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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Strikes Back: New York City Heightens Security Further

Aired October 08, 2001 - 07:54   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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI (R), NEW YORK CITY: We've deployed a lot more police officers, 4,500 National Guard. We have them at what we call sensitive locations, the places that you might think somebody might want to do something with. And then we also have them at the entrances and exits to the city so that we can have checkpoints and at the airport. Essentially, it involves deploying a lot more uniformed officers that are armed, National Guard, and then staying in close contact with the Joint Terrorism Task Force that's made up of the FBI and police. So we pick up any specific intelligence that may exist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: For those of you who have been watching over the last couple of weeks, a familiar face. The mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, talking about all the tightened security here. They've gone to even greater efforts right now after the first wave of U.S. led military strikes in Afghanistan.

CNN's Martin Savidge joins us live from Times Square with at latest on new security measures -- Martin, I think what we need to do is make it very clear the city is not in a lockdown mode this morning, is it?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it is not. And that is the first thing that New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said to reassure the people of New York immediately after the strikes became known. He said that despite what had been some reports in the media that there would be a lockdown if this were to occur, he said that was not the case. The bridges remained open. Those tunnels that were open are still open. And the airports continue to operate.

Here in Times Square and in New York City this morning, it is clear but it is obviously very cold and for the most part on this quasi holiday, New Yorkers are going about their business and going about their lives.

Now, a lot of schools in New York City are closed in observance of Columbus Day. A number of businesses, though, remain open. The stock market is open. The bond market is closed.

As far as additional security, there has not been obvious signs of that in the aftermath of the strikes. We did a tour of the city yesterday immediately afterwards and you found that on Times Square no indication of increased security. You didn't see it at Grand Central Station nor did you see it around the United Nations.

But keep in mind New York has been under a greatly increased sense of security ever since September 11. The mayor did say that there was the possibility of additional security checkpoints set up and he also said that more police officers would be sent in to areas that are considered sensitive or considered potentially targets. Forty thousand police officers bolstered by 4,500 members of the New York National Guard -- Paula.

ZAHN: Martin Savidge, thanks so much for that update. Stay warm because we're going to keep you on duty out there for a long time today.

We're going to take a short break here. On the other side, we're going to have a couple members of the House Armed Services Committee. Senator Hagel will also be weighing in with his assessment of what he thinks happened overnight. Plus we'll be talking an awful lot about what you should be doing now in the wake of these attacks in Afghanistan. We'll be right back.

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