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Government Rolls Out Color Coded Security Threat Warning System

Aired March 8, 2002 - 05:32   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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Since September 11, you have heard a bunch of warnings to be on alert for a possible terrorist attack, but those alerts leave a lot of questions unanswered. On alert for what? Where? What precaution should you take?

Well, now the government is getting set to roll out a new color- coded threat warning system. It's supposed to clear up all that confusion.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve tells us about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, the Justice Department did issue a blanket alert.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have notified law enforcement to continue on highest alert.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR: We should once again place the public on general alert.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The repeated alerts, issued by the federal government since September 11, have not spelled out the threats or what to do about them.

PAUL MANISCALCO, NATIONAL ASSN. OF EMTS: What are we supposed to do? How do we respond? What is highest alert? What is higher alert? It becomes confusing.

MESERVE: Alert fatigue has set in. Although the nation never been taken off highest alert, security and public vigilance have slacked off.

PETER WARD, PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC WARNING: We are not able to reach enough of the public directly at risk, and we are reaching too many of the people that are not at risk. And if you warn people that are not at risk, you get a cry wolf syndrome, where they say, gee, I don't think that applies to me, and yet it might.

MESERVE: Even federal officials say the current system is dysfunctional. ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: We realize that the system is, not in any way, it's not -- I shouldn't say perfect. It's so far from perfect that everybody is frustrated by the warning system out there.

MESERVE: The new threat warning system, modeled loosely on the military's Threatcon system, is intended to address the confusion, the complaints and the complacency. It will color code the degrees of threat. Each code will trigger specific actions by state and local governments and federal agencies. The warnings will be geographically specific when possible. For instance, if the threat is in California, New York will not be put on alert. And the system may allow for dissemination of classified information on a need-to-know basis to state and local officials.

ASHCROFT: We hope that it will be a system, which will better communicate between law enforcement authorities, so that we have an integrated effort. And so that we don't have any slips between the federal effort and the state effort and the local effort.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So are you left confused? We hope so. That was our land security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve.

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