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CNN Live Sunday

What Can Americans Do to Prepare for Terrorist Attacks?

Aired February 16, 2003 - 18:41   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's been a week where duct tape was harder to find than a dozen red roses on Valentine's Day. The administration raised the nation's terror alert to high last week and recommended Americans prepare for an attack by having things like duct tape and plastic sheeting on hand. Well, some took the warning in stride and others utterly panicked, and quite frankly it's hard to know which is right.
CNN's Security Analyst Kelly McCann joins us from Washington to shed some light on this. Kelly, you're always so good at getting the bottom line. I mean is there any use to having duct tape? Should we actually be sealing up our windows, better safe than sorry?

KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Carol, you know, the only time it's most practical if you were within what's called the downwind hazard zone. In other words, you will wear this device whatever it may be, explodes, or whether there's a fog or some kind of aerosol, and you're in that downwind pattern if the agent would even persist long enough, and that's doubtful given that it would probably be an improvised device.

LIN: Yes, because we do know that al Qaeda does not have really the capability for a mass, a massive wide attack. It would be very individualized, wouldn't it? So, the odds of it floating over an Atlanta suburb would be pretty remote.

MCCANN: That's exactly right. I mean you hit the nail on the head, which is it's an agent that could be a weapon of mass destruction, but the method of delivery and the functionality of getting that weapon to the place and being able to make it atomize to the degree necessary and the right meteorological conditions is like zero. You didn't like I how just stumbled over that word, did you?

LIN: No, but it's understandable. I wouldn't want to say it ten times fast. All right, but you know what I'm not going to -- even if I heard the alert, I'm not going to get the duct tape and the plastic sheeting up fast enough. If I had a gas mask at my side maybe I'd feel a lot better is that wise?

MCCANN: See and that's the other problem, Carol, is if you don't have the gas mask on at the time of the event then really you will have already, you know, inhaled some kind of the -- some amount of the agent.

The other thing is, is that sarin in particular is absorbed through the skin, so you need the whole balance of the suit, the carbon protected suit. So, it's a much more complex issue than just getting a gas mask and what type and what kind of filter and do people know how to use the drinking mechanism? It goes a lot deeper.

LIN: Well, how would we even know if an attack has been launched and then what should we do after that?

MCCANN: As you've heard today and, of course, last week, there is no real early warning system as may be available on the battlefield for example, but that doesn't exist anywhere in the world and I think Americans need to look at, you know, can we ever really think that we will be terror free?

I mean I don't think that that's going to be a reality. It certainly doesn't exist anywhere in the world right now. People have to be OK with not knowing and when the threat level goes up, understand that it was done with the best intention...

LIN: Right.

MCCANN: ...based on intelligence and we may never see an incident thank God.

LIN: Kelly, in the few seconds I have left, I just want to -- I want to explain to our viewers. We're putting up this side panel next to you asking the question why sarin, and now why ricin? These are two chemical agents that you've already just touched on that would probably be most commonly used, is that right?

MCCANN: Yes and that's because it's been done. We know that the al Qaeda has ricin and we know that sarin has been made and used in Japan, so we know that it can be done in small laboratories and used effectively.

LIN: All right, and why ricin? Well, it's been successfully used by al Qaeda, lethal, persistent, and no antidote. So, is there a better safe than sorry scenario for us consumers at this point for what little we know?

MCCANN: It is. Number one is being strong through information, knowing about these agents and what the reality is of functioning them as a weapon. I think people would feel better if they knew those facts.

And then secondly, avoiding places that could be lucrative targets, public events that are publicized long in advance, you know, where there's a mass of people routinely, things that might let a group adversarial to us maximize the weapon.

LIN: Yes, all right well that's not good news for the travel industry but perhaps good advice for us while we're under this high threat alert. Thank you very much, Kelly.

MCCANN: You bet, Carol. You bet.

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 February 16, 2003 - 18:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's been a week where duct tape was harder to find than a dozen red roses on Valentine's Day. The administration raised the nation's terror alert to high last week and recommended Americans prepare for an attack by having things like duct tape and plastic sheeting on hand. Well, some took the warning in stride and others utterly panicked, and quite frankly it's hard to know which is right.
CNN's Security Analyst Kelly McCann joins us from Washington to shed some light on this. Kelly, you're always so good at getting the bottom line. I mean is there any use to having duct tape? Should we actually be sealing up our windows, better safe than sorry?

KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Carol, you know, the only time it's most practical if you were within what's called the downwind hazard zone. In other words, you will wear this device whatever it may be, explodes, or whether there's a fog or some kind of aerosol, and you're in that downwind pattern if the agent would even persist long enough, and that's doubtful given that it would probably be an improvised device.

LIN: Yes, because we do know that al Qaeda does not have really the capability for a mass, a massive wide attack. It would be very individualized, wouldn't it? So, the odds of it floating over an Atlanta suburb would be pretty remote.

MCCANN: That's exactly right. I mean you hit the nail on the head, which is it's an agent that could be a weapon of mass destruction, but the method of delivery and the functionality of getting that weapon to the place and being able to make it atomize to the degree necessary and the right meteorological conditions is like zero. You didn't like I how just stumbled over that word, did you?

LIN: No, but it's understandable. I wouldn't want to say it ten times fast. All right, but you know what I'm not going to -- even if I heard the alert, I'm not going to get the duct tape and the plastic sheeting up fast enough. If I had a gas mask at my side maybe I'd feel a lot better is that wise?

MCCANN: See and that's the other problem, Carol, is if you don't have the gas mask on at the time of the event then really you will have already, you know, inhaled some kind of the -- some amount of the agent.

The other thing is, is that sarin in particular is absorbed through the skin, so you need the whole balance of the suit, the carbon protected suit. So, it's a much more complex issue than just getting a gas mask and what type and what kind of filter and do people know how to use the drinking mechanism? It goes a lot deeper.

LIN: Well, how would we even know if an attack has been launched and then what should we do after that?

MCCANN: As you've heard today and, of course, last week, there is no real early warning system as may be available on the battlefield for example, but that doesn't exist anywhere in the world and I think Americans need to look at, you know, can we ever really think that we will be terror free?

I mean I don't think that that's going to be a reality. It certainly doesn't exist anywhere in the world right now. People have to be OK with not knowing and when the threat level goes up, understand that it was done with the best intention...

LIN: Right.

MCCANN: ...based on intelligence and we may never see an incident thank God.

LIN: Kelly, in the few seconds I have left, I just want to -- I want to explain to our viewers. We're putting up this side panel next to you asking the question why sarin, and now why ricin? These are two chemical agents that you've already just touched on that would probably be most commonly used, is that right?

MCCANN: Yes and that's because it's been done. We know that the al Qaeda has ricin and we know that sarin has been made and used in Japan, so we know that it can be done in small laboratories and used effectively.

LIN: All right, and why ricin? Well, it's been successfully used by al Qaeda, lethal, persistent, and no antidote. So, is there a better safe than sorry scenario for us consumers at this point for what little we know?

MCCANN: It is. Number one is being strong through information, knowing about these agents and what the reality is of functioning them as a weapon. I think people would feel better if they knew those facts.

And then secondly, avoiding places that could be lucrative targets, public events that are publicized long in advance, you know, where there's a mass of people routinely, things that might let a group adversarial to us maximize the weapon.

LIN: Yes, all right well that's not good news for the travel industry but perhaps good advice for us while we're under this high threat alert. Thank you very much, Kelly.

MCCANN: You bet, Carol. You bet.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com