Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Interview With Warren Rudman
Aired June 30, 2003 - 15:13 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge today defended current levels of government spending on efforts to prevent terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It's fashionable, very appropriately in the political world, to assess how well you're doing by how much you spend. That is one barometer. It's equally appropriate, I think, to make sure and to assess how well you're doing by how well those dollars are spent and to what end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Well, as we reported, the Council on Foreign Relations today released a study that warns the nation is not spending nearly enough on homeland security. The conclusion: "The United States is drastically under-funding local emergency responders and remains dangerously under-prepared to handle a catastrophic attack on American soil." Well, former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman led the CFR task force and he's with me now here in Washington.
This is some pretty alarmist language in here. Dangerously ill prepared, the next terrorist incident could be even worse than 9/11. Did you intend to alarm people?
RUDMAN: Absolutely. You know I understand the secretary and the department feeling they're doing a good job, and they are in many areas, certainly in airport security they're doing a terrific job. But we dealt only with first responders, firemen, policemen, emergency medical services and hospitals.
And we went all over the country. And we had every major organization involved. And they will tell you unequivocally that if we have a chemical or biological attack or a nuclear attack anywhere in this country, they are unprepared to deal with it today, and that is of high urgency.
WOODRUFF: How can that be two and a half years after 9/11?
RUDMAN: Well, it's taken a long time to get the Department of Homeland Security established. It's taken a long time for the Congress to decide how much it wanted to fund. And there is one thing that still hasn't been done, although the Department of Homeland Security is getting it done, and I hope sooner rather than later. We have to make a determination of what the minimum standards are for police, fire and emergency services in all of America's major cities. Once we determine that, then we can decide what the funding is. I don't think we know precisely. We made a best good faith estimate. I don't think the secretary, in all due respect, really knows what that number is.
WOODRUFF: Now, the secretary -- his spokesman and him, they're saying, the administration has put billions of dollars already into these first responders.
RUDMAN: They have.
WOODRUFF: There's more money coming, and they say they are far better prepared than they were 20 months ago.
RUDMAN: Oh, that's absolutely true. Of course we're better prepared than we were 20 months ago. We were totally unprepared 20 months ago, even though some of us, you'll recall, said at the time it was an issue.
What we are saying is that, with all that's been done, there is still a serious shortfall. And this morning we had gathered in Washington, chiefs of police, fire officials, emergency response officials who all said unequivocally they are not yet prepared. And in some cases, the money has not gotten down to them.
WOODRUFF: Give us an example of the kind of thing that they need that they don't have.
RUDMAN: I'll give you two examples. The two things that in my view are the highest priority after talking to all these people are the following. Number one, interoperable radio equipment.
You recall on September 11th in New York the various people could not talk to each other. It probably resulted in unnecessary death. We need total interoperability in our major cities between our law enforcement, medical responders, firemen and others.
Secondly, if you're going to send policemen and firemen into an area of a chemical or a biological incident, they've got to have the kind of protective gear that our soldiers rightfully had going into Iraq. They do not have it in most cases.
WOODRUFF: But you're saying the administration, instead of spending $27 billion over the next five years, they should spend four times that much, almost $100 billion. And, again, the administration is saying, this is a gross overstatement of how much it's going to cost. And we're already doing a lot of these things.
RUDMAN: Well, they're not doing enough. The fact is that it is the federal and the state and the local governments that all have to combine. Very difficult to understand how much the local and state governments are spending. Although we've done a pretty good job of coming up with a number, it's still not that accurate.
The administration is putting $27 billion in the next five years into this area of homeland security. We think that that number probably is going to be closer to between $80 and maybe $120, but that's not just the federal government. That's the state and local governments.
But, of course, they will all tell you that they don't have any money. But if we don't do it, and something bad happens, Judy, then what happens? A lot of people unnecessarily get hurt.
WOODRUFF: Where's the money going to come from?
RUDMAN: Well, I think it will come from both the federal and the state governments. Everyone is going to have to step up to the plate. And you know let me make another comment. We're not being critical of Secretary Ridge or the administration.
We're simply saying, a group of people, including former secretaries of state, former joint chiefs of staff, former FBI and CIA people, all of these emergency response people, I mean, we are trying to help them rather than attack them. This is not a political issue. I'm a Republican. This is an issue of trying to add some solutions to a very vexing problem.
WOODRUFF: A wakeup call for many, many Americans.
RUDMAN: We hope so.
WOODRUFF: Senator Warren Rudman, it's always good to see you.
RUDMAN: Thank you.
WOODRUFF: Thank you for coming by.
RUDMAN: Thank you.
WOODRUFF: We 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 June 30, 2003 - 15:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge today defended current levels of government spending on efforts to prevent terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It's fashionable, very appropriately in the political world, to assess how well you're doing by how much you spend. That is one barometer. It's equally appropriate, I think, to make sure and to assess how well you're doing by how well those dollars are spent and to what end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Well, as we reported, the Council on Foreign Relations today released a study that warns the nation is not spending nearly enough on homeland security. The conclusion: "The United States is drastically under-funding local emergency responders and remains dangerously under-prepared to handle a catastrophic attack on American soil." Well, former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman led the CFR task force and he's with me now here in Washington.
This is some pretty alarmist language in here. Dangerously ill prepared, the next terrorist incident could be even worse than 9/11. Did you intend to alarm people?
RUDMAN: Absolutely. You know I understand the secretary and the department feeling they're doing a good job, and they are in many areas, certainly in airport security they're doing a terrific job. But we dealt only with first responders, firemen, policemen, emergency medical services and hospitals.
And we went all over the country. And we had every major organization involved. And they will tell you unequivocally that if we have a chemical or biological attack or a nuclear attack anywhere in this country, they are unprepared to deal with it today, and that is of high urgency.
WOODRUFF: How can that be two and a half years after 9/11?
RUDMAN: Well, it's taken a long time to get the Department of Homeland Security established. It's taken a long time for the Congress to decide how much it wanted to fund. And there is one thing that still hasn't been done, although the Department of Homeland Security is getting it done, and I hope sooner rather than later. We have to make a determination of what the minimum standards are for police, fire and emergency services in all of America's major cities. Once we determine that, then we can decide what the funding is. I don't think we know precisely. We made a best good faith estimate. I don't think the secretary, in all due respect, really knows what that number is.
WOODRUFF: Now, the secretary -- his spokesman and him, they're saying, the administration has put billions of dollars already into these first responders.
RUDMAN: They have.
WOODRUFF: There's more money coming, and they say they are far better prepared than they were 20 months ago.
RUDMAN: Oh, that's absolutely true. Of course we're better prepared than we were 20 months ago. We were totally unprepared 20 months ago, even though some of us, you'll recall, said at the time it was an issue.
What we are saying is that, with all that's been done, there is still a serious shortfall. And this morning we had gathered in Washington, chiefs of police, fire officials, emergency response officials who all said unequivocally they are not yet prepared. And in some cases, the money has not gotten down to them.
WOODRUFF: Give us an example of the kind of thing that they need that they don't have.
RUDMAN: I'll give you two examples. The two things that in my view are the highest priority after talking to all these people are the following. Number one, interoperable radio equipment.
You recall on September 11th in New York the various people could not talk to each other. It probably resulted in unnecessary death. We need total interoperability in our major cities between our law enforcement, medical responders, firemen and others.
Secondly, if you're going to send policemen and firemen into an area of a chemical or a biological incident, they've got to have the kind of protective gear that our soldiers rightfully had going into Iraq. They do not have it in most cases.
WOODRUFF: But you're saying the administration, instead of spending $27 billion over the next five years, they should spend four times that much, almost $100 billion. And, again, the administration is saying, this is a gross overstatement of how much it's going to cost. And we're already doing a lot of these things.
RUDMAN: Well, they're not doing enough. The fact is that it is the federal and the state and the local governments that all have to combine. Very difficult to understand how much the local and state governments are spending. Although we've done a pretty good job of coming up with a number, it's still not that accurate.
The administration is putting $27 billion in the next five years into this area of homeland security. We think that that number probably is going to be closer to between $80 and maybe $120, but that's not just the federal government. That's the state and local governments.
But, of course, they will all tell you that they don't have any money. But if we don't do it, and something bad happens, Judy, then what happens? A lot of people unnecessarily get hurt.
WOODRUFF: Where's the money going to come from?
RUDMAN: Well, I think it will come from both the federal and the state governments. Everyone is going to have to step up to the plate. And you know let me make another comment. We're not being critical of Secretary Ridge or the administration.
We're simply saying, a group of people, including former secretaries of state, former joint chiefs of staff, former FBI and CIA people, all of these emergency response people, I mean, we are trying to help them rather than attack them. This is not a political issue. I'm a Republican. This is an issue of trying to add some solutions to a very vexing problem.
WOODRUFF: A wakeup call for many, many Americans.
RUDMAN: We hope so.
WOODRUFF: Senator Warren Rudman, it's always good to see you.
RUDMAN: Thank you.
WOODRUFF: Thank you for coming by.
RUDMAN: Thank you.
WOODRUFF: We 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
