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American Morning
Tom Ridge Introduces New Five-Level Color Coded System of Terror Alerts
Aired March 13, 2002 - 07:19 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Condition yellow, that is the condition the nation is facing right now, the new government designation for a significant level of danger. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge yesterday introduced a new five level color coded system of terror alerts. It is the government's response to complaints about those earlier broad terror warnings that some say frightened the public but gave state and local authorities very little guidance.
Ridge says America's best defense, as always, is being prepared.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR: The system will not eliminate risk. No system can. We face an enemy as ruthless and as cunning and as unpredictable as any we've ever faced. Our intelligence may not pick up every threat and unlike natural disasters as hurricanes, terrorists can change their patterns and their plans based on our response, based on what they see that we're doing. But the president has certainly pledged to bring every possible human and technological resource to the task of implementing this advisory system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: But is the nation prepared? The nation's response to terrorism was the subject of a hearing just yesterday and Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Joe Allbaugh testified on Capitol Hill. He joins us now from Washington.
Good to see you again, sir. Welcome back.
JOE ALLBAUGH, FEMA DIRECTOR: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: Good morning.
So, Director Allbaugh, I know that you have worked very closely with Homeland Security Director Ridge and he talked very much about how FEMA is focused on responding to natural disasters. How has your agency changed its course since September 11 to respond to theses broad terrorist threats?
ALLBAUGH: Well, I'm not sure that we've changed much. For the most part, our formation deals, as you say, with natural disasters. We also have the responsibility to deal with manmade disasters. We're focused on helping communities and the country become more prepared or better prepared than we were on the 10th of September, the day before. We're getting them prepared as the days pass. We'll be better next week, next year.
We're getting where we want to be. We're not there yet. But the Americans in this country need to be comforted that every one of our federal agencies, the state entities, the governors, the local communities are doing what needs to be done.
ZAHN: And can you give us some specific examples this morning of places where you think FEMA has made headway in being better prepared today than it was on September 10th?
ALLBAUGH: Well, we have 28 teams, national teams, urban search and rescue individuals. And one of the things that we've done is to figure out how we can better deploy in a much faster fashion those individuals to assist communities when there is an incident.
Second to that, President Bush not too long ago with the State of the Union address announced a first responder program that FEMA will be administering. This is to help individuals who received the 9/11 phone calls, police, fire, emergency medical technicians, city utility workers, to the tune of about $3.5 billion to help them better prepare in four areas -- planning, training, exercises and equipment purchases. And I look forward to implementing that program that the president is so desperately wanting to see Congress fund.
ZAHN: And I know you talked about your pride and some of these search and rescue teams that are a part of FEMA now. But one of the things that you testified about to a congressional panel weeks ago about was the problem of communications, bringing in teams from all over the country where the teams didn't necessarily have equipment that was compatible. What can you do about that in the near term?
ALLBAUGH: Well, in the near term we have put together an interagency working group to solve this interoperability problem that exists nationwide. Communications is the number one problem that our country faces when it comes to any type of disaster. If you are unable to communicate with police, fire, emergency medical technicians, then you're costing lives and I want to make sure that we can solve this problem.
I personally witnessed in New York City numerous departments showing up. They were incapable of communicating with one another and as far as I'm concerned, that's unacceptable. We need to get everyone on the same wavelength, set national standards, hold individuals accountable and make sure that this is implemented.
ZAHN: And I know we've talked about this before, but there are people within the New York Fire Department who believe that many firefighters lost their lives because of bad communications, the department was moving from an analog radio system to a digital system. Is that what you're talking about, as well, getting this equipment upgraded across the country? ALLBAUGH: Absolutely. I don't want to be in the position of dictating to departments they need to buy Motorola or Ericson or some other brand. I want to make sure that we design the criteria, set those standards and then allow the departments to buy the equipment on their own, meeting those standards.
You may have seen the film last Sunday night where the French brothers shot the chaos at the time of the first and second airplanes. People could not communicate. We need to solve that problem and 343 brave men and women lost their lives because they weren't able to communicate properly to evacuate on time. And my heart goes out to those families who lost those brave folks.
ZAHN: Well, we appreciate your bringing us up to date on what FEMA is doing to better prepare for a potential terrorist attack.
Joe Allbaugh, it's always good to see you. Thank you for your time this morning.
ALLBAUGH: Thank you, Paula. Thank you very much.
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