Taking Precautions

GWEN IFILL:

The stepped-up security plan is called Operation Liberty Shield. With the national terror alert now at orange, or high, homeland security Sec. Tom Ridge announced new precautions, including adding hundreds of agents and sea marshals at the borders and all ports of entry; temporarily detaining asylum seekers from countries where al-Qaida and al-Qaida sympathizers are known to operate; enhancing security at major railroad facilities, bridges, and airports; increasing security presence at nuclear power plants; and calling in selected foreign nationals– in particular, those born in Iraq– to participate in what Ridge called "voluntary interviews." For details on all this expanded security, we turn to Philip Shenon of the New York Times. Phil, welcome.

PHILIP SHENON:

Good evening.

GWEN IFILL:

Will we notice the difference once all of this goes into effect?

PHILIP SHENON:

I think you'll notice the difference as you probably noticed the difference in the past when there have been heightened terrorism alerts. You'll see more police out, more National Guard troops out. You'll see tighter security at airports and railroad stations — a lot of what we've seen in the past.

GWEN IFILL:

So are there specific threats which have surfaced which led us to believe that this was necessary?

PHILIP SHENON:

Apparently unlike the threat alert raising last month which was tied to rather specific intelligence, there doesn't seem to be specific intelligence this go-round to suggest that there is any particular plot under way or any particular threat to some institution of the United States. There has been the assumption for months now that when war came in Iraq, there would be an attempt by al -Qaida and possibly by Iraqi intelligence agencies or their sympathizers to have some sort of strike on the United States. It was only a few weeks ago that bin Laden in an audio tape called for a Jihad, a holy war against the United States, including suicide attacks in the event of a war in Iraq.

GWEN IFILL:

So there is an assumption because of the president's speech last night that there could be greater attacks.

PHILIP SHENON:

Absolutely.

GWEN IFILL:

Or a greater chance of attacks.

PHILIP SHENON:

That seems to be it.

GWEN IFILL:

Let's talk about some of the specifics of what Sec. Ridge announced today. Specifically what caught my eye was the voluntary interviews of foreign-born nationals from many countries but particularly Iraq.

PHILIP SHENON:

Again, this is something we have seen in the past through the Justice Department where they have… they describe them as voluntary interviews, but they do seem in some cases to carry out real interrogations of Arab Americans and Arab immigrants in the United States and people from other countries of note particularly in the Muslim world. You'll see that again now. We're told that the FBI almost immediately after the war begins will seek to interview several thousand, perhaps as many as 12,000 Iraqi immigrants in the United States, most of them the people of particular interest, young men.

GWEN IFILL:

Have we begun to hear any civil liberties complaints so far?

PHILIP SHENON:

The biggest one was an item that was really a footnote in the announcement last night by the Department of Homeland Security. It was the announcement that they were raising the alert level. They mentioned the fact that beginning today, asylum seekers, people claiming persecution in their home countries, who arrive in this country from Iraq and 33 other countries, will be detained for the duration of the processing of their asylum claim. So that means that at least several hundred and perhaps more than a thousand asylum seekers, people who come to this country claiming persecution in their homelands will be detained for an awful long time while their claims are processed.

GWEN IFILL:

Theoretically they will be detained as long as who decides is necessary and what would they be able to do to get out of detention?

PHILIP SHENON:

Well, if we're to take the Department of Homeland Security at its word, they'll be detained for the entire period in which their claims are processed. We're told that's a period that can last from several months to a year or more.

GWEN IFILL:

Sec. Ridge also talked about tightening controls at the borders. What will that mean? Does that mean you can't drive into Canada with a driver's license anymore?

PHILIP SHENON:

Apparently this will be largely what we've seen in the past when there have been heightened terror alerts. There will be many more border agents deployed – apparently we're told several hundred additional border agents during the period of this heightened alert. You'll be… they will be more obvious when you go across the borders to Canada or Mexico. But the claim is that there will be no hindrance to cross-border traffic.

GWEN IFILL:

Was the announcement today about greater… keeping a tighter eye on the food supply, was that new?

PHILIP SHENON:

The Department and other elements of the federal government say they have no specific threat to the food supply, but obviously it is always something of a concern — the food supply and the water supply. And through the Agriculture Department and through their contacts with state and local authorities, they've asked that there be tighter surveillance. They say again though that this has happened in the past.

GWEN IFILL:

The governors who were notified of this in a conference call last night, several of them said today that they were told there was a near certainty of another attack. Were you able to do any reporting to find out what that was about?

PHILIP SHENON:

Well, I think again this is the assumption of analysts, that we have been promised by al-Qaida, by bin Laden specifically, that if there is a war with Iraq, there will be new terrorist attacks. The United States has known long since Sept. 11, that when bin laden and al-Qaida make such a promise, they usually carry it out.

GWEN IFILL:

One last thing. The head of the Capitol police here in Washington has said that you can't stay in detention forever in talking about these elevated threat warnings. Here in Washington today, we saw a fellow in a tractor and trailer drive into a pond on the grounds of the Washington Monument, and basically ensnare the city for over 24 hours. How do local first responders look at this new information from the Department of Homeland Security as a way of helping them deal with incidents like this which aren't strictly terrorism, but certainly disruptive?

PHILIP SHENON:

They look — an awful lot of state and local officials look at this with a great deal of frustration. They have been saying for a very long time, many of them since the days after Sept. 11, that they do not have the money or other resources to really step up security for a possible terrorist attack as they need to. The federal government, Pres. Bush has acknowledged that the federal government hasn't done its part to help out state and local government.

GWEN IFILL:

Phil Shenon, thank you very much.

PHILIP SHENON:

Thank you.