Fla., N.Y. Exposures ‘Could Be Linked,’ Cheney Suggests

Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that the anthrax incidents in Florida and New York City “could be linked” to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but he offered no direct proof.

“We don’t have enough evidence to be able to pin down that kind of connection. But, on the other hand, these kinds of activities that we saw in Florida, now perhaps in New York, we have to be suspicious,” the vice president said in an interview with host Jim Lehrer on the PBS program “NewsHour” that aired Friday night.

Cheney also said it is a “safe assumption” that terrorist cells remain in the United States and that authorities “need to do everything we can to wrap them up.”

The vice president added that he personally would be leery of any letter or package that is not “part of my regular mail flow,” for fear of harmful substances inside.

Three people in Florida and one in New York have been exposed to anthrax since the terrorist attacks, authorities say. The one fatality, in Florida, is believed to be the first from the disease since 1976.

Cheney’s wide-ranging remarks capped a week of sustained public tension as President Bush and top administration officials sought to calm frayed nerves on the one hand while preparing the public for the possibility of more terrorist strikes.

But as the vice president acknowledged, the administration has yet to find the right combination.

“We’re looking for balance and reasonableness. And I know it’s difficult,” Cheney acknowledged. “It’s bound to be a confusing time for people. We try to do everything we can to have one coherent message out there.”

The interview was Cheney’s first public appearance since Sept. 16, five days after the attacks, when he appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Lehrer interviewed the vice president Friday afternoon in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a complex next to the White House.

In speaking about anthrax and the Sept. 11 attacks, Cheney couched his words carefully, but the import was chilling nonetheless.

“Nobody’s made a direct link yet, but at this stage you have to be concerned about that sort of thing, the possibility. Are they related? We don’t know,” he said.

But Cheney then cited manuals used by Osama bin Laden and his followers that he said “train people with respect to how to deploy and use these kinds of [biological and chemical] substances.”

The vice president continued:

“So, you start to piece it together. Again, we have not completed the investigation and maybe it’s coincidence. But I must say I’m a skeptic.”

Cheney added that “the only responsible thing for us to do is proceed on the basis that it could be linked.”

Referring to the possibility that agents of Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network are in the United States, he said: “The only safe assumption is that there may well be others here.” Cheney then mentioned the Aug. 17 arrest in Minnesota of Zacarias Moussaoui, 33, who authorities suspect may have been among those who plotted the Sept. 11 hijackings.

“There are probably other cells here in the U.S. who have planned or trained to carry out various kinds of operations, and we need to do everything we can to wrap them up. That’s exactly what we are doing,” Cheney said.

He urged those who encounter suspicious mail to contact authorities, saying that would be “the responsible thing to do.”

During the 45-minute interview, Cheney also urged people to lobby their congressional representatives to vote for legislation that grants law enforcement new powers to crack down on suspected terrorists.

“Every day that goes by when we don’t have all the tools we think we need to find out who these people are and to run them to ground is one more day when we could conceivably suffer the consequences of undue delay,” Cheney said.

The Republican-controlled House on Friday easily approved just such a bill, but some Democrats objected to the sudden haste to curb civil liberties.

The House action came a day after the Senate approved a similar bill, both of which give police new authority to detain immigrants and monitor electronic communications and phone calls of suspected terrorists. Some differences in the two bills, however, have to be worked out.

As he left the White House for a weekend at Camp David, Bush issued a statement urging Congress to “quickly get the bill to my desk.”

On other matters, Cheney opposed the opening of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, which has been closed to civilian vehicles since the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.

“Pennsylvania Avenue ought to stay closed because, as a fact, if somebody were to detonate a truck bomb in front of the White House, it would probably level the White House, and that is unacceptable,” the vice president said.

He also said that Bush is receiving reports “at least twice a day” on the status of the Afghanistan bombing campaign, which began Sunday.

Cheney said he has remained fully engaged in the “war council” even though he often participates via telephone or videoconference from some secure location. He has remained away from the White House for security reasons, to ensure continuity of the government if harm should befall the president.

But Cheney also struck a self-effacing note when asked by Lehrer about the perception that Bush is inexperienced in foreign policy.

“The president doesn’t need me. He has got a great team of advisors there. . . . I’m just one more voice at the table,” Cheney said.

The vice president ended the interview with somber words, admitting he could see no clear end to the threat of terrorist acts.

“I’m reluctant to say to the country or to the American people that a week from now or a month from now you’re going to be able to totally relax, no more problems, because I think it’s going to take a long time,” Cheney said.

“We are vulnerable as a society to these people who wish us ill and are willing to die in the effort, and so we’re all going to have to make some changes and possibly accept some limitations we’d rather not accept, but it’s necessary unfortunately in the time we live in.”