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Hart:'This is not the end of the age of terrorism'



(CNN) -- In the wake of the September 11 attacks, there are more concerns about the possibility of new acts of terrorism on U.S. soil. Former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart, who co-chaired a commission on national security in the 21st century, believes there is reason to be concerned.

CNN anchor Bill Hemmer spoke Wednesday morning with Hart about the possibility of future terrorist attacks.

HEMMER: You made a speech last night at Yale, talking about the concern that you have for the possibility, again I want to underline that -- the possibility -- of new attacks. What gives you reason to think that?

HART: I have no special information. What my instincts are basically shaped and formed by (is) the information we collected as members of this commission over the last two and a half years.

I think the intelligence estimates and briefings we received from terrorism and counter-terrorism experts, led me at least, to believe that this is not the end of the age of terrorism, but perhaps just the beginning. But I have no special information.

HEMMER: All right then, to put it in fair context, we don't want to be talking about this in the sense that we are scaring people who may be watching. What do you have that you believe, or the past two or three years based on this study, that takes you on this direction of thought?

HART: Well, first of all, past experience. Just as a previous commentator said, there have been patterns of attacks on American interests, starting with or even before the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, then the embassy bombings in Africa, then the Cole attack and the attack on the American barracks in Saudi Arabia.

So, there has been a pattern of attack on U.S. interests offshore, and now those attacks have come onshore.

If there are in fact networks, and we are led to believe by the experts that there are, these networks are clearly not training for just one mission. If those networks still exist and they have resources, money, and people and weapons, I think it is just common sense to believe that they will try something else, probably sooner rather than later.

HEMMER: But you talk about the new initiative, the homeland security. You say good step, right direction, but more is needed. To be specific, what more is needed in the U.S.?

HART: Our commission strongly recommended the creation of a free-standing, separate new agency that consolidates the 40 or more parts of agencies across the federal government, that have something to do with homeland security.

We think -- many of us think -- the office approach or the czar approach, or even the Homeland Security Council approach, will not create the consolidated and integrated agency necessary to coordinate all of these assets.

One hopes we can skip the interim step and go directly to a single individual, in this case Gov. Ridge, who will be accountable to the president for all of these homeland security operations.

HEMMER: Given that answer, when you hear the Attorney General John Ashcroft criticize Congress for, in his words, moving too slowly to enact these expanded powers of law enforcement, does John Ashcroft have a point?

HART: No, I think where the constitutional liberties are concerned, we are at the core of what this nation is all about. We shouldn't rush into that, and there should be plenty of time for debate.

If he can demonstrate, based on his intelligence estimates, that we are endangering the lives and security of Americans because he does not have this authority, then that's very persuasive. But apparently, at least in terms of sitting members of Congress, he has not done; and therefore, they want more evidence that these steps in the direction of curtailing, possibly curtailing constitutional liberties of Americans, should be taken.



 
 
 
 



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