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CNN Live At Daybreak

California Steps Up Security at Major Bridges; FBI and Justice Department Trying to Confirm Validity of Information on Bridge Threats

Aired November 02, 2001 - 07:05   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Californians can expect stepped up security at major bridges this morning. It's in response to the governor's warning of a potential terrorist attack.

Rusty Dornin is at the most famous West Coast span, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge -- good morning, Rusty.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

And you might be able to hear the fog horns singing back to one another as our world famous fog rolls in through the gate. But the rush hour has yet to begin rolling here, although Governor Davis' warning about four bridges under a possible terrorist threat in the state is concerning many commuters.

Now, he claimed that between November 2 and November 7 during rush hour, the Golden Gate Bridge, which is, of course, a national icon; the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, which is one of the most heavily traveled bridges, 270,000 cars a day; the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles, that spans the port of Los Angeles; and the Coronado Bridge, which spans from San Diego to North Island Naval Air Base. That's also where many of our carriers are docked when they are on the West Coast.

Now, when CNN spoke with the FBI yesterday before the governor made the announcement, they did tell us that there had been an alert, an inter-agency alert issued to law enforcement in six western states. But they felt the threats could not be corroborated. But it was Governor Davis who stepped up to the microphones and who felt that it was important to tell the public about the threat.

Davis also says that he has provided National Guard units to all four bridges to help the Highway Patrol and assist the other security measures that are to be taken at those bridges. We understand that those National Guard units should be getting here some time this morning. They would be stationed at either end of the bridge. So, just adding more security measures. This bridge has already been under tight security, and just adding an extra measure of safety -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Well, Rusty, despite the fact that the federal government has sort of rained on the parade, if you will, there, a little bit, nevertheless, those security measures which the governor is proposing will go and place as he stated, correct?

DORNIN: That's right. That's right, Miles. And we even noticed some extra patrols walking the bridge just about an hour ago with flashlights, looking into the nooks and crannies. There's been the Coast Guard patrols below the bridge that have been, you know, stepped up there and also there are federal rangers that are on both sides of the bridge in the national parks. They're also stepping up their patrols. So they are joining in the -- in with the state because the public has the perception that there may be a threat and they feel it's important to assure the public that things are OK.

But they are assuring people these bridges are safe and that there is nothing to worry about.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Rusty Dornin providing some clarity amid the fog out there in San Francisco. Thank you very much.

So, did California's governor jump the gun in announcing the threat?

More on that angle from our White House correspondent Kelly Wallace -- good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Well, I think the best way to describe it is that Justice and FBI and even White House officials were a bit taken by surprise by California Governor Gray Davis going out publicly and talking about this information. I can tell you that this information was shared with the president and his top advisers yesterday during the daily intelligence briefing and then at that time the FBI indicating it was going to notify local law enforcement agencies all along the West Coast, which it did.

Following California Governor Gray Davis' news conference, the Justice Department took the rare step of releasing the actual notification that the FBI sent out to local law enforcement to the media. Again, Justice Department and FBI officials didn't necessarily expect this information to be released to the public because they are stressing the uncorroborated part of this. They're saying it's uncorroborated. FBI officials saying it came from another intelligence agency and that right now they are trying to confirm the validity of the information.

And so I tried to ask some White House officials if anyone happened to be angered that Gray Davis did go out publicly and talk about this. You couldn't get anyone to say that. Again, it does sort of raise the question of what information to release to the public. Officials here and also at the Justice Department and at the FBI stressing that the alert that went out Monday, the alert saying the possibility of imminent terrorist attacks in the United States or against American interests overseas, that that information came from credible sources, even though there was no specifics attached.

They're saying, again, this information uncorroborated. So that's why they are viewing it quite differently -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Kelly, you get the sense that we're sort of getting a glimpse of an ongoing internal debate over how vague or how specific to be when announcing these potential threats.

WALLACE: Absolutely. And it will be interesting, Tom Ridge, President Bush's director of homeland security, will be briefing reporters, one of his, you know, daily, almost weekly briefings with reporters later this morning. It will be interesting to ask him questions about this because you heard Gray Davis say he felt it very important to get this information out to the public. There are others who believe unless you have specifics attached and unless it's from credible sources, if it's uncorroborated, that it doesn't do anything other than just already create more anxiety on the part of the public.

And I'm also told by senior officials here that look, this kind of thing is going to happen. As the FBI and Justice Department officials learn about information, even if it's uncorroborated, they're likely, if they determine it necessary, to alert local law enforcement, again, then, the decision about whether to release it to the public.

So likely to hear from Tom Ridge and see if there's any sort of guidance that Tom Ridge and the White House is releasing to other local agencies about how to handle this in the future -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Darned if you do and darned if you don't kind of scenario.

WALLACE: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Kelly Wallace at the White House, thanks very much.

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