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CNN Live At Daybreak

Homeland Security: In Wake of Attacks, Security at Golden Gate Bridge Tight; Anthrax Attacks Appear Focused on High-Profile Targets

Aired October 22, 2001 - 08:50   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: San Francisco of course is one of the most picturesque American cities, and among its landmarks is one of the most photographed bridges in the world, the Golden gate. Is it a target for a potential terrorist attack? Well, in the wake of the September 11th attacks, security at span is extra tight.

CNN's Rusty Dornin is there with an update with the -- sun not quite up good there.

Good morning, Rusty. It looks a little chilly there.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sun's not quite up, Paula, but even we are amazed to be able to show you the bridge in clear, without the fog. Like clockwork, during the late night, early morning hours, the fog has been rolling in, obscuring the towers and the city.

Now we would normally be showing you the bridge from one of the -- either ends of the bridge on the Vista Points, but they are still shut down during night hours for security reasons.

Immediately following the September 11 attack, bridge officials shut down all foot and bicycle traffic across the bridge. Now that remained shut down for more than two weeks. They did not open it until September 11. Now, there are a lot of foot patrols. There are scooters patrolling the bridge, as well as police on mountain bikes. Highway patrol also guards each end of the bridge.

Now also, where the bridge is anchored is on federal land. They're on park land. So the park rangers, the presidio and the national recreation areas are also responsible for patrolling those areas. They won't tell us all the security measures, but some additional fencing has been put up on those areas. Also, the Vista Points and all foot traffic shut down, during the nighttime hours.

Now unlike many cities, San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, does not have a lot of truck traffic. The trucks usually pass into San Francisco on the Bay Bridge through other routes, so the bridge officials are not so much concerned about what's traveling on top of the bridge, such as a car bomb, but they are worried about what passes underneath the bridge.

And also, following September 11, the Coast Guard instituted a program called the "sea marshals," where Coast Guards, armed Coast Guard escorts board tankers and cargo ships, and they guard the harbor pilots who are guiding the ships into port. Now this bridge was built in the 1930s. They did build to it withstand what -- a ship that might batter into one of the foundations then, but the ships today are probably still three, four times as large as some of those ships, so they are worried about ships being used as a weapon destruction.

Of course, the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge is the heart and soul of this city. People were worried about it being a target, as well as the TransAmerica building.

And as I said, it is not so much the significance economically of this bridge as it is its prominence and historical significance -- Paula.

ZAHN: Rusty, I hope you brought your own little Instamatic with you this morning. That is a rarity, to see this bridge not shrouded in fog this time of the morning.

Thank you.

DORNIN: We were amazed.

ZAHN: Yes. Thanks for that report.

The anthrax attacks appear carefully focused on high-profile targets, the publisher of supermarket tabloids, NBC, ABC News, CBS, "The New York Post" and at least one Congressional leader.

For some insight about why these people and institutions may have been target, we turn to George Friedman, who is founder of STRAFOR, Strategic Forecasting in Austin, Texas.

Welcome back, Mr. Friedman. For the folks who weren't with us last week, we should make it clear that you believe that Osama bin Laden's networks fingerprints are all over these letters. If that's the case, isn't he winning the psychological war here?

GEORGE FRIEDMAN, STRATFOR: Well, he is certainly putting us on the defensive, and that's what he intended to do. There has been debate over whether or not these particular bombs were by Osama bin Laden or by some copycat, and the evidence is still not there. But on the other hand, there is an awful coincidence, somebody had to be sitting there waiting with anthrax, and ready to respond real quickly, and then that is possible; it may have been out there. But it's more likely, to me at least, that this is a follow-on attack by Osama bin Laden for psychological reasons to keep us unbalanced. And he is doing pretty well.

ZAHN: And you also believe that his targets were fairly obvious, targeting high-profile people that will generate lots of coverage. Are you suggesting in any way that the media has made a mistake by focusing in on these prominent Americans who were targeted?

FRIEDMAN: Well, I don't think it's made a mistake. I mean, this is an important event. I mean, this is the first bioterrorist attack of any substance inside the United States. How you can not cover it? But on the other hand, the terrorists are sophisticated enough to know that if the target is Tom Brokaw and Tom Daschle, there is probably going to be a lot more coverage than it is going to be some small farm community in Iowa, so they went after the people who own the coverage, and that guaranteed the maximum coverage possible.

ZAHN: But what it also has done is engendered some defiance. I wanted to quickly put on screen comment of a young woman from "The New York Post," who ended up skin anthrax from handling anthrax-laced letter. She writes: "But I'm on Cipro. My finger is healing. I'll be OK. Am I quitting my job? Absolutely not. I've been kicking butt in this town for seven years, trying to make it as a journalist in the biggest and best city in the world. And I will. Too bad, Osama. You loser."

He certainly could have counted on if he responsible for this for this kind of reaction, right?

FRIEDMAN: Well, one of the things about this attack you have to bear in mind, it kind of puts bioterrorism into a sort of perspective. We have seen bioterrorism as kind of a weapon of mass destruction, where millions are going to die. That's certainly a possibility. I mean, it's certainly possible that the terrorists are going to have increased capabilities. But right now, what we have experienced is anthrax attacks, and we found that it causes casualties, some tragic deaths, certainly one tragic death so far, but it's is manageable; society is not destroyed. So, a lot of the enormous fear that has been there about these attacks at least has been dissipated now. There are attacks possible. But still, it has allowed us to get our arms around this whole issue.

ZAHN: I know you say, that no one can come to conclusion once again that the Al Qaeda network Osama bin Laden is responsible for letters, and you say the most convincing piece of evidence in your mind so far is the fact that, how is this anthrax ready so quickly after the September 11th attacks?

FRIEDMAN: Very clearly, these guys are good to go. You have two theories that you can with. One, that is Al Qaeda. The other is that there is another completely unidentified group who is not looking for any publicity, who had the anthrax, and almost immediately after the bombings went into action. It's possible, but it is not the easiest hypothesis. The easiest hypothesis that I can still work with is that it is parts of Al Qaeda's plan, and that it works pretty well.

ZAHN: We should make it clear that you have educated opinions. You've got a bunch corporations that rely on your insights, right?

FRIEDMAN: They try to.

ZAHN: They try to.

George Friedman, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Always good to have you with us on the air.

FRIEDMAN: Thank you.

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