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American Morning
Target: Terrorism: Bush Administration Preparing for Possibility of Additional Strikes; Florida Man Diagnosed with Anthrax
Aired October 05, 2001 - 09:01 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.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Administration officials, intelligence officials telling the Congress, they believe there is a high probability, some believe a certainty, that if the United States strikes out militarily, there will be an attempt to launch additional strikes back home in the United States. We have seen the administration responding, trying to head off potential attacks, rounding up suspects, thousands of subpoenas issued in the criminal investigation, but it presents a very difficult challenge to the administration. On the one hand, trying to prepare for what many believe is very strong possibility of additional strikes. On the other hand, trying not to overalarm the public at time the president is encouraging people to get back to work, get back on airplanes, reinvigorate the economy, a very difficult challenge for the administration.
And for more how the president is trying to handle it, let's bring in my colleague at the White House Kelly Wallace -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, a difficult challenge, indeed, a delicate balancing act, and the way the administration is going about it, is basically, trying to put out those two messages at the same time. Ari Fleischer, the president's spokesman, saying that the president and his top advisers will continue to be -- quote -- "forthright" with the American people, to let them know that substantial risks continue to exist, that they should remain on alert, and that the government is doing everything it possibly can to protect Americans in the United States and abroad.
Secondly, though, at the same time, just as you noted, the administration trying to put forward that Americans should go forward, get back to normal, get back to their business, that is one way to sort of fight against this terrorist these terrorists get this country moving forward again, a difficult challenge indeed. The way they're trying to deal with it is put both messages out at same time -- John.
KING: Kelly, I want you to stand by. I also want to bring our in national correspondent Eileen O'Connor who has been tracking the investigation.
Eileen, we see the administration taking steps, like restricting more airspace, not only the White House and the Capitol, but over dams, over power plants, increasing security around nuclear facilities around the country, asking Major League Baseball and the National Football League to increase security at stadiums.
From your perspective, covering the law enforcement side of this, how do they balance investigating the crimes of September 11 with looking ahead to try to prevent any similar events in the future?
EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have actually publicly said to Congress a couple days ago, that right now, the investigation is taking a back seat to those preventative measures. Obviously, the investigation is important, to try to see, if there are more people out there, more people who were supporting the hijackers, more people who could be planning future attacks, but they have also said preventing future attacks is a number one priority, and by the way, they have been saying, you know, that it is clear that other attacks were planned, they have intelligence, and they have arrested people, in France, in Italy, in the Netherlands, in Brussels, in London, that they say were planning attacks against U.S. interests overseas.
Also, you know, John, you have statements by -- you have the fatwa by bin Laden, which is out there for years, saying that he will attack Americans, everywhere. Also, you have the call yesterday by the Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, in Afghanistan, saying that if the United States attacks, then he expects Muslims around the world to come to aid of the Taliban -- Kelly.
KING: Kelly Wallace, let me bring you in for a second. This is the last day that Tom Ridge will be governor of Pennsylvania. He starts next week as the director of the Office of Homeland Security, the job of preparing Americans for the possibility of a terrorist attack and preparing the government to deal with it now falls to him?
WALLACE: Absolutely, John, and enormous challenge, facing Tom Ridge. We know he will have a staff of about 100. He will be obviously working here beginning next week. He will be trying to coordinate the more than 40 federal agencies that are responsible for trying to protect the country from acts of domestic terrorism. He will be working with those agencies, again, trying to streamline communication, and again, trying to get the best defenses in this country.
John, back to you.
KING: Kelly Wallace and Eileen O'Connor.
Lastly, the attorney general pressing Congress to act more quickly on the antiterrorism package. Is the threat of a future attack one of the reasons he is in such a hurry?
O'CONNOR: Absolutely, and determining who might be behind any future attack is why he is in such a hurry.
KING: All right Eileen O'Connor, here in our Washington studios, Kelly Wallace over at the White House, thank you for that. We will check in on this and more in the hours ahead.
For now, back to Miles in New York. MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, John. I will take it.
Despite reassurance from health officials, the case of a Florida man diagnosed with anthrax may be adding to anxiety many Americans are already feeling.
CNN's John Zarrella joining us from Atlantis, Florida with more on this case, and an update on the man's condition.
Good morning, John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
Update on his condition is not good. He remains in very critical condition, grave condition. The likelihood of his surviving put at very minimal in cases like this, where the symptoms are already -- where he is already exhibiting symptoms. The chances are less than 10 percent of survival. Doctors are telling us quietly that he has already surpassed what they would expect the 24 to 48 hour normal time period where someone would generally expire, but that does not mean that he is getting any better.
They are saying, though, and insisting that it is an isolated case. There does not appear to be any link to bioterrorism at this point. But they're also going to his house now, we understand, and they are going through the soil samples, digging through soil, at least that's the plan, because they do believe that it is a naturally occurring form of anthrax. And health officials here are stressing that they really do want to find the source.
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DR. STEVEN WIERSMA, FLORIDA DEPT. OF HEALTH: Finding the source would be very important to us, because we could reassure ourselves that we understand where it came from. We would definitely be able to use that to prevent additional cases though, although, you know, the prevention opportunities would be very limited because it's such a rare disease. It would it be very unlikely even finding the source, that that source, a naturally occurring source, would be a high risk to other people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
They say would it be very difficult. In fact, they may not find the source at all, may never find the source if it's naturally occurring. His wife has been extremely helpful, Bob Stevens wife. She does not show any signs of it, although she is being monitored, and they say that she is being extremely helpful to them, Miles, as to where he was and his whereabouts during the last week, the period in which time they think that he probably contracted this.
This is John Zarrella reporting live from Atlantis, Florida.
O'BRIEN: And, John, before you get away, anthrax is not spread person-to-person, correct? ZARRELLA: That's absolutely correct. This is not contagious. He could have gotten it from breathing in the spores from whatever the source might have been, but it cannot be transmitted from person-to- person. That's correct, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, John Zarrella from Palm Beach County, thank you very much.
National guard troops are taking up positions at more airports. Their mission, to help with security, and to help calm concerns of apprehensive fliers.
National correspondent Marty Savidge is at Newark International airport, where Guardsmen are beginning their assignment today.
Marty, how do travelers feel about this?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Travelers have mixed emotions about that. Excuse me, Miles. The deployment of National Guard troops is another uniform that airline passengers are going to have to become accustomed to, obviously that color now being camouflage, something they probably haven't seen in airports before, and so that is somewhat of an unnerving aspect for the airline passengers.
Here in the state of New Jersey, 75 troops being deployed to the three commercial airports. Those being Atlantic City, Mercer and Newark International Airport here. They were called out by acting governor. They will be armed, carrying M-16 rifles and sidearms. You will find them at various checkpoints inside the terminal, as well as patrolling on the outside as well.
Authorities stress that they have undergone training by FAA, two days of intensive training, they say. The FAA is responsible for security at all the nation's airports, and those soldiers will fall under the FAA's domain.
They are not here, though, to replace security. They are here to beef up the presence. In the state of New Jersey, there were already state troopers in place adding to that. The passengers say that some like it, some don't.
As far as Colonel John Dwyer, who's with the New Jersey national Guard, says this is a very unique deployment. He also says that this deployment could go on for another perhaps four six months. It is not necessarily indefinite. They say that their role here is to wait until the added security that is being planned for all of the nation's airports is finally in place.
And one final note to make mention here is that Newark International Airport was one of the airports from which the terrorists launched their campaign on September 11th, hijacking United flight 93. That plane eventually crashed in Pennsylvania -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Martin Savidge at Newark International Airport, thanks very much -- Paula.
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