**FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh on ABC News Special with Peter Jennings**

**09/12/01**

(Terry Moran report on U.S. response to terrorist attack)

Peter Jennings, anchor: And if it is, as Senator Daschle in- in- said to
us from Capitol Hill tonight, that the world has truly changed, I think
a lot of people will be skeptical about that observation as well (sic),
but that the world has indeed changed with this attack on the United
States and- and these symbols of the United States in such a profound
way that maybe things will change. (sic) But I think anybody in this
administration or others before it, including the man who is sitting
behi- beside me, Joe Allbaugh, currently heading the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, will acknowledge that the world is a pretty
complicated and cynical place when it comes to fighting international
terrorism. Would you agree?

Joe Allbaugh (Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency): It\'s a
tough issue, very tough issue.

Jennings: We\'ve asked you here tonight; you\'ve been good enough to
come to talk about your current role. The last time I think you and I
talked on the telephone was about

the Mississippi River.

Allbaugh: That\'s exactly right.

Jennings: And as tough as it seemed at the time, man, it just seems tiny
now compared to what you\'ve had to deal with today and yesterday. Give
me first your reaction to what you saw yesterday and today.

Allbaugh: I am stunned by the devastation, quite frankly, Peter, but I
am impressed- this afternoon we visited the site- I (sic) impress-
impressed by the spirit of New York City, that resilience. And Governor
Pataki and I happened to walk the street along with Mayor Giuliani, and
we ran into several firefighters who had just come out of the rubble
for- Long Island firefighters- and you can see on their faces the
devastation, the toll it\'s taking, which is something that I\'m
concerned with. Those rescuers right now- at some point, we\'re gonna
have to roll those people out, get \'em some rest af- after about
forty-eight, seventy-two hours, make sure that everyone has proper
counseling. This is a tough, tough issue, Peter.

Jennings: Now, can we- can we try to parse this in a couple of ways?

Allbaugh: Sure.

Jennings: You said you were struck by the extent of the devastation. We
just had an emergency doctor who sat beside us, and you\'re just not
getting it on television, and- and I- I think we all appreciate that.
What are we missing watching it on television that you\'ve seen at
street level?

Allbaugh: Well, it\'s hard to a- appreciate the realness when you watch
the film, watch the B-roll on television. When you visit it- visit the
site in- in person, it- it rains down on you. The whole weight of the
world almost rests on your shoulders when you see that. And just looking
at the tasks down the road, it is almost insurmountable. But this
country is resilient. We can handle just about anything, and those folks
who are on the ground right now- we need to say a thanks, a prayer,
especially to those folks who lost their life.

Jennings: What do you mean that it\'s almost insurmountable?

Allbaugh: The concept is almost insurmountable. I- I- I\'m from
Oklahoma.

Jennings: I know.

Allbaugh: I visited the Oklahoma City site the day after the bombing,
and immediately it passed in front of my eyes probably by a factor of
twenty-five or fifty, just the devastation. Take a- take- take aside the
loss of the life; just the devastation downtown is just unbelievable,
what we\'ll have to remove over the next several weeks, possibly even
several months. This is a long-term process. It will take a while for
everyone to heal. Everyone needs to have patience. And at the same time,
we\'re working as quickly as we can to recover as many people as we
possibly can.

Jennings: I know that it is almost the obligation of a public official
to be optimistic in some way; you must have an optimistic face or wear
an optimistic face at a moment like this. But my guess is, based on
other people we\'ve talked to- is you haven\'t seen much out there in
the last hours to make you think that many people are going to be
recovered.

Allbaugh: That\'s a tough issue. You never want to give up hope, and
we\'re not gonna give up hope. There are pockets where the building
pancaked down where folks could be still alive. Time is precious. Time
is running out. We have to move quickly. We moved in twelve USAR teams,
urban search and rescue teams. These are professionals, highly trained
technical experts with dogs to assist New York City\'s finest, police
and fire departments. (sic) We have medical teams, hospitals that we
moved in fully staffed with

nurses, doctors to assist in the recovery efforts, as well as,
unfortunately, mortuary teams. We have to deal with that realistic part
of this devastation.

Jennings: Explain to people what the- what a mortuary team is.

Allbaugh: They will come in and they will assist local officials in
identification more than anything else, make sure that everyone is taken
care of in proper fashion and a respectful fashion and a timely fashion.
(sic)

Jennings: What does the national government actually have as assets that
the city and the state don\'t have?

Allbaugh: We\'re not here to supplant any efforts that are going on.

Jennings: I appreciate that.

Allbaugh: We\'re here to facilitate anything that they need. I know
specifically this afternoon and today- my first conversation this
morning with Governor Pataki was about the power, making sure that we
had the necessary generators, for example-

Jennings: And do you?

Allbaugh: We do. Of course we do. We have the full assets of the federal
government, which is quite a vast array of supply. (sic)

Jennings: And- and it is a quantitative question you know people ask,
and maybe it helps us measure the destruction only at this moment\--do
you have any- the vaguest understanding of what this is gonna cost the
country and the federal government?

Allbaugh: No. No. Quite frankly, I think it\'s immaterial.

Jennings: All right.

Allbaugh: It\'s always an issue. It\'s important to know what it\'s
gonna cost. We have no idea at this point. This is gonna take weeks to
develop and years to plan and rebuild.

Jennings: You and everybody else we\'ve talked to and we ourselves have
been deeply impressed by the spirit of volunteerism that- from- from
very distant points in the country, but this is ultimately a job that
has to be done by professionals for the most part.

Allbaugh: That\'s correct.

Jennings: Does New York City, does, to a lesser extent, the Pentagon
have the resources that it needs, either in place or in the pipelines at
the moment? (sic)

Allbaugh: Absolutely. We have everything that we need. We\'re being
inundated, as you say, with requests from folks to come in and
volunteer. (sic) One thing we have to do right now and be cautious (sic)
is to say \"Thanks, no thanks, not right now.\" (sic) We don\'t want to
overburden the system that\'s already in place and hinder that- that
process that\'s going on with those professionals.

Jennings: Now-

Allbaugh: But we have everything what (sic) we need, Peter.

Jennings: And it\'s not your immediate concern- I appreciate it\'s more
an issue for the Red Cross- but do you- do you know the current
situation on blood supplies? Because so many people around the country
wanted (sic) and have given blood.

Allbaugh: I appreciate that. They should give blood, quite frankly. The
country, the world always needs a- a constant blood supply. I think for
the foreseeable future, the next several days, we\'re going to be fine
here on the East Coast.

Jennings: What are we missing?

Allbaugh: I don\'t know that we\'re missing much, quite frankly. I ask
that question of my staff all the time\--what is it we\'re not doing?
What is it we oughta be thinking about? Praying for those who lost their
lives, praying for those who are trying to recover other lives right
now. We have a strong country. This is an amazing land that we live in.
People try to replicate the spirit that we have in this country. They
can replicate some of the emergency- emergency procedures that we have,
but they can\'t replicate that spirit, and that\'s what\'s unique about
America. And we\'ll get through this, Peter.

Jennings: You\'re-

Allbaugh: It\'s gonna be tough, but we\'ll get through it.

Jennings: You\'re a longtime friend and an ally of the president at a
very personal level, as I said by way of introducing the fact that you
were coming. You\'re one of the people who helped him and campaigned and
get elected in the country. (sic) How much contact have you had with
him? How\'s he taking it personally? I don\'t mean from a president\'s
point of view, I mean personally.

Allbaugh: I\'ve worked with this man for over eight years now, and I
have never seen anything in my life that has- or during that time period
that is (sic) affected the president as this is- incident has. I was
with him yesterday evening for several hours. I\'ve been with him all
morning this morning before he instructed me to come to New York City,
and I\'ll report back what I\'ve learned today, and we\'ll make the
necessary decisions based upon that. But this has had a profound effect
on the president, just like it has on every American, as it should.

Jennings: Many thanks. Joe Allbaugh, the director of FEMA,\...

Allbaugh: Thank you.

Jennings: \...Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Allbaugh: It\'s good to see ya again.

Jennings: Yeah, not under these circumstances,\...

Allbaugh: (unintelligible)

Jennings: \...but it\'s nice to see ya, Joe.

Allbaugh: Take care.

Jennings: Thanks very much for coming and giving us a briefing on this.

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