Specific U.S. Financial Institutions May Be Terrorist Targets

JIM LEHRER:

The threat of terrorism dominated the news this day. Several of the country's major financial centers beefed up security after a new warning. And President Bush announced steps to revamp the intelligence system in the wake of the 9/11 Commission report.

On Sunday, the alert level went to orange, for "high risk," at key financial sites in New York City, northern New Jersey, and Washington D.C. The secretary of homeland security, Tom Ridge, said there was highly specific intelligence of an al-Qaida plot, possibly involving truck bombs. Kwame Holman has our report on the stepped-up security today.

KWAME HOLMAN:

At the New York Stock Exchange this morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki rang the opening bell in a bid to reassure investors and anxious workers.

SPOKESPERSON:

Very, very nervous. In fact, last night it was very difficult to sleep. I was here for the World Trade Center, and I'm very nervous about being here today.

KWAME HOLMAN:

Police banned trucks from tunnels and bridges leading to the Wall Street area. In midtown Manhattan, some streets were closed. And at the Citigroup Building, employees had their bags searched before entering.

At the Prudential Building in Newark, New Jersey, barricades shut off the surrounding streets and armed police patrolled out front. In Washington, D.C., At the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, employee identity cards were checked thoroughly at entrances. The buildings are a few blocks from the White House. President Bush, in the White House Rose Garden today, said the threat information had to be made public.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

If we were just silent on the subject, I think people would be a lot more nervous. So our attitude is to try to be as transparent as possible with the affected sites so that people can then take responses necessary to better protect the people. But serious business– I mean, we wouldn't… we wouldn't be, you know, contacting authorities at the local level unless something was real.

KWAME HOLMAN:

Officials said the alert was prompted by information obtained recently indicating that al-Qaida operatives have cased the five buildings for years. Pakistani officials said they found a cache of documents, drawings, and photos last week containing plans for new attacks.

JIM LEHRER:

U.S. Treasury Secretary Snow said today investors around the world can have confidence in U.S. financial markets. And on Wall Street, trading was relatively calm and positive. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 39 points to close at 10,179. The NASDAQ rose more than four points to close at 1892.

Amid the new warnings of attack, President Bush formally embraced two major recommendations by the 9/11 commission. He endorsed a national intelligence director and a new counterterrorism center. But he said they should be outside the White House and the cabinet. The president spoke in the White House Rose Garden, flanked by top national security officials.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Today I'm asking Congress to create the position of a national intelligence director. That person… the person in that office will be appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, and will serve at the pleasure of the president.The national intelligence director will serve as the president's principal intelligence adviser, and will oversee and coordinate the foreign and domestic activities of the intelligence community. Under this reorganization, the CIA will be managed by a separate director. The national intelligence director will assume the broader responsibility of leading the intelligence community across our government.

Today I also announced that we will establish a national counterterrorism center. This new center will build on the analytical work– the really good analytical work– of the terrorist threat integration center, and will become our government's knowledge bank for information about known and suspected terrorists. The new center will coordinate and monitor counterterrorism plans and activities of all government agencies and departments, to ensure effective joint action and that our efforts are unified in priority and purpose. The center will also be responsible for preparing the daily terrorism threat report for the president and senior officials. In the coming days, I will issue a series of directives to various departments to underscore and further outline essential steps for the U.S. Government on the war on terror.

All relevant agencies must complete the task of adopting common databases and procedures so that intelligence and homeland security information can be shared and searched effectively, consistent with privacy and civil liberties. At the same time, the FBI director will continue his restructuring of the bureau to create a specialized workforce for collecting, analyzing domestic intelligence on terrorism. The acting CIA director will continue to increase efforts already under way to strengthen human intelligence and analytical capabilities. I'll answer a couple of questions today, Scott, if you got one.

REPORTER:

Thank you, sir. First, I'd like to ask you…

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Go ahead.

REPORTER:

…What the level of urgency is here on those actions that require congressional approval. They're out on recess until labor day. Can you envision calling them back in a special session?

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Congress has been thinking about some of these ideas. They can think about them over August, and come back and act on them in September. We look forward to working with them, not only in the creation of the national intelligence director and how to do it the right way, but also the 9/11 Commission had some very constructive suggestions for congressional reform.

REPORTER:

Mr. President, some of your own advisers oppose creation of a national intelligence director. Why did you override their objections, and will you give the new director sweeping budget authority?

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Because I thought it was the right thing to do, Adam. And the good thing about having an administration full of competent, capable, intelligent people is that I get all different kinds of opinions. And I think that the new national intelligence director ought to be able to coordinate budgets. I certainly hope Congress reforms its budget process, too, so that it's a seamless process.

REPORTER:

Mr. President, the 9/11 Commission originally recommended that the national intelligence director be part of the executive office, part of the executive branch.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Yeah.

REPORTER:

Why the change? Why make it part of… with congressional oversight?

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Well, I don't think the person ought to be a member of my cabinet. I will hire the person and I can fire the person, which is… any president would like. That's how you have accountability in government. I don't think that the office ought to be in the White House, however. I think it ought to be a stand- alone group to better coordinate, particularly between foreign intelligence and domestic intelligence matters. I think it's going to be one of the most useful aspects of the national intelligence director.

REPORTER:

Why wait three years after the 9/11 attacks to call for this kind of reform? Sen. Kerry has said that's too long.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

We have implemented significant reforms since 9/11. The FBI is reformed, and Director Mueller is doing a fabulous job. The communications between the FBI and the CIA are… have been enhanced by the creation of what's called TTIC, The Terrorist Threat Integration Center. We moved quickly to make sure that there is a seamless spread of information throughout our government. We created, called for, and worked with Congress to create the Department of Homeland Security. Under Secretary Ridge we have implemented the integration of multiple agencies to better protect the homeland. We've done a lot since Sept. 11.

JIM LEHRER:

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry today repeated his charge that the president waited too long to respond to terrorism threats. Kerry spent much of the day campaigning in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But in a CNN interview, he claimed the president's policies encouraged the recruitment of terrorists. Following the president's rose garden remarks, Kerry said this.

SEN. JOHN KERRY:

If the president had a sense of urgency about this director of intelligence and about the needs to strengthen America, he would call the Congress back and get the job done now. That's what we need to do. That's the urgency that exists in order to make America as safe as possible. The terror alert yesterday just underscores that if we're being serious about this, we have to move on every possible option to make our nation as safe as possible.

And I think the fact that it's taken us three years to get here makes its own statement about urgency; the fact that a few days ago, that the administration was even resisting doing this. They resisted the commission itself. They didn't want the commission. They didn't allow the commission, at first, to be extended. Finally the commission was extended. We cannot afford reluctance in the protection of our country. We need leadership, we need to move forward, and we need to act now.