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Some Flight Restrictions Ended Today
Aired April 17, 2003 - 14:50 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The nationwide alert status down to yellow again after the government raised it to orange just before the war. In a parallel step, some of those temporary flight restrictions have ended today over two major cities.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve spoke about the moves with the Homeland Secretary, Tom Ridge. She joins us from Washington -- hello, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. As you said, some changes in homeland security as a result of the change to threat level yellow. Temporary flight restrictions that have been in place over Chicago and New York are being rolled back, though those in Washington will remain in place for the time being.
Also, as of noon, a change in asylum policy. Since mid-March, asylum applicants from countries where al Qaeda was believed to have been active have been detained during their processing. In an exclusive interview with CNN, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge talked about what that practice had produced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The detention resulted in our holding 20 people -- I think three quarters of them from Iraq, and we are going through the process of just identifying these individuals, making absolutely certain that these individuals are who they say they are, and reasons for their request for political asylum are legitimate. We want to make absolutely certain during this period of hostilities that somebody wouldn't use the cover of political asylum to get in to do us harm. That process is ongoing, and that policy will be terminated as official, as of noon today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Ridge also says that while the country was at threat level orange, there were an unspecified number of arrests of individuals who appeared to be engaging in suspicious behavior. But he says at this point in time none of them appear to have any links to terrorism.
With a ratcheting up of the administration's rhetoric over Syria and Iran, some experts have expressed concern about Hezbollah, a terrorist group with strong ties to those nations. Ridge says, however, that there is no credible threat information that indicates the U.S. should be concerned.
Ridge gives an upbeat assessment of Operation Liberty Shield, the range of protective measures put in place just before hostilities with Iraq began. He claims it was successful, and helped deter terrorist attacks, but a fuller assessment is underway. Ridge says he already knows one improvement that has to be made. We have to be able to ramp it up quicker, he says -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jeanne Meserve in Washington, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 17, 2003 - 14:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The nationwide alert status down to yellow again after the government raised it to orange just before the war. In a parallel step, some of those temporary flight restrictions have ended today over two major cities.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve spoke about the moves with the Homeland Secretary, Tom Ridge. She joins us from Washington -- hello, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. As you said, some changes in homeland security as a result of the change to threat level yellow. Temporary flight restrictions that have been in place over Chicago and New York are being rolled back, though those in Washington will remain in place for the time being.
Also, as of noon, a change in asylum policy. Since mid-March, asylum applicants from countries where al Qaeda was believed to have been active have been detained during their processing. In an exclusive interview with CNN, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge talked about what that practice had produced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The detention resulted in our holding 20 people -- I think three quarters of them from Iraq, and we are going through the process of just identifying these individuals, making absolutely certain that these individuals are who they say they are, and reasons for their request for political asylum are legitimate. We want to make absolutely certain during this period of hostilities that somebody wouldn't use the cover of political asylum to get in to do us harm. That process is ongoing, and that policy will be terminated as official, as of noon today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Ridge also says that while the country was at threat level orange, there were an unspecified number of arrests of individuals who appeared to be engaging in suspicious behavior. But he says at this point in time none of them appear to have any links to terrorism.
With a ratcheting up of the administration's rhetoric over Syria and Iran, some experts have expressed concern about Hezbollah, a terrorist group with strong ties to those nations. Ridge says, however, that there is no credible threat information that indicates the U.S. should be concerned.
Ridge gives an upbeat assessment of Operation Liberty Shield, the range of protective measures put in place just before hostilities with Iraq began. He claims it was successful, and helped deter terrorist attacks, but a fuller assessment is underway. Ridge says he already knows one improvement that has to be made. We have to be able to ramp it up quicker, he says -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jeanne Meserve in Washington, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
