Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
CNN Interview with Lieutenant Rick Wester of the U.S. Coast Guard
Aired October 21, 2001 - 08:26 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.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to Homeland Defense, to efforts aimed at preventing another terrorist attack. I'm joined by Lieutenant Rick Wester of the U.S. Coast Guard to talk about that.
Thanks a lot for coming in.
LIEUTENANT RICK WESTER, COAST GUARDS: Good morning.
MESERVE: The Coast Guard has always been about port security, but in this instance it has many other missions, does it not?
WESTER: Port security is definitely our top priority right now. This is our largest port security operations since World War II. We've stepped up the frequency and vigilance of our own patrols, and we're doing everything that we can to ensure the safety and security of our ports and waterways.
MESERVE: But you are also doing other things, acting as air marshals; is that correct?
WESTER: That's correct. We our armed Coast Guardsmen are aboard aircraft, assisting the FAA as air marshals. And the reason why they're doing that is because they're trained in confined spaces, such as boats and they already have their weapons qualifications. So we're doing that to assist them, as well.
MESERVE: And you're also even involved in the Anthrax scare.
WESTER: Our environmental protection side of the Coast Guard, they're usually involved in oil spill cleanups, hazardous materials cleanups. They were called in shortly after September 11th, into the World Trade Center area, and they've been, ever since then, monitoring the air, clearing buildings, and making entries in some of the buildings to make sure they're safe for the rescuers to go into.
They've also been here at the Capitol. They've been inside the Capitol building and the Hart Senate Office Building clearing the area, and gathering samples, and monitoring the air quality.
MESERVE: Now the Coast Guard, in recent years, had been pared down. How are you managing this expanded mission?
WESTER: Well, it has been a challenge. We have made port security our top priority, so we've kind of limited our involvement in some of our other critical mission areas to carry this out.
It's something that is very hard to sustain, so we've called up a large number of reservists, almost 30 percent of our reservists to do this.
MESERVE: And how long can you keep them on duty? What I'm wondering, I guess, is the long-term sustainability of this effort.
WESTER: That's something the commandant of the Coast Guard is continuing to evaluate. He's working with the Department of Transportation administration, and also with Congress, to make sure that we have the resources we need to do the jobs that we're going to need to do in the future.
MESERVE: And you say you have had to pare back some of your other missions. What are some of the things the Coast Guard is doing less of because it's doing more in the Homeland Security area?
WESTER: Well, with port security our top priority, search and rescue is still one of our priorities. We'll always do search and rescue, we're always ready to do that. But we are drawing back some of our other missions, such as fisheries enforcement, drug enforcement, but we are still seeing activity in those areas.
Shortly after September 11th, we conducted four drug unit interdictions in the Florida area. And the fiscal year, ending October 1st, marked a record drug year for us. We interdicted more Cocaine in that one-year period, 138,000 pounds, than any other period in the Coast Guard's history. So we are still keeping busy with our missions.
MESERVE: OK. Thanks so much for joining us.
WESTER: Thank you.
MESERVE: Lieutenant Wester of the U.S. Coast Guard.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
