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American Morning

Interview of Rep. Edward Markey (D), Massachusetts

Aired March 26, 2002 - 09:22   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: The "Big Question" at this hour: are terrorists working at U.S. nuclear facilities, a disturbing new report that points to black holes in our homeland security. Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey says 86 of the nation's most sensitive nuclear facilities failed to screen workers for terrorist ties, and he claims security is so lax that terrorist operatives may already be employed at nuclear reactors in the U.S.

Joining us now from Watertown, Massachusetts, the author of the report, Congressman Ed Markey. Good to see you again, welcome back.

REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Thank you. Good morning.

ZAHN: So, congressman, what are the chances that we actually have terrorists who have already infiltrated our nuclear power plants?

MARKEY: Well, you know, because we only do criminal background checks, and we know that most of the terrorists on September 11 did not have criminal backgrounds, it opens the question of whether there has been an extensive search of all of the pasts of people who work at nuclear power plants, so that we can know a lot more than whether or not they have criminal records, because a lot of these people are just motivated by a religious hatred of our country, even though they are not criminals under the traditional definition. So, nobody really knows the answer to the question.

ZAHN: So congressman, when we look at the impact of 9/11, is there anything that you can point to that suggests that our facilities are any more protected today than they were six months ago?

MARKEY: I think that they are upgraded to some extent. But remember, before September 11, nuclear power plants in the United States had to be protected against only three terrorists, basically in an SUV, that were relatively lightly armed, and were not technically sophisticated. Since September 11, we know that they could come in waves of 19, be highly sophisticated, from a technical perspective, be suicidal, and be very, very heavily armed with the most technical of superiority in explosives that could actually lead to a meltdown.

So at this point, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to put in place a new rule-making that would mandate across the board the implementation of a new set of standards. The industry says they're doing a lot of new stuff voluntarily, but I don't think we really want an industry that has always slipped back on their expenditure on safety to have that responsibility alone. I think the federal government has to mandate it.

ZAHN: Representative Markey, you've had other harsh things to say about the NRC, and I am going to read quickly one of the latest quotes I've read, where you say -- quote -- "a nuclear safety agency that does not know and seems little interested in finding out the nationality of nuclear reactor workers is not doing its job." What are you suggesting, that racial profiling must be done in this instance?

MARKEY: Well, I'm saying is that, if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not know how many foreign nationals work at nuclear power plants, doesn't know their full background, doesn't know how many people the nuclear industry actually has working on -- looking at these backgrounds, that they're a little different than the Immigration and Naturalization Service in terms of what they were doing when potential terrorists were going to flight schools down in Florida. We have to be very careful here. There is -- when people are not American citizens, we have to be very careful if they're seeking to work in areas that are very sensitive to our security.

ZAHN: Well, it would appear this morning, too, that these nuclear facilities are not only vulnerable to terrorism, there are reports this morning that nuclear reactor operators have been ordered to check their reactor vessels after the discovery that acid had actually eaten a hole in one of the lids of a reactor in a plant in Ohio. What does that suggest to you?

MARKEY: Well, that nuclear power plants are not unlike human beings, that there's a certain life expectancy. Many nuclear power plants, in fact, have their life extended by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are only supposed to be in operation for 20 or 25 years, they get a life extension of an extra 20 years. Well, just like human beings whose insides start to wear down, the pipes and other parts of nuclear power plants, they wear down as well, and if one of the critical parts goes awry, just like a human being, you could have a very serious accident at a nuclear power plant.

ZAHN: Well, I tell you, a lot of what we talked about this morning has got to be so frightening to any American listening to this. Just a final thought this morning in 15 seconds, and what you want people to take away from this segment?

MARKEY: Well, a lot of people say that we should not be talking about these issues, but we found in the caves of Afghanistan, the computers and the designs of nuclear power plants, knowing that they have been put at the very top of the list of targets of al Qaeda, if they had access to an American nuclear power plant. It's the American people that have to have a discussion, that insist in the same way they want higher security at airports, they also want higher levels of federal security at nuclear power plants.

ZAHN: Well, Congressman Markey, we would like to stay in touch with you, and keep our audience updated on what is happening along the NRC front. Thank you again for your time this morning. As always, good to see you.

MARKEY: Thanks for having me on. Thank you.

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