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Military

30 October 2001

Transcript: Ridge, Other Officials Brief on Homeland Security

(They discuss terrorism alert, update anthrax situation) (5520)
Director of the Office of Homeland Security Tom Ridge says Americans
have to continue living their normal lives, despite the worries about
terrorism.
Briefing reporters October 30 at the White House, Ridge pointed out
that President Bush was going to travel to New York later in the day
to throw out the first pitch in the World Series game this evening at
Yankee Stadium.
"America has to continue to be America," Ridge said. "And what
terrorists try to do is instill such uncertainty, such fear, such
hesitation that you don't do things that you normally do. And all
we're saying with the general alert is, continue to live your lives,
continue to be America, but be aware, be alert, be on guard."
Attorney General John Ashcroft and Federal Bureau of Investigation
Director Robert Mueller late October 29 warned Americans of possible
new terrorist attacks within the United States and against U.S.
interests over the next week.
But they said the threat, that they deemed "credible," did not contain
specifics as to the type of attack or targets.
Ridge said "if as a result of the alert yesterday, we have security
guards at shopping malls paying more attention, personnel at airports
paying more attention, the policeman on the street from the 11-7 beat
who are driving that patrol car around that neighborhood -- if
everybody has a heightened sense of alert, we send a signal not only
to America, but those who would terrorize us, those who are trying to
disrupt our way of life, that we are on guard as a country."
Ridge also updated reporters on the anthrax situation in the United
States. "To date, we now have 14 confirmed cases of anthrax; 5
suspected cases; 18 cases that are under investigation; and 3 cases
that appear suspicious and are being looked at further," he said.
Also briefing were Dr. Pat Meehan, Director of Emergency Environmental
Health Service at the Centers for Disease Control; John Nolan, Deputy
Postmaster General; and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National
Institutes of Health (NIH).
Following is the White House transcript:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
October 30, 2001
PRESS BRIEFING BY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY,
GOVERNOR TOM RIDGE; DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
SERVICE, CDC, DR. PAT MEEHAN; DEPUTY POSTMASTER GENERAL JOHN NOLAN;
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, DR. ANTHONY FAUCI
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
10:40 A.M. EST
GOVERNOR RIDGE: Good morning again. Welcome to what I think is
becoming a daily briefing of the Office of Homeland Security. It's
good to be with you again this morning. Obviously, there are a few
items on the radar that we'll be discussing this morning, some you're
already aware of, others you might not be. First, I'd like to talk a
little bit about the alert the FBI announced last evening.
We all are very much aware that on September 11th, our war against
terrorism began. And since September 11th there has been an
extraordinary amount of coordination and collaboration among federal
agencies in response to the horrific events of that day, in addition
to the anthrax challenge that this country has experienced subsequent,
as well.
There's also been unprecedented collaboration and coordination among
intelligence-gathering agencies around the world, as the President
has, working with Secretary of State Powell, forged an international
coalition to help us combat terrorism, worldwide.
As a result of this collaboration, we are receiving more intelligence
than we received, perhaps, in the past, and from time to time, we
have, in response to credible information received from a variety of
sources, asked the Attorney General to step forward and give a public
alert. That's exactly what occasioned yesterday when Attorney General
John Ashcroft and FBI Director Bob Mueller basically, and again, for
the second time, put America on alert that, on the basis of credible
information we have received from multiple sources, we believe the
United States could very well be targeted this week -- this next week
or so -- with a terrorist attack or attacks.
One of the great challenges that you have in reporting, and one of the
great challenges I have as the Director of Homeland Security, in
giving you timely and accurate and complete information with regard to
this threat assessment and the threat alert. If we had specific
information about the type of weapon or a specific location, this
would have certainly been shared with the local or state officials.
Unfortunately, we view the information as credible, but not specific.
And the question has been raised, well, then you issued an alert a
couple of weeks ago; why issue a second alert? And I will say to you
that we think it is very important, since September 11th, for America
to remain on the highest possible alert, when we get this kind of
information, put it in the public view so they understand that, again,
we're getting some intelligence that suggests we again may be the
focus of an attack or attacks. It's a difficult and fine line that we
walk, but I think America understands, and hopefully, appreciates that
when there's that kind of information available to us, we just share
it with America, as incomplete as it might be.
And if as a result of the alert yesterday, we have security guards at
shopping malls paying more attention, personnel at airports paying
more attention, the policeman on the street from the 11-7 beat who are
driving that patrol car around that neighborhood -- if everybody has a
heightened sense of alert, we send a signal not only to America, but
those who would terrorize us, those who are trying to disrupt our way
of life, that we are on guard as a country.
One of the unfortunate consequences of this one war-two battlefields
scenario is that, whether you're in Afghanistan or in the battlefield
of the United States -- as the President has said, one war, two
battlefields -- you do get intelligence, some of it turns out to be
accurate. Some people have questioned, well, you put us on a general
alert a couple of weeks ago and nothing happened. Well, we will never
know if the country, going on alert, heightening security, thwarted or
frustrated an attempt by somebody or some individuals within this
country to bring harm or terror to a community or to a region.
Again, the environment has changed since September 11th. This war on
terrorism is going to continue for an indefinite period of time. And
until such time -- and who knows whether there will be that time in
the foreseeable future that we can pull back from the kind of alerts
that we sent out, we want America to be on the highest alert. And from
time to time, we may issue the same general alert again.
So I just think it's very important to try to put it in context to
you. People have asked, what should we do, and I say, go to work, take
your child to school. If you've got a softball game or a soccer game
this afternoon, go to the game. The President is going to the baseball
game tonight. America has to continue to be America. And what
terrorists try to do is instill such uncertainty, such fear, such
hesitation that you don't do things that you normally do. And all
we're saying with the general alert is, continue to live your lives,
continue to be America, but be aware, be alert, be on guard.
As you know, the Homeland Security Council met yesterday. It was a
very productive meeting and I think it was pretty clear in the
President's comments afterward, we are engaged in a two-front war
against terrorism. Our new foreign terrorists tracking task force will
help us in our efforts to protect American citizens from these shadow
warriors, these shadow enemies we're up against. People who use
America's welcoming tradition of hospitality and generosity to hide
their real motives, to hide their real intent, committing atrocities
against innocent people.
The Homeland Security Council and the meeting focused on this
terrorist tracking task force. We talked a little bit about the effort
that is going to be undertaken with the task force, with the Attorney
General, with the Secretary of State and the other relevant Cabinet
agencies to tighten up -- to take a constructive and perhaps critical
look at how we issue visas, and our immigration policy across the
country -- not just student visas, but just immigration, generally. We
want to coordinate with our friends to the north and the south a visa
and immigration policy, as well.
I've met previously with my counterpart in Canada, John Manley. We'll
be meeting in the near future with Mexican officials to talk about
some kind of comparability, some commonality between the visa and
immigration policies in this hemisphere. So I think it was a very
productive meeting.
Obviously, and one other comment I might make is that one of the tasks
assigned to the task force and the respective Cabinet agencies was to
move quickly to upgrade the technology so that information can be
shared within departments of government. So that is moving forward
very aggressively at the direction of the President.
Let me now give you an update on the anthrax situation. To date, we
now have 14 confirmed cases of anthrax; 5 suspected cases; 18 cases
that are under investigation; and 3 cases that appear suspicious and
are being looked at further. As has been reported, teams of medical
personnel have been working double shifts at D.C. General Hospital to
provide counseling and antibiotics prophylactics to postal workers and
mail handlers. As of Sunday night, 10,916 postal workers had received
counseling and preventive care.
I talked with New York Mayor Giuliani last night; he advised me about
the first confirmed case of inhalation anthrax in New York. I think
you were probably aware of that. The New York State Department of
Public Health and the CDC are investigating to try and determine the
possible course of this woman's exposure.
In New Jersey, a 51-year-old woman who works as an accountant in a
company that receives mail from the Hamilton postal facility has a
confirmed case of skin anthrax. On October 17th, she noticed a blemish
on her forehead, went to her doctor. He put her on cipro. The lesion
was biopsied and tests came back -- those original tests came back
negative. However, the lesions worsened, and she was admitted to the
hospital to be put on intravenous antibiotics. Subsequent tests turned
up positive for anthrax. The woman's condition has improved with
antibiotics. She has been released from the hospital and is
recuperating at home.
The New Jersey State Health Department and the CDC are investigating,
and included in their investigation are places that send or receive
mail from the Hamilton facility.
As you well know, I think, trace amounts of anthrax have been found in
the mailroom of the USDA Economic Research Service at 1800 M Street.
That, too, is under investigation. Each one of these incidents
precipitates a very thorough investigation, so obviously, we've got
several of these investigations going on simultaneously.
I know you may have some questions for me and I certainly look forward
to answering them. I have Dr. Anthony Fauci with me from the National
Institute of Health. He'll be available for questions. We have our
Deputy Postmaster General John Nolan here, available for questions, as
well. And I'm going to ask Dr. Pat Meehan, however, from the Centers
for Disease Control, to give us an update on the situation in D.C.
Dr. Meehan.
DR. MEEHAN: Thank you, Governor. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Although there, unfortunately, have been new cases reported from the
New York and New Jersey area, the good news is that in the Washington,
D.C. area, there are no new reported suspect or confirmed cases.
And as the Governor reported, we have put on antibiotic prophylactics
several thousand postal workers who work in the Brentwood facility and
post offices that receive mail directly from Brentwood. And we are in
the process of working with the Postal Service to complete our
evaluation of those post offices in the D.C. area that receive mail
directly from the Brentwood facility.
Q: If I could ask you just a little bit more about this alert, and let
me see if I can get you to slice off a fine little part of this.
Without giving away sources, methods, or whatever else, can you tell
us what kind of information is out there, sort of the sphere that it
came from? And what's different than the daily noise that comes across
your desk in this particular threat?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: You correctly point out that there is quite a bit of
intelligence information that comes across the desk every morning.
Yesterday's announcement was occasioned by a -- the decibel level was
louder and there were more sources. Again, it was just a convergence
of credible sources that occasioned the alert -- more than usual is
all I can tell you.
Q: -- characterize the type of information? It's been characterized in
some places as more violent language. Could you just give us some kind
of idea of what you're working with here?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: The intelligence analysts, both in this country and
elsewhere, because there's so much collaboration, are in a much better
position to tell you why they came to that conclusion. Suffice it for
me to say that the experts viewed the -- assessed the credibility of
multiple sources as very high, and that is what occasioned the general
alert.
Again, the challenge has been, and may continue to be, absent more
specific information with regard to the weapon of terror or the
particular location or locations, that's about all we can go on.
Q: Governor, if I can follow on that question more specifically. Is
what makes the information credible that it came from Osama bin Laden
or his operatives? And secondly, before you answer that, with the
alert, if, as everyone hopes, nothing happens, don't you then do
something for a second time that alarms people unnecessarily, and B,
may, in effect, create an atmosphere where people think, God, they
keep telling us to be ready, and we're ready, and nothing happens --
who knows what's real and what's not -- and, therefore, the level of
preparedness is not as high as you'd like?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, it's certainly -- the story that a lot of people
allude to is the one you tell your children from time to time, the
little boy who cried wolf. And it's one I've told my kids over the
years. And I can appreciate the concern. But I do think that right
now, given the war that we're confronting against terrorism on two
fronts, that when, on occasion, when we have credible multiple sources
suggesting that America will be a target, it is still better to
perhaps reiterate the previous alert. I'm not too sure too many groups
or agencies or individuals were able to stand down in the intervening
two weeks, but to reiterate it.
Look, you get that kind of convergence of information from credible
sources, and you have two options. You have an option to remain
silent, or you have an option to have General Ashcroft and Director
Mueller put out the alert. And we chose as little -- we would like to
have been able to divulge more information, but there really wasn't
any more to divulge. We decided the second option, and that's just
tell the American public.
And what I have to say is, this is a condition of alert, to your
point, that we're going to have to maintain. We have to be on guard
for the foreseeable future. But I don't think that we should be
discouraged when the information suggests that it may occur at a
particular -- this was at a particular time frame, within the next
week or so -- that we just get everybody thinking about it again.
Q: How about the first one point, Governor? I'm sorry, can I just
follow on the first point, whether is what makes this credible that
it's coming from Osama bin Laden or his operatives? The President said
yesterday in response to the question I asked him that indeed -- he
suggested bin Laden is still active.
GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, I think the analysts would conclude that the
sources were credible because of their connections with the terrorists
that we're trying to fight. Where they're located right now remains to
be seen. But again, you've got people gathering information from
around the world, from a variety of sources. And its credibility we
leave to the experts. But I think you can fairly assume that the
experts view this tied in -- this information somehow related to al
Qaeda or bin Laden, else we wouldn't have ramped it up.
Q: Governor, a specific question, then a general question. Is there
any new information this morning about other postal facilities in the
D.C. area being contaminated in any way, large or small, with anthrax?
There are some trace reports that Friendship Heights, a station in
Northwest Washington, D.C., having some level of exposure. Can you
confirm that first of all? Then I have a broader question.
GOVERNOR RIDGE: Do you have any information on that? I know they're
doing quite a bit of testing around. I'll let Mr. Nolan respond.
MR. NOLAN: Governor, that's right. We are continuing to do testing of
a number of facilities throughout the D.C. area, as well as other
parts of the country. Last night we did receive information about a
Friendship station, as well as the Dulles station, Dulles facility --
the retail facility, not the main Dulles airport facility. And those
were extremely localized. One sample came back positive from all the
samples that were taken in each of those facilities. The cleanup began
last night with the Corps of Engineers, and is expected to be
completed early today. Again, extremely localized.
Q: So both facilities had extremely small, localized amounts, and are
being decontaminated as we speak?
MR. NOLAN: Yes.
Q: Governor Ridge, a general question to you, sir. If you listen to
talk radio, if you look at some of the editorial pages, there is a
sense the Americans feel that there is a disconnect in what you're
telling them: be on a high level of alert, but live your lives as
normal. And when I talk to people, they say, that's not possible.
Normal doesn't exist anymore, if every day I wake up and I'm on a high
level of alert, and I'm looking for something that I don't even know
what to recognize. How can you address what many people tell me is a
disconnect coming from their own government?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, first of all, I think that since September 11th,
the images of that day have affected how Americans view this war on
terrorism in a very personal and emotional way. So I'm not sure -- I'm
not sure that our national psychology ever gets back to a September
10th feeling of comfort and security because of what we saw. And so I
don't think -- I don't think raising, from time to time when we
receive credible information, or reminding people to stay at that
particular level of alert is anything but productive.
We all -- the fear of the unknown is the greatest challenge that we
face as individuals, as parents, as employers, employees, as
Americans. And this is an unconventional war, because we're dealing
with shadow enemies, shadow soldiers. They're unknown to us. They're
not necessarily wearing uniforms. They're not in this country. It's
unconventional in so many different ways, including the means with
which they choose to terrorize and to undermine our way of life and to
murder innocent victims. So the sense is, is that we have to still
keep, in spite of these reservations, in spite of our uncertainty, we
have to continue to function as a country that values the qualities
that make us unique and that make us vulnerable.
We are open, we are trusting, we are a welcoming country. For that
very reason, we are vulnerable. And every day since September 11th,
the federal government and the people in the private sector have been
working harder and harder to make sure that we improve our ability to
prevent and detect terrorists, and then improve our capacity to
respond to the attacks. And it's a goal -- it's a challenge that the
country had confronted before September 11th, but they ramped it up
since September 11th. So I still think it's a productive announcement,
just to remind people.
Q: Given these new anthrax cases in New Jersey and New York, are you
revising at all the working theory you seem to have that it was
cross-contamination from individual letters that had already been
discovered that was causing the positive results, environmentally, in
the new cases? Do you think that this is evidence that there is more
anthrax in the mail?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, there are plenty of theories. We have not been
operating on one theory. There is a very thorough investigation. A
very detailed, very intense investigation is going on to determine
whether it's one letter that cross-contaminated, or whether there was
more than one letter.
As I think I mentioned to you yesterday, we've sequestered the mail
that was backed up because of the discovery of the Daschle letter.
That will be reviewed on a letter-by-letter basis. The post office is
really intensely, very aggressively looking at all the details
associated with how the facility was operated, who was exposed to what
machine, how people in different parts of the post office could have
become infected one way or the other. So this is a very ongoing --
it's an ongoing, very intense investigation, because we'd like to go
from theory to fact.
Q: Do you have any idea where the source of the anthrax came from to
the woman who was infected with it in Manhattan? Because it appears
she wasn't in contact with any mail.
GOVERNOR RIDGE: You raise a very important question that has again
resulted in immediate and intense effort with the CDC, the local
public health authorities and law enforcement authorities to go back
and basically re-trace her steps. It doesn't appear -- clearly, she
was not a postal employee. How she became contaminated or how she
became infected is something we need to try to find out.
Q: Have you seen any evidence amongst her coworkers or neighbors or --
GOVERNOR RIDGE: Not to date.  As we speak, not to date.
Q: Yesterday we were told that the risks to the general public in
their mail was very minimal. And then we have these new cases in New
Jersey and New York. Have we revised our thinking on that?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: We have not. I've asked the Assistant Postmaster
General to calculate letters that have been distributed through the
United States Postal Service since our first case of anthrax. And we
estimate somewhere around 25 billion letters have gone around this
country through our Postal Service. And we do have one case that
appears the woman has been infected by anthrax. Whether the source was
a letter or not still a theory that we have to be engaging in.
To tell you that it is absolutely, positively for all times, for all
purposes, forever risk-free, I don't think anybody has ever said that.
But when you've got 25-plus billion pieces of mail out there and one
possible contamination, and you couple that along with some very
common sense advice that the Postal Service has given, media has
given, people around the country have given to each other about being
alert, being careful -- put aside suspicious mail, if you have any
questions, wash your hands, the symptoms that people now associate
with anthrax -- we still think you ought to open your mail and you
ought to use the postal system.
Q: Governor Ridge, what is the credibility or strength of this threat
compared to the threat that led to the last warning?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: I would say of comparable credibility. I mean, what
you -- the capacity of this country to gather intelligence information
and then to assess it is fairly substantial. And it's been augmented
since September 11th with friends, our coalition around the country.
This particular threat notice occurred primarily because there were
multiple sources that the community concluded was very credible. And
it gave a time frame around which we thought a terrorist attack or
attacks could occur, and we ought to alert America to it, be on the
look out.
Q: Sir, in terms of the alert, again, did the law enforcement
agencies, the 18,000 entities around the country get any more
information than what we have been told? And, if so, can we have that,
if that was sent out in writing?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: The law enforcement agencies received a general alert
from the Attorney General's Office. There is an electronic system
where they can convey immediately the alert to 18,000 law enforcement
agencies. It didn't give them any specific information, it just said
basically that because of information received from credible sources,
that they need to heighten security. That's basically it. Clearly, if
it is community-specific, region-specific, weapon-specific, we would
communicate that immediately, as well.
Q: Why are you testing only federal mailrooms downstream of Brentwood,
and not private residences? Is that along the lines of saying, well,
only -- it seems sort of like what happened earlier in the week,
saying that the Senate people are more important than the postal
workers. Why, if you're finding contamination in federal mailrooms
downstream, are you not even checking for contaminations at private
homes that are downstream from Brentwood. Is this a double standard,
and are you going to re-think the whole idea of testing private homes?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: I believe the decision to test locations where there
has been the highest probability or possibility of contamination is
based on consultation with the Postal Service and with the CDC. The
ultimate test is that there have been about 25 billion pieces of mail
have been delivered around the country and there is one potential case
of anthrax exposure. And until there is more credible evidence or
suggestion that there needs to be testing elsewhere -- look, we're
trying with the resources that we have -- and there are many and
they're investigating furiously every possible location and source of
contamination. And I'm going to let Mr. Nolan respond.
MR. NOLAN: The only thing I would add is it's not just government
mailrooms that are being checked. We're forming a baseline that
consists of all of those mailrooms that come in contact -- where
employees come in contact with the postal service in Brentwood on a
daily basis, and where there's a large-scale movement. We're also
testing facilities downstream, and so we keep pulling the strings, so
to speak, to see if there's any possible contamination.
We also know what machines in our facilities process what kinds of
mail. And the reason why there's such tremendous emphasis on
government mail is because, in fact, that's where the greatest amount
of incidents of the bacteria was found in our facilities. And we know,
given the routing through our facilities, that's where the clearest
possibilities existed.
Q: Does this now mean that the Morgan facility in New York, the large
facility in New York, is going to be closed? And are there any further
details ont 61-year-old hospital worker who is hospitalized with
anthrax?
MR. NOLAN: Well, regarding the hospital worker, again, we don't have
any information whatsoever about what's involved there -- whether it
was mail-related, non-mail-related. Morgan Station, the main
processing center is 1.8 million square feet. I was postmaster in New
York for four years in the mid-to-late '80s; I spent last Monday night
with the -- or Monday day, between midnight and 8:00 a.m., with the
employees of that facility, talking to about 1,000 employees. The
reason why Morgan is handled differently than other facilities is
because we know specifically from the 170-odd tests that we took the
five locations that we found traces of anthrax are extremely
localized, in the sorting machines on one small portion of the third
floor -- about 12,500 square feet.
We've cordoned off a lot more than we were told to, about half that
floor, about 150,000 square feet. The cleanup is going on; the
employees are receiving antibiotics, and there is no evidence in any
of the downstream facilities there -- the stations that even handle
the mail for the News or the Post, that there was any incidents of
that. And no postal employees in New York have turned up ill.
Q: It will remain open?
MR. NOLAN: It will remain open.
Q: I wanted to ask you about the Cohen Building, which is one of the
biggest buildings in Washington. Many governmental offices there. The
post office is in the basement. Are you going to test just the post
office, or are you going to test the whole building and the employees
there?
MR. NOLAN: Your question is, are we testing the whole building?
Q: Or are you just concentrating on the post office?
GOVERNOR RIDGE: I believe I'm going to refer to our friends from CDC
to give you the latest on that.
DR. MEEHAN: We're currently working with the mailroom supervisor and
the folks who run that building to evaluate where those positive tests
occurred, and whether it suggests that any further testing is needed.
I can tell you that chances are pretty good that this represents a
localized low level of contamination that at this point does not seem
to appear to warrant further testing of the building. But again, that
evaluation is ongoing.
GOVERNOR RIDGE: Final question, for Dr. Fauci.
Q: Dr. Fauci, I just wonder, based on your expertise, whether you
think the government, despite the number of cases outstanding, but
bearing in mind the measures that have been taken so far -- based on
your expertise, do you think the government is getting close to
containing what in your estimation would be an anthrax "outbreak"?
DR. FAUCI: When you talk about a anthrax outbreak, you have to talk
about what we know now has been, as we say, indexed case or cases --
things centering around the Daschle letter, and is there
cross-contamination from one facility to another. The one thing that
we don't know right now is that we don't know whether something else
will come up, and then you will, all of a sudden, confuse it with
what's going on right now.
So there's no absolute answer to your question, is one doing enough to
contain it. The present situation that we have right now has been
based on the reasonable scientific assumptions that if you do not have
a case in a certain setting, that the risk of that, and the level of
concern of that, must await what actually happened.
And I think if you march through the chain of events that occurred,
with the Daschle letter, the people in the office, then the first
Brentwood Post Office situation, that there was contamination there,
and then the lack of knowledge that there could be cross-contamination
in perhaps a secondary site -- and what you have to do with regard to
where you test and who you preemptively or not give antibiotics to has
to be based on some semblance of the science.
Up to yesterday, there was no evidence at all that there could be, or
is, an individual in which there might be the reasonable question, did
they get infected from a piece of mail that went to their home. That
is being intensively investigated right now. Prior to yesterday, when
that was not known, the idea that people ask us all, should we then
just treat everybody who had any exposure at all to mail, that clearly
is not something that should have been done, based on the information
that we had. As the days go by, and you get more information, you make
your rational decision based on the information, and balancing the
risk to the benefit of what you might want to do, for example, from a
treatment-or-not standpoint.
So you really have to take the solid information that you have, and
make a reasonable projection of what your response to it would be.
GOVERNOR RIDGE: Thank you very much.
(end White House transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)



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