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CNN Live At Daybreak

Homeland Security: New Yorkers Worry About Terrorism on Subway

Aired October 23, 2001 - 07:43   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: Ever since terrorists attacked a Japanese subway with sarin gas, there have been a lot of worries that any big city subway system could be a near-perfect delivery system for a chemical or a biological weapon.

As if New Yorkers weren't already worrying enough after September 11, now the anthrax outbreak has given subway riders here a new concern.

Let's go to CNN's Jason Carroll, who is standing by at the 33rd and 8th Street subway station.

I know it gets awfully noisy down there; I hope you can here me this morning. Good morning, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Paula.

I want to give you some numbers, just to give you an idea of what we're dealing with here: 4.8 million people ride the subway every day. There is more than 700 miles of track. It is a vast system, so as you can imagine, securing it is no easy task.

But I can tell you that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is on a heightened state of alert. In terms of giving us any more specifics about what that means, as you can imagine, they're not revealing very much. But we can tell you that we've noticed certain things. For example, before when you had an abandoned package, it was simply put into the lost and found and they would wait for people to come and pick it up. Now an abandoned package is automatically treated as suspicious, and it's treated with care.

Also, the National Guard is out here patrolling on Ground Central Station and Penn Station. Those are the two major stations here in New York City. Plainclothes cops are out here patrolling as well.

This morning, we did have the opportunity to speak with a number of commuters who were out this morning and talked to them about security measures that are in place here in New York City, in the subways. And as you can imagine, there are some worries, but most people say that they feel pretty safe.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing I can do about it. I'm not going to worry about anything that I have no control over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am going to take the subway no matter what. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen, but I don't want to be afraid to take the subway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When things first happened in September, I was really upset. I would take the bus to work. And now I just put it in God's hands; He'll take care of me.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CARROLL: Yesterday, authorities had to investigate four incidents on the subways. There were two sightings of suspicious packages and two citings of powdery substances. All of those ended up being hoaxes, and I want to remind you what the FBI said: Anyone caught being responsible for these hoaxes will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I also want to point something else. Transportation officials here in New York City are really going to be paying attention to what's happening in Washington, D.C. The Metro there has asked the federal government for $190 million to help upgrade their security system. Included in that upgrade is a high-tech security experiment to install the world's first subway system with sensors that could detect biological and chemical materials in the subways there. So that's something interesting happening -- still waiting to see if they're going to get the funding there -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Jason, I'm going to ask a question that has nothing to do with what you're talking about right now. Did you stay up late and watch the Yankees win last night?

CARROLL: You know I had to be up so early, Paula, I went to bed. But I ...

ZAHN: But you know they won, right?

CARROLL: I do -- but I did hear cheering in my building as I was trying to get to bed, so I knew that the Yankees had done well.

ZAHN: All right, Jason, New Yorkers, of course, do have something to celebrate this morning.

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