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CNN Saturday Morning News

100 Congresspersons to Visit WTC Site

Aired September 29, 2001 - 08:16   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.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: On Monday, 100 members of Congress are going to New York to see the rubble where the World Trade Center once stood. And as they make that trip, changes are underway on Capitol Hill.

As CNN congressional correspondent Kate Snow reports, changes to shore up security at one of the country's better known landmarks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): September 11: as the Pentagon burns, fears that the U.S. Capitol might also be a target. The building is evacuated, but lawmakers complain there was no plan.

REP. DAVID BONIOR (D), MICHIGAN: And we've got 30,000 people that work here. And there's no communication on something as central and as important as that.

SNOW: It was a wake-up call for Capitol police.

LT. DAN NICHOLS, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: Normal is not what it was on September 10. and now we're going to have to reevaluate and find what our new standard of normal security is, and that's what we're in the process of doing.

SNOW: Already there are obvious changes. Unmarked police vehicles block entrances, bomb sniffing dogs are on hand and officers use mirrors to look under cars. Streets that used to be open to traffic are shut down. And plans for a new Capitol visitors' center have taken on a sense of urgency. It's designed with security in mind, moving metal detectors underground and farther away from the Capitol itself.

ALAN HANTMAN, ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL: People will be able to come across the plaza, go down these steps and then be screened remotely.

SNOW: Three days after the terror attacks, the architect's office hired teams of surveyors. For five days they were up on the roof and down on the ground looking up. Using a state-of-the-art laser camera, they've mapped the outside of the Capitol, creating a computerized 3-D model, precise to within 3/16 of an inch. CHARLES OVER, CONTRACTOR: The blueprints that they have are so old that they're not accurate. They've added onto the building over the years. So we're giving them actual blueprints of the building and they can use it for the new visitors' center that they're putting in.

SNOW: And there are more decisions ahead, like whether to close the larger avenues around the Capitol and whether to make temporary road closures permanent. Sources say it's likely the windows of the Capitol will be reinforced with shatter proof Mylar coating.

(on camera): Every decision being carefully weighed. On one hand, authorities want to make sure law makers and the people who work here are safe. On the other hand, they don't want to scare away visitors to one of the nation's biggest attractions.

Kate Snow, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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