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American Morning

Interview with Tom Ridge

Aired July 16, 2002 - 08:10   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: Later on this morning at the White House, President Bush will unveil his blueprint for a new cabinet level department of homeland security.

And a little bit earlier this morning I spoke with the man currently in charge, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, and got a preview of the president's plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Governor Ridge, good to see you again.

Thanks again for joining us this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR: Hello, Paula.

ZAHN: I wanted to start off by putting up on the screen the three major goals that you plan to address in this new proposal. Among them, prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reducing America's vulnerability to terrorism and minimizing the damage and recovery from attacks that do occur.

What, in your estimation, is the most important part of this plan that addresses those key issues?

RIDGE: I think it's universally recognized that the most important thing we can do is prevent the attack in the first place. And obviously we have the Department of Defense doing its job and the CIA and the FBI. And we've engaged the law enforcement community around this country. But there are also certain things we can do within this country outside of law enforcement that would be a deterrence to an attack. And the president's strategy gives us a road map to accomplish that.

ZAHN: And what is this idea that you have in mind where a law would be reviewed that would allow you to more aggressively use the American military within the United States? What exactly does that mean? What do you have in mind?

RIDGE: Well, we have historically restrained the armed forces from exercising any law enforcement authority in this country and I suspect that that is a tradition we are going to preserve. However, because of the new department that I believe Congress is going to support at the end of the day, and because of the new relationship it will have with the Department of Defense, because there's going to be a North American Command, and among the responsibilities of the North American Command there will be the need for, potentially the need for the military to support civilian authorities, this may be subject to some review.

But I doubt very seriously if we're going to amend that traditional role of the military. They have not been historically involved in law enforcement and I think that's the way the American people would prefer it. There may be some very, very extreme exigent circumstances that would warrant it, but we can't foresee any at this time. But it's obviously something we'd have to discuss in the future.

ZAHN: Yes, explain to me again what that means, that in a certain circumstance you might buttress civilian authority?

RIDGE: Well, I think the example that comes to mind that I think most Americans can relate to is if there was a biological attack, an epidemic of some sort with contagious infectious disease involved, I think that depending on the size of the attack and the location, we might want to work with state and local officials to quarantine the area and we may need the military in order to do that.

So it's in light of the use of the military in a capacity such as that that we'd want to work out the rules of engagement prior to the incident occurring.

ZAHN: Let's talk for a moment about who's going to pay for this. In a letter accompanying this plan to those of us who have seen it, President Bush says that local and state governments need to share in the cost of this. And I guess you've assessed that cost to be about $100 billion a year. What portion of that will the federal and state governments pick up?

RIDGE: Well, I think the president believes, and I think most governors and mayors accept the notion that there is a shared responsibility to meet this terrorist threat. By and large the bulk of the resources, at least for the feasible future, are going to be provided by the federal government. The president's budget for 2003 has a $13 billion increase from the 2002 budget. Obviously, the state and locals, many of them have begun to expand their own resources. The private sector is going to have to help defray the cost of protecting their assets, as well.

So it's a shared fiscal responsibility and probably it will be worked out on a cost sharing basis depending on the need, depending on the urgency and depending on the will of Congress on a year to year basis.

ZAHN: Sir, we've got about 15 seconds left. What do you say to the members of Congress who are already balking at this plan? They say it is too bureaucratic and because of the sheer size of it unwieldy?

RIDGE: Well, I think it's the best way to protect America. The president has taken a look at the government, the federal government's infrastructure and said this consolidation is the road map to engage not only federal assets, but take advantage of the universe of people and science and capacity we have to protect America. And I would hope that they would remind -- remember that the broader mission is to work together to protect America.

They are. They're working in a very bipartisan way. They've been very supportive generally of the department. We're just going to work out the details. But I'm confident that at the end of the day the president's going to have a very strong and robust Department of Homeland Security.

ZAHN: And you think Congress is going to go for it, too?

RIDGE: I believe that, I mean, again, the president has said he will propose, the Congress will dispose. We've been up there talking with members on both sides of the aisles in both chambers. They have their ideas. The president has his. That's how the system works.

The terrorists may attack us, but they're not, certainly they haven't changed the way we do business in this town or this country, and that's just exactly the way it should be.

ZAHN: Governor Tom Ridge, good to see you again.

Thank you again for dropping by AMERICAN MORNING.

RIDGE: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And the president will reveal more of those details at 9:30 from the Rose Garden. We'll be covering it live.

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