Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Congress to Consider Response to Terrorism

Aired May 08, 2001 - 09:36   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Terrorism against the United States and the government's ability to prevent it is the focus of a congressional hearing that's getting under way at this hour.

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor takes a look at the variety of threats being discussed. He joins us now, live from Capital Hill.

Good morning -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

We'll hear from a large variety of Bush administration appointees to senior posts, Cabinet posts, today about what the administration's plan is for how to organize the government response to any sort of mass terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About a third of the building has been blown away.

ENSOR (voice-over): In the wake of the bombings in Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center, and the attacks on the Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia and the USS Cole, a half-dozen blue ribbon commissions have warned the U.S. faces more terrorism and is not ready.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), KANSAS: I don't want to scare anybody, but you look at the USS Cole; you look at, you know, Khobar Towers, the oceans no longer protect us. So it could be state-supported or non- state supported, and we've been very lucky.

ENSOR: The threats range from truck bombs to cyberattacks to terrorism using chemical or biological weapons, and right now, the federal response is divided among 46 different agencies.

GARY HART, CO-CHAIRMAN, 21ST CENTURY COMMISSION: We do recommend the creation of a national homeland security agency, which will coordinate the preparation for what we believe is an inevitable effort to attack this country by terrorists using weapons of mass destruction.

ENSOR: The Hart-Rudman commission proposed a Cabinet-level agency which would fold in the Border Patrol from the Justice Department, customs from Treasury, Coast Guard from Transportation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But Secretary of State Colin Powell and other administration officials will tell senators the Bush administration does not agree, that the president will keep the existing structure, while creating an office of national preparedness within the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a task force under Vice President Dick Cheney to look at the federal, state and local efforts and make recommendations by October on how to improve them.

ROBERTS: I'm not sure you need a top-down czar to do that so much as you need to get it better organized with the existing agencies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Administration officials can expect some close questioning at today's hearings, with some senators arguing that the threat of terrorism on a mass scale on U.S. soil should be a higher priority than, for example, the question of the ballistic missile threat that President Bush has put so high on his list of priorities.

David Ensor, CNN, live on Capital Hill.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com