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Giuliani: People have to be better prepared for possible attacks
NEW YORK (CNN) -- CNN's Paula Zahn talked with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday about his life since leaving office and how the nation has changed since September 11, 2001. The following is an edited transcript. ZAHN: We have seen the level of threat rise to orange now, and there was an interesting survey that came out by the American -- or National League of Cities saying that about only a third of all cities even did anything after hearing the last time that the code had been raised. How concerned are you that particularly those cities are feeling financially strapped? GIULIANI: I'm concerned for the country because these warnings are all based on information, and the government does this for very, very serious reasons. At the same time, the individual risk is so diffused, it's very, very hard to give people advice about what to do about it. The risk for the country is great, the risk for the individual is small in any one place, because you don't know where it is. So, you have to take reasonable precautions. Every city, every state, every large institution, business has to have a plan, has to have some idea of what you would do to try to prevent a terrorist attack, what you would do in the case of a terrorist attack. Those are very prudent things to do. And then, the contradictory message, which is relax and go ahead with your life. ZAHN: Yes. GIULIANI: It's very hard. It's very hard. People have got to be more prepared, better prepared, doing a lot more, think about what to do. And then at the same time, since the risk is so broad and so diffused and the risk to any one individual small, although to the country great, go forward with your life. Don't let them psychologically gain some kind of an advantage over it. ZAHN: But you acknowledge that's tough to do, when the government is telling you to buy duct tape, plastic sheets, batteries for radios, stock up on water, stock up on food. GIULIANI: It is very, very difficult to do, and it's something we're going to have to get used to. It's something that's going to -- we're not going to be able to figure out how to do this, even the year-and-a-quarter that we've had to kind of deal with it. It's going to take a couple of years. It's a change in our culture in the way we have to -- the way we're more vulnerable ...And at the same time, the risk is a generalized one. It helped me a lot on and after September 11 to think of the people of London who had to go through bombings, you know, during the battle of Britain in 1940... ZAHN: Sure. GIULIANI: ... and the people of Israel now. They've got to go forward with their lives, and we're not facing that. We're not -- thank goodness, at least at this point, we're not facing something like that. ZAHN: How vulnerable do you think New York City is to this day? GIULIANI: It's a cause of great concern. I mean, but you know, so is the whole country. There's no way -- so far at least, the information, although, you know, it's sufficient to create this kind of warning, is not specific enough to pinpoint where. If we knew where, then you could actually put even extra attention to that particular area. But right now, it's a very generalized warning, and I think it's being handled appropriately by the government, and they're dealing with it. ZAHN: As I hear you speak today, I'm wondering if I hear any missing of public life in your language. GIULIANI: Not yet, no. No, I know I will at some point, but it's only been a year and a couple of months that I've been out of office, and I'm having a very, very really fulfilling time, and the book and the business that I'm running, you know, has really -- has been an education for me. There's a whole new area to explore and to grow in, but I'm sure I'm going to want to be back directly in public life. But indirectly... ZAHN: Like when? In what? GIULIANI: Oh, in a couple of years. You know, we'll see. ZAHN: And you're not going to tell us what job you're going to be in. GIULIANI: Because I haven't figured it out yet. ZAHN: When you figure it out, will you come back and tell us? GIULIANI: When I figure it out, I'll come right here, Paula, and tell you about it.
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