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CNN Sunday Morning
Homeland Security Department Stages Exercise
Aired May 11, 2003 - 07:37 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Beginning tomorrow, two American cities will be under attack by fictional terrorists. Now, the exercise is being run by the Department of Homeland Security, to test local, state as well as federal authorities. The question is, can these kind of tests really help? Joining us now is our security expert, Kelly McCann, in Washington. Good morning, Kelly.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hey, Anderson.
COOPER: So this test. It's going to take place in Chicago, in Seattle. What does it entail?
MCCANN: Well, of course, you know, on the heels on what we just saw this past week from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) released there could be, you know, a revitalized or reorganized al Qaeda. Basically, what I think the focus is, that and of course, what Peter Bergen just reported, is a focus on two extreme events. That's what they're terming it. And one will be radiation kind of bomb out in the Seattle region, and then in Chicago, it will be the covert release of biological agents, and it's geared to test interagency cooperation, instant learning, if you will. If in one region, they learn something, will they pass it on to another region quickly enough so that they can avert the same kinds of problems? It's quite a large operation.
COOPER: But how beneficial really is it? I mean, this thing cost $16 million, I guess being paid for by the Department of Homeland Security, who are organizing it. Chicago is being tested, as well as Seattle, but if they know all the stuff that's going to happen, how much of a test really is it?
MCCANN: Well, you know, I spoke to the program co-director this week, and what he told me was initially it was designed as a no- advance warning kind of exercise, and that's just not realistic, because people have busy schedules. So what they've done is they made it a limited warning exercise, so they've had very short period of time to prepare.
It is valuable, because if you remember back in the '97, '98 report from the Senate, it said that no top officials were actually participating in these exercises, because of their busy schedules and whatever their daily functions were. So a capability that has not been tested isn't really a capability. This was a way to force those top officials to play.
COOPER: So let's talk nuts and bolts. In Chicago, I guess, the test is sort of a mock release of an aerosol, plague-like contaminant. How is it going to work? It's allegedly released by this terrorist group in the game, then how do officials respond?
MCCANN: Well, interestingly enough, they've got a shadow news network, a virtual news network, VNN, and it's not clear the components of how they will release that information. So in other words, the way that the officials are actually notified that this has now began might be something as subtle as increased reporting on this virtual news network that some people now in significant numbers are going to local hospitals, complaining of these symptoms. It's very, very intricately planned kind of event.
Then again, it could be just, OK, at zero-nine, we're going to start with boom, this -- we know this has been released, et cetera. And of course, for anyone who just tuned in late, there will be no obvious releases of any kinds of agents, or any real threat to the public.
COOPER: All right, Kelly McCann, appreciate you joining us. We'll watch this thing closely over the next week. Thanks very much.
MCCANN: You bet, Anderson.
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 May 11, 2003 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Beginning tomorrow, two American cities will be under attack by fictional terrorists. Now, the exercise is being run by the Department of Homeland Security, to test local, state as well as federal authorities. The question is, can these kind of tests really help? Joining us now is our security expert, Kelly McCann, in Washington. Good morning, Kelly.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hey, Anderson.
COOPER: So this test. It's going to take place in Chicago, in Seattle. What does it entail?
MCCANN: Well, of course, you know, on the heels on what we just saw this past week from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) released there could be, you know, a revitalized or reorganized al Qaeda. Basically, what I think the focus is, that and of course, what Peter Bergen just reported, is a focus on two extreme events. That's what they're terming it. And one will be radiation kind of bomb out in the Seattle region, and then in Chicago, it will be the covert release of biological agents, and it's geared to test interagency cooperation, instant learning, if you will. If in one region, they learn something, will they pass it on to another region quickly enough so that they can avert the same kinds of problems? It's quite a large operation.
COOPER: But how beneficial really is it? I mean, this thing cost $16 million, I guess being paid for by the Department of Homeland Security, who are organizing it. Chicago is being tested, as well as Seattle, but if they know all the stuff that's going to happen, how much of a test really is it?
MCCANN: Well, you know, I spoke to the program co-director this week, and what he told me was initially it was designed as a no- advance warning kind of exercise, and that's just not realistic, because people have busy schedules. So what they've done is they made it a limited warning exercise, so they've had very short period of time to prepare.
It is valuable, because if you remember back in the '97, '98 report from the Senate, it said that no top officials were actually participating in these exercises, because of their busy schedules and whatever their daily functions were. So a capability that has not been tested isn't really a capability. This was a way to force those top officials to play.
COOPER: So let's talk nuts and bolts. In Chicago, I guess, the test is sort of a mock release of an aerosol, plague-like contaminant. How is it going to work? It's allegedly released by this terrorist group in the game, then how do officials respond?
MCCANN: Well, interestingly enough, they've got a shadow news network, a virtual news network, VNN, and it's not clear the components of how they will release that information. So in other words, the way that the officials are actually notified that this has now began might be something as subtle as increased reporting on this virtual news network that some people now in significant numbers are going to local hospitals, complaining of these symptoms. It's very, very intricately planned kind of event.
Then again, it could be just, OK, at zero-nine, we're going to start with boom, this -- we know this has been released, et cetera. And of course, for anyone who just tuned in late, there will be no obvious releases of any kinds of agents, or any real threat to the public.
COOPER: All right, Kelly McCann, appreciate you joining us. We'll watch this thing closely over the next week. Thanks very much.
MCCANN: You bet, Anderson.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
