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American Morning
Terror Threat
Aired May 23, 2003 - 09:32 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: In San Francisco, they were conducting drills yesterday, exercises to play out possible scenarios if, indeed, that were the case, responding to things like earthquakes and hazmat spills, and also terrorist attacks as well.
Mary Currie is a spokesperson for the bridge. He's with us live now in the bay in San Francisco.
Thanks for getting up early for us. I know you did this exercise yesterday. How much do you think that can help right now in getting ready in the event something were to happen there?
MARY CURRIE, GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE DIST. SPOKESPERSON: Well, being prepared is one of our primary goals. Obviously, we work with a large contingency of agencies here to secure the Golden Gate Bridge, everything from the Coast Guard to the California Highway Patrol. There's 10 agencies involved, and we need to be very well coordinated to be able to respond very, very quickly to anything that could happen here at the Golden Gate Bridge.
HEMMER: It looks like the Golden Gate is shrouded in fog, which is typical at this time of day in San Francisco. How much do you believe this could be a target for terrorists in trying to attack the U.S.?
CURRIE: Well, determining a target here in the United States is up to our good colleagues at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and others at the Office of Homeland Security at the Washington D.C. level.
However, we, at the Golden Gate Bridge recognize that we are a icon, we are highly visible and recognized icon, so we take every measure that we can, working with our law enforcement partners to remain vigilant here at the Golden Great Bridge.
There's great pride in all of the men and women working around the clock to secure this span.
HEMMER: And, Mary, there's been restricted access to certain parts of the bridge, I understand, the bike trails as well. How much of has that impeded the public's access to this landmark?
CURRIE: The Golden gate Bridge's roadway and its sidewalks are open, so we do have cyclists and visitors that can cross this span over the Memorial weekend and throughout this orange alert. There are some perimeter areas closed on the southeast side and on the north side. But really, visitation doesn't affect it much. There is still plenty to see when the fog lifts later this morning.
HEMMER: Do you expect big crowds, Mary?
CURRIE: Any weekend here at the Golden Gate Bridge, particularly when the weather is nice, brings crowds out to take photographs and enjoy this incredible structure. Yes, we see increased traffic and we have got the wine country to the north and the beaches to the north, and as well as this bridge. So obviously, any holiday weekend, we see a lot of extra folks around the bridge around a holiday weekend.
HEMMER: Yes? And what do the people say when they see the extra security. Do they ask you about it? Do they talk about it?
CURRIE: Oh, sure absolutely. We get comments. We get a lot of calls thanking us for having an additional security presence. People certainly understand that we can only plan for contingencies that we can control and plan for. There is always the unforeseen, as we experience, unfortunately, on September 11th, but people feel more confident. They like seeing -- we have bicycle patrols out on the sidewalk, right out there with everybody as they're walking across the span, and it makes them feel more confident. We also have stationary highway patrol units that can close the bridge in a matter of minutes, and that's really our goal, is to be as responsive -- that quick response time is what we need.
HEMMER: Enjoy the view once the fog lifts, OK? Mary Currie there, live in San Francisco. Have a safe weekend, too. Many thanks to you.
CURRIE: Thank you. You, too.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
9
Aired May 23, 2003 - 09:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In San Francisco, they were conducting drills yesterday, exercises to play out possible scenarios if, indeed, that were the case, responding to things like earthquakes and hazmat spills, and also terrorist attacks as well.
Mary Currie is a spokesperson for the bridge. He's with us live now in the bay in San Francisco.
Thanks for getting up early for us. I know you did this exercise yesterday. How much do you think that can help right now in getting ready in the event something were to happen there?
MARY CURRIE, GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE DIST. SPOKESPERSON: Well, being prepared is one of our primary goals. Obviously, we work with a large contingency of agencies here to secure the Golden Gate Bridge, everything from the Coast Guard to the California Highway Patrol. There's 10 agencies involved, and we need to be very well coordinated to be able to respond very, very quickly to anything that could happen here at the Golden Gate Bridge.
HEMMER: It looks like the Golden Gate is shrouded in fog, which is typical at this time of day in San Francisco. How much do you believe this could be a target for terrorists in trying to attack the U.S.?
CURRIE: Well, determining a target here in the United States is up to our good colleagues at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and others at the Office of Homeland Security at the Washington D.C. level.
However, we, at the Golden Gate Bridge recognize that we are a icon, we are highly visible and recognized icon, so we take every measure that we can, working with our law enforcement partners to remain vigilant here at the Golden Great Bridge.
There's great pride in all of the men and women working around the clock to secure this span.
HEMMER: And, Mary, there's been restricted access to certain parts of the bridge, I understand, the bike trails as well. How much of has that impeded the public's access to this landmark?
CURRIE: The Golden gate Bridge's roadway and its sidewalks are open, so we do have cyclists and visitors that can cross this span over the Memorial weekend and throughout this orange alert. There are some perimeter areas closed on the southeast side and on the north side. But really, visitation doesn't affect it much. There is still plenty to see when the fog lifts later this morning.
HEMMER: Do you expect big crowds, Mary?
CURRIE: Any weekend here at the Golden Gate Bridge, particularly when the weather is nice, brings crowds out to take photographs and enjoy this incredible structure. Yes, we see increased traffic and we have got the wine country to the north and the beaches to the north, and as well as this bridge. So obviously, any holiday weekend, we see a lot of extra folks around the bridge around a holiday weekend.
HEMMER: Yes? And what do the people say when they see the extra security. Do they ask you about it? Do they talk about it?
CURRIE: Oh, sure absolutely. We get comments. We get a lot of calls thanking us for having an additional security presence. People certainly understand that we can only plan for contingencies that we can control and plan for. There is always the unforeseen, as we experience, unfortunately, on September 11th, but people feel more confident. They like seeing -- we have bicycle patrols out on the sidewalk, right out there with everybody as they're walking across the span, and it makes them feel more confident. We also have stationary highway patrol units that can close the bridge in a matter of minutes, and that's really our goal, is to be as responsive -- that quick response time is what we need.
HEMMER: Enjoy the view once the fog lifts, OK? Mary Currie there, live in San Francisco. Have a safe weekend, too. Many thanks to you.
CURRIE: Thank you. You, too.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
9
