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Government Buildings Evacuated as Plane Enters Restricted Airspace; Case of Atlanta Serial Killer Reopened
Aired May 11, 2005 - 15:00 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, CO-HOST: You're seeing how fast the halls of power can empty out when a tiny plane flies where it should not be. As you've seen on CNN over the past three hours or so, the White House, the U.S. Capitol, congressional office buildings, the Supreme Court all cleared out, hunkered down when a trespassing Cessna 150, two-seater, weighs 1,600 pounds with fuel, came within three miles of the West Wing of the White House. That's about a minute and a half.
It was a very tense 15 minutes in the noon hour in Washington, as witnessed by former CNN anchor, Bernard Shaw. Bernie phoned in from his home in the Maryland burbs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNARD SHAW, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: I was standing outside the carport, and I looked out because I heard these roaring jets. What I saw were two F-16 jets, and they were circling overhead, circling a single-engine plane. And the jet fire pilots were banking very quickly, and I saw them fire two warning flares in the direction of this single-engine plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, between the jets and the flares and some Black Hawk helicopters, they finally got a clue. This is not good. The plane decided it was a good idea, the better part of valor and all, to land in Frederick, Maryland, which is where the Black Hawks and the F-16s guided that particular aircraft.
The two men inside the airplane have been taken into custody, a pilot and a student. Last we heard they're undergoing what we can only presume to be rather uncomfortable interrogations. So far, though, no officials indicating this was a deliberate act of terrorism.
Let's understand -- underscore that point. This was not terrorism, as far as we know. It was another category of, I guess you'd call it, felonious stupidity.
Now D.C. airspace is the most highly restricted in America. Let me tell you a little bit about this flight. This Cessna 150 -- I hope can you see this -- because I don't have a photographer over here. And let's see if we can zoom in, maybe. Can we get him to come over here? It would be helpful.
This is the point of origin, which was Smoketown, Pennsylvania, and they were headed down to an air show. We looked up all the air shows in North Carolina. The only air show in North Carolina going on at this time was down here in a place called Lumberton.
Now you notice what that does, if you can zoom in here -- I think we got a photographer now. Zoom in. That takes you into this big red block of airspace there. That is the D.C. ADIZ, Air Defense Information Zone, and that -- excuse me, identification zone. Excuse me. Love those pop-ups, don't you?
And that is, if you had taken a direct, as the crow fly, route, you would have gone through there. A smart pilot would know that flying into that airspace requires all kinds of restrictions...
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... transponder codes, radio frequencies. This particular airspace is about 75 miles across. It includes, at its center, the Baltimore Washington International Airport, Dulles International Airport and then right in the middle there is Reagan National Airport, giving it kind of that Mickey Mouse effect.
And the fact is you don't want to Mickey Mouse around with it, because this is the most protected piece of airspace in the United States right now.
And whatever -- for whatever reason, this particular plane, and it is a small plane, as you saw on the ground there, just a two seater, decided to fly right through there, apparently oblivious, until those Black Hawk helicopters and F-16s did their intercept.
We will keep you posted on what happens to the pilot and the student as this story progresses -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: It's a breathtaking image, the most powerful people in the most powerful nation on earth stopping in their tracks and running for their lives. CNN congressional correspondent Joe Johns was in the middle of all of it -- Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, quite frankly, we've been through this a number of times on Capitol Hill. That makes it never less intense, I should say. Everybody had a different perspective on this as that evacuation unfolded.
The first sign of it, we got, of course, was from the Senate floor, watching on television as members of the Senate were evacuated from the floor. The leadership was taken away first. After that, of course, all the people in all the office buildings, including the House of Representatives and the Senate in the Capitol itself. A variety of perspectives from all types of people.
For me personally, the moment of reality probably came after hearing U.S. Capitol police telling us we had two minutes to get out of building, and something about a plane.
Emerging from the building I heard overhead aircraft engines, which made me think at first, perhaps we haven't been able to get out of this building before this plane arrived. Of course, those aircraft engines we heard apparently were U.S. military planes.
Variety of different leaders taken to secure locations. House Speaker Hastert taken from the floor of the House of Representatives. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, we're told by Ted Barrett, the CNN producer there, literally pulled out of her shoes by security personnel.
We heard later from Senator Bill Frist, who talked a little bit about the fact that this evacuation occurred very quickly. And those people who got out of building actually got out in about five or six minutes. No one was injured.
The chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, Terry Gainer, talked about that evacuation not long after the all-clear sign was given.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF TERRY GAINER, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: We've set up a procedure that, as it closes a gap, we know how much time it takes to evacuate and try to evaluate the plane.
No one was getting the information we needed to about the plane. We elevated our air -- air alert at about 11:58, eight minutes after it first entered the space, when it was 11 miles out from the Capitol.
We stepped it up to the next level when it was nine miles out from the Capitol. That happened at about two minutes after noon. We finally went to our highest air con threat level when it was four miles out from the Capitol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: So they apparently have gotten this down on Capitol Hill. A lot of people very glad that they have. Of course, once again, there was nothing to this. At least they were able to get that plane out of restricted airspace, and no one was hurt at the Capitol, which is, of course, important to everyone involved.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Joe Johns on the Hill, thank you so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: So, was it malicious? Was it mischief or completely inadvertent? And did the post-9/11 defenses kick in as planned? I think we saw that happen. Of course, we don't know for sure about a lot of other things about this.
We can get some insights on the threat and response from former assistant to the president, former homeland security aide, current CNN security analyst, Richard Falkenrath.
Richard, good to have you back with us.
RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Thanks, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Did the system work?
FALKENRATH: The air defense system seems to have worked just right. They responded very quickly. This was a very deep penetration into the no-fly zone around downtown Washington, and they managed to intercept the plane, get it to turn around and land it. Now they're now questioning the pilot.
The plane very well could have been shot down. That would have been a much bigger story, probably the sort of thing that would have been regarded as a mistake, given what we now know about the pilot.
But the air defense part of the response seems to have worked just right.
O'BRIEN: Let me try to explain what viewers are seeing here. This is the route that would have been a crow's flight route from where they began up in Pennsylvania down to North Carolina where they were headed. And this area right here, P-56-B. That little dot, that's the vice president's house at the naval observatory. And then that whole area there is the mall.
So if they had just blindly set their GPS to go direct to this airport, it would have put them right into this airspace, smack-dab, and would have caused all of these problems.
If they got as close as three miles to the White House, how close do you think they were to being taken down by some of the Stinger missiles, which are used to help protect the White House, for example?
FALKENRATH: Well, there's two ways they could have been taken down, either by the Stingers or by the F-16s that intercepted it. And really, it's hard to say.
As you know, you do the math, if you're three miles out from the White House, you're about 90 seconds if you're flying fairly slowly from the White House itself, so you don't have much time.
But the pilots that had eyes on the aircraft would get a sense of its altitude and also what the aircraft was. And so they would have had to make a decision.
If it was on a rapid descent, like it was going to actually impact the White House, then it would have been shot down, I think, probably in a minute after from when they turned around.
But if it was staying at a high altitude and just cruising by, I'm not sure what would have happened.
O'BRIEN: OK. That's a good point. Let's go back to 1994. I don't know if you were in Washington at time. But we remember it well.
FALKENRATH: Yes.
O'BRIEN: This is a Cessna 150, the remnants of one. In this case, it turned out to be a joy rider, might have been drugs involved. You'll help me with the details on this one.
But the bottom line was this guy got into -- he was in a suburban Washington airport, got into the plane and tried to land there on the South Lawn of the White House on a Saturday morning.
I guess we point this out to show -- of course, this is pre-9/11, different scenario in many respects. But what it does point out is this is a 1,600 aircraft just brimming with fuel. There's not too much damage a Cessna 150 can do.
FALKENRATH: That's right. This is a very small airplane. My understanding, it's a very small training aircraft, and as an impact device, it really probably wouldn't do very much damage, if it hit anything.
Now, if there was a weapon on board, a bomb or a weapon of mass destruction, that's another matter. And so, when you're in these jobs in the White House and in the national security apparatus, you have to assume the worst. You can't just sort of look at it and say, "Yes, that's a little airplane. Let's not get too worried about this." They need to respond very aggressively, assuming the worst.
Because that airplane fundamentally was going someplace it should not have been going, and they need to respond the way they did. And I think, from what I know, they did it about right.
O'BRIEN: So was it warranted, though, to call for the evacuations, because inherent in those evacuations is risk unto itself. When you're asking thousands of people to hurry up out of a building, you run the risk of injuries, heart attacks, whatever you want to call, however you want to call it. Was it prudent to do what they did, given the fact that they had -- they saw the aircraft? It apparently was not a threat.
FALKENRATH: Well, you're exactly right. The air defense response is different from the evacuation of the White House, the Capitol and the Supreme Court.
And when I was in the White House, we were evacuated a couple times, including on 9/11, and the White House staff and the leadership hate to do this. I mean, it gives exactly the wrong image of America, kind of makes us look skittish and flighty based on threats. And so nobody likes to do this at all.
Now, that's a really hard question, did the Secret Service make the right decision? These decisions are made by the Secret Service in their command center, based on their knowledge what's happening in the airspace around the White House.
And the senior officer on duty made the call, and he did it based on what he knew about the threat, and also what he knew about the time. You know, there just really isn't much time. You're three miles out, you're flying at 150 miles an hour or something like that. You're talking about 60, 90 seconds to impact.
And so he made the judgment. That judgment will be second- guessed by others in the White House and in the Secret Service, and they'll have to see what they think. But nobody likes to evacuate the White House, that's for sure.
O'BRIEN: All right. If it turns out that this was two guys on a joyride who just, absolutely in a clueless manner, flew into this airspace, what's the appropriate punishment for them?
FALKENRATH: Well, I -- my understanding is it's not actually against the law. It's not a criminal violation to violate the airspace. It's a civil violation.
So what's likely to happen is they're going to lose their license, or at least there will be a review process to see whether they should lose their pilot's license.
What else can be done, what other responses, I think it's going to depend on the specifics of the case. There's a lot of preliminary information about whether they had authorization to use the airplane and the rest. We'll learn that in the next hours, I'm sure.
But you know, at a minimum, they're at risk of losing their license.
O'BRIEN: Rich, I don't know if you've stopped talking or not. They've been talking to me the whole time. They're giving me the names of the pilot and the student. Jim Shaeffer was the pilot, Troy Martin, the student. We're just releasing those names for you.
I'm sorry, Richard, I couldn't hear the last bit you said. I think the point here is we learn, every time these things happen, you put another lesson in the knowledge bank. I wonder if next time, if it's a Cessna 150, I wonder if they'll actually evacuate everything, given how quickly they were able to respond and get those fighters on target, so to speak?
FALKENRATH: Well, it's a good question, and one thing I think that I think the government is not quite as good at, as it should be, is relating the evacuation decision of these buildings to the air defense response that's ongoing.
They're really quite separate systems. There is an air-defense system that's really managed by the Department of Defense, and then there's the evacuation of the buildings, which is managed by whichever security service is in charge of security at that site.
So at White House, it's the Secret Service, and at the Capitol, it's Chief Gainer and his function. So it's decentralized and, in a certain extent, stovepiped, that people will look at that and say, "Gee, could we couple these systems together more tightly?"
O'BRIEN: Yes. And of course, the Pentagon was not evacuated, as we've been reporting. Richard Falkenrath, always appreciate your insights. Thanks very much.
FALKENRATH: You bet, miles. O'BRIEN: And as you know, CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to us for the latest information, day and night.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, one of America's notorious serial killers is back in the news. It's been more than 20 years since Wayne Williams went to prison for killing two children and was blamed for killing 22 others. Now one police chief in suburban Atlanta says there's been a mistake. What's his story? LIVE FROM has the answers when we continue.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, as you know, the story we've been following throughout the day was that small Cessna 150 that went into restricted airspace. This is the first time we're seeing the president since that happened. As you know, he was taken to a safe place. Now he's talking with congressional leaders.
Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sitting in Red Square, honoring the veterans of World War II was -- was an amazing event. I remember the kid watching the missiles parade through Red Square, and here I sat as the president of the United States in Red Square, paying homage to people who died to defeat Nazism.
And I was sitting beside a friend. Russia is not our enemy. Russia is our friend. And it's important that we work together to achieve peace. I -- obviously, we have a difference of opinion on certain issues, but we don't have a difference of opinion on working together for peace.
I went to the Baltics had, a great trip to Latvia. It's such an inspiring experience to be in countries that have newly minted democracies that love freedom. And I met with civil society advocates. I look forward to briefing you on the situation that this young democracy faces in making sure that all people are participating in democracy.
Went to the Netherlands. Her majesty kindly came and visited, paid a visit with us, and I later briefed with her majesty, honoring the U.S. soldiers who died at the end of World War II.
Interestingly enough, some of my father-in-law's unit were there, and it was neat for Laura to be able to hug them and to remember her dad, as she paid tribute to the veterans.
And then I went to Georgia, standing in front of 150,000 that loved freedom was a fantastic experience. The lessons of World War II is to honor the sacrifice of those who helped us keep the peace and to remember that the United States is always the beacon of freedom, and that when we find people living under tyranny, we got to work to free them, in order to make the world more peaceful.
And so I want to thank you all for coming. I look forward to briefing you in specific on some of the conversations I had, and I'm looking forward to your comments, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
BUSH: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... based on what you know? Was a shoot down order given?
BUSH: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Tape just fed into us just a few moments ago, the first time we saw the president since he was taken into a safe area when that small plane was intercepted after entering restricted airspace around the White House.
The president -- the purpose of that meeting was to meet with both Democratic and Republican congressional leaders about his trip to Europe. His trip to the Baltic states, honoring those who fought in World War II and also talking about the lessons learned from World War II, and all the different leaders that he met with, from the president of Georgia to the president, of course, of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
Reporters asking about the situation that happened in restricted airspace. You could hear the reporters, once again, asking if he gave that order to shoot down that aircraft. The president not answering the question. But as we've continued to follow this story, we can tell you that, at this point, it did not reach that level.
We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, to one degree or another, the city of Atlanta is about to revisit a nightmare. Today, a suburban police chief announced the formation of a task force to reexamine several of the infamous Atlanta child murders.
Live with the story from suburban DeKalb County, CNN's Fredricka Whitfield -- Fred. FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Well, it's been 26 years since a series of murders, child murders terrorized the Atlanta area. One man, who is serving life sentences, two life sentence for two out of the nearly two dozen child murder cases, is Wayne Williams.
Well, DeKalb County Police Chief Louis Graham, who originally worked the case as an investigator years ago, reiterated during a press conference today that he believes today, like he has over many years, that Wayne Williams was the wrong man to be serving time for these murders. So he explained why he is reopening six of the cases.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF LOUIS GRAHAM, DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: During the course of these investigations, none of the evidence collected, supported or suggested that Wayne Williams was involved in the murder of these youth. Wayne Williams was subsequently arrested and convicted and is presently serving two life sentences for the murders of two young adult black males.
As a result of these investigations, a profile was developed that listed the ages of the victims as being between 9 and 14 years of age. It appeared that after the arrest and conviction of Wayne Williams, the young murder and missing children cases were closed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, relatives of some of the victims appearing today with the chief say this is long overdue. Sirlena Cobb, mother of Christopher Richardson, who was the ninth child killed during this murder spree, says she never believed Wayne Williams did it either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIRLENA COBB, MOTHER OF MURDERED BOY: Maybe you can call it a mother's intuition or just a gut feeling. I just don't feel like he did it. There's too many loose ends, you know, what have you, that's not been answered. Nothing has been answered. It's just like my son was killed, and the whole case was just swept up under the rug.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Former prosecutors in this case maintain that Williams is the right man to be serving time for these cases.
So still, the burning question, how will this cold case squad that Chief Graham has put together proceed? Well, Chief Graham will only say that they've received a number of new phone tips. He won't elaborate any further, and of course, they are likely to use a lot of the new technology available today that was not available years ago -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Fredricka Whitfield in DeKalb County. Remarkable story. Thank you very much. That wraps up this Wednesday edition of LIVE FROM. A busy one it was.
PHILLIPS: I was going to say, it went by very quickly.
O'BRIEN: It did.
PHILLIPS: Judy Woodruff now with a preview of what's ahead on "INSIDE POLITICS."
Hi, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, there.
And it is, indeed, the story the both of you have been talking about for the last few hours. A security breach in the no-fly zone over Washington had hundreds running for safety. We'll look at what happened to cause the White House, the Capitol and the Supreme Court all to be evacuated.
Plus, the evacuation happened literally on a moment's notice. We'll look at Washington's security system and how many say it performed flawlessly.
"INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 11, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: You're seeing how fast the halls of power can empty out when a tiny plane flies where it should not be. As you've seen on CNN over the past three hours or so, the White House, the U.S. Capitol, congressional office buildings, the Supreme Court all cleared out, hunkered down when a trespassing Cessna 150, two-seater, weighs 1,600 pounds with fuel, came within three miles of the West Wing of the White House. That's about a minute and a half.
It was a very tense 15 minutes in the noon hour in Washington, as witnessed by former CNN anchor, Bernard Shaw. Bernie phoned in from his home in the Maryland burbs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNARD SHAW, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: I was standing outside the carport, and I looked out because I heard these roaring jets. What I saw were two F-16 jets, and they were circling overhead, circling a single-engine plane. And the jet fire pilots were banking very quickly, and I saw them fire two warning flares in the direction of this single-engine plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, between the jets and the flares and some Black Hawk helicopters, they finally got a clue. This is not good. The plane decided it was a good idea, the better part of valor and all, to land in Frederick, Maryland, which is where the Black Hawks and the F-16s guided that particular aircraft.
The two men inside the airplane have been taken into custody, a pilot and a student. Last we heard they're undergoing what we can only presume to be rather uncomfortable interrogations. So far, though, no officials indicating this was a deliberate act of terrorism.
Let's understand -- underscore that point. This was not terrorism, as far as we know. It was another category of, I guess you'd call it, felonious stupidity.
Now D.C. airspace is the most highly restricted in America. Let me tell you a little bit about this flight. This Cessna 150 -- I hope can you see this -- because I don't have a photographer over here. And let's see if we can zoom in, maybe. Can we get him to come over here? It would be helpful.
This is the point of origin, which was Smoketown, Pennsylvania, and they were headed down to an air show. We looked up all the air shows in North Carolina. The only air show in North Carolina going on at this time was down here in a place called Lumberton.
Now you notice what that does, if you can zoom in here -- I think we got a photographer now. Zoom in. That takes you into this big red block of airspace there. That is the D.C. ADIZ, Air Defense Information Zone, and that -- excuse me, identification zone. Excuse me. Love those pop-ups, don't you?
And that is, if you had taken a direct, as the crow fly, route, you would have gone through there. A smart pilot would know that flying into that airspace requires all kinds of restrictions...
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... transponder codes, radio frequencies. This particular airspace is about 75 miles across. It includes, at its center, the Baltimore Washington International Airport, Dulles International Airport and then right in the middle there is Reagan National Airport, giving it kind of that Mickey Mouse effect.
And the fact is you don't want to Mickey Mouse around with it, because this is the most protected piece of airspace in the United States right now.
And whatever -- for whatever reason, this particular plane, and it is a small plane, as you saw on the ground there, just a two seater, decided to fly right through there, apparently oblivious, until those Black Hawk helicopters and F-16s did their intercept.
We will keep you posted on what happens to the pilot and the student as this story progresses -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: It's a breathtaking image, the most powerful people in the most powerful nation on earth stopping in their tracks and running for their lives. CNN congressional correspondent Joe Johns was in the middle of all of it -- Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, quite frankly, we've been through this a number of times on Capitol Hill. That makes it never less intense, I should say. Everybody had a different perspective on this as that evacuation unfolded.
The first sign of it, we got, of course, was from the Senate floor, watching on television as members of the Senate were evacuated from the floor. The leadership was taken away first. After that, of course, all the people in all the office buildings, including the House of Representatives and the Senate in the Capitol itself. A variety of perspectives from all types of people.
For me personally, the moment of reality probably came after hearing U.S. Capitol police telling us we had two minutes to get out of building, and something about a plane.
Emerging from the building I heard overhead aircraft engines, which made me think at first, perhaps we haven't been able to get out of this building before this plane arrived. Of course, those aircraft engines we heard apparently were U.S. military planes.
Variety of different leaders taken to secure locations. House Speaker Hastert taken from the floor of the House of Representatives. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, we're told by Ted Barrett, the CNN producer there, literally pulled out of her shoes by security personnel.
We heard later from Senator Bill Frist, who talked a little bit about the fact that this evacuation occurred very quickly. And those people who got out of building actually got out in about five or six minutes. No one was injured.
The chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, Terry Gainer, talked about that evacuation not long after the all-clear sign was given.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF TERRY GAINER, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: We've set up a procedure that, as it closes a gap, we know how much time it takes to evacuate and try to evaluate the plane.
No one was getting the information we needed to about the plane. We elevated our air -- air alert at about 11:58, eight minutes after it first entered the space, when it was 11 miles out from the Capitol.
We stepped it up to the next level when it was nine miles out from the Capitol. That happened at about two minutes after noon. We finally went to our highest air con threat level when it was four miles out from the Capitol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: So they apparently have gotten this down on Capitol Hill. A lot of people very glad that they have. Of course, once again, there was nothing to this. At least they were able to get that plane out of restricted airspace, and no one was hurt at the Capitol, which is, of course, important to everyone involved.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Joe Johns on the Hill, thank you so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: So, was it malicious? Was it mischief or completely inadvertent? And did the post-9/11 defenses kick in as planned? I think we saw that happen. Of course, we don't know for sure about a lot of other things about this.
We can get some insights on the threat and response from former assistant to the president, former homeland security aide, current CNN security analyst, Richard Falkenrath.
Richard, good to have you back with us.
RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Thanks, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Did the system work?
FALKENRATH: The air defense system seems to have worked just right. They responded very quickly. This was a very deep penetration into the no-fly zone around downtown Washington, and they managed to intercept the plane, get it to turn around and land it. Now they're now questioning the pilot.
The plane very well could have been shot down. That would have been a much bigger story, probably the sort of thing that would have been regarded as a mistake, given what we now know about the pilot.
But the air defense part of the response seems to have worked just right.
O'BRIEN: Let me try to explain what viewers are seeing here. This is the route that would have been a crow's flight route from where they began up in Pennsylvania down to North Carolina where they were headed. And this area right here, P-56-B. That little dot, that's the vice president's house at the naval observatory. And then that whole area there is the mall.
So if they had just blindly set their GPS to go direct to this airport, it would have put them right into this airspace, smack-dab, and would have caused all of these problems.
If they got as close as three miles to the White House, how close do you think they were to being taken down by some of the Stinger missiles, which are used to help protect the White House, for example?
FALKENRATH: Well, there's two ways they could have been taken down, either by the Stingers or by the F-16s that intercepted it. And really, it's hard to say.
As you know, you do the math, if you're three miles out from the White House, you're about 90 seconds if you're flying fairly slowly from the White House itself, so you don't have much time.
But the pilots that had eyes on the aircraft would get a sense of its altitude and also what the aircraft was. And so they would have had to make a decision.
If it was on a rapid descent, like it was going to actually impact the White House, then it would have been shot down, I think, probably in a minute after from when they turned around.
But if it was staying at a high altitude and just cruising by, I'm not sure what would have happened.
O'BRIEN: OK. That's a good point. Let's go back to 1994. I don't know if you were in Washington at time. But we remember it well.
FALKENRATH: Yes.
O'BRIEN: This is a Cessna 150, the remnants of one. In this case, it turned out to be a joy rider, might have been drugs involved. You'll help me with the details on this one.
But the bottom line was this guy got into -- he was in a suburban Washington airport, got into the plane and tried to land there on the South Lawn of the White House on a Saturday morning.
I guess we point this out to show -- of course, this is pre-9/11, different scenario in many respects. But what it does point out is this is a 1,600 aircraft just brimming with fuel. There's not too much damage a Cessna 150 can do.
FALKENRATH: That's right. This is a very small airplane. My understanding, it's a very small training aircraft, and as an impact device, it really probably wouldn't do very much damage, if it hit anything.
Now, if there was a weapon on board, a bomb or a weapon of mass destruction, that's another matter. And so, when you're in these jobs in the White House and in the national security apparatus, you have to assume the worst. You can't just sort of look at it and say, "Yes, that's a little airplane. Let's not get too worried about this." They need to respond very aggressively, assuming the worst.
Because that airplane fundamentally was going someplace it should not have been going, and they need to respond the way they did. And I think, from what I know, they did it about right.
O'BRIEN: So was it warranted, though, to call for the evacuations, because inherent in those evacuations is risk unto itself. When you're asking thousands of people to hurry up out of a building, you run the risk of injuries, heart attacks, whatever you want to call, however you want to call it. Was it prudent to do what they did, given the fact that they had -- they saw the aircraft? It apparently was not a threat.
FALKENRATH: Well, you're exactly right. The air defense response is different from the evacuation of the White House, the Capitol and the Supreme Court.
And when I was in the White House, we were evacuated a couple times, including on 9/11, and the White House staff and the leadership hate to do this. I mean, it gives exactly the wrong image of America, kind of makes us look skittish and flighty based on threats. And so nobody likes to do this at all.
Now, that's a really hard question, did the Secret Service make the right decision? These decisions are made by the Secret Service in their command center, based on their knowledge what's happening in the airspace around the White House.
And the senior officer on duty made the call, and he did it based on what he knew about the threat, and also what he knew about the time. You know, there just really isn't much time. You're three miles out, you're flying at 150 miles an hour or something like that. You're talking about 60, 90 seconds to impact.
And so he made the judgment. That judgment will be second- guessed by others in the White House and in the Secret Service, and they'll have to see what they think. But nobody likes to evacuate the White House, that's for sure.
O'BRIEN: All right. If it turns out that this was two guys on a joyride who just, absolutely in a clueless manner, flew into this airspace, what's the appropriate punishment for them?
FALKENRATH: Well, I -- my understanding is it's not actually against the law. It's not a criminal violation to violate the airspace. It's a civil violation.
So what's likely to happen is they're going to lose their license, or at least there will be a review process to see whether they should lose their pilot's license.
What else can be done, what other responses, I think it's going to depend on the specifics of the case. There's a lot of preliminary information about whether they had authorization to use the airplane and the rest. We'll learn that in the next hours, I'm sure.
But you know, at a minimum, they're at risk of losing their license.
O'BRIEN: Rich, I don't know if you've stopped talking or not. They've been talking to me the whole time. They're giving me the names of the pilot and the student. Jim Shaeffer was the pilot, Troy Martin, the student. We're just releasing those names for you.
I'm sorry, Richard, I couldn't hear the last bit you said. I think the point here is we learn, every time these things happen, you put another lesson in the knowledge bank. I wonder if next time, if it's a Cessna 150, I wonder if they'll actually evacuate everything, given how quickly they were able to respond and get those fighters on target, so to speak?
FALKENRATH: Well, it's a good question, and one thing I think that I think the government is not quite as good at, as it should be, is relating the evacuation decision of these buildings to the air defense response that's ongoing.
They're really quite separate systems. There is an air-defense system that's really managed by the Department of Defense, and then there's the evacuation of the buildings, which is managed by whichever security service is in charge of security at that site.
So at White House, it's the Secret Service, and at the Capitol, it's Chief Gainer and his function. So it's decentralized and, in a certain extent, stovepiped, that people will look at that and say, "Gee, could we couple these systems together more tightly?"
O'BRIEN: Yes. And of course, the Pentagon was not evacuated, as we've been reporting. Richard Falkenrath, always appreciate your insights. Thanks very much.
FALKENRATH: You bet, miles. O'BRIEN: And as you know, CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to us for the latest information, day and night.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, one of America's notorious serial killers is back in the news. It's been more than 20 years since Wayne Williams went to prison for killing two children and was blamed for killing 22 others. Now one police chief in suburban Atlanta says there's been a mistake. What's his story? LIVE FROM has the answers when we continue.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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PHILLIPS: Well, as you know, the story we've been following throughout the day was that small Cessna 150 that went into restricted airspace. This is the first time we're seeing the president since that happened. As you know, he was taken to a safe place. Now he's talking with congressional leaders.
Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sitting in Red Square, honoring the veterans of World War II was -- was an amazing event. I remember the kid watching the missiles parade through Red Square, and here I sat as the president of the United States in Red Square, paying homage to people who died to defeat Nazism.
And I was sitting beside a friend. Russia is not our enemy. Russia is our friend. And it's important that we work together to achieve peace. I -- obviously, we have a difference of opinion on certain issues, but we don't have a difference of opinion on working together for peace.
I went to the Baltics had, a great trip to Latvia. It's such an inspiring experience to be in countries that have newly minted democracies that love freedom. And I met with civil society advocates. I look forward to briefing you on the situation that this young democracy faces in making sure that all people are participating in democracy.
Went to the Netherlands. Her majesty kindly came and visited, paid a visit with us, and I later briefed with her majesty, honoring the U.S. soldiers who died at the end of World War II.
Interestingly enough, some of my father-in-law's unit were there, and it was neat for Laura to be able to hug them and to remember her dad, as she paid tribute to the veterans.
And then I went to Georgia, standing in front of 150,000 that loved freedom was a fantastic experience. The lessons of World War II is to honor the sacrifice of those who helped us keep the peace and to remember that the United States is always the beacon of freedom, and that when we find people living under tyranny, we got to work to free them, in order to make the world more peaceful.
And so I want to thank you all for coming. I look forward to briefing you in specific on some of the conversations I had, and I'm looking forward to your comments, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
BUSH: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... based on what you know? Was a shoot down order given?
BUSH: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Tape just fed into us just a few moments ago, the first time we saw the president since he was taken into a safe area when that small plane was intercepted after entering restricted airspace around the White House.
The president -- the purpose of that meeting was to meet with both Democratic and Republican congressional leaders about his trip to Europe. His trip to the Baltic states, honoring those who fought in World War II and also talking about the lessons learned from World War II, and all the different leaders that he met with, from the president of Georgia to the president, of course, of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
Reporters asking about the situation that happened in restricted airspace. You could hear the reporters, once again, asking if he gave that order to shoot down that aircraft. The president not answering the question. But as we've continued to follow this story, we can tell you that, at this point, it did not reach that level.
We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.
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O'BRIEN: Well, to one degree or another, the city of Atlanta is about to revisit a nightmare. Today, a suburban police chief announced the formation of a task force to reexamine several of the infamous Atlanta child murders.
Live with the story from suburban DeKalb County, CNN's Fredricka Whitfield -- Fred. FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Well, it's been 26 years since a series of murders, child murders terrorized the Atlanta area. One man, who is serving life sentences, two life sentence for two out of the nearly two dozen child murder cases, is Wayne Williams.
Well, DeKalb County Police Chief Louis Graham, who originally worked the case as an investigator years ago, reiterated during a press conference today that he believes today, like he has over many years, that Wayne Williams was the wrong man to be serving time for these murders. So he explained why he is reopening six of the cases.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF LOUIS GRAHAM, DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: During the course of these investigations, none of the evidence collected, supported or suggested that Wayne Williams was involved in the murder of these youth. Wayne Williams was subsequently arrested and convicted and is presently serving two life sentences for the murders of two young adult black males.
As a result of these investigations, a profile was developed that listed the ages of the victims as being between 9 and 14 years of age. It appeared that after the arrest and conviction of Wayne Williams, the young murder and missing children cases were closed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, relatives of some of the victims appearing today with the chief say this is long overdue. Sirlena Cobb, mother of Christopher Richardson, who was the ninth child killed during this murder spree, says she never believed Wayne Williams did it either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIRLENA COBB, MOTHER OF MURDERED BOY: Maybe you can call it a mother's intuition or just a gut feeling. I just don't feel like he did it. There's too many loose ends, you know, what have you, that's not been answered. Nothing has been answered. It's just like my son was killed, and the whole case was just swept up under the rug.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Former prosecutors in this case maintain that Williams is the right man to be serving time for these cases.
So still, the burning question, how will this cold case squad that Chief Graham has put together proceed? Well, Chief Graham will only say that they've received a number of new phone tips. He won't elaborate any further, and of course, they are likely to use a lot of the new technology available today that was not available years ago -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Fredricka Whitfield in DeKalb County. Remarkable story. Thank you very much. That wraps up this Wednesday edition of LIVE FROM. A busy one it was.
PHILLIPS: I was going to say, it went by very quickly.
O'BRIEN: It did.
PHILLIPS: Judy Woodruff now with a preview of what's ahead on "INSIDE POLITICS."
Hi, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, there.
And it is, indeed, the story the both of you have been talking about for the last few hours. A security breach in the no-fly zone over Washington had hundreds running for safety. We'll look at what happened to cause the White House, the Capitol and the Supreme Court all to be evacuated.
Plus, the evacuation happened literally on a moment's notice. We'll look at Washington's security system and how many say it performed flawlessly.
"INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.
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