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American Morning

Are Americans Safer from Terrorism Now?

Aired May 20, 2002 - 07:07   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: We are going to move on to our big question now: are Americans any safer from terrorism now than before September 11? There are signs of increased al Qaeda activity and a sober assessment from Vice President Dick Cheney that another terrorist attack against America is a virtual certainty.

Joining us now from Washington, CNN's security analyst, Kelly McCann -- good to see you again Kelly. What do you make of the president's -- or excuse me -- vice president's warning here?

J. KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Paula, I think it's spot (ph) on. You know, I mean, the thing is, is that this is a very determined adversary, and we are safer. We are definitely safer than we were, you know, 9/11. However, as their determination and their ingenuity increases, so must ours, and we've got to continue to press and preempt as much as possible.

ZAHN: Now, some folks are saying this morning that Dick Cheney very carefully chose his language yesterday and did not say an attack on American soil. Does that say to you perhaps what some of these analysts are suggesting this morning that an attack on American interests abroad might be more likely?

MCCANN: Sure. You know, trying to determine this, Paula, is like trying to grab water. Every time you think you have it in one direction, it runs out of your hand and it falls somewhere else. They are looking at all kinds of information from disparate sources, and then they are trying to get to the most common theme. So I think that basically he's just raising the general awareness of the threat.

ZAHN: So how is it that the American public is supposed to react to this? What are we supposed to do?

MCCANN: Well, certainly the American people have to understand that at the point of impact, they are the grassroots eyes and ears of any capability that we have. So just being a little bit more cautious in noting suspicious or unusual behavior, being less self-conscious about making reports. You know, if you think you saw something and you're not being reactionary, by all means call. And if you need to quantify it and say, geez, it may be nothing, but here is what I saw, please do that.

And lastly, notice more. We go through life, you know, and sometimes we pass exit 42, and then we pass exit 58. We are driving at 65 miles an hour. Don't do that. Be in the game and notice what's going on around you.

ZAHN: We actually have a graphic prepared to sort of reinforce what you just said. I want to keep that up on the screen as I move along to my next question, and that is about the security around metropolitan water supplies. Orlando, we are told, has beefed up its security in the wake of a vague threat. And according to a report from a state legislative committee, New York City's water system is still vulnerable to possible terrorist attacks.

How likely is an attack on the nation's water supply?

MCCANN: Well, you know, any adversary, Paula, is going to seek our vulnerabilities. And just as that graphic states, you know, that whole idea of an apartment being rented to be, you know, used for placing explosives, that is certainly one out-of-the-box way to structurally damage a building and fall it into other buildings.

The same thing with water supplies. I thought it was fantastic that that man, and I think it was Eaton or Easton, Connecticut, actually saw somebody up there with a video camera and thought it was unusual enough to call the police. They did what they were supposed to do. It went to the FBI, and they actually apprehended these folks.

I mean, that's really what we're talking about in motion. So I think we have all woken up a little bit.

ZAHN: There has also been a lot of discussion about the prospect of suicide bomber striking here on U.S. soil. Commissioner Ray Kelly of the New York Police Department has actually dispatched New York officers to Israel for training. Let's listen to what he had to say about why he has taken this move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY KELLY, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: This is a step obviously after 9/11. Everyone is well trained (ph). We have to be as prepared as we can be for any eventuality. This is one step in many steps that we are taking to do the best we can to protect New York City from attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So what difference will that make? We saw yet another suicide bombing attack over the weekend, where a Palestinian sort of disguised himself as an Israeli soldier.

MCCANN: Three points on that, Paula, real quickly. Number one, which is, you know, there is a chasm between -- last year for instance, the Israeli authorities shot and killed two suicide bombers before they could detonate the bomb. I don't think anyone here in the United States could ever imagine a Boston or a Detroit or a Chicago or a New York police officer feeling like he could do that and be supported by the community.

Number two, the Israelis have been largely unsuccessful in developing patterns of behavior that identify early enough, so that you could preempt.

And lastly, bad guys, just like everybody else, model success, and if the bad guy community at large believes that it is a successful campaign in Israel, I think that unfortunately we should expect that they may come this way.

ZAHN: Closing thought here, Kelly, about the open society we operate in. And there is a man from the University of Virginia's Miller Center who wrote this in this week's "Newsweek" about how that actually protects those who want to become invisible. He said: "The paradox is that once someone enters the United States, they become invisible, shielded by all our laws and restraints. The National Security Agency and the CIA can keep tabs on people around the world, but not here. We just caught a terrorist in Pakistan. Had he been in America, he would have been safe."

So he is saying so much for all these warnings. What do you think?

MCCANN: Well, it's the old problem of how much do you tell the public, and how invasive should the government be? From a citizenry standpoint, obviously when we warn and when we start to intrude, we start to desensitize and we start to ruffle the feathers of the citizenry.

From the government side, they have an interesting question. And that is, do we get more value out of giving a warning? Or should we not give the warning, add surveillance to see where this goes? Because this certainly has to protect sources and methods -- a very complicated and complex game that must be played out.

ZAHN: Well, thanks for shedding some light on it this morning. J. Kelly McCann, always good to have you with is here on AMERICAN MORNING.

MCCANN: Thanks, Paula.

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