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CNN Live At Daybreak

Ashcroft Warns of Impending Terrorist Attack on U.S.; Interview with Robert McFarlane

Aired October 30, 2001 - 07:04   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: We begin with the new terrorist threat. The attorney general has canceled a trip to Toronto just hours after alerting Americans to yet a new threat. John Ashcroft says he needs to be in Washington to deal with any emergencies.

Major Garrett is standing by at the White House. He's got more on the threat that has some 18,000 law enforcement agencies on alert -- good morning, Major. Lots for you to cover this morning.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

The key words high alert. Not only all federal agencies on high alert, taking extra special security precautions, but federal officials asking every law enforcement entity in America, large and small, to be on high alert, asking every single American to report any suspicious activity to either local, state or federal authorities. The Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge got on the phone yesterday afternoon from the White House, notifying governors across the country of this credible threat of a terrorist attack against the United States within the next week. Unfortunately, neither he nor the FBI director nor the attorney general could tell anyone in the greater law enforcement community exactly what kind of attack this might be or where it might occur, only this general timeline, within the next week.

Nevertheless, the FBI director, Robert Mueller, said it was important to alert law enforcement agencies and the general public to this new threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: When we have received this additional information specific as to time but not specific as to other details, we think it is important to put it out there so chiefs of police, other law enforcement entities can again refocus their efforts on potential targets in their communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: Now, Paula, the last time the attorney general put out a warning like this was October 11. The federal government said at that time there was a credible threat of domestic terrorism within the United States within the next few days. Those days passed uneventfully. As the attorney general pointed out, maybe they passed uneventfully because everyone was on a higher state of alert. There were more people watching. Law enforcement was more on the ball, paying attention to close things, keeping the federal government informed of whatever they saw and perhaps that exactly led to those uneventful days.

They're hoping exactly the same thing happens now -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, Major, at a time when polls are showing, the latest "New York Times" poll showing that only 18 percent of Americans had a great deal of confidence that the government could actually protect the country from terrorism, how concerned is the administration about crying wolf?

GARRETT: Well, the administration knows it is walking probably one of the most exquisitely fine lines in all of government. When do you tell a nation of some 290 million people they are under direct threat of a terrorist attack within a defined time period? It's a very difficult decision to make.

Vice President Cheney has mused openly in interviews about this. The administration is very much afraid of this cry wolf syndrome. How many times do you say this? If you say it five or six or seven times and nothing happens, what's the credibility of those warnings in the future?

Nevertheless, Attorney General Ashcroft made it clear yesterday the evidence is of such profound weight and heft that they believed they had to alert law enforcement authorities, had to alert all Americans that this threat was real, to be on alert, to report any suspicious activity in hopes of avoiding any tragedies -- Paula.

ZAHN: OK, Major, thanks so much.

So Americans now have been warned, but about what? The attorney general says the information is credible, but as Major just said, there are no specific threats. Arizona Senator John McCain says it's good to get the warning but unsettling at the same time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I think that we should be warned and particularly those who are in law enforcement and the military, etc. But I would, if at all possible, we would, I would like to have some more specificity associated with this warning so that we would not be in fear of the unknown, which is probably one of the greatest problems that we face in this war on terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So does it do any good to tell us to be on guard without giving directions?

Let's talk about that now with Robert McFarlane, the former national security adviser to President Reagan. Apparently that line has just gone down. We hope to get back to Mr. McFarlane a little bit later on this morning. He is in place, but our little audio hookup is not working with us at the moment.

So let's go to another part of America now, where people are also getting ready for the worst. In Illinois, the state homeland security director says residents there may be seeing more law enforcement patrols because of this new threat.

Jeff Flock has been taking the pulse of the public, talking with commuters at a suburban Chicago rail stop -- Jeff, what are they saying this morning? Good morning.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a whole range of opinions this morning, Paula. A lot of people are reading the news. Some people just learned of it this morning. You can see the morning paper, the "Chicago Sun-Times," curiously enough the new terror warning above the picture of the Sears Tower sky deck reopening, which was our story yesterday. So in some sense people getting back to normal and in the other sense they say be on high alert.

How does it leave you?

UNIDENTIFIED COMMUTER: Cautious and trying to protect the kids from too much news, too much information.

FLOCK: Yes, we were talking about it. You have kids that are old enough to kind of understand what's going on. How does this sort of a warning play with them? I mean are they aware of it and is a warning even worse in some sense?

UNIDENTIFIED COMMUTER: Well, no offense to you all, but we turn off the television and just read a little bit, my husband and I, in the news rather than have the television on so they don't get more frightened than they already are.

FLOCK: I don't blame you. You do what you've got to do. I appreciate it. We'll let you get on to work, the train almost, about to pull into the station here.

This gentleman here I talked to this morning who said you hadn't even heard about it yet, correct?

UNIDENTIFIED COMMUTER: That's correct.

FLOCK: Do you try to stay out of the flow of news? Is that by design or where does that leave you?

UNIDENTIFIED COMMUTER: I'm always, I'm a bit of a news fan, but I got so overwhelmed after September 11 that there's so much news and there's a trickle every day, but it's not always new information, that I almost avoid it at this point.

FLOCK: And I've got to ask you, in terms of the warning that Attorney General Ashcroft gave yesterday, is that beneficial for you to hear that or does that just make you more worried and it doesn't help you?

UNIDENTIFIED COMMUTER: Well, I just heard about that this morning. I guess I actually have a fair amount of faith in the government that they're taking care of the situation and there's not too much I can do about it. So I'm leaving it up to them and going about my business.

FLOCK: Sir, I appreciate it. We'll let you go about your business and go off to work this morning.

That's some sense of what is going through people's minds this morning as they head to work, Paula, outside Chicago. Back to you.

ZAHN: All right, it's helpful to see what people all over the country are thinking and feeling.

Thanks so much, Jeff.

Let us try to go back to Washington now to hook up again with Robert McFarlane, of course, who was former Ronald Reagan's, former President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser.

Sir, can you hear me now?

ROBERT MCFARLANE, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Just fine, Paula. How are you?

ZAHN: I'm fine, thanks. Good morning. Sorry about the little delay there.

We originally, in our lead in to you, used a small part of an interview John McCain did last night where he said, you know, basically to the government, thanks so much for warning us but it would be nice if you could tell us more specifically what this threat is. Is this a useful thing for the government to do?

MCFARLANE: Well, Paula, it's a fine line to walk, for the government to try to demonstrate that it truly is based on alarming circumstance. But I think you have to consider that they may go so far as to compromise a source or how they collected this information. I have no doubt that Attorney General Ashcroft had very solid information and unfortunately we're going to have to live in this climate of periodic threat for a long time.

What it does is lend some urgency to getting on with the campaign in Afghanistan to get rid of this menace.

ZAHN: So what are you suggesting? Stepping up a ground campaign?

MCFARLANE: Well, I think we're going to have to go to a phase two and I think that was envisioned from the beginning. The phase one of bombing has been a sensible idea and it's been well done. But there's no substitute in this kind of conflict for going in on the ground. We should and if we had engaged with the Afghan people who are anti-Taliban eight months ago, been able to rely on them to provide the kind of intelligence we need to prosecute this war. We've had a real setback last week. I think we can recover. But if we don't engage promptly with Afghans on the ground who are anti-Taliban to give us the intelligence we need, it's going to take a lot larger force for us to do it alone. So we'd better get on with engaging with Afghans.

ZAHN: And when you were referring to the setback last week, I assume you meant the assassination of Abdul Haq, an Afghan opposition leader?

MCFARLANE: That's right. He was an experienced, knowledgeable, inspirational leader and had organized a number of other colleagues, commanders, to go into the field and begin to unravel the Taliban. There are others. But we can't ignore our responsibility to get in, to demonstrate support for them and unfortunately that effort is just beginning and it's urgent.

ZAHN: What role do you think the CIA or what -- does it -- should it share in any of the responsibility for not stopping the killing of Mr. Haq? I know that there were communications that took place between a family member of Mr. Haq and people in the CIA.

MCFARLANE: Well, at the final hour the first time that they had ever worked with Mr. Haq a ragged operation is inevitable. The fault lies in the CIA's not having engaged eight or 10 months ago when anti- Taliban sentiment was evident and they had the opportunity to begin building the relationships with Abdul Haq and others. Well, they didn't do that. So we're essentially blind on the ground in Afghanistan today.

But we can recover. There is broad and deep anti-Taliban support there. The CIA has got to start doing its job and get in the field, engage with those people so that our special forces are going to have some eyes and ears when the time comes.

ZAHN: What is your level of concern, though, about the reports that even if the Taliban leadership topples, even if the top leaders of al Qaeda are killed, that you still have these cells operating within the United States and that they essentially have already been given orders to carry out more terrorist attacks, with or without the big guys on top?

MCFARLANE: Well, there's no doubt but that once bin Laden is gone, there will be others. Seven hundred madrassas in Pakistan, or schools for terrorism, have been turning out terrorists here for close to 10 years time. So when bin Laden's gone, there will be others who will spring up in new camps and headquarters in Somalia and Sudan and other countries.

This is going to be a long struggle and, indeed, there are people who are affiliated with al Qaeda here in the United States. We can win this. But it's going to take a lot more focused intelligence gathering effort than we've seen thus far.

ZAHN: And a final word of advice this morning to Americans who are hearing about this threat from our FBI director and our attorney general. They don't know where these attacks might happen and they don't know what to think this morning. MCFARLANE: Well, I think the warning was appropriate. And again, we're going to live in this climate of periodic threat for a long time. You mustn't let it destroy your patterns. You can take certain precautions, avoiding large crowds and so forth. But bear in mind that our government has the means and the determination to beat this. President Bush has a plan in mind. He's had a little bit of breakdown in part of the system, but our military is superbly qualified to engage in this struggle. So is the State Department. And together with sustained will we can beat this, and I'm confident we will.

ZAHN: Well, Mr. McFarlane, always good to have you with us and thank you again with -- for being so patient as we fixed our little audio problem there. Thank you again.

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