OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

CNN Paula Zahn Show - Transcript

By: Ron Wyden
By: Ron Wyden
Date: Jan. 5, 2004
Issues: National Security Transportation

CNN

SHOW: PAULA ZAHN NOW

HEADLINE: Interview With Senator John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry; Pete Rose Admits Betting on Baseball

GUESTS: Dean Edell, Fay Vincent, Teresa Heinz Kerry, John Kerry, Joe Klein, Victoria Clarke, Peter Beinart, Al Franken, Sarah Ferguson

BYLINE: Brian Cabell, Paula Zahn, Miles O'Brien, Jeffrey Toobin

HIGHLIGHT:
Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry and his outspoken wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, talk about pressure and public scrutiny on the campaign trail. Pete Rose finally admits he bet on baseball. The duchess of York discusses the first inquest into the death of Princess Diana.

BODY:
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. Welcome. I'm Paula Zahn. It's Monday, January 5, 2004.

ZAHN: Those stories and more straight ahead, but, first, here's what you need to know right here at the top of the hour.

The CIA says the latest tape from Osama bin Laden does appear to be authentic and to have been made recently. This afternoon, I asked Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, about the increase in air security and whether bin Laden is behind the recent threats to airliners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: In our country, we've got something like 700 international carriers flying in. A lot of those carriers are coming from countries where it's not very hard to bribe a government official, an airline official.

And so, yes, I do think it's important to maintain strict vigilance here. I also think that we've got to have international standards with respect to aviation security. We've got too many gaps in the system. And until we have strict and enforceable international standards, I don't think we're giving the American people the measure of safety they deserve.

I do not think that we're overreacting right now. Certainly, there can be inconvenience, say, for 300 passengers. But that might prevent 3,000 from being murdered, as we saw on 9/11. I really do think, Paula, that every single one of those international gates at an American airport is like a foreign border. And so, when any of these other countries are lax in their security, that threatens our borders.

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