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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Defending America

Aired January 19, 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.
And this is a CNN Special Report "Defending America."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): L.A. was spared on 9/11 but remains in the crosshairs for a future terrorist attack.

JOHN MILLER, LAPD COUNTERTERRORISM BUREAU: Los Angeles encompasses some things that if you are Osama bin Laden goes to the heart of what you don't like about America.

BROWN: Tonight, meet LAPD's counterterrorism chief whose job it is to prevent attacks by conjuring up the unthinkable acts of terror.

And the Texas Gulf coast dotted with pipelines, refineries and chemical plants where a terrorist attack could cause unimaginable carnage, tonight one town's constant worry of having to wonder what if disaster strikes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know that the wolf is at the door. It may not be making sounds or anything like that but we know it's there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is a CNN Special Report, "Defending America." From our nation's capital here is Aaron Brown.

BROWN: Three and a half years ago our world changed. Had it not been for 9/11 we'd be spending this night outside in the cold in Washington talking about lots of things but I doubt homeland security would be one of them.

And while homeland security is not the only issue in our lives, it is clearly the central concern of our lives and of our government and it is the right way to spend this night before the inauguration.

Were there any doubt a story out of here and Boston tonight lays it to rest. We ought to caution we have only bits and pieces at this point but CNN's Dan Lothian joins us from Boston with what we do know, Dan good evening.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, good evening, Aaron.

I am at a bunker right next to a bunker where they have done essentially a partial activation of emergency officials in the State of Massachusetts. We're talking about fire. We're talking about police environmental units.

They're in place just in case anything happens but so far they have not had to respond to anything. What all eyes are looking out for, both federal, local and state officials, looking out for four Chinese nationals believed to be headed to this way described as potential terrorist suspects.

But what is so unusual about this story, certainly about this case, as even the governor himself pointed out tonight, is that so much of this story remains unclear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS: I would note that the nature of the threat that's been provided is an uncorroborated, unsubstantiated threat. The source is anonymous but it is specific in that it mentions a location where individuals were dropped off. The location is New York. It identifies also a location where a threat might be directed and the location is Boston.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: No official alert has been issued in the State of Massachusetts. The governor, though, urging everyone to be on the lookout, to be on guard but also urging the public not to panic -- Aaron.

BROWN: Dan, thank you, Dan Lothian who is in Boston.

The story out of Boston draws a line under a problem that will not go away as long as there's a border to the north and one to the south and the pure size of those borders all that open space is the principal challenge in many respects in defending America.

So, we begin in El Paso, Texas tonight with CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Laura Jimenez is a doorkeeper. Her post is at the Bridge of the Americas, which connects El Paso to Juarez, Mexico. Her job, she says, is like answering the door at home deciding who comes in and who stays out.

LAURA JIMENEZ, CUSTOMS AND BORDER INSPECTOR: You just never know when you're going to get that needle in the haystack.

LAVANDERA: Jimenez has worked the Texas-Mexico border the last eight years. She became a customs and border protection agent after spending the first part of her professional life working for a defense contractor.

Now she helps determine who gets special visas allowing free access inside the United States but the most important part of her job, she says, is making sure a villain doesn't slip through.

JIMENEZ: It's fun. For me it's fun when you actually can go in and pick, you know you pick up the bad people or trying to snag somebody away from trying to come in and do something vicious.

LAVANDERA: It's not lost on her that many of the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States legally. She knows every person who steps up to her window must be scrutinized.

JIMENEZ: We really don't rest. You can't -- you can't really take a back seat into thinking well I know this subject is the same. He's come in every day. You know he's not going to do anything. We don't know that.

LAVANDERA: Jimenez is trained to sniff out liars asking questions in a soft methodical manner. She studies movements, always listening.

JIMENEZ: Those things will give it away (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and we look for those kinds of things all the time, so we do study the person and their behavior and anything they may give us an inclination that there is something shady going on.

LAVANDERA: Jimenez and the other agents here know even the most intense vigilance won't keep out everyone who desperately wants in.

SERGIO ARAMBULA, BORDER PATROL AGENT: Echo unit 390, 390 (UNINTELLIGIBLE). We just had about six of them come across through there.

LAVANDERA: Border patrol agents here pick up hundreds of illegal immigrants every day. Agent Sergio Arambula asked this man why he's so nervous. Arambula has worked the border ten years. He relies on the latest fingerprint and facial image technology to learn about those who have been captured.

ARAMBULA: We take all ten fingerprints, thumbs, palms everything and then it's submitted to the FBI network.

LAVANDERA: Arambula can instantly get a person's criminal background and a list of when and where that person had made other attempts to cross into the country. It was this man's first attempt. If he's captured again, the government will know all about him, even if he's captured in California.

ARAMBULA: They won't be honest or forthright with their information so they'll come and give you false names, whatever, but this one takes a lot of the guesswork out.

LAVANDERA: The agents like to say fingerprints don't lie.

(on camera): Customs and border protection rolled out the fingerprint and facial technology toward the end of last year. In the first three months, border patrol agents caught more than 23,000 people trying to sneak back into the United States who were wanted on criminal charges.

(voice-over): More than 50 million people cross the El Paso bridges every year. Agents check what they can but they can't inspect every car in detail. At the end of the day, every border agent will tell you it's impossible to keep everyone out. It's the nature of illegal immigration. Seal up one weak spot, another will open.

JIMENEZ: Time to head home and make dinner.

LAVANDERA: That doesn't mean Laura Jimenez is giving up.

JIMENEZ: They're very creative. They're very inventive. They're very crafty. They're very good but I like to think that we're better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See you later.

JIMENEZ: Catch you later.

LAVANDERA: Jimenez ends another shift but the doorkeeper knows the knocking on the border door never ends.

Ed Lavandera CNN, El Paso, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And now to Los Angeles, the central character in this story is a character indeed, a former colleague and before that a top local news reporter in New York. His beat was crime and truth be told he drove the competition crazy.

Someone once said John Miller was so focused on what he did he sometimes got to the crime scene before the criminals, a good talent to have in the job he's doing now; from Los Angeles tonight, CNN's Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been hit hard by fires and floods.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grab the rope, grab it tight.

BUCKLEY: Earthquakes and riots but it's the disaster Los Angeles hasn't experienced, a major terror attack that keeps the LAPD's counterterrorism Chief John Miller on full alert.

(on camera): Do you believe that we will be attacked here in Los Angeles?

MILLER: I believe that Los Angeles is as high a threat a city as New York or Washington.

BUCKLEY (voice-over): Which is one reason why Los Angeles area agencies drill together on all manner of potential attacks from dirty bomb drills, like this one, to deadly chemicals released in a shopping mall, to a terrorist takeover at LAX, to a hijacking at L.A.'s port.

They've gamed out what could happen and how police and other agencies would respond but Miller says it's the attack they haven't anticipated that robs him of his sleep. MILLER: Three times a week, you know, I'll be laying in bed in the middle of the night and think of some version of some combination of attacks that we hadn't thought of before and we'll trot that in here to our hazmat people or to our intelligence people and say, "What about this?"

LAVANDERA: You might have seen his face before. He was anchor on ABC's "20/20." One of his biggest interviews the man in the picture on the wall, long before 9/11, Miller tracked down and interviewed Osama bin Laden.

MILLER: 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.

BUCKLEY: Miller says bin Laden shapes his work. So, too, does this man Ahmed Rasam (ph), an al Qaeda trained terrorist convicted of a plot to blow up parts of LAX as America celebrated the Millennium.

But Miller is quick to say he's not the only counterterror official in Los Angeles and the LAPD is only one of several agencies charged with preventing or responding to the next potential plot. In fact it's L.A.'s multiple agencies in a county of 88 cities who have gained a national reputation for working together against terror.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Your efforts and examples show the nation a level of cooperation, coordination and communication that reflects the urgency of our challenge to prevent a terrorist attack and respond to any emergency.

BUCKLEY: The same multi-agency approach L.A. brought to disasters it is applying to terror.

SANDRA HUTCHENS, L.A. SHERIFF'S HOMELAND SECURITY: We've had the fires, the floods, the earthquakes, the riots and by necessity we have worked together and, as a result, have a very strong relationship.

BUCKLEY: Potential rivals, like the FBI, the Sheriff's Department and the LAPD work shoulder-to-shoulder. Intelligence is shared. Equipment is purchased in consultation with surrounding cities to reduce redundancy.

HUTCHENS: If we have an event, we're going to be responding as a region.

BUCKLEY: It's not only L.A.'s cooperative approach against terror that's been recognized by national officials, it's the innovations.

(on camera): This LAPD bomb truck an example of that new technology. It's a total containment vessel that's been designed to handle chemical, biological or radiological devices.

In older versions of this truck in the event of an explosion the air would have vented out. You don't want that with a chemical, biological or radiological device because that would contaminate the outside air, so this truck has been modified.

Newer technology, like the truck, is used in combination with somewhat older technology like this robot that can be remotely operated from a safe distance by bomb squad members. This robot can actually place the explosive device inside that truck.

(voice-over): And there's this.

DET. PAUL ROBI, LAPD BOMB TECHNICIAN: It's the only remote- controlled forklift of its kind in the country, so if you had to go down range it's capable of actually picking up a large vehicle bomb and driving off with it.

BUCKLEY: Another innovation a microscope in a suitcase designed in response to the anthrax scares.

MILLER: Our hazmat people using this microscope can actually send pictures from the scene right back to the lab. They can assess what they're looking at through the microscope and say "This is non- dairy creamer. It's sugar. It's baking soda. It's definitely not anthrax or anything else hazardous" without blocking off any streets, evacuating any buildings or turning life upside down the way we used to have to.

BUCKLEY: The LAPD also has Boomer, a first of its kind, according to the department, a K9 that works off leash at an airport, his handler demonstrating how Boomer is trained to find people with explosives strapped to their bodies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If a human being were packing explosives, like a suicide bomber, Boomer would alert to that. Boomer, come.

BUCKLEY: Human officers, meanwhile...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're looking for a major body count.

BUCKLEY: ...are focusing on a new joint effort with the Department of Homeland Security called Archangel, a program that will eventually be offered across the nation. Just last week, officers began training on how to inventory the hundreds of high priority, high risk potential targets in Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're looking for the major, oh my God locations on a large scale.

BUCKLEY: Eventually an incident commander will be able to call up detailed tactical information on a threatened site with a decision maker, maybe even in the White House situation room on the same page thousands of miles away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can literally do it at the stroke of a key, anytime, any day, anywhere.

BUCKLEY: Which also happens to be when terror could strike again.

MILLER: The terrorists don't think in the terms that we think in. They don't think from year to year or fiscal year to fiscal year or election year to election year. They think in terms of a long time battle.

BUCKLEY: It is a battle in which Miller, the former journalist, is now fully engaged as a combatant.

MILLER: It is not the critic who counts, according to Teddy Roosevelt. It's the person who is actually in the arena doing the job. I feel a lot better leaving the critic's desk and getting into the arena.

BUCKLEY: Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Here in Washington, as you can imagine, security is remarkably intense. A drive over from our office to the Capitol normally takes seven, eight, nine minutes. It took almost 30 minutes tonight.

But here at the Capitol itself the security preparations have long been completed and the work tonight is considerably more prosaic. They've been sweeping snow off the Capitol, off the steps, off the platform all day and they continue to do it tonight, straightening things up for the events of tomorrow, the president taking the oath of office for the second time delivering his second inaugural address to the nation and, because he is the President of the United States, to the world.

Ahead on "Defending America" tonight, what some are calling the key to the kingdom, the one document that lets a terrorist build a completely legitimate identity.

And later, the men and women defending America by patrolling the Internet, a break first.

From Washington, this is a CNN Special Report, "Defending America."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There's something very American, not to mention very human, about seeking grand solutions to big problems but history often shows it pays to think small instead.

Not long ago, one Middle Eastern country solved a chunk of its terrorism problem by fixing up young gunmen with guerillas, fixing them up with dates. They got married, settled down, put down their guns but the same token, small things, unexpected things can open the door to terrorism. In this case, not marriage licenses, driver's licenses.

Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERIFF TERRY JOHNSON, ALAMANCE CO., NORTH CAROLINA: And you can see somebody's been into that plastic and taped over it. That's not a legit consulate card. That's been handwritten. This picture had been replaced. No stamp whatever on this passport, printed off of a computer. It's not the real deal.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fake and altered documents, all used to try to obtain North Carolina driver's licenses often successfully.

JOHNSON: That is the key to the kingdom. That will also be the key that will bring the kingdom down if we don't do something.

MESERVE: Alamance County, North Carolina Sheriff Terry Johnson has been fighting crime for 30 years. He says a license once issued gives a legitimate identity to a criminal or worse.

JOHNSON: They could get an airplane ticket and they'll be able to get on an airplane showing the driver's license. They could even get a pilot's license, like some of those individuals in 9/11 did and crash into our Twin Towers.

MESERVE: In the past year at this one small North Carolina motor vehicle office, Johnson and his deputies have caught more than 125 people trying to use fraudulent documents to get licenses.

Now, do you believe that any of these people who have come to this DMV and gotten a license are terrorists?

JOHNSON: I don't know and that's the problem.

MESERVE: Johnson says people come from as far away as New York to exploit North Carolina's licensing procedures. We watched one man present a Mexican passport as identification.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is expired, okay. It's 2004 and you have no visa, no INS stamp. I've got to have something that can go along with this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I can use. This is mandatory, so I've got to have something else. Do you have a utility bill or anything like that?

MESERVE: The sheriff checks his identification and finds it is authentic. Though the man admits to being in the United States illegally, North Carolina had already given him one license.

JOHNSON: Have you ever had a driver's license?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now my driver's license is suspended.

JOHNSON: Suspended.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

JOHNSON: The North Carolina driver's license? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

JOHNSON: And why are they suspended?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have one DUI.

JOHNSON: One DUI but yet you drove here anyway.

MESERVE: The stringency of licensing requirements varies. Though 40 states require a driver's license applicant to prove he is in the country legally, North Carolina does not.

To establish identity and North Carolina residency, the Department of Motor Vehicles accepts some documents that have been rejected by other states as unreliable and some that are easily forged or falsified. The DMV says it is tightening up with new technology and anti-fraud training for employees.

GEORGE TATUM, COMM., NORTH CAROLINA DMV: We feel like we are on the right road to providing a very secure system in North Carolina in the issuance of driver's license.

MESERVE: Sheriff Johnson hasn't seen the impact yet.

JOHNSON: We arrested one guy that had six different North Carolina driver's licenses in six different names. That tells you how easy it is.

MESERVE: Johnson believes homeland security is only as strong as its weakest link and, as he sees it, one of the weak links is right here in North Carolina.

JOHNSON: The government has got to open its eyes.

MESERVE: Jeanne Meserve CNN, Alamance County, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: By rights the illegal immigrant in the report you just saw ought not have been in the country at all but finding him and deporting him falls to the federal, not local authorities. That's one side of an equation that's neither easy nor simple to solve.

CNN's Jeffrey Toobin has some thoughts on the other side of the equation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: The biggest legal change as a result of 9/11 is that the rights of immigrants and aliens have really been cut back. There are more deportations, less procedural protections and they're the ones whose rights have changed far more than the rights of any American citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: Just ahead lifelines and the life blood, guarding the country's rail system, thousands of miles of it and protecting the oil supply one vulnerable refinery at a time, all part of defending America.

From Washington, D.C. on the eve of a great celebration of democracy this is a CNN Special Report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Washington, the White House on this eve of the inauguration. The president and his family were out tonight. They went to the Black Tie and Boots Ball, a Texas celebration. The president spoke briefly.

Tomorrow he speaks to the country and the world and, of course, you'll hear it here on CNN.

Before 9/11, before Madrid, America's railways and trains, fair to say, were not front burner issues from a national security point of view. That, of course, has changed. The question now whether the railways that helped make America what it is might also be one of the weakest links in our security now.

Here's CNN's Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to the potential for a terrorist attack on the railways, George Gavalla calls himself a realist.

GEORGE GAVALLA, FMR. ASSOC. ADMINISTRATOR, FRA: There's a potential for 100,000 casualties. It could be catastrophic.

JOHNS: Gavalla, until recently a federal railroad administration official, is worried about the hazardous material that travels through highly populated urban areas across the nation every day.

GAVALLA: It's not possible to guard against any terrorist attack anywhere in the country at any time but it is possible to have targeted security efforts to target those areas that are most vulnerable that have the highest potential risk of terrorist attacks.

JOHNS: Here in Washington, just five blocks from the Capitol on the tracks where Gavalla began his career 29 years ago, such a disaster may have been averted. After a long battle between city officials and the railroads, trains carrying the most dangerous cargo have been quietly re-routed away from the nation's capital.

But that's not a realistic option in many other places, a point brought home in South Carolina this month when an accident spewed chlorine gas into the air with deadly results.

GAVALLA: The way the rail system developed there's many areas where cities grew up because railroads were there, so the main and best tracks go through these populated areas and it's just not feasible to build an entire new railroad system to circumvent some of these areas.

JOHNS: More feasible, Gavalla says, is to minimize the risk by training railroad workers to spot and quickly react to potential threats.

GAVALLA: One of the key elements of the plans is to have the railroad workers, the hundreds of thousands of railroad workers across the country be the eyes and ears for the rail industry about security issues.

JOHNS: Gavalla says the major railroads have developed such security plans but the question is whether what's on paper has been put into action.

GAVALLA: How well are the employees trained to detect unauthorized people or suspicious persons? What kind of mechanisms, what kind of security response do the railroads have? Do they have sufficient security personnel to respond to these things?

JOHNS: Last New Year's Eve, with the U.S. on high alert for a terrorist strike, Gavalla checked on security measures in Las Vegas, one of the cities widely reported as a possible target.

GAVALLA: What I did is, I ordered one of our railroad safety inspectors to go to this city and monitor just what actions the railroad would implement of its security plan to make sure they were properly implemented. And we found that virtually nothing was done. Our inspector was dressed very inconspicuously, wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt, didn't look anything like a government official, and walked right up to railroad trains, to tank cars.

JOHNS: The railroad in question says it received no complaints of anything unusual that day. The Railroads Association says what would have been unusual was for a rail employee to challenge the presence of a government inspector, regardless of how he's dressed.

Gavalla admits he doesn't know what happened to Las Vegas rail security since he left the government earlier this year. The industry says it's made many security improvements nationwide since 9/11, but doesn't disclose all of them because doing so would tip off potential attackers. But Gavalla insists railway workers need enough information to know what their jobs are if they're to be the first line of defense.

GAVALLA: In some instances, we know of cases where employees actually went to railroad managers at facilities and said, can we see the plans or can we -- tell us what we're supposed to do? And they were told, well, you really have to wait until we implement the plan, until there's an incident, before we'll let know what you're supposed to do. That was unacceptable.

JOHNS: And more than three years after 9/11, Gavalla says many railroad employees are still waiting for those plans.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Nine-eleven was a blunt reminder that the ordinary fixtures of life can also become the instruments of terror. Time has a way of making the urgent less so. So, how well do we really remember the lessons of 9/11?

Here now, Stephen Flynn, the author of America the vulnerable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN FLYNN, AUTHOR, "AMERICA THE VULNERABLE": I think what shocks me the most is the fact that America has gotten back into its complacency, that 9/11 is viewed almost as if it were an isolated event, that we don't -- we are treating the war on terror as if it can be just an away game, that we can deal with it over there and not confront it here.

We've forgotten, it seems to be, that 9/11 was, the terrorists were here. They didn't import a weapon of mass destruction. They converted something we depended upon, airplanes, and turned it into one, and that many of the costs that have come from that, beyond the horrific loss of life, have been things we've done to ourselves because we were spooked.

And the fact that are not still and went through a presidential campaign without either major candidate talking about those issues in an adult-like fashion to the American people to me is astonishing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Stephen Flynn.

Still to come tonight, how prepared are we for an attack on the country's many oil refineries?

And meet the new minutemen and women patrolling the endless borders of cyberspace.

A CNN special report, "Defending America," continues in a moment from Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: American flag flying in a gentle breeze on a chilly night here in Washington; 55 times, the country has celebrated this peaceful transition of power or continuation of power. We've done it in times of great wars and small wars, of economic prosperity and bad economic times, of political divisiveness and great unity. We'll do it again tomorrow. And CNN's coverage will begin bright and early in the morning.

U.S. airlines are still feeling the aftershocks of 9/11. Some have gone bankrupt. Others are nearly so. That piece of the fallout from the attacks gives rise to this question: What other potential targets are attractive because of their economic value? So, our next stop tonight is Baytown, Texas.

Here's CNN's Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): People here call this the sound of money. But it is also the sound of danger. The oil industry pumps billions of dollars into the economy of Baytown. Thirty miles east of Houston, the landscape is dotted with refineries and chemical plants run by several corporations like Exxon Mobile. And with oil and gas lines everywhere, the petrochemical coast is a rich target for terrorists.

ASSISTANT CHIEF BERNARD OLIVE, BAYTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT: We know that the wolf is at the door. It may not be making sounds or anything like that but we know it's there.

HENRY: Meet Assistant Fire Chief Bernard Olive, Baytown's emergency coordinator. He has 70,000 lives on his shoulders. It weighs on him.

(on camera): Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and worry about the horrific scenarios?

OLIVE: Sometimes I don't go to sleep at night thinking about some of the scenarios.

HENRY (voice-over): But people here are stoic. They're used to playing and praying in the shadow of refineries. Chief Olive had a detailed playbook for dealing with disaster long before last week's streamlined national response plan from the Department of Homeland Security.

OLIVE: The federal government, when they get here, they'll be welcomed with open arms, believe me. But until that time arrives we have a duty to our citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine-one-one. Your emergency?

HENRY: In an attack, the mobilization starts with a dispatch call to first responders and an SOS to officials.

GARY JACKSON, CITY MANAGER: We have a command and control meeting in our emergency operation center.

HENRY: Later this year, the city will have a modern command center. For now, it's makeshift. Everyone at this table has a role, from the police chief to health officials who are ready for mass injuries or worse.

JACK PITCOCK, EMS DIVISION MANAGER: We would work with -- with our -- with Harris County medical examiner's office. We'd also work with our local funeral homes.

HENRY: They'd scramble a new hazmat truck bought with federal money and keep in close touch with industry officials. PATTY FOWLER, ASSISTANT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR: It's partnership. We handle what we do best and we let them handle what they do best.

HENRY: The head of the parks department would have his staff direct traffic away from the disaster scene and bus people to shelters.

SCOTT JOHNSON, PARKS AND RECREATION: We're able to get people out really quick.

HENRY: Olive can't designate shelter locations in advance, because he has to make sure they're not in the danger zone. He'd prefer to pick schools instead of churches, because houses of worship have fewer bathrooms.

(on camera): No detail is too small in Chief Olive's plan. He even has a veterinarian on call to deal with pets. The department would use this truck and seven others just like it to race around town, rescuing as many dogs, cats and even horses as possible.

(voice-over): He's also stockpiled necessities.

OLIVE: Toilet paper, hand soap, diapers, everything.

HENRY: No plan is perfect but the chief is driven to a devotion to firefighting, like his grandfather and a love of this community that runs through his veins like the oil that runs through the pipelines.

OLIVE: I've been in Baytown 55 years. It's -- my family is here. My friends are here. My church is here. Everything is here. I'm one of them. And I want them to know me as a citizen as well as an emergency management coordinator. Because a lot of times, they'll tell you things over a plate of barbecue that they wouldn't tell you, say, in my office.

HENRY: So, this, too, is part of the job, judging at a chili cook off. And the key to sampling 31 pieces of meat?

OLIVE: Little, little bites and lots of crackers.

HENRY: Chief Bernard Olive brings the same no nonsense approach to his work. As a boy, he met John Wayne, who was filming Hell Fighters in these very oil fields.

He still marvels at the duke's swagger, and maybe a little bit of that has stayed with them.

OLIVE: Hopefully, our citizens in Baytown won't have to put up with excuses. They'll see performance. And that's what -- that's why I guess some people might have the, you know, thought that I might be a little rough. But I believe in performance. I don't believe in excuses.

HENRY: Ed Henry, CNN, Baytown, Texas. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: There are all sorts of people, aren't there, who are out there defending the country right now? It's perhaps the most difficult challenge of the new normal. How do you train for the unknown? Having enough first-responders is one thing. But the next time terror strikes, will they know what to do?

Some thoughts on that now from CNN security analyst Richard Falkenrath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: The real question is, do we have enough trained emergency personnel? We have enough emergency personnel. There's no question we've got enough firemen and police and emergency managers. The question is, are they really trained to deal with the highest-consequence sorts of terrorist contingencies?

And there, the answer is probably no. They're trained well to deal with the things that happen routinely, so, earthquakes and floods and major crime situations. But for things that either happen very rarely, like a bombing, or have never happened at all, like a major biological terrorist attack, they're really not trained well enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Still to come from the U.S. Capitol tonight, bits and bites, cat and mouse, perhaps even life and death.

We'll take a break first. This is a CNN special report, "Defending America."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: On the Internet, it's said, nobody knows you're a dog or a terrorist or, as it happens, a terrorist's nightmare.

With that, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Somewhere deep in the heartland of America...

ANNIE, CYBER SPY: You will wear the coat and you will wear it zipped up.

Let's see if you washed her face. Get your coat on.

GUTIERREZ: ... a citizen warrior starts her day.

ANNIE: There's your buddy. Have a good day.

GUTIERREZ: Call her Annie. She won't reveal her real name, her kids' faces or even where they live, because by day, this 49-year-old woman is a stay-at-home mom. But by night, her mundane life in the burbs becomes a hunt for terrorists.

ANNIE: I am getting ready to visit some Islamic extremist militant forums.

GUTIERREZ: Annie the housewife becomes Annie the cyber spy.

ANNIE: These are a few of my favorite forums.

GUTIERREZ: Trolling sites she never knew existed.

ANNIE: Al Ansar, Castle Forum.

GUTIERREZ: Annie says she looks for suspicious postings and monitors live forums for ominous chatter into the wee hours of the morning.

(on camera) You don't speak Arabic? You don't read it.

ANNIE: Now, but we use software programs to translate it.

Ah, here we go.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Within minutes, Annie shows me step-by- step instructions for a suicide bomb belt and how to detonate explosives with a cell phone.

ANNIE: There's assassinations, recruiting, training.

GUTIERREZ: But Annie is mainly interested in the talk that goes on between extremists, whom she says use code words and hymns to hide messages.

ANNIE: They also can insert pictures on their boards, and inside those pictures are embedded files.

GUTIERREZ: It's a sophisticated cat and mouse game. The government shuts the sites down, but they just pop up again.

ANNIE: We have several FBI contacts. We have the CIA, the Secret Service.

GUTIERREZ: Annie and a half-dozen citizens from Canada to Singapore formed the group Phoenix Global Intelligence. They decipher information. Anything sensitive is turned over to authorities.

(on camera): But what if they say that they're not trained intelligence people? They don't even speak the language?

ANNIE: No. We're sort of like a global neighborhood watch program. And after 9/11, what did they tell you? Don't be afraid to call and report anything suspicious. That's what we're doing.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The group claims cryptic electronic messages on the Internet that they intercepted warned of attacks in advance, like the explosion outside of the Al Arabiya television station in central Baghdad. Seven people were killed, 19 wounded.

ANNIE: We had intercepted messages two weeks before they were bombed.

GUTIERREZ: Taba, Egypt, terrorists attacked the Hilton Hotel last October. Thirty-four tourists die in the bloodbath.

ANNIE: There was another one that happened after we read it online.

GUTIERREZ: Riyadh City, May 2003, cars packed with explosives detonate in three residential complexes. Thirty-five people are killed, including nine Americans.

ANNIE: There was information submitted to the FBI almost directly down to the time and location.

GUTIERREZ: We contacted the Office of Homeland Security and the FBI. Neither agency would comment on the citizen group or any tips they may have provided.

Computer security expert Clifford Neuman says private citizens can be extra eyes for the government, but they don't typically have the technology to crack codes.

PROF. CLIFFORD NEUMAN, COMPUTER SECURITY EXPERT: If you're looking at communications that are going on within a terrorist network, it is unlikely that a private citizen is going to see those communications or be able to understand those communications.

GUTIERREZ: But before you write Annie and her group off as wanna-be spies with too much time on their hands, one of the members, a mother from Montana, did help catch a wanna-be al Qaeda. She was a key witness in the government's case against a National Guardsman.

(on camera): Where was his mistake?

ANNIE: Probably posting on the Internet.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Posing as an Algerian extremist, Shannon Ross Miller exchanged e-mails with Ryan G. Anderson, a Muslim convert. In the e-mails, Anderson, part of a tank crew, promised to reveal U.S. vulnerabilities. Anderson was convicted of attempted treason and sentenced to life.

ANNIE: He responded to coming to a jihad and he didn't know he was talking to. He didn't ever stop to think, Who is this person I'm talking to?

GUTIERREZ: Annie says she has the perfect cover.

ANNIE: My family supports me. My mother, she's 80 and doesn't approve, of course.

GUTIERREZ: She says no one would suspect a Midwestern housewife working after-hours as a cyber spy. Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, somewhere in the Midwest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: As we said, there are all sorts of people defending America tonight. There was a headline today on the wires. "Americans Split," it read, "Over the President," whether he's a uniter or a divider. Funny? A bit. And serious. CNN's Bob Novak thinks so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT NOVAK, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": I think the unity of the country is the most important thing. A lot of people talk about how divided America is, but it's -- someone in a foreign country would say -- would have a hard time distinguishing between Republicans and Democrats, although we find ourselves so divided. But it's really a unified country, particularly when it comes down to facing down the terrorists who mean to really destroy the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The president was out and about a bit here in Washington on the eve of his second inauguration. We'll hear from him in a moment, a cold night outside, but warm enough inside for the crowd from Texas, which the president joined.

We'll wrap up our special report in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE O'DONOGHUE, ICE FANTASIES: They call me Ice, Joey Ice, Crazy Joe. Mostly Iceman. Nobody calls me by my right name.

I'm Joe O'Donoghue. And I'm an ice sculptor here in New York. We're at my studio in Brooklyn.

Come on in.

The name of my company is Ice Fantasies Incorporated. We're a 12-year-old company now. I own and operate it with my assistants. There's another person that works for me that isn't considered an artist.

You know, the swan on the table is becoming a thing of the past. Now if you want a Harley-Davidson, you know, we'll make you a good one. The majority of my work is photo-styling and ice props and sets and stages. I have got quite an interesting client list.

Martha Stewart.

(r)MD-BO¯MARTHA STEWART, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: Joe can turn any landscape into a wintry wonderland.

O'DONOGHUE: We got Nike, the Canadian Consulate. Everything's theatrical with ice. The minute you start touching it, it's started the show.

From Rosie O'Donnell.

ROSIE O'DONNELL, COMEDIAN: This is more beautiful than I had ever imagined.

O'DONOGHUE: What's cool about my work, that it isn't sitting still, just being its end result, that it's constantly changing itself, like the world and the planet and the people around us are always changing.

I won't do anything but ice for the rest of my life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am looking forward to talking to the country and really speaking to the world. And here's what I am going to say. I say, we love freedom in America. And everybody deserves to be free.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BUSH: And I know that, when this world becomes more free, the world will become more peaceful.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The president tonight.

A two-hour NEWSNIGHT wrapping up the day tomorrow. We'll see you then. Until then, good night for all of us.

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 19, 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.
And this is a CNN Special Report "Defending America."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): L.A. was spared on 9/11 but remains in the crosshairs for a future terrorist attack.

JOHN MILLER, LAPD COUNTERTERRORISM BUREAU: Los Angeles encompasses some things that if you are Osama bin Laden goes to the heart of what you don't like about America.

BROWN: Tonight, meet LAPD's counterterrorism chief whose job it is to prevent attacks by conjuring up the unthinkable acts of terror.

And the Texas Gulf coast dotted with pipelines, refineries and chemical plants where a terrorist attack could cause unimaginable carnage, tonight one town's constant worry of having to wonder what if disaster strikes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know that the wolf is at the door. It may not be making sounds or anything like that but we know it's there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is a CNN Special Report, "Defending America." From our nation's capital here is Aaron Brown.

BROWN: Three and a half years ago our world changed. Had it not been for 9/11 we'd be spending this night outside in the cold in Washington talking about lots of things but I doubt homeland security would be one of them.

And while homeland security is not the only issue in our lives, it is clearly the central concern of our lives and of our government and it is the right way to spend this night before the inauguration.

Were there any doubt a story out of here and Boston tonight lays it to rest. We ought to caution we have only bits and pieces at this point but CNN's Dan Lothian joins us from Boston with what we do know, Dan good evening.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, good evening, Aaron.

I am at a bunker right next to a bunker where they have done essentially a partial activation of emergency officials in the State of Massachusetts. We're talking about fire. We're talking about police environmental units.

They're in place just in case anything happens but so far they have not had to respond to anything. What all eyes are looking out for, both federal, local and state officials, looking out for four Chinese nationals believed to be headed to this way described as potential terrorist suspects.

But what is so unusual about this story, certainly about this case, as even the governor himself pointed out tonight, is that so much of this story remains unclear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS: I would note that the nature of the threat that's been provided is an uncorroborated, unsubstantiated threat. The source is anonymous but it is specific in that it mentions a location where individuals were dropped off. The location is New York. It identifies also a location where a threat might be directed and the location is Boston.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: No official alert has been issued in the State of Massachusetts. The governor, though, urging everyone to be on the lookout, to be on guard but also urging the public not to panic -- Aaron.

BROWN: Dan, thank you, Dan Lothian who is in Boston.

The story out of Boston draws a line under a problem that will not go away as long as there's a border to the north and one to the south and the pure size of those borders all that open space is the principal challenge in many respects in defending America.

So, we begin in El Paso, Texas tonight with CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Laura Jimenez is a doorkeeper. Her post is at the Bridge of the Americas, which connects El Paso to Juarez, Mexico. Her job, she says, is like answering the door at home deciding who comes in and who stays out.

LAURA JIMENEZ, CUSTOMS AND BORDER INSPECTOR: You just never know when you're going to get that needle in the haystack.

LAVANDERA: Jimenez has worked the Texas-Mexico border the last eight years. She became a customs and border protection agent after spending the first part of her professional life working for a defense contractor.

Now she helps determine who gets special visas allowing free access inside the United States but the most important part of her job, she says, is making sure a villain doesn't slip through.

JIMENEZ: It's fun. For me it's fun when you actually can go in and pick, you know you pick up the bad people or trying to snag somebody away from trying to come in and do something vicious.

LAVANDERA: It's not lost on her that many of the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States legally. She knows every person who steps up to her window must be scrutinized.

JIMENEZ: We really don't rest. You can't -- you can't really take a back seat into thinking well I know this subject is the same. He's come in every day. You know he's not going to do anything. We don't know that.

LAVANDERA: Jimenez is trained to sniff out liars asking questions in a soft methodical manner. She studies movements, always listening.

JIMENEZ: Those things will give it away (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and we look for those kinds of things all the time, so we do study the person and their behavior and anything they may give us an inclination that there is something shady going on.

LAVANDERA: Jimenez and the other agents here know even the most intense vigilance won't keep out everyone who desperately wants in.

SERGIO ARAMBULA, BORDER PATROL AGENT: Echo unit 390, 390 (UNINTELLIGIBLE). We just had about six of them come across through there.

LAVANDERA: Border patrol agents here pick up hundreds of illegal immigrants every day. Agent Sergio Arambula asked this man why he's so nervous. Arambula has worked the border ten years. He relies on the latest fingerprint and facial image technology to learn about those who have been captured.

ARAMBULA: We take all ten fingerprints, thumbs, palms everything and then it's submitted to the FBI network.

LAVANDERA: Arambula can instantly get a person's criminal background and a list of when and where that person had made other attempts to cross into the country. It was this man's first attempt. If he's captured again, the government will know all about him, even if he's captured in California.

ARAMBULA: They won't be honest or forthright with their information so they'll come and give you false names, whatever, but this one takes a lot of the guesswork out.

LAVANDERA: The agents like to say fingerprints don't lie.

(on camera): Customs and border protection rolled out the fingerprint and facial technology toward the end of last year. In the first three months, border patrol agents caught more than 23,000 people trying to sneak back into the United States who were wanted on criminal charges.

(voice-over): More than 50 million people cross the El Paso bridges every year. Agents check what they can but they can't inspect every car in detail. At the end of the day, every border agent will tell you it's impossible to keep everyone out. It's the nature of illegal immigration. Seal up one weak spot, another will open.

JIMENEZ: Time to head home and make dinner.

LAVANDERA: That doesn't mean Laura Jimenez is giving up.

JIMENEZ: They're very creative. They're very inventive. They're very crafty. They're very good but I like to think that we're better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See you later.

JIMENEZ: Catch you later.

LAVANDERA: Jimenez ends another shift but the doorkeeper knows the knocking on the border door never ends.

Ed Lavandera CNN, El Paso, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And now to Los Angeles, the central character in this story is a character indeed, a former colleague and before that a top local news reporter in New York. His beat was crime and truth be told he drove the competition crazy.

Someone once said John Miller was so focused on what he did he sometimes got to the crime scene before the criminals, a good talent to have in the job he's doing now; from Los Angeles tonight, CNN's Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been hit hard by fires and floods.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grab the rope, grab it tight.

BUCKLEY: Earthquakes and riots but it's the disaster Los Angeles hasn't experienced, a major terror attack that keeps the LAPD's counterterrorism Chief John Miller on full alert.

(on camera): Do you believe that we will be attacked here in Los Angeles?

MILLER: I believe that Los Angeles is as high a threat a city as New York or Washington.

BUCKLEY (voice-over): Which is one reason why Los Angeles area agencies drill together on all manner of potential attacks from dirty bomb drills, like this one, to deadly chemicals released in a shopping mall, to a terrorist takeover at LAX, to a hijacking at L.A.'s port.

They've gamed out what could happen and how police and other agencies would respond but Miller says it's the attack they haven't anticipated that robs him of his sleep. MILLER: Three times a week, you know, I'll be laying in bed in the middle of the night and think of some version of some combination of attacks that we hadn't thought of before and we'll trot that in here to our hazmat people or to our intelligence people and say, "What about this?"

LAVANDERA: You might have seen his face before. He was anchor on ABC's "20/20." One of his biggest interviews the man in the picture on the wall, long before 9/11, Miller tracked down and interviewed Osama bin Laden.

MILLER: 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.

BUCKLEY: Miller says bin Laden shapes his work. So, too, does this man Ahmed Rasam (ph), an al Qaeda trained terrorist convicted of a plot to blow up parts of LAX as America celebrated the Millennium.

But Miller is quick to say he's not the only counterterror official in Los Angeles and the LAPD is only one of several agencies charged with preventing or responding to the next potential plot. In fact it's L.A.'s multiple agencies in a county of 88 cities who have gained a national reputation for working together against terror.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Your efforts and examples show the nation a level of cooperation, coordination and communication that reflects the urgency of our challenge to prevent a terrorist attack and respond to any emergency.

BUCKLEY: The same multi-agency approach L.A. brought to disasters it is applying to terror.

SANDRA HUTCHENS, L.A. SHERIFF'S HOMELAND SECURITY: We've had the fires, the floods, the earthquakes, the riots and by necessity we have worked together and, as a result, have a very strong relationship.

BUCKLEY: Potential rivals, like the FBI, the Sheriff's Department and the LAPD work shoulder-to-shoulder. Intelligence is shared. Equipment is purchased in consultation with surrounding cities to reduce redundancy.

HUTCHENS: If we have an event, we're going to be responding as a region.

BUCKLEY: It's not only L.A.'s cooperative approach against terror that's been recognized by national officials, it's the innovations.

(on camera): This LAPD bomb truck an example of that new technology. It's a total containment vessel that's been designed to handle chemical, biological or radiological devices.

In older versions of this truck in the event of an explosion the air would have vented out. You don't want that with a chemical, biological or radiological device because that would contaminate the outside air, so this truck has been modified.

Newer technology, like the truck, is used in combination with somewhat older technology like this robot that can be remotely operated from a safe distance by bomb squad members. This robot can actually place the explosive device inside that truck.

(voice-over): And there's this.

DET. PAUL ROBI, LAPD BOMB TECHNICIAN: It's the only remote- controlled forklift of its kind in the country, so if you had to go down range it's capable of actually picking up a large vehicle bomb and driving off with it.

BUCKLEY: Another innovation a microscope in a suitcase designed in response to the anthrax scares.

MILLER: Our hazmat people using this microscope can actually send pictures from the scene right back to the lab. They can assess what they're looking at through the microscope and say "This is non- dairy creamer. It's sugar. It's baking soda. It's definitely not anthrax or anything else hazardous" without blocking off any streets, evacuating any buildings or turning life upside down the way we used to have to.

BUCKLEY: The LAPD also has Boomer, a first of its kind, according to the department, a K9 that works off leash at an airport, his handler demonstrating how Boomer is trained to find people with explosives strapped to their bodies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If a human being were packing explosives, like a suicide bomber, Boomer would alert to that. Boomer, come.

BUCKLEY: Human officers, meanwhile...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're looking for a major body count.

BUCKLEY: ...are focusing on a new joint effort with the Department of Homeland Security called Archangel, a program that will eventually be offered across the nation. Just last week, officers began training on how to inventory the hundreds of high priority, high risk potential targets in Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're looking for the major, oh my God locations on a large scale.

BUCKLEY: Eventually an incident commander will be able to call up detailed tactical information on a threatened site with a decision maker, maybe even in the White House situation room on the same page thousands of miles away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can literally do it at the stroke of a key, anytime, any day, anywhere.

BUCKLEY: Which also happens to be when terror could strike again.

MILLER: The terrorists don't think in the terms that we think in. They don't think from year to year or fiscal year to fiscal year or election year to election year. They think in terms of a long time battle.

BUCKLEY: It is a battle in which Miller, the former journalist, is now fully engaged as a combatant.

MILLER: It is not the critic who counts, according to Teddy Roosevelt. It's the person who is actually in the arena doing the job. I feel a lot better leaving the critic's desk and getting into the arena.

BUCKLEY: Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Here in Washington, as you can imagine, security is remarkably intense. A drive over from our office to the Capitol normally takes seven, eight, nine minutes. It took almost 30 minutes tonight.

But here at the Capitol itself the security preparations have long been completed and the work tonight is considerably more prosaic. They've been sweeping snow off the Capitol, off the steps, off the platform all day and they continue to do it tonight, straightening things up for the events of tomorrow, the president taking the oath of office for the second time delivering his second inaugural address to the nation and, because he is the President of the United States, to the world.

Ahead on "Defending America" tonight, what some are calling the key to the kingdom, the one document that lets a terrorist build a completely legitimate identity.

And later, the men and women defending America by patrolling the Internet, a break first.

From Washington, this is a CNN Special Report, "Defending America."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There's something very American, not to mention very human, about seeking grand solutions to big problems but history often shows it pays to think small instead.

Not long ago, one Middle Eastern country solved a chunk of its terrorism problem by fixing up young gunmen with guerillas, fixing them up with dates. They got married, settled down, put down their guns but the same token, small things, unexpected things can open the door to terrorism. In this case, not marriage licenses, driver's licenses.

Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERIFF TERRY JOHNSON, ALAMANCE CO., NORTH CAROLINA: And you can see somebody's been into that plastic and taped over it. That's not a legit consulate card. That's been handwritten. This picture had been replaced. No stamp whatever on this passport, printed off of a computer. It's not the real deal.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fake and altered documents, all used to try to obtain North Carolina driver's licenses often successfully.

JOHNSON: That is the key to the kingdom. That will also be the key that will bring the kingdom down if we don't do something.

MESERVE: Alamance County, North Carolina Sheriff Terry Johnson has been fighting crime for 30 years. He says a license once issued gives a legitimate identity to a criminal or worse.

JOHNSON: They could get an airplane ticket and they'll be able to get on an airplane showing the driver's license. They could even get a pilot's license, like some of those individuals in 9/11 did and crash into our Twin Towers.

MESERVE: In the past year at this one small North Carolina motor vehicle office, Johnson and his deputies have caught more than 125 people trying to use fraudulent documents to get licenses.

Now, do you believe that any of these people who have come to this DMV and gotten a license are terrorists?

JOHNSON: I don't know and that's the problem.

MESERVE: Johnson says people come from as far away as New York to exploit North Carolina's licensing procedures. We watched one man present a Mexican passport as identification.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is expired, okay. It's 2004 and you have no visa, no INS stamp. I've got to have something that can go along with this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I can use. This is mandatory, so I've got to have something else. Do you have a utility bill or anything like that?

MESERVE: The sheriff checks his identification and finds it is authentic. Though the man admits to being in the United States illegally, North Carolina had already given him one license.

JOHNSON: Have you ever had a driver's license?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now my driver's license is suspended.

JOHNSON: Suspended.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

JOHNSON: The North Carolina driver's license? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

JOHNSON: And why are they suspended?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have one DUI.

JOHNSON: One DUI but yet you drove here anyway.

MESERVE: The stringency of licensing requirements varies. Though 40 states require a driver's license applicant to prove he is in the country legally, North Carolina does not.

To establish identity and North Carolina residency, the Department of Motor Vehicles accepts some documents that have been rejected by other states as unreliable and some that are easily forged or falsified. The DMV says it is tightening up with new technology and anti-fraud training for employees.

GEORGE TATUM, COMM., NORTH CAROLINA DMV: We feel like we are on the right road to providing a very secure system in North Carolina in the issuance of driver's license.

MESERVE: Sheriff Johnson hasn't seen the impact yet.

JOHNSON: We arrested one guy that had six different North Carolina driver's licenses in six different names. That tells you how easy it is.

MESERVE: Johnson believes homeland security is only as strong as its weakest link and, as he sees it, one of the weak links is right here in North Carolina.

JOHNSON: The government has got to open its eyes.

MESERVE: Jeanne Meserve CNN, Alamance County, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: By rights the illegal immigrant in the report you just saw ought not have been in the country at all but finding him and deporting him falls to the federal, not local authorities. That's one side of an equation that's neither easy nor simple to solve.

CNN's Jeffrey Toobin has some thoughts on the other side of the equation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: The biggest legal change as a result of 9/11 is that the rights of immigrants and aliens have really been cut back. There are more deportations, less procedural protections and they're the ones whose rights have changed far more than the rights of any American citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: Just ahead lifelines and the life blood, guarding the country's rail system, thousands of miles of it and protecting the oil supply one vulnerable refinery at a time, all part of defending America.

From Washington, D.C. on the eve of a great celebration of democracy this is a CNN Special Report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Washington, the White House on this eve of the inauguration. The president and his family were out tonight. They went to the Black Tie and Boots Ball, a Texas celebration. The president spoke briefly.

Tomorrow he speaks to the country and the world and, of course, you'll hear it here on CNN.

Before 9/11, before Madrid, America's railways and trains, fair to say, were not front burner issues from a national security point of view. That, of course, has changed. The question now whether the railways that helped make America what it is might also be one of the weakest links in our security now.

Here's CNN's Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to the potential for a terrorist attack on the railways, George Gavalla calls himself a realist.

GEORGE GAVALLA, FMR. ASSOC. ADMINISTRATOR, FRA: There's a potential for 100,000 casualties. It could be catastrophic.

JOHNS: Gavalla, until recently a federal railroad administration official, is worried about the hazardous material that travels through highly populated urban areas across the nation every day.

GAVALLA: It's not possible to guard against any terrorist attack anywhere in the country at any time but it is possible to have targeted security efforts to target those areas that are most vulnerable that have the highest potential risk of terrorist attacks.

JOHNS: Here in Washington, just five blocks from the Capitol on the tracks where Gavalla began his career 29 years ago, such a disaster may have been averted. After a long battle between city officials and the railroads, trains carrying the most dangerous cargo have been quietly re-routed away from the nation's capital.

But that's not a realistic option in many other places, a point brought home in South Carolina this month when an accident spewed chlorine gas into the air with deadly results.

GAVALLA: The way the rail system developed there's many areas where cities grew up because railroads were there, so the main and best tracks go through these populated areas and it's just not feasible to build an entire new railroad system to circumvent some of these areas.

JOHNS: More feasible, Gavalla says, is to minimize the risk by training railroad workers to spot and quickly react to potential threats.

GAVALLA: One of the key elements of the plans is to have the railroad workers, the hundreds of thousands of railroad workers across the country be the eyes and ears for the rail industry about security issues.

JOHNS: Gavalla says the major railroads have developed such security plans but the question is whether what's on paper has been put into action.

GAVALLA: How well are the employees trained to detect unauthorized people or suspicious persons? What kind of mechanisms, what kind of security response do the railroads have? Do they have sufficient security personnel to respond to these things?

JOHNS: Last New Year's Eve, with the U.S. on high alert for a terrorist strike, Gavalla checked on security measures in Las Vegas, one of the cities widely reported as a possible target.

GAVALLA: What I did is, I ordered one of our railroad safety inspectors to go to this city and monitor just what actions the railroad would implement of its security plan to make sure they were properly implemented. And we found that virtually nothing was done. Our inspector was dressed very inconspicuously, wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt, didn't look anything like a government official, and walked right up to railroad trains, to tank cars.

JOHNS: The railroad in question says it received no complaints of anything unusual that day. The Railroads Association says what would have been unusual was for a rail employee to challenge the presence of a government inspector, regardless of how he's dressed.

Gavalla admits he doesn't know what happened to Las Vegas rail security since he left the government earlier this year. The industry says it's made many security improvements nationwide since 9/11, but doesn't disclose all of them because doing so would tip off potential attackers. But Gavalla insists railway workers need enough information to know what their jobs are if they're to be the first line of defense.

GAVALLA: In some instances, we know of cases where employees actually went to railroad managers at facilities and said, can we see the plans or can we -- tell us what we're supposed to do? And they were told, well, you really have to wait until we implement the plan, until there's an incident, before we'll let know what you're supposed to do. That was unacceptable.

JOHNS: And more than three years after 9/11, Gavalla says many railroad employees are still waiting for those plans.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Nine-eleven was a blunt reminder that the ordinary fixtures of life can also become the instruments of terror. Time has a way of making the urgent less so. So, how well do we really remember the lessons of 9/11?

Here now, Stephen Flynn, the author of America the vulnerable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN FLYNN, AUTHOR, "AMERICA THE VULNERABLE": I think what shocks me the most is the fact that America has gotten back into its complacency, that 9/11 is viewed almost as if it were an isolated event, that we don't -- we are treating the war on terror as if it can be just an away game, that we can deal with it over there and not confront it here.

We've forgotten, it seems to be, that 9/11 was, the terrorists were here. They didn't import a weapon of mass destruction. They converted something we depended upon, airplanes, and turned it into one, and that many of the costs that have come from that, beyond the horrific loss of life, have been things we've done to ourselves because we were spooked.

And the fact that are not still and went through a presidential campaign without either major candidate talking about those issues in an adult-like fashion to the American people to me is astonishing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Stephen Flynn.

Still to come tonight, how prepared are we for an attack on the country's many oil refineries?

And meet the new minutemen and women patrolling the endless borders of cyberspace.

A CNN special report, "Defending America," continues in a moment from Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: American flag flying in a gentle breeze on a chilly night here in Washington; 55 times, the country has celebrated this peaceful transition of power or continuation of power. We've done it in times of great wars and small wars, of economic prosperity and bad economic times, of political divisiveness and great unity. We'll do it again tomorrow. And CNN's coverage will begin bright and early in the morning.

U.S. airlines are still feeling the aftershocks of 9/11. Some have gone bankrupt. Others are nearly so. That piece of the fallout from the attacks gives rise to this question: What other potential targets are attractive because of their economic value? So, our next stop tonight is Baytown, Texas.

Here's CNN's Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): People here call this the sound of money. But it is also the sound of danger. The oil industry pumps billions of dollars into the economy of Baytown. Thirty miles east of Houston, the landscape is dotted with refineries and chemical plants run by several corporations like Exxon Mobile. And with oil and gas lines everywhere, the petrochemical coast is a rich target for terrorists.

ASSISTANT CHIEF BERNARD OLIVE, BAYTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT: We know that the wolf is at the door. It may not be making sounds or anything like that but we know it's there.

HENRY: Meet Assistant Fire Chief Bernard Olive, Baytown's emergency coordinator. He has 70,000 lives on his shoulders. It weighs on him.

(on camera): Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and worry about the horrific scenarios?

OLIVE: Sometimes I don't go to sleep at night thinking about some of the scenarios.

HENRY (voice-over): But people here are stoic. They're used to playing and praying in the shadow of refineries. Chief Olive had a detailed playbook for dealing with disaster long before last week's streamlined national response plan from the Department of Homeland Security.

OLIVE: The federal government, when they get here, they'll be welcomed with open arms, believe me. But until that time arrives we have a duty to our citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine-one-one. Your emergency?

HENRY: In an attack, the mobilization starts with a dispatch call to first responders and an SOS to officials.

GARY JACKSON, CITY MANAGER: We have a command and control meeting in our emergency operation center.

HENRY: Later this year, the city will have a modern command center. For now, it's makeshift. Everyone at this table has a role, from the police chief to health officials who are ready for mass injuries or worse.

JACK PITCOCK, EMS DIVISION MANAGER: We would work with -- with our -- with Harris County medical examiner's office. We'd also work with our local funeral homes.

HENRY: They'd scramble a new hazmat truck bought with federal money and keep in close touch with industry officials. PATTY FOWLER, ASSISTANT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR: It's partnership. We handle what we do best and we let them handle what they do best.

HENRY: The head of the parks department would have his staff direct traffic away from the disaster scene and bus people to shelters.

SCOTT JOHNSON, PARKS AND RECREATION: We're able to get people out really quick.

HENRY: Olive can't designate shelter locations in advance, because he has to make sure they're not in the danger zone. He'd prefer to pick schools instead of churches, because houses of worship have fewer bathrooms.

(on camera): No detail is too small in Chief Olive's plan. He even has a veterinarian on call to deal with pets. The department would use this truck and seven others just like it to race around town, rescuing as many dogs, cats and even horses as possible.

(voice-over): He's also stockpiled necessities.

OLIVE: Toilet paper, hand soap, diapers, everything.

HENRY: No plan is perfect but the chief is driven to a devotion to firefighting, like his grandfather and a love of this community that runs through his veins like the oil that runs through the pipelines.

OLIVE: I've been in Baytown 55 years. It's -- my family is here. My friends are here. My church is here. Everything is here. I'm one of them. And I want them to know me as a citizen as well as an emergency management coordinator. Because a lot of times, they'll tell you things over a plate of barbecue that they wouldn't tell you, say, in my office.

HENRY: So, this, too, is part of the job, judging at a chili cook off. And the key to sampling 31 pieces of meat?

OLIVE: Little, little bites and lots of crackers.

HENRY: Chief Bernard Olive brings the same no nonsense approach to his work. As a boy, he met John Wayne, who was filming Hell Fighters in these very oil fields.

He still marvels at the duke's swagger, and maybe a little bit of that has stayed with them.

OLIVE: Hopefully, our citizens in Baytown won't have to put up with excuses. They'll see performance. And that's what -- that's why I guess some people might have the, you know, thought that I might be a little rough. But I believe in performance. I don't believe in excuses.

HENRY: Ed Henry, CNN, Baytown, Texas. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: There are all sorts of people, aren't there, who are out there defending the country right now? It's perhaps the most difficult challenge of the new normal. How do you train for the unknown? Having enough first-responders is one thing. But the next time terror strikes, will they know what to do?

Some thoughts on that now from CNN security analyst Richard Falkenrath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: The real question is, do we have enough trained emergency personnel? We have enough emergency personnel. There's no question we've got enough firemen and police and emergency managers. The question is, are they really trained to deal with the highest-consequence sorts of terrorist contingencies?

And there, the answer is probably no. They're trained well to deal with the things that happen routinely, so, earthquakes and floods and major crime situations. But for things that either happen very rarely, like a bombing, or have never happened at all, like a major biological terrorist attack, they're really not trained well enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Still to come from the U.S. Capitol tonight, bits and bites, cat and mouse, perhaps even life and death.

We'll take a break first. This is a CNN special report, "Defending America."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: On the Internet, it's said, nobody knows you're a dog or a terrorist or, as it happens, a terrorist's nightmare.

With that, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Somewhere deep in the heartland of America...

ANNIE, CYBER SPY: You will wear the coat and you will wear it zipped up.

Let's see if you washed her face. Get your coat on.

GUTIERREZ: ... a citizen warrior starts her day.

ANNIE: There's your buddy. Have a good day.

GUTIERREZ: Call her Annie. She won't reveal her real name, her kids' faces or even where they live, because by day, this 49-year-old woman is a stay-at-home mom. But by night, her mundane life in the burbs becomes a hunt for terrorists.

ANNIE: I am getting ready to visit some Islamic extremist militant forums.

GUTIERREZ: Annie the housewife becomes Annie the cyber spy.

ANNIE: These are a few of my favorite forums.

GUTIERREZ: Trolling sites she never knew existed.

ANNIE: Al Ansar, Castle Forum.

GUTIERREZ: Annie says she looks for suspicious postings and monitors live forums for ominous chatter into the wee hours of the morning.

(on camera) You don't speak Arabic? You don't read it.

ANNIE: Now, but we use software programs to translate it.

Ah, here we go.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Within minutes, Annie shows me step-by- step instructions for a suicide bomb belt and how to detonate explosives with a cell phone.

ANNIE: There's assassinations, recruiting, training.

GUTIERREZ: But Annie is mainly interested in the talk that goes on between extremists, whom she says use code words and hymns to hide messages.

ANNIE: They also can insert pictures on their boards, and inside those pictures are embedded files.

GUTIERREZ: It's a sophisticated cat and mouse game. The government shuts the sites down, but they just pop up again.

ANNIE: We have several FBI contacts. We have the CIA, the Secret Service.

GUTIERREZ: Annie and a half-dozen citizens from Canada to Singapore formed the group Phoenix Global Intelligence. They decipher information. Anything sensitive is turned over to authorities.

(on camera): But what if they say that they're not trained intelligence people? They don't even speak the language?

ANNIE: No. We're sort of like a global neighborhood watch program. And after 9/11, what did they tell you? Don't be afraid to call and report anything suspicious. That's what we're doing.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The group claims cryptic electronic messages on the Internet that they intercepted warned of attacks in advance, like the explosion outside of the Al Arabiya television station in central Baghdad. Seven people were killed, 19 wounded.

ANNIE: We had intercepted messages two weeks before they were bombed.

GUTIERREZ: Taba, Egypt, terrorists attacked the Hilton Hotel last October. Thirty-four tourists die in the bloodbath.

ANNIE: There was another one that happened after we read it online.

GUTIERREZ: Riyadh City, May 2003, cars packed with explosives detonate in three residential complexes. Thirty-five people are killed, including nine Americans.

ANNIE: There was information submitted to the FBI almost directly down to the time and location.

GUTIERREZ: We contacted the Office of Homeland Security and the FBI. Neither agency would comment on the citizen group or any tips they may have provided.

Computer security expert Clifford Neuman says private citizens can be extra eyes for the government, but they don't typically have the technology to crack codes.

PROF. CLIFFORD NEUMAN, COMPUTER SECURITY EXPERT: If you're looking at communications that are going on within a terrorist network, it is unlikely that a private citizen is going to see those communications or be able to understand those communications.

GUTIERREZ: But before you write Annie and her group off as wanna-be spies with too much time on their hands, one of the members, a mother from Montana, did help catch a wanna-be al Qaeda. She was a key witness in the government's case against a National Guardsman.

(on camera): Where was his mistake?

ANNIE: Probably posting on the Internet.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Posing as an Algerian extremist, Shannon Ross Miller exchanged e-mails with Ryan G. Anderson, a Muslim convert. In the e-mails, Anderson, part of a tank crew, promised to reveal U.S. vulnerabilities. Anderson was convicted of attempted treason and sentenced to life.

ANNIE: He responded to coming to a jihad and he didn't know he was talking to. He didn't ever stop to think, Who is this person I'm talking to?

GUTIERREZ: Annie says she has the perfect cover.

ANNIE: My family supports me. My mother, she's 80 and doesn't approve, of course.

GUTIERREZ: She says no one would suspect a Midwestern housewife working after-hours as a cyber spy. Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, somewhere in the Midwest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: As we said, there are all sorts of people defending America tonight. There was a headline today on the wires. "Americans Split," it read, "Over the President," whether he's a uniter or a divider. Funny? A bit. And serious. CNN's Bob Novak thinks so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT NOVAK, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": I think the unity of the country is the most important thing. A lot of people talk about how divided America is, but it's -- someone in a foreign country would say -- would have a hard time distinguishing between Republicans and Democrats, although we find ourselves so divided. But it's really a unified country, particularly when it comes down to facing down the terrorists who mean to really destroy the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The president was out and about a bit here in Washington on the eve of his second inauguration. We'll hear from him in a moment, a cold night outside, but warm enough inside for the crowd from Texas, which the president joined.

We'll wrap up our special report in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE O'DONOGHUE, ICE FANTASIES: They call me Ice, Joey Ice, Crazy Joe. Mostly Iceman. Nobody calls me by my right name.

I'm Joe O'Donoghue. And I'm an ice sculptor here in New York. We're at my studio in Brooklyn.

Come on in.

The name of my company is Ice Fantasies Incorporated. We're a 12-year-old company now. I own and operate it with my assistants. There's another person that works for me that isn't considered an artist.

You know, the swan on the table is becoming a thing of the past. Now if you want a Harley-Davidson, you know, we'll make you a good one. The majority of my work is photo-styling and ice props and sets and stages. I have got quite an interesting client list.

Martha Stewart.

(r)MD-BO¯MARTHA STEWART, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: Joe can turn any landscape into a wintry wonderland.

O'DONOGHUE: We got Nike, the Canadian Consulate. Everything's theatrical with ice. The minute you start touching it, it's started the show.

From Rosie O'Donnell.

ROSIE O'DONNELL, COMEDIAN: This is more beautiful than I had ever imagined.

O'DONOGHUE: What's cool about my work, that it isn't sitting still, just being its end result, that it's constantly changing itself, like the world and the planet and the people around us are always changing.

I won't do anything but ice for the rest of my life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am looking forward to talking to the country and really speaking to the world. And here's what I am going to say. I say, we love freedom in America. And everybody deserves to be free.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BUSH: And I know that, when this world becomes more free, the world will become more peaceful.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The president tonight.

A two-hour NEWSNIGHT wrapping up the day tomorrow. We'll see you then. Until then, good night for all of us.

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