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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's New War: Keeping the States Safe

Aired September 27, 2001 - 08:05   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.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: As we noted, President Bush traveling to Chicago today to unveil a new package of airline security measures. This an effort not only to convince Americans that it's safe to fly again, but also to try to boost the U.S. economy, the decline in the airline industry revenue having a ripple effect across the economy.

The president will travel on Air Force One, but his secretary of transportation, Norman Mineta, on a plane at this hour to Chicago, a commercial flight. Mr. Mineta saying he wanted to take that trip as a symbolic gesture to try to convince the American people it's safe to fly again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORMAN MINETA, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: And so we're trying to restore that kind of consumer confidence to be able to say, yes, air travel is safe. And I think given the number of people who are here at the airport at this early hour indicates that people themselves feel how safe it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Joining us now for more on this debate in a discussion about how best to beef up airport security -- excuse those sirens here in the Washington area -- is the governor of South Dakota, William Janklow.

Governor Janklow, thank you for joining us this morning. Prior to the president's

(CROSSTALK)

GOV. WILLIAM JANKLOW (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: Thank you very much.

KING: Thank you. I'm sorry for interrupting you there. Prior to the president's announcement, you took some steps in your state. Tell us specifically what you did, and what you're looking for now for additional steps from Washington.

JANKLOW: I'd be glad to do that. First of all, what I did was I ordered tactical units from the state and local governments. I put them under a unified command under some unique laws we have in South Dakota. I put tactical officers with side arms and automatic weapons dressed in their tactical uniforms, because I felt that it was incredibly important that our airplanes be safe, that the pilots and the crew be safe, and that our passengers be safe.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: One of the questions -- go ahead, sir.

JANKLOW: Yes, and in South Dakota -- you know, I don't know where trouble is going to launch from again in America, but I can tell you this: In my state, in my state, it's not going to be a launching pad for anybody. If a fight starts, our people are going to have automatic weapons. They are highly trained, they are highly skilled, and they'll use those weapons.

We understand that it's a war, and please understanding something: Where I come from, when you have a war, you don't take -- you don't arrest people and put them on trial. You kill the people that are the war mongers, and then after the war is over, you arrest and prosecute their leaders. But in war, you kill the people that are coming to kill you, and that's what we're going to do in South Dakota.

KING: Very tough words there, Governor. Help me understand the line. You're talking about a war. You're talking about automatic weapons. Some governors think, perhaps, use National Guard troops at airports.

But where is the line between convincing passengers they're safe and perhaps scaring them that if there are...

JANKLOW: Well, see...

KING: ... armed guards there perhaps there's a problem?

JANKLOW: No. Sir, this isn't a matter of scaring passengers. Passengers are scared now. Passengers have been scared to death, because of the events that they've seen transpire in America. And so what we're doing in South Dakota is we're putting ourselves into the position where we're going to make sure that the passengers know they're safe.

This isn't -- these aren't people that have automatic weapons who are going to spray them around the terminal. These are people that are highly trained, highly skilled and know how to use them. These aren't National Guard troops.

The National Guard troops, by and large, are not people that are trained in these kinds of tactics. These are special weapons and tactical people. They are SWAT team people. They are people that are trained to use these weapons, and the key thing is they are going to use them to protect the airplanes, the passengers and the crew -- something that hasn't been done adequately in America.

So it's not a matter of just giving people weapons and spraying them around the terminal. It's a matter of giving people weapons to kill folks that come that want to take over airplanes and fly them into a building, kill the passengers, kill the crew.

KING: Well, Governor, one thing that is not in the president's proposal today is allowing pilots to carry handguns. The pilot's union wants that. We are told -- senior administration officials tell us the president thinks that's a bad idea.

Do you think pilots should carry handguns?

JANKLOW: Yes, you know, let me put it this way, sir: About 70 to 80 percent, they tell me, of all of the pilots are former Marine Corp, Navy and Air Force pilots. They've had combat training with side arms. They've learned to use side arms. These aren't people that willy nilly go around shooting.

But let me tell you this: The tragic thing is is that in airplane hijackings all over the world, the only people that aren't armed are the people that are the victims. It's the enemy. It's the people that are at war with us -- the people that are at war with America. They come into airplanes armed, and that's why they're able to blow them up, that's why they're able to take them over, and that's why they're able to create these problems.

These pilots have got to have something for an equalizer, and I don't know what the big picture answer is, sir. That I don't know. But I can tell you this: People that know how to use side arms, people that are going to be the victims and have their throats slit, people that are going to be killed and crashed into buildings ought to have the right to protect themselves with their weapon if they know how to use it.

KING: Let me ask you, sir, as I listen to you speak today, you are obviously very interested, very animated, very angry about this.

JANKLOW: I am very angry.

KING: These terrorist strikes were in New York -- obviously a capital of capitalism, if you will, in this country -- and here just outside of Washington at the Pentagon. I mean, mostly likely your state, sir -- I love your state, I have been there many times in campaigns -- I think most of the American people would not think of South Dakota, a small state in the heartland, not a major metropolitan center, at being at risk of terrorism.

JANKLOW: Sure.

KING: Are we in a cultural transformation here, if you will? You're talking about war.

JANKLOW: Sir, who thought that a field in Pennsylvania was a place for terrorism? Who thought three weeks ago they'd be flying into the Pentagon? Whoever thought people would fly a planeload of innocent people into the World Trade Center?

This wasn't an attack by one army against another army -- one country formally with an army against another country. This war is against civilians. It's a war of terror, and I think everybody in America will have to respond, and we're gong to do our part.

It's not a matter of the center of capitalism in New York. My state is a center of capitalism. In every state it's a center of capitalism. It's the state -- every state is a state of America, but more than anything else, sir, we are people -- the legitimacy of all governments -- all governments has to becoming first of protecting the people. No government in the world that fails to protect its people can be legitimate.

We're going to protect them in South Dakota. As a matter of fact, I've asked -- I have offered to the administration that we will put armed marshals at state expense onto the airplanes that fly into and from South Dakota with federal training. I'm willing to provide the expense -- at South Dakota's expense to send them to the federal academies to have them highly trained by the U.S. Marshals, and then have them flying from my state to the airport out of state, and then coming back on every flight.

I think all 50 states ought to do this in a very coordinated manner. We're at war, and we've got to kill the enemy. We can't treat this as a joke. This is a serious matter.

KING: Well, Governor, lastly, a colleague of yours, the Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, is the president's choice to head this new cabinet-level agency, designed to look at many of the steps you're talking about: how to improve airport security, how to improve security of state.

Tell us your observations, your recommendations and your thoughts on Governor Ridge.

JANKLOW: Sir, I know Tom Ridge well. He's one of my very close friends as a governor. President Bush could not have picked a better person in America. He is going to do a phenomenal job.

This is a blue-collar Vietnam War hero, who went off and fought when his country asked him to fight, not because he wanted to, because they asked him to. He's got courage, he's got brains, he's got tenacity. He's going to do the best job of anybody in America. He's going to help pull this together, while we kill the enemy, so that we can get this world on to making peace. Now, that sounds crazy, but that's the crazy world we live in today, sir.

KING: Governor Bill Janklow of South Dakota -- sir, thank you for your thoughts this morning. We'll check in with you in the weeks and months ahead -- appreciate your joining us this morning on CNN.

JANKLOW: Thank you.

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