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American Morning
Interview with Attorney General John Ashcroft
Aired April 30, 2003 - 07:11 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The president will later today sign into law creating a national Amber Alert System.
Last hour here, I talked with the attorney general, John Ashcroft, and I asked him about the new law and how it may have helped in the case of Buddy Myers or Eli Quick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department is setting up a national coordinator. That's Debbie Daniels. She has been a former U.S. attorney. She now heads up the justice programs that work with the states. She'll coordinate the activity between the states.
We're doing some of that kind of cooperation in advance of this final bill signing, as I said, 39 states are operating. But this federal coordination and cooperation will build the system that can help us in the event children are taken across state lines.
HEMMER: I want to know this also. Buddy Myers, who is a big story out in the news today, a boy who disappeared in North Carolina about two years ago. He might have reappeared in the state of Illinois recently. If you go back to this boy's case from two years ago, how would the Amber Alert System have helped him, if at all?
ASHCROFT: Well, Amber Alert is designed, when we have information, to get the information to the public immediately. So that as the two young women who were recovered in California last year as a result of Amber deployment there, motorists and others in the culture who are given the information immediately about the abduction, about descriptions, about cars and license plates and all. As they did in that case, frequently the car, the license, the abductor, the children may be seen if notice about their having been abducted is provided early enough.
And so, that's what Amber Alert is for. It's to say to everyone, be on the lookout quickly. It's very important, because in most cases where children are seriously hurt or killed, they're killed during the early hours of the abduction.
And so, we want to have the alert not only be a substantial and broad alert, but it has to happen early and quickly. That's why it's important that we have this additional funding, this coordination at the national level.
We've already sent the materials out to all 50 states. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Attorney General John Ashcroft.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired April 30, 2003 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The president will later today sign into law creating a national Amber Alert System.
Last hour here, I talked with the attorney general, John Ashcroft, and I asked him about the new law and how it may have helped in the case of Buddy Myers or Eli Quick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department is setting up a national coordinator. That's Debbie Daniels. She has been a former U.S. attorney. She now heads up the justice programs that work with the states. She'll coordinate the activity between the states.
We're doing some of that kind of cooperation in advance of this final bill signing, as I said, 39 states are operating. But this federal coordination and cooperation will build the system that can help us in the event children are taken across state lines.
HEMMER: I want to know this also. Buddy Myers, who is a big story out in the news today, a boy who disappeared in North Carolina about two years ago. He might have reappeared in the state of Illinois recently. If you go back to this boy's case from two years ago, how would the Amber Alert System have helped him, if at all?
ASHCROFT: Well, Amber Alert is designed, when we have information, to get the information to the public immediately. So that as the two young women who were recovered in California last year as a result of Amber deployment there, motorists and others in the culture who are given the information immediately about the abduction, about descriptions, about cars and license plates and all. As they did in that case, frequently the car, the license, the abductor, the children may be seen if notice about their having been abducted is provided early enough.
And so, that's what Amber Alert is for. It's to say to everyone, be on the lookout quickly. It's very important, because in most cases where children are seriously hurt or killed, they're killed during the early hours of the abduction.
And so, we want to have the alert not only be a substantial and broad alert, but it has to happen early and quickly. That's why it's important that we have this additional funding, this coordination at the national level.
We've already sent the materials out to all 50 states. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Attorney General John Ashcroft.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
