunshot.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In this case, the camera turned directly in the direction of our interview.

HUBERMAN: Pan, tilt, zoom.

OPPENHEIM: Right.

HUBERMAN: All of that, they're able to control remotely.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): And the images were recorded. Huberman believes this technology is a major deterrent to crime, what he sees as the breeding ground of terrorism.

HUBERMAN: What our surveillance network of cameras do is put criminals, make them paranoid in a sense, because they are fearful that they'll be caught.

OPPENHEIM: Huberman's command of communications and technology give him a unique role in Chicago. While fire and police officials take charge of most emergencies...

HUBERMAN: What's the efficiency we're operating at right now?

OPPENHEIM: Ron Huberman and his team of coordinators would take the lead if a major disaster struck. It's called unified command, the mantra of Chicago Mayor Richard Daly and the method of avoiding confusion and crisis.

HUBERMAN: I have a very strong team of people who I work with in the whole emergency management community, which includes police and fire and other parts of government, and just making sure that everyone is on the same page, coordinated and focused on the mission.

OPPENHEIM: Now Huberman wants to bring live surveillance video directly to the computer screens of 911 dispatchers, who in some cases could actually see what a caller is telling them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have ears now. Now we're going to have eyes.

OPPENHEIM: In Ron Huberman's eyes, a city pumped up with cameras is like a workout routine, good for Chicago's health. To him, the technology is neither an invasion of privacy, nor a total answer. But when used well, he believes it sends a dual message, that citizens can be reassured and that terrorists will be stopped.

HUBERMAN: In these scary times, post-9/11, when a terrorist attack is always looming and always potentially ominous, it's important that we instill confidence in the population of our country that, as a government, we're prepared and we're ready and that we can truly ensure that we're as able to respond and as able to secure, certainly from my perspective, Chicago as we can be.

OPPENHEIM: Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still to come tonight, more disturbing pictures of alleged prisoner abuse in Iraq, this time not Americans at the center of it, and morning paper, as always.

From Washington, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: With only 12 days now until the election in Iraq, a deadly game of cat and mouse has developed between the insurgents and the candidates. Today, at least two candidates were gunned down. Now other candidates aren't telling anyone they're running, for fear of being assassinated.

Also today, a Roman Catholic archbishop who was captured yesterday was released.

And, in London, a trial is under way that definitely has a familiar ring.

From there, here's CNN's Walter Rodgers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The photographs of alleged Iraqi prisoner abuse by British soldiers have shocked this country, because the British have long believed their soldiers were the best, the most disciplined in the world.

Now this. Lance Corporal Darren Larkin is shown standing on a largely naked Iraqi captive. Another British soldier appears ready to punch a bound and blindfolded prisoner. Another Iraqi prison is shown here lashed to a forklift truck and left to dangle over a steep grade. In addition to images of physical abuse, there are other photographs of Iraqi prisoners allegedly forced by British soldiers to commit simulated sexual acts.

Britain's chief of defense staff had this to say.

SIR MIKE JACKSON, BRITISH CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF: We condemn utterly all acts of abuse. Where there is evidence of abuse, this is immediately investigated .

OPPENHEIM: The photographs were made public as three British soldiers appeared before a court-martial at a base in Germany. They face a total of 22 separate charges.

One of the royal fusiliers admitted to assault, but all claim they are not guilty of photographing and humiliating the Iraqis, offenses under the Geneva Conventions. Each of the soldiers also claims he was only following orders. They allege a senior officer ordered them to -- quote -- "work hard" Iraqi prisoners after a food storage depot was broken into and looted.

International human rights groups want a full investigation.

KATE ALLEN, DIRECTOR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL U.K.: What we are calling for is something that looks at how this happens, how far up the chain of command does this go, what is the culture that allows this to take place.

OPPENHEIM: During the American Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, the phrase culture of brutality gains currency. Now the British must wrestle with the same embarrassment, although preliminary indications are the British incidents occurred all at one time, and, unlike Abu Ghraib, there is no evidence of more widely spread prisoner abuse.

All of this came to light when photographs of the alleged prisoner abuse were sent for processing to this shop. Upon seeing them, a clerk called the police.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, a look at the other war, not fought in some far-off country, but about a mile or two from where we sit. Also tonight, we'll check morning papers from around the country, because this is NEWSNIGHT.

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BROWN: We spent a brief moment last night talking about the notion of distance here in Washington, not physical distance -- the metro gets you from one end of town to the other pretty well -- but all the other kinds.

The inauguration only underscores it, the distance between rich and poor, between protected and overlooked, between normal and the kind of normal too many young Washingtonians live and die with.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): In Washington, D.C., just down from the grand war memorials, there is a makeshift memorial to a war of a different kind.

MONTORIA FREELAND, MEMBER, HOLY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: There's a war going on right within our communities. Yes, there is a war on terrorism, but there's a war within -- amongst our children.

BROWN: A war with real casualties. This past year, 24 people under 18 were murdered in the district, more than double than the year before. But statistics don't tell the story. Statistics are not children. They don't hold funerals for statistics at Holy Christian Missionary Baptist Church in Northeast Washington nearly every Sunday.

REV. STEPHEN YOUNG, HOLY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: Just like from January to April, we had about 24 of homicides. Then they kind of slacked up, which I was kind of thankful, because I would get up on Sunday morning and tell our people, we don't have no funerals this week. They would just applaud. They would be happy.

YOUNG: No suffering can compare to eternal glory.

BROWN: No one is immune here. The Reverend Stephen Young has lost a brother and two sons to murder. He's grown weary of constant funerals, constant loss.

YOUNG: It never stops. It's just ongoing. "Pastor Young, my son got killed. Pastor Young, my father got killed. Pastor Young, my uncle got killed. Pastor Young, my mother, my sister, my daughter. It never stops."

TIARA BEVERLY, MEMBER, HOLY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: It happened so often, people started to feel like, oh, another person got that -- or something like that. My brother was killed. I miss him, and sometimes I'm just happy that he's not here struggling with life.

BROWN: Tiara Beverly's brother, Anthony Wilson Sr., was shot more than 20 times. That was three years ago. No one arrested. Her mother, Sandra Beverly, is still grieving and still angry.

SANDRA BEVERLY, MEMBER, HOLY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: Ripped my heart and my kids' soul out. And we see it every day. And we hear that it's smaller and younger people that are dying. And the pain is even dearer when it's a young person.

BROWN: This year, the church buried two of its youngest; 8-year- old Chelsea Cromartie was sitting in her living room when she was liked by a stray bullet. Princess Hansen, just 14, shot execution style after witnessing another murder.

They are remembered, along with dozens of others, on a wall of remembrance in the lobby of the church.

S. BEVERLY: My son's picture is on the wall, as well as all the members in Life After Homicide, their children, their loved ones, husbands, wives.

Anybody need any extra love? Anybody need any extra attention?

BROWN: Sandra Beverly leads Life After Homicide, a support group at the church. They meet every Wednesday night.

PELEANA LEWIS, LIFE AFTER HOMICIDE MEMBER: I lost my husband three years ago, and my husband's death has been tremendously tragic to me and my children. When my husband was taken away from me, a part of me was taken away. My heart was taken away.

TAWANDA TATUM, LIFE AFTER HOMICIDE MEMBER: It hurts when I talk about my son. Every morning, when I wake up, I go to my phone. I have a message on my phone that he left on the phone. I listen to that message three times a day, where I hear his voice. FREELAND: It's like no one is really dying from natural causes anymore. And that's terrifying. Unfortunately, it seems like it's a never-ending story.

BROWN: But at this church, a church so accustomed to death, if that is possible, people try to find grace where they can.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually thanked God the day of my son's funeral that he blessed me with 20 years with my son. And there's a lot of people that don't even -- their children don't even live that long, 1-year-old, to your 10-months-old. You know, so I had to thank God for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The nation's capital.

Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world.

We haven't seen "The Christian Science Monitor" of late, so that's where we'll start. "The Second Term Hopes and Hazards. As Bush Begins Second Term, He Joins Lofty Club With a History of Political Peril," as we discussed earlier. I like this story. We will spend some time on it next week. "Iraqi Expats Will Play Major Role in Election. Up to One Million Iraqis Outside the Country Expected to Vote."

I wonder how many actually have any intention of moving back to Iraq. And, if they don't, why are they voting? I don't know.

"Stars and Stripes." "1st A.D. Gets Notice of Likely Return to Iraq. Some Soldiers Say Orders Warn of New Deployment." Logical lead for "The Stars and Stripes."

"The Washington Times," this is interesting, how they led the Rice testimony today. Most people led it with Iraq. "Rice Targets Six Outposts of Tyranny. Secretary of State Pick Pledges to Protect the United States." Well, it would be a lead if she don't, wouldn't it? And two nice pictures, one where she looks quite tough and the other where she looks quite sweet, don't you think? That's "The Washington Times" today.

Oh, down here at the bottom, "Fatter Options Back on the Menu at Food Chains. Customer Support Cited." The Monster Thickburger with 1,400 calories back on the menu.

Just as I predicted, by the way, the Eagles trounced the Vikings over the weekend. And that's because "The Linc" -- that's Lincoln Financial Field -- "Gives Eagles a True Home-Field Advantage." That's the lead in "The Philadelphia Inquirer." I did say that last week, didn't I? I think I did.

"No Schedule For Iraq Exit" is the lead in "The Cincinnati Enquirer."

And one more before we get to the weather. "The Des Moines Register" leads local. "Bishop Accused of Abuse. Retired Now, He Was a Priest in Davenport, Iowa, in Diocese There in the '60s." That's a good local lead.

The weather tomorrow in Chicago, I'll take it for granted, "C- plus," they say in the "Chicago Sun-Times."

We'll wrap it up in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we leave you tonight, a quick look ahead to tomorrow, a night CNN will devote entirely to our series "Defending America." Our special coverage begins at 7:00 Eastern time. At 10:00, defending Los Angeles through the eyes of someone who knows the enemy quite literally firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MILLER, COMMANDING OFFICER, LAPD COUNTERTERRORISM BUREAU: I feel I understand bin Laden, and perhaps understand him more than others who are in this role in other places. Los Angeles encompasses some things that, if you are Osama bin Laden, goes to the heart of what you don't like about America, yet some of our favorite things about ourselves, in a word, Hollywood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That's John Miller in L.A. Frank Buckley did the reporting. A complete night of reporting, "Defending America," begins tomorrow, 7:00.

We'll see you tomorrow night. Good night from Washington.

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