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The Situation Room

New York Subway Commuters Ride With Caution; Federal Officials Question Legitimacy of Subway Threat; Washington Monument Evacuated; Discussion With Commerce Secretary; Clear Water And Postal Service In New Orleans

Aired October 07, 2005 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information arrive at one place simultaneously.
Happening now, it's 3:00 p.m. in New York, where subway riders are just starting their weekend retreat with a specific terrorist threat against the subway system. A prank causes some panic. Baby carriages are eyed for bombs. And millions of commuters are riding, but riding with caution.

And it's 3:00 p.m. here in Washington, where federal officials question the credibility of that subway threat. And that raises this question: How do you warn people without excessively worrying them?

And President Bush deals with yet another looming threat, the deadly bird flu virus visiting American shores. The president meets with drugmakers over at the White House. And he urges them to hurry their efforts for a vaccine.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

It's that eerie equivalent of trying to find a needle in the haystack, four million New York City subway riders, which among them might be a threat, a daunting, but all-important anti-terror task. We have several reporters covering the story. Our Brian Todd is here in Washington. Our Ali Velshi is in New York.

But we begin with our CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff. He's outside New York's Penn Station with the latest.

What's going on, Allan?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in the pre-9/11 era, officials at Penn Station might and called a janitor this morning.

But, instead, when a green substance began emerging from a soda bottle, they called a hazardous material team. The main entrances to Penn Station right behind me were shut down. Part of the station was cleared out, not entirely, not entirely evacuated. And the trains kept on running. But the hazmat team was at work investigating that material.

Turned out, according to the police commissioner, that this was pretty much of a hoax, the police commissioner saying, this was a Drano type of a substance. And everything went back to normal after a short period of time. But this clearly was an indication of how much New York is on guard at the moment.

Even though the Department of Homeland Security yesterday said the threat against the New York subway system is not credible, the mayor and the police commissioner said otherwise. And the mayor earlier today said, New York has to be on guard

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: I have an obligation to take care of the 8.1 million people who live in the city and all the people that come into the city every day. And we will do exactly what we did. When we see a threat, we are going to increase our presence wherever that threat is. We have people that I believe have the ability to analyze information. And, together, we have made a decision. And it was the right decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: The mayor himself this morning took the subway down to City Hall, as he usually does. And millions of New Yorkers, they have been riding the subway as well through the day, New Yorkers telling us, they feel they have no choice.

And, Wolf, that is certainly the truth. The traffic right behind me shows, you just cannot get around this town quickly unless you take the subway. And, so, New Yorkers just doing what they always do, being tough and riding those subways -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Allan. Thank you very much, Allan Chernoff, outside Penn Station in New York.

Our Ali Velshi is a regular on those New York subways. He takes the train to work every day. He is joining us now.

How did it begin today for you, Ali?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, more regular than most today.

I rode the subways this morning for a few hours, just getting a sense of what was going on. And right here in front of 59th Street, Columbus Circle, it is a smaller transportation hub than where Allan is. But, as you can see, this is the beginning of what is a long weekend for some on a Friday afternoon, the last winds of summer blowing down.

Some seven million people are riding the subway this morning. You can see increased an police presence. There's no question about that. But what you see, Wolf, you see police officers; you see tables; you see signs that say, bags and briefcases will be checked. But, in the end, there isn't a sense that there's a greater grip on this nebulous needle-in-a-haystack threat that we're talking about. And that's because mass transit, by its very definition, is very hard to contain. The idea is that it's got to move a lot of people through very quickly. And anything that's done to impede that flow causes it to not be effective. When you're talking about a city like this, with more subway cars, more tracks, more rails, more employees and more riders than anywhere in this country, they depend on the subway system.

It's a great disruption to service. Things have been moving along today. But I'm going to be speaking to someone in a little while, Wolf, who says that this transit authority and others in the country need to be doing some very specific things. And while an increased police presence can be a deterrent and be useful, in the end, the threats might be more serious than that.

Wolf, I will be back in a bit.

BLITZER: Ali, I take it that people in New York are -- who don't want to take the subway would probably like to take a cab. But is that even possible, given the demand for today?

VELSHI: I tried that his this morning, too, Wolf.

Because there are some people are not taking the subway, there's increased traffic in the cabs. It's hard to get a cab. It's Friday afternoon. It would be a big challenge for me to decide that I wanted to take a cab to my destination right now, instead of using the subway. And this is a big city where people have to move around. So, that would be a very, very difficult thing to do in New York. There's an equilibrium that exists. The subway has to run.

BLITZER: Ali Velshi at one of the subway stations in New York for us -- Ali, thank you very much. We will get back to you very soon.

There's a story that's developing here in the nation's capital. We want to show you a live picture of what's happening over at the Washington Monument right in Washington, D.C. Local television stations are now reporting that the Washington Monument on the Mall of the nation's capital has been evacuated. We don't know why it's been evacuated. We see the flags flying around the Washington Monument, one of most popular tourist attractions here in Washington, D.C.

But there are no people, as you can see, walking outside the Washington Monument for some reason. And we don't know what that reason is. The Washington Monument has been evacuated. We are trying to determine from local law enforcement authorities here in the District of Columbia what's going on, the Park Service over at the Mall to determine what's going on. The only thing we know right now is that local television stations here in the nation's capital are reporting that the Washington Monument has been evacuated.

And we're going to be all over this story to try to clarify exactly what's going on. Once again, those are live pictures happening in Washington, D.C., right now. Let's go back to New York, though. With so much information being surveyed on so many lines of chatter, how do officials decide whether a threat like the one in New York is real or imagined?

Our Brian Todd is joining us now. He's here in Washington to give us a little bit of a sense of how officials piece all of this together -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, there's a great deal of Monday-morning quarterbacking going on about whether New York's mayor and its his police commissioner should have made that announcement of what they called a specific threat and whether they should have stepped up security on the New York subways.

Earlier today, Mayor Bloomberg was on the defensive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG: If I have got to make a mistake, it's going to be on the side of protecting the people of this city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: But Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly insist, it was not a mistake.

Now, we know that New York officials received intelligence about that threat from federal officials. The divide here is over the assessment by the feds that the information was -- quote -- "of doubtful credibility." Those different interpretations, according to a former top Homeland Security official, have caused a big problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: This is definitely a disconnect. This is not the way things are supposed to go. Clearly, the information was shared with the New York City government. That's an appropriate thing to do. But the federal government was not prepared for New York City to release the information and give a public advisory about the threat. And that created a real problem of mixed messages, in my view.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now, there's a broader context over where the information came from and how it made its way through official channels and then out to the public. We will have more on that context, all of that, later in THE SITUATION ROOM -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Brian, thanks very much -- Brian Todd reporting for us.

Meanwhile, across the country, in Northern California, officials in the Bay area say they aren't taking any chances there either. They have increased the alert status on the region's BART system from orange to what they call -- quote -- "enhanced orange." That means more officers patrolling BART trains and stations for longer periods and more inspections, although that doesn't include personal bags.

The BART spokesman says the measures are in response to the New York subway threat.

So, how well is New York City handling all these threats? Coming up, we will speak to Robert Strang. He used to co-chair a New York state anti-terrorism task force.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for most reliable news about your security.

Let's go to Jack Cafferty right now. He's in New York watching all of this.

What does it feel like, Jack, to be in New York today?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I -- I didn't notice any difference.

You know, the city is a big place, as Ali was reporting. People have thing to do. And it operates at a -- at a more rapid clip than most of the places that at least I have lived in, in the country. And I didn't really notice any change. I came in early this morning, rode in, in a car. Traffic was about as you would expect it on a Friday morning.

There was no particular anxiety that I was aware of. Co-workers in what a very large complex here, the Time Warner Center, I didn't overhear anybody talking much about it at all. So, you know, New Yorkers tend to be a little bit blase, because just getting around on a subway and getting to and from work and getting your daily chores done can be a pretty harrowing assignment, without any additional threat from terrorists.

And I think, until they see some more hard evidence, they tend not to pay that much attention to it.

Al Qaeda, meantime -- and this, depending on your point of view and whether you believe it or not, may be good news. Al Qaeda is in a cash crunch. This is according to a letter from Osama bin Laden's deputy. Pardon me. The Pentagon says it intercepted this letter from Ayman al-Zawahri that was written to the al Qaeda leader in Iraq. That would be Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Now, in this letter, al Qaeda's number two writes that some of the tactics being used by the insurgents in Iraq, killing hostages, suicide bombings of Muslims, could alienate the Muslim masses. He also writes that al Qaeda has lost many of his key leaders. He is resigned to being defeated in after Afghanistan and that much of its communication and funding have been cut off. Oh, I hope that's true.

Here the question: Do you think al Qaeda is less a threat now? CaffertyFile -- one word -- @CNN.com. We will read some of your thoughts on that in about a half-hour -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jack, thanks very much. And we're following this story. I just want to show our viewers a live picture we're getting from the Washington Monument here in the nation's capital. You see it right there. You don't see any people. According to local television stations, there's -- the entire area around the Washington Monument here in the nation's capital has been evacuated. We don't know what it is. We don't know what this unknown threat may or may not be.

But, presumably, as an abundance of caution, they decided to clear out the area around one of most popular tourist attractions here in the nation's capital. We will watch this story for you, get some more information as soon as it becomes available.

Also, we are watching other important stories, including that bird flu vaccine, President Bush flexing some diplomatic muscle to try to get it. But will the world's doctors be able to make it in time?

And a little bit later, a case against Bill Clinton, his one-time FBI director speaking out about scandals, rumored scandals and terror in Saudi Arabia. We will let you see what's going on.

Plus, football game lightning strike. A high school player is killed on the field. Several others are injured. But should they even have been out there to begin with? Our John Zarrella will take a closer look.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I want to update you on the information, the latest information, we're getting on the Washington Monument here in the nation's capital.

You're looking at these live pictures. You don't see any people. There's been a bomb threat, according to metro police sources, metropolitan police sources here in the District of Columbia. A telephone bomb threat was made to D.C. police just a little while ago. As a result of that threat, local authorities, D.C. police, have closed the entire area surrounding the Washington Monument, Independence Avenue, Constitution Avenue, if you know the District of Columbia, between 15th and 17th streets northwest -- these are the major areas, the major thoroughfares around the Washington Monument -- as a precaution to make sure that they can go ahead and thoroughly check out this bomb threat, a telephone caller making a bomb threat, according to metropolitan police sources, warning of a bomb in that area.

And, as a result, they're trying to determine if that is real or not real.

Pat D'Amuro, a former assistant director of the FBI, he's joining us from New York.

You know this area, Pat, very well. You're now a CNN security analyst. The local police -- you get a bomb threat like this targeting one of most popular tourist attracts, the Washington Monument, in the nation's capital, I guess this would be standard operating procedure. Is that right?

PAT D'AMURO, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: I will tell you, Wolf, there's been so many threats, even prior to 9/11, that law enforcement has had to respond to on so many different occasions, so many different types of threat, biological, chemical, and also a lot of bombing situations.

So, this is not something out of the ordinary, but it is rather consuming of all the resources in law enforcement. And that's why law enforcement usually tries as hard as they can to find those hoaxes and find the people responsible for those hoax situations and to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.

BLITZER: We're told by our sources, Pat, that the threat is being described as one of limited credibility. But, at the same time, they have gone forward and evacuated this area, asking all the visitors to the Washington Monument and the surrounding area on the Washington Mall to simply move aside. Is that wise?

D'AMURO: Absolutely. They have to take that precaution.

They're probably in the process of trying vet out the veracity of the actual threat. But in -- in a safety measure, they have to evacuate that area.

BLITZER: And, as you say, the local police, not only in Washington, D.C., but I assume all over the country, especially in New York, L.A., and other major cities, they get these bomb threats that turn out to be hoaxes all the time.

D'AMURO: All the time. And that's why I said, it -- it chews up tremendous amounts of resources. And, where possible, where enough evidence can be obtained to prosecute these individuals, they move very rigorously and strongly to try to bring those people to some type of prosecution.

BLITZER: And if this is just some people, young kids or whatever, thinking they're cute or they're being clever about this, law enforcement is going to come down on them very, very hard.

D'AMURO: That's right. And the techniques are getting better every day to track these people down.

BLITZER: Pat, we're going to continue to watch this story. These are live pictures, once again, that we're seeing from the Washington Monument only a little while ago. It was shut down. It was closed out, the entire area around the Washington Monument evacuated as a precaution, after what local sources are telling us was a telephone bomb threat to D.C. police, a bomb threat that is being described as limited -- with limited credibility.

At the same time, erring on the side of caution, authorities in Washington, or, for that matter, in New York or most other places, they want to make sure that they err on the side of caution. And they've evacuated this area. They're going through it to make sure there is no bomb there.

We're watching this story. We will stay all over it here in Washington.

We're also watching what's happening in New York City, that terror threat specifically against the subway system there.

Let's bring back our Ali Velshi. He's got a guest with him.

Ali, update our viewers on what you know and bring in our guest.

VELSHI: Well, right now, we're obviously into the rush hour now in New York. And there are no available cabs anywhere around. You see some cabs moving around beside me here. They're not available. These people are using the subways. We are at 59th Street. It's a busy hub. People are leaving the city for the weekend.

And one of the things I noticed when I was zipping around the subways this morning is these constant announcements. If you see something, say something, report unusual activity.

Now, Bob Strang is a former FBI, former DEA specialist. He is now a CEO of Investigative Management. He's a security consultant. And he points out that that's what we don't do in New York. That's the one thing that sort of sets New York apart from so many other places. It makes -- sometimes makes people think New Yorkers are not entirely friendly. But we're kind of trained not to mind other people's business and not make eye contact.

ROBERT STRANG, FORMER DEA SPECIAL AGENT: Right. We're trying to change the culture of New York.

We are trying to get people to look around, see things that are unusual, and perhaps tell an MTA employee, tell a police officer. Even today, as you can see, there's over 400 stops just like this around New York City.

VELSHI: Yes.

STRANG: There's over four million people that take individual rides. And think about that, on and off the trains.

So, any time they see something unusual, they should tell an MTA employee, a police officer. Let somebody know.

VELSHI: Now, this has resulted in a lot more calls to police than normal today. There have been a lot of calls. That's resulted in investigations. That's resulted in some evacuations earlier today at Penn Station.

But, in your view, the Transit Authority here...

(SIRENS BLARING)

VELSHI: This is pretty common, by the way, around Columbus Circle every few minutes. The Transit Authority here should have been doing something different for a long time.

STRANG: Well, look, I mean, we know from what happened in Madrid and London that, clearly, CCTV cameras solved those cases.

VELSHI: Closed-circuit television.

STRANG: Right.

The police and -- were able to go back, the federal police, the local police, identify who was responsible for the bombing, make those arrests, open the investigation wide open. And within two or three days, it was done.

God forbid we have an incident in New York. We don't have a television camera within our vast system.

VELSHI: Not one?

STRANG: Not -- well, there are -- in some of the busier stations, you might have some in secluded areas at night, but very few.

And the point is that God forbid we have an incident. What happens in terms of making those arrests, getting people back on their feet, getting them back into work? You know, we'd be shut down. You know, when you think from the security perspective, you have got to think it through, the continuity of a situation, keeping people at work, keeping people in the subway system.

And, unfortunately, we don't have that here.

VELSHI: Now, what we do have, Wolf, is we have this increased police presence today. You have noticed that. It's unclear how much of a deterrent that is. What is it meant to do? Is it meant to be a clear deterrent?

STRANG: Oh, clearly. I mean, we have got so many people downstairs right now, so many police officers taking a look at people.

It's a police presence. You know, all of this helps. It's three things, intelligence, passing the information and a police presence. It's a full-court press. That's what we're doing in New York. And we are going to continue to do it.

VELSHI: Bob Strang is the CEO Investigative Management, Wolf.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has done research. They have got information on cameras. And there is some word, as we earlier heard today, that they're going to try and move forward with the idea of closed-circuit television in the New York subway system -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much. And thank Bob for us as well. Ali, we are going to get back to you very soon. I want to get back to this other story we're watching right here in the nation's capital, a telephone call with a bomb threat around the Washington Monument. You're looking at these live pictures of the Washington Monument right now, a rainy, drizzly day here in the nation's capital, a caller saying there was a bomb, police taking steps to evacuate the entire Washington Mall area around the Washington Monument, Pennsylvania Avenue -- excuse me, Independence Avenue, Constitution Avenue, between 15th and 17 streets northwest.

Pat D'Amuro still with us, a former assistant FBI director in New York.

Pat, you were pointing out that it's always important to err on the side of caution. But at what point -- if you think that there's, in the words of one source, limited credibility to this kind of threat -- and so far, they haven't found anything -- what do you do?

D'AMURO: Well, we heard from the Department of Homeland Security -- at least, the media's been reporting that they said the threat on the New York subway system was non-credible.

We're hearing additional information that they may have been somewhat opposed to the press conference. But, you know, the mayor has a tremendous responsibility here. And we in the media don't know all of the facts because of the fact that this was classified material. So, the mayor came on air today and stated that he decided to err on the side of caution.

He has that responsibility.

BLITZER: All right.

D'AMURO: And if he looks at those information and feels there's a necessity to move forward, then that's what he's going to do.

BLITZER: Pat, hold on one second.

Scott Fear is on the phone with us with the National Park -- with the National Park Police. And he can update us on what we know about this bomb threat to the Washington Monument here in the nation's capital.

Scott, what do we know?

SCOTT FEAR, SPOKESMAN, NATIONAL PARK POLICE: Yes. Good afternoon, Wolf.

This afternoon, around 2:24, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department received a phone call stating there was a bomb threat on the Washington Monument. So, they contacted the United States Park Police. We quickly shut the Washington Monument down and cleared the area of people and followed procedures.

What we do is we make sure we -- we check the area. We use our resources, our K-9 dogs, explosive dogs, and we will check the Washington Monument and the area to make sure that it is safe and hopefully reopen it in a short period of time.

BLITZER: Well, were there a lot of people there? I know it's a rainy, drizzly day here in Washington. What, did you have to go up and down those stairs, the elevators, and bring all those people out?

FEAR: Well, the United States Park Police, we -- we have officers at the Washington Monument 24 hours seven days a week. So, we have a very quick response there.

Once we got the information, we closed the Washington Monument. That just means we get the people down from the top. The National Park Service Rangers are there. They help us make sure that we get everyone out of the Monument.

And, at that point, once the area is secure, then we will start doing -- and we are at this time doing a check of the area to make sure that there's no danger to anybody.

BLITZER: Did the caller say anything specific? Do you know the nature of what was said in that phone threat?

FEAR: I can't get into any -- anything specific about the call at this time. It's obviously an ongoing investigation. And we're just trying to make sure that the area is safe, so we can reopen the Washington Monument, the national icon, to the people of the -- the visitors there on the National Mall.

BLITZER: It's now 3:24 Eastern. You say the call was made at 2:24 Eastern. So, it's been one hour.

Over that one hour, have you found anything suspicious?

FEAR: No.

Again, it's approximately one hour and we have not found anything as of this time that I'm speaking to you right now. And, again, we're going to continue to do a thorough check. And once we have finished our check, then we should be able to reopen the Washington Monument.

BLITZER: How long normally does it take to do a thorough check around the Washington Monument?

FEAR: Well, I don't want to get specific in times, because we take each incident as an individual incident. So, I can't give you a blanket time, that -- how long it will take.

Again, we will do a thorough check. We will follow procedures and use the resources that we have to make sure that the area is safe.

BLITZER: I will -- I will just ask one more question, Scott, before I let you go. How common is this?

Scott?

FEAR: As far as how common a threat is to the Washington Monument, when we -- when we have a threat, we -- we take a look at it. We take each threat individually.

And we don't -- we won't put out any information that would jeopardize the security of the Washington Monument. So, we received a threat today. We are taking a look at it. We are making sure the area is safe before we let anyone back into the Washington Monument.

BLITZER: Scott Fears, a spokesman of the National Park Police, we are going to get back to you, Scott.

Let us know, please -- we will be staying in touch with you -- as soon as this threat has been resolved. Thanks very much for joining us.

Abbi Tatton is checking the situation online as far as this threat to the Washington Monument is concerned.

Abbi, what are you picking up?

ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, we're trying to bring you pictures of this evacuated area around the Washington Monument as quickly as possible.

We're going online for that to the D.C. Department of Transportation. Take a look at this map here. Each of the green dots is a traffic camera zeroing in on a different area.

We are looking right now at the corner of 15th Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest. That is directly adjacent to the Washington Monument. You can see there that there are traffic cops directing traffic away. There's no traffic in this immediate area. You can see people walking around, but they are trying to get the traffic away from this area right now.

We're going to tonight look at these traffic cameras around the Washington Monument and bring you what we can find -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Abbi, thank you very much.

And just to update our viewers, we're watching this story, developing story, here in Washington, a threat, a bomb threat in a call to a local police against the Washington Monument. They've evacuated the hour -- they have evacuated the entire area over the past hour. We will stay on top of this story and update you as we get more information.

We're also following other stories, including the hunt for a bird flu vaccine, President Bush appealing to the world's top dollar -- doctors. But can they win the race against time?

And, a little bit later, a case against Bill Clinton, the former FBI Director Louis Freeh blasting his old boss in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview. We will have details of that.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: It was just over an hour or so ago when a caller made a bomb threat against the Washington Monument here in the nation's capital. Local authorities, Park Police, have evacuated the entire area around the Washington Monument on the National Mall here in the nation's capital.

We're watching this story, so far, no developments, no sign of anything untoward. We will update you as we get more information on this threat here in Washington, D.C.

Betty Nguyen joining us now from the CNN Center in Atlanta with a closer look at some other stories making news right now. Hi, Betty.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon, Wolf. President Bush says he is confident White House Counsel Harriet Miers will be confirmed for the Supreme Court, despite some conservatives' reservations. Mr. Bush made the prediction today during an Oval Office photo op with Hungary's prime minister.

Now, Miers has been meeting with members of Congress all week long. We'll have more on the Harriet Miers nomination and a live White House report at the top of the hour.

Also today, forestry officials say they are getting the upper hand on a wildfire that jumped the Mexican border into California's San Diego County this week. They say the fire is now 60 percent contained. The fire has consumed 4,000 acres so far. An evacuation order affecting up to 200 homes was lifted last night. Now full containment is expected by tomorrow evening.

And a still unknown number of people are unaccounted for after an overnight fire in an apartment building in Lawrence, Kansas. Firefighters say they don't believe anyone was killed but at least 19 residents were taken to area hospitals. Most were treated and released. Some were hurt when they jumped from their units in the three-story building. Now, the cause of this fire is still under investigation.

A bomb threat is blamed for interrupting a Rolling Stones concert in Virginia last night. But, fans eventually got some satisfaction, despite the delay. 911 operators in Charlottesville received the threat, targeting the stage area. Mick Jagger announced an unplanned break, eight songs into the show. Police swept the stage and the first 20 rows of the stadium with bomb sniffing dogs. And 45 minutes later the show resumed without further incident. Just proves, Wolf, the show must go on.

BLITZER: Always will with the Stones. There is no doubt about that. Thanks Betty, very much, we'll get back to you soon. Still ahead --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Smith, the (INAUDIBLE) agrees to house the current resolution, 248 as amended, on which the yeas and nays are in order. The clerk will report the concurrent resolution. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: It got very, very rowdy only moments ago in the U.S. House of Representatives. What got so many of those Congressmen all riled up? We'll tell you. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here in Washington, an ongoing focus on bird flu. Over at the White House, President Bush met with pharmaceutical industry leaders to urge work on a vaccine. About ten blocks away, members of his administration were in a conference on bird flu.

Our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel is following all of these developments. She's joining us live -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is a conference that is actually being hosted by the U.S. government. They've got about 80 countries here, a number of international organizations. This conference, added to the meeting over at the White House with President Bush, speaks to the sudden urgency with which the Bush administration is now focusing on the potential for a pandemic of the avian flu.

That said, remember this. The first cases of avian flu happened almost two years ago in Southeast Asia. They have since spread to various countries all within Asia, about 10 of them. They've had about 60 people in all die from the flu, but the urgency that the U.S. is placing on this right now, has to do with spreading the word around the world to all countries that they need to get some kind of pandemic plan in place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE LEAVITT, HHS SECRETARY: Let us remember we are battling a network enemy. We must have a network response. Let us remember that our objective is not simply to defeat H5N1, it is to be prepared for whatever comes because at some point we will most certainly have to use our preparation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: To try to underscore the need for preparation, Mike Leavitt, the secretary of Health and Human Services and a senior State Department official, Wolf, are going to be heading off this weekend for Southeast Asia to try to meet with top officials there to work on those plans -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Andrea. Andrea Koppel, reporting for us from the State Department.

Up next, New Orleans, weeks after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita laid New Orleans to waste, it's slowly, slowly coming back to life. We'll share some of the good news for once.

And a little bit later, after skin cancer surgery, the National Zoo here in Washington and its most famous giraffe in recovery. We'll let you know how the giraffe is doing.

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BLITZER: A major milestone in the road to recovery for New Orleans. Officials say that tap water in most areas of the city is now fit to drink.

CNN's Lisa Sylvester is joining us now live from New Orleans with a closer look at what's going on there. Hi, Lisa.

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf. Now, we should emphasize that the drinking water is not available everywhere, but where we are talking about is in the city's East Bank, an area that stretches from the Jefferson Parish line to the Industrial Canal. The Sewage and Water Board has done a series tests over the last five days.

They've taken about 43 samples, looking for the bacteria and coliform, and so far everything has come back just fine. So then within last 24 hour the Office of Public Health signed off on the water quality on the East Bank. And that has been just very good news for local businesses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM MONAGHAN, RESTAURANT OWNER: This morning, when I turned the ice machine back on, I looked at one of my employees and I said to him, this means that we're finally going to have some normalcy around here where we don't have to buy, you know, 250 pounds of ice. We don't have to go fill up coolers all over the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: Now, the water was originally deemed unsafe because they had some leaks in the piping system. And just to king of put this into perspective, it's really a maze of about 1,600 miles of piping that they have to go through and they have to repair wherever these leaks are. And so that's what crews are been doing over the last few days, Wolf.

BLITZER: Do we know anything -- what the mayor has up his sleeve? We're told at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, what, a little bit less than an hour and a half or so from now, he's got some sort of announcement that he's making in New Orleans, right at the top the hour. Do we know what that is?

SYLVESTER: Well, Wolf, this is something that we've seen the mayor has done a couple of times which is they'll put out something saying we've got a big announcement but they won't give us any details.

The last time we saw this was two days ago when the mayor said he had a big announcement and that turned out to be when he announced that they were cutting 3,000 city jobs. So it will not be very surprising if it has something to do with the fiscal state of the city. We've seen the situation over the last few weeks where the city has been running out of money, and so it very well likely could be more job cuts, but we're not certain of that at this point, Wolf.

BLITZER: And the -- how is the mayor doing, Ray Nagin? He's, obviously, caused a big stir over these past six weeks or so. Is he visible? Is he running the city over there? What's go on?

SYLVESTER: You know, that's the big story with us in the media, is where is the mayor? We haven't seen too much of the mayor. I mean, you know, he will have these news conferences from time to time. But he hasn't been -- it hasn't been a very visible presence, not like the way that you saw Rudy Giuliani after 9/11.

I mean, the God honest truth is that it sometimes hard to get information out of the mayor's office. And this is a case in point where they will say it's a big announcement, but we don't get much of a heads up even before these news conferences are held. It's usually an hour or two. And then we roll over there and find out, along with everybody else in America what's on the mayor's mind.

BLITZER: All right. We'll monitor it. Thanks very much, Lisa Sylvester. Thanks very much for joining us. She's on the streets of New Orleans for us.

Here in Washington, there's news, as far as jobs are concerned. The huge number of people displaced, out of work in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was expected to play major havoc with the nation's jobless landscape. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez is striking a surprisingly optimistic note about the most recent unemployment report. He's Joining us now live from the White House briefing room with more. Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us.

CARLOS GUTIERREZ, COMMERCE SECRETARY: Thank you, Wolf. Good to be here.

BLITZER: We lost, what, 35,000 jobs last month. We're supposed to be in the business of creating a lot of new jobs. But you're relatively happy, as a result of this. Explain to our viewers why.

GUTIERREZ: Well, first of all, we're never happy if we lose one single job. What we're saying is that the estimates and the original forecast assumed that we would lose more jobs. And of course this is the beginning of the estimates. We'll have to see how it evolves.

But we also revised upwards the previous number that we had issued by 77,000 jobs, so it's just an indication, Wolf of the economy being very strong going into the hurricanes. We have real momentum and we'll be able to build on that.

But we'll continue to drive the president's agenda in adding jobs, and creating jobs is a big priority. As you know, our unemployment rate, even with disruption in the Gulf coast, is 5.1 percent. That's below the average of the past three decades. BLITZER: But you know the American public is very, very concerned about the economy right now. In a recent Gallup poll -- and I'll put it up on the screen -- are economic conditions getting better or getting worse? Only 24 percent think the economy is getting better. Sixty-six percent of the American public think things are going worse. They're very nervous about their own jobs as well.

GUTIERREZ: Well, I think people seeing the prices of gas at the pump and that's something that we are looking at very much, we're working extremely hard to address. What I can tell your public, Wolf, is that we have a fundamentally strong economy. We have been growing for nine quarters in a row over three percent.

You compare that to other industrialized nations, say the European Union, they have grown at 1.2 percent. More Americans own a home today than ever before in our history and that is the ultimate indicator of prosperity.

BLITZER: So why do you believe, Mr. Secretary, consumer confidence now is so down?

GUTIERREZ: You have to take those consumer confidence numbers in a bit of perspective and look at a more of a longer range number. They don't always correlate with the actual results. What we are looking at, of course, are the facts and the way the economy is growing, the jobs that are being created. The results that the president's agenda is showing are very clear.

Our economy is growing. We are creating jobs, and it's very important that we stay on that agenda, that we stay on plan and continue to prevent tax increases, continue to drive markets, continue to drive exports, stay on the road we've been because it's been driving results.

BLITZER: I'm going ask you another question on budget deficits in a moment. But Ali Velshi is in New York. He interviewed the Canadian prime minister yesterday. He interviewed the Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin, yesterday. There is a serious rift in U.S./Canadian relations. Ali, pick it up.

VELSHI: Secretary Gutierrez, good to talk to you again. It's ironic, because so much of the trade between the two country is so strong and so successful and the energy situation is in the forefront. But the prime minister was talking about soft wood lumber, a very small part both countries' trade relationship.

But it was to underscore, really, that fact that there are a lot of trade rifts between these two countries, in this particular case, costing more in terms of home building. Can you tell me a bit about that, given that we're going to have to buy more of our energy from Canada as these days go on?

GUTIERREZ: Well, let me just say, first of all that we have a very important trading relationship with Canada. Just to give you a sense of that, we did $197 billion of business. That's our number one trading partner, so there are a lot of things going right. The soft wood lumber has been a dispute that's been ongoing for about 20 years. We want to solve it in a way that is permanent, that has fundamental reforms, and we are in dialogue with the Canadian government. In terms of housing, there's no question that we are going to see a housing surge in the Gulf coast and we are going to work with industry and ensure that we have the necessary materials to do so.

BLITZER: One final question for you, Mr. Secretary, on the budget deficit which is growing incredibly. Former Republican member of the House, John Kasich, recently said, "I'm flabbergasted at the fact that the Republicans have totally given up on controlling any spending. It's just an outrage. There's no excuse for it. All they do is put my kids in debt." Your reaction to that outrage?

GUTIERREZ: Well, first of all, if you look at the budget deficit and the goals that the president has announced, we had a $94 billion positive variance versus the budget, versus what we had forecast the deficit to be before the hurricanes hit. And that is a result of the economy growing stronger and tax receipts being larger.

So we are still on plan. And the president has said we are still focused on the target of cutting the deficit in half by 2009. And the two things we have to do, Wolf, one is keep the tax cuts permanent, prevent tax increases, keep the economy growing and keep expenditures in line, keep them in check.

BLITZER: All right. Mr. Secretary, unfortunately, we're out of time. But thanks so much for joining us.

GUTIERREZ: Thank you. Good to see you.

BLITZER: Carlos Gutierrez is the commerce secretary here in Washington.

Up next, Jack Cafferty back with you e-mail. His question this hour. Do you think al Qaeda is less of a threat now? You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: Jack Cafferty has been going through your e-mail, and he's joining us now in New York. Hi, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Indeed, I am. Thanks, Wolf. The Pentagon says it's intercepted a letter from Osama bin Laden's deputy, that would be Ayman al Zawahiri. He wrote to the al Qaeda leader in Iraq, who is Abu Musab al Zarqawi. In this letter, Al Qaeda's number two writes that the terror network has lost many key leaders. It's resigned now to being defeated in Afghanistan, and that much of its communication and funding have been cut off.

So the question is, do you think al Qaeda is less of a threat now?

Danielle in Pleasanton, California: "You must be kidding. Do you actually believe they're running out of money and admitting to defeat in Afghanistan? Do you think they would put such information in a letter, even if it were true? I don't believe one word of it."

Gary in Dundas, Ontario: "The threat still exists when desperate fanatics are still being indoctrinated in schools and mosques. However, some in Islam are waking up to the fact that being connected to terrorism is not a great selling feature for a major religion, and are making baby steps toward cleaning up the foundation of their doctrine."

Martin writes: "Al Qaeda's definitely weaker. The financial restrictions, as well as the military power of the U.S., have choked them, and will eventually make them run out of solutions. They're a bunch of cowards who misrepresent an entire society and kill innocent people."

Joseph in Oceanside, California: "They don't need cash. All that's required is to send spurious messages back and forth, and it brings us to our knees. Why waste their funds when they're dealing with a chicken little mentality? Witness New York City at the present time."

And finally, Scott writes: "Al Qaeda is still a huge threat. With the terrorist organizations still around, along with Bush's economic plan, we're always being threatened. The only way I feel safe is staying at home during the afternoon, walking Jack and Wolf."

BLITZER: Good. Scott's got a good sense of humor. I hope he watches every single day. Hope there are a lot of people like Scott out there, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Yes, go next door to your neighbor's house and ask them what they're watching. And if they got Oprah Winfrey or some of that garbage on, tell them to switch over here, check out THE SITUATION ROOM with the Wolfman.

BLITZER: All right. And Jack. Thanks, Jack.

Still ahead -- plugging the leak. A tough prosecutor. He's gone after terrorists. Now, he's out to find -- he's trying to find out who revealed the identity of a clandestine CIA officer.

And boos, catcalls and chanting. Not the baseball playoffs, but the U.S. House of Representatives, only moments ago. Republicans flexing their muscles, Democrats not very happy about it. We'll tell you what's going on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's almost time for the markets to close and the closing bell for that. Let's check in with Ali Velshi. He's standing by in New York -- Ali.

VELSHI: Hey, Wolf. Markets closing a little higher right now while we sort of take in everything that's happened today. One of the things that just happened, which we're learning more about in the next few days, is right after the hurricanes, you'll remember that Congressman Barton said that he was going to put through a refinery bill. Well, that passed 212 to 210 in the House. Not sure what's that's going do to the Senate.

But these -- let's go back to these security threats for a while. The subway threats. I guess one person's threat is another person's profit. As we often see over the last few years with security threats, stocks that deal in surveillance technology who might profit from the increase in attention on surveillance have done fairly well today. We've got gains in companies that do, you know, camera work, audio stuff. IPics, which many people have seen. When you look at a house on the Internet, it gives you a 360-degree view of a House. Well, they also have surveillance products. Synergy Systems is data communication products that are used in alarm systems. So there's been a bit of a boost in those areas.

The other matter that you were talking to the commerce secretary about is the jobless number that came out, the monthly unemployment number. At 5.1 percent, we're going in the wrong direction, obviously. We were at 4.9 percent in August, up to 5.1 percent. And that doesn't tell the whole picture of the number of people who have been put out of work by Katrina.

You can expect those numbers to increase. As of yesterday, we had 363,000 people out of work directly related to Katrina. Remember, this country has not lost jobs in a long time. So, while it may be a blip, remember, you touched on this with the commerce secretary, Wolf, that -- it may be a blip. Part of it might be because of Katrina.

But we have been tracking other things. You mentioned that poll. We've talked about consumer sentiment. We've talked about consumer confidence. And two-thirds of our economy is the fact that we go out and spend on so many things. So it is a big deal. And absent of the effect of Katrina, there is some indication that this economy has been weakening a little bit, Wolf.

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