America on Alert: Anthrax Exercise
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the war on terror, just how prepared is the United States to deal with a biological terrorist attack? The government put itself to the test to find out. As CNN's Suzanne Malveaux reports, the government has a lot to learn.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the event of a widespread anthrax attack, the federal government recently discovered it could not get the antibiotics fast enough to save the thousands of Americans who could be affected. That's the result of a top-secret government drill, led by senior officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Transportation Secretary Norman Minetta. The November exercise, dubbed "Scarlet Cloud," simulated the release of anthrax in different types of aerosols, simultaneously in several American cities, to test how quickly the government could coordinate and administer antibiotics to the affected areas. The classified drill was designed to identify the government's weaknesses in fighting a biochemical attack. This warning, as recently as Friday, that terrorists are trying everything they can to pull off a non-conventional attack.</s>TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We know that al Qaeda, if they could get a hold of a chemical or biological or radiological or nuclear weapon - - if they could acquire it, build it or steal it, they would probably use it.</s>MALVEAUX: The secret drill did show that the government is more prepared for such an attack than it was before September 11. The progress with security comes as a relief to lawmakers, and the former of New York, who was in the bullseye of that attack two years ago.</s>RUDY GIULIANI, FMR. MAYOR OF NEW YORK: We're safer today than we were last year at this time.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think that the al Qaeda, which we're chiefly concerned with right now, will remain extant (ph) forever. I think we'll put it in a bottle and stuff a cork in it.</s>MALVEAUX (on camera): Until then, the country remains at a high state of alert, preparing on all levels for another possible attack. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Crawford, Texas.