The Climate of Fear After 9/11 (2002)

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[Homan]: The flap about the memo comes as high-level officials continue to warn of possible future attacks. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge told a group of business executives today that it would be naïve to think the United States now is immune from suicide bombings or other attacks. [Ridge]: While we prepare for another possible terrorist attack, we need to understand that it's really not a question of if, but a question of when. The Office of Homeland Security operates on the assumption that this sophisticated, persistent terrorist organization that has cells around the world that has struck us on September 11th in the most horrific kind of way, we'll do it again at some point in time. We operate on that assumption. [Homan]: Ridge said the nation's terrorist status remains at yellow, an elevated state of alert. Leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees were briefed late today by Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Afterward, Florida Democrat Bob Graham was asked about a report the Islamic group Hezbollah might target the United States. [Graham]: What we have in terms of targeting is a general increase in the threat. Somewhat similar, unfortunately, to what we were hearing in July and August of last year. We know that Hezbollah, while it has not attacked the United States within our homeland, has attacked U.S. interest abroad and has operatives in the United States who have been trained and recruited for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activity. [Homan]: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made his comments about possible terrorist use of nuclear weapons before Senate subcommittee this morning. [Rumsfeld]: With respect to the nature of the weapons, there's no question but that we will continue to be surprised in the sense that if you think about taking in one of our airliners filled

with our people and using it as a missile to fly it into the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, that is a new technique of terrorism. We can expect other new techniques of terrorism. The problem I see, and it's a very serious one, is that there has been a proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. And the terrorist networks have close linkages with terrorist states, the states that are on the worldwide known terrorist list, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, North Korea, one or two others. Now, those countries have been developing weapons of mass destruction for some time. They are testing and weaponized chemical and biological weapons. They are aggressively trying to get nuclear weapons. We know that.

[Homan]: Two more administration officials appeared before another Senate panel.

The Climate of Fear After 9/11 (2002)

This 2002 clip from The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer presents a series of government officials warning of the potential for imminent terrorist attacks. Tom Ridge, director of the Office of Homeland Security (a new agency created after the 9/11 attacks), tells an audience that “it’s really not a question of if, but a question of when” the next terrorist attack would come. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld emphasizes the threat of enemy governments developing “weapons of mass destruction,” previewing the rationale that would be used to justify the invasion of Iraq. The government regularly updated a color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System that alerted Americans about the risk of terrorist attacks. The news media reported on the threat of potential terrorist plots involving explosives, as well as those involving biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. Several actual events fortified popular fears. In late 2001, numerous letters with the biological weapon anthrax were sent via the U.S. mail, and in December, a man boarded a transatlantic flight and tried but failed to detonate explosives in his shoes. Events such as these combined with governments statements and media attention to reinforce public fears that the next large-scale terrorist attack could come at any time

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer | NewsHour Productions | May 21, 2002 This video clip and associated transcript appear from 8:05 - 11:07 in the full record.

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