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American Morning

America on Alert: High Anxiety

Aired January 07, 2004 - 07:06   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: Have authorities been overreaching and overreacting now to potential threats? Or is all of this a necessary evil in America's current age of orange?
Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert, a senior advisor for the Rand Corporation, with us to talk about this and others.

Good morning. Nice to have you back with us here.

BRIAN JENKINS, SENIOR ADVISOR, RAND CORPORATION: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Flight 43, Flight 68, you name it, BWIs inspecting every car that enters the Baltimore airport. What's happening right now, Brian?

JENKINS: Well, these are, I think, appropriate reactions to the threat that continues. It's not simply the orange alert. We've known now, certainly before September 11, since September 11, that we have a dedicated terrorist enemy that is determined to carry out attacks against the United States. They have increased their pace of operations since September 11, and they remain fascinated with commercial aviation, whether it's sabotage or firing missiles at commercial airliners -- both of which they have attempted to do since September 11 -- or hijacking airliners.

HEMMER: What do you make of "The Washington Post" article today, suggesting of a New Year's holiday, at least five nuclear scientists, patrolling five different major airports, carrying detection devices hidden in golf bags and briefcases? Your reaction to that.

JENKINS: You know, actually, that's not the first time that we have sent out teams that have gone out quietly looking for evidence of detection. There have been incidents in the past when there were suspicions or concerns about the presence of nuclear material, in some cases even communicated threats. And these were quietly investigated by scientists with special detection equipment. Given the attention given that has been given to so-called dirty bombs or radiological devices, it seems a relatively routine precaution.

HEMMER: The contrarian would argue that a lot of the security checks going on now that's put on in a very public manner to make sure that the word gets out in many different parts of this world that it's happening. What truth do you believe is there to that theory?

JENKINS: Well, I think it's appropriate that the word does get out. You know, the fact is that we are dealing with an opponent that would like, as a terrorist planner would, would love a security system that is completely predictable. It enables them to study the details of that system, calculate ways to defeat that system, and then perhaps carry out some type of an attempt to attack us.

We don't want to have systems that are completely predictable. So, when we advertise something, like security people in France being exceptionally alert and catching wires in that jacket, or when they do something as they did in Baltimore where they decide whether or not they have specific information to alter their procedures and take a look at every single car, that complicates the planning for the terrorists.

HEMMER: As you well know in Washington -- it's the talk of the town -- you are now in an election year. What are the politics right now? There is a report out in "The New York Times" today -- we were talking about it earlier this week here on AMERICAN MORNING -- about how the White House goes about during an election year of keeping the country safe without playing a political card here. How difficult will that line be to walk over the next 10 months?

JENKINS: There will always be allegations of people playing politics. That's nothing new with this administration or any previous administrations -- people playing with politics on the security issue.

But the fact is that the threat is real. The threat is not being invented in Washington. The threat exists. These actions are taking place. We know that as we speak there are terrorists out there that are planning new attacks against us, attempting to prepare those.

Security ought not to become a political football. I think there are a lot of people involved -- people on both sides, people in politics on both sides of the spectrum -- that are attempting to carry out a very, very difficult and demanding task of keeping this country safe. That's not a political issue.

HEMMER: Thank you, Brian -- Brian Jenkins, Rand Corporation in D.C. Nice to talk with you.

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 January 7, 2004 - 07:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Have authorities been overreaching and overreacting now to potential threats? Or is all of this a necessary evil in America's current age of orange?
Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert, a senior advisor for the Rand Corporation, with us to talk about this and others.

Good morning. Nice to have you back with us here.

BRIAN JENKINS, SENIOR ADVISOR, RAND CORPORATION: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Flight 43, Flight 68, you name it, BWIs inspecting every car that enters the Baltimore airport. What's happening right now, Brian?

JENKINS: Well, these are, I think, appropriate reactions to the threat that continues. It's not simply the orange alert. We've known now, certainly before September 11, since September 11, that we have a dedicated terrorist enemy that is determined to carry out attacks against the United States. They have increased their pace of operations since September 11, and they remain fascinated with commercial aviation, whether it's sabotage or firing missiles at commercial airliners -- both of which they have attempted to do since September 11 -- or hijacking airliners.

HEMMER: What do you make of "The Washington Post" article today, suggesting of a New Year's holiday, at least five nuclear scientists, patrolling five different major airports, carrying detection devices hidden in golf bags and briefcases? Your reaction to that.

JENKINS: You know, actually, that's not the first time that we have sent out teams that have gone out quietly looking for evidence of detection. There have been incidents in the past when there were suspicions or concerns about the presence of nuclear material, in some cases even communicated threats. And these were quietly investigated by scientists with special detection equipment. Given the attention given that has been given to so-called dirty bombs or radiological devices, it seems a relatively routine precaution.

HEMMER: The contrarian would argue that a lot of the security checks going on now that's put on in a very public manner to make sure that the word gets out in many different parts of this world that it's happening. What truth do you believe is there to that theory?

JENKINS: Well, I think it's appropriate that the word does get out. You know, the fact is that we are dealing with an opponent that would like, as a terrorist planner would, would love a security system that is completely predictable. It enables them to study the details of that system, calculate ways to defeat that system, and then perhaps carry out some type of an attempt to attack us.

We don't want to have systems that are completely predictable. So, when we advertise something, like security people in France being exceptionally alert and catching wires in that jacket, or when they do something as they did in Baltimore where they decide whether or not they have specific information to alter their procedures and take a look at every single car, that complicates the planning for the terrorists.

HEMMER: As you well know in Washington -- it's the talk of the town -- you are now in an election year. What are the politics right now? There is a report out in "The New York Times" today -- we were talking about it earlier this week here on AMERICAN MORNING -- about how the White House goes about during an election year of keeping the country safe without playing a political card here. How difficult will that line be to walk over the next 10 months?

JENKINS: There will always be allegations of people playing politics. That's nothing new with this administration or any previous administrations -- people playing with politics on the security issue.

But the fact is that the threat is real. The threat is not being invented in Washington. The threat exists. These actions are taking place. We know that as we speak there are terrorists out there that are planning new attacks against us, attempting to prepare those.

Security ought not to become a political football. I think there are a lot of people involved -- people on both sides, people in politics on both sides of the spectrum -- that are attempting to carry out a very, very difficult and demanding task of keeping this country safe. That's not a political issue.

HEMMER: Thank you, Brian -- Brian Jenkins, Rand Corporation in D.C. Nice to talk with you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.