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CNN Saturday Morning News
How Much Information on Terrorism, War is Too Much?
Aired October 27, 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Loose lips sink ships, but the information most people get about terrorism and the war on it comes from government agencies and the media. Whether it's too much information or not enough depends on whom you talk to.
And CNN's James Hattori is talking to people on both sides of that issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI (R), NEW YORK CITY: I think people have to know the facts and circumstances that they're facing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The general preparedness of the emergency departments across the country is rather poor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to caution everyone that this is a criminal investigation now. And we're very limited in the information that we can put forward.
JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The American appetite for information about what happened September 11 and since seems limitless. But is it?
GEORGE GROTZ, FORMER FBI AGENT: Why do I need to know this piece of information when I hear it on the radio or see it on television? Why do I need to know that? Is it important for my life to know this? Is it adversely affecting an investigation? Yes, it might be.
HATTORI: Former FBI agent George Grotz, like many Americans, worries that the public and our enemies know too much about the U.S. and its vulnerable spots, whether it's how to sneak a weapon onto an aircraft...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only information we have so far is for information that came from cell phones, and they said it was knives and paper type cutters.
HATTORI: Or the optimal dosage to kill someone with anthrax.
BOBBI BATISTA, HOST, "TALKBACK LIVE," CNN: But it takes many spores, correct?
DAVID SATCHER, SURGEON GENERAL: It takes 8,000 to 10,000 spores to give you inhalation anthrax.
GROTZ: But we're in a quandary in this country. While we are, still remain an open society, this kind of information is going to be out there for the crazies to get. Do we want to make it any easier for them? I certainly don't.
REESE RUSHING, OMB WATCH: They view the information as potentially sensitive, perhaps useful to terrorists. We see the information as useful to American citizens in evaluating the risks in their everyday lives.
HATTORI: OMB Watch, a Washington public interest group, fears the war on terrorism will hamper public access to information on important issues. The group is tracking information removed from U.S. government Web sites.
RUSHING: EPA removed information on chemical facilities. This information would tell you, for example, if your child went to day care in the danger zone. You might want to know this information.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: About a third of the building has been blown away.
HATTORI: It's a debate that surfaced after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, it's very early to tell, but we do believe that this explosive used in this consisted of fertilizer and fuel oil.
HATTORI: And even 30 years ago when "The Anarchist Cookbook'' was published with recipes for making bombs, the issue has been food for thought ever since.
GROTZ: There is always this, this hue and cry after one of these incidents that we have too much information out there. And it'll happen. As long as we are an open and free society, we have to, we all have to understand that.
James Hattori, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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