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American Morning
Security Preparations for New Year's Eve Around the Country
Aired December 31, 2003 - 07:32 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: New Year's Eve, security, we know, is going to be tight, extra tight this year for the celebrations around the country, including this one here in New York City, Times Square. The government taking the potential for attacks very seriously.
From the Pentagon, Jamie McIntyre joins us this morning there -- Jamie, good morning.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, of course, the U.S. military is providing support to local law enforcement around the country as they beef up security for this code orange, which remains in effect probably for the rest of this week, the heightened security. There will be combat air patrols, random patrols around certain U.S. cities. And the air space in some cities will be closed New Year's Eve.
Of course, New York City, the site of the big celebration, is one of them. Other cities include Washington, Chicago and Las Vegas that could have parts or all of their air space closed for some time on New Year's Eve.
Of course, the big focus is on airliners. A lot of intelligence indicating that there could be a possible threat from airliners. The U.S. is beefing up airline security and, of course, the homeland security office has asked countries around the world to put armed air marshals on flights coming to the United States. That is getting sort of a mixed reaction. Many countries, including France and Mexico, have said they already have armed air marshals on the plane. Great Britain says it has received some intelligence indicating its airliners could be a threat and it is also going to be putting armed security on some of those planes. But other countries, like Finland and Thailand, are balking at this point and the U.S. will be looking at those on a case by case basis.
Meanwhile, the main message coming from everyone is to be vigilant, to make a note of any suspicious activity and report it to authorities. And they're insisting that as the U.S. is taking greater precautions to increase security, the likelihood of an actual incident decreases -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Jamie, we'll watch it.
Thanks.
Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon there.
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Aired December 31, 2003 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: New Year's Eve, security, we know, is going to be tight, extra tight this year for the celebrations around the country, including this one here in New York City, Times Square. The government taking the potential for attacks very seriously.
From the Pentagon, Jamie McIntyre joins us this morning there -- Jamie, good morning.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, of course, the U.S. military is providing support to local law enforcement around the country as they beef up security for this code orange, which remains in effect probably for the rest of this week, the heightened security. There will be combat air patrols, random patrols around certain U.S. cities. And the air space in some cities will be closed New Year's Eve.
Of course, New York City, the site of the big celebration, is one of them. Other cities include Washington, Chicago and Las Vegas that could have parts or all of their air space closed for some time on New Year's Eve.
Of course, the big focus is on airliners. A lot of intelligence indicating that there could be a possible threat from airliners. The U.S. is beefing up airline security and, of course, the homeland security office has asked countries around the world to put armed air marshals on flights coming to the United States. That is getting sort of a mixed reaction. Many countries, including France and Mexico, have said they already have armed air marshals on the plane. Great Britain says it has received some intelligence indicating its airliners could be a threat and it is also going to be putting armed security on some of those planes. But other countries, like Finland and Thailand, are balking at this point and the U.S. will be looking at those on a case by case basis.
Meanwhile, the main message coming from everyone is to be vigilant, to make a note of any suspicious activity and report it to authorities. And they're insisting that as the U.S. is taking greater precautions to increase security, the likelihood of an actual incident decreases -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Jamie, we'll watch it.
Thanks.
Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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