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Published January 26, 2017
This is a partial transcript from Your World with Neil Cavuto, February 20, 2003, that was edited for clarity. Click here for complete access to all of Neil Cavuto's CEO interviews.
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NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: If you think that the government has done a lot to protect you since September 11, my guest says especially probably with developments like these you might want to think again. You know that color-coded terror alert system? He says get rid of it. The Department of Homeland Security? He says overhaul it. He's head of one of the top security firms in the world. And now in his book Forewarned, he's spelled out what you can do to protect yourself in the event of an attack. Joining us now is Michael Cherkasky. He is the CEO of Kroll Inc.
Michael, good to have you back.
MICHAEL CHERKASKY, PRES. & CEO, KROLL INC. (KROL): Thanks.
CAVUTO: First off, on this drone stuff, what do you make of that?
CHERKASKY: Well, I think that they are right, that we should not be so arrogant to think that we are going to pick the battlefield. The Iraqis or the Islamic terrorists have made it very, very clear at the sacrifice of their own lives that they are going to pick some of the battlefields. And it's will be in the United States at times to whatever methods, whether they be low tech, or higher tech. They're going to strike.
CAVUTO: Now what do you make of the drone, this, at first blush, almost looks crude and in fact, if you put it together with a GPS system, you put some poisonous material in there, it seems crude, but I guess September 11 was fairly crude?
CHERKASKY: It was crude. And I think that one of the things we have seen is that it really is low tech. Building a fertilizer bomb and putting it in a truck and blowing things up, that is, in fact, where they have been effective. This is another example of what can happen with the really insufficient security in the United States.
CAVUTO: Let me ask you, I mean, basic steps that we can do and take to protect ourselves, you're saying this whole color-coded warning system that we have is a waste of time?
CHERKASKY: It's a waste of time in that it doesn't tell us what to do. If you, in fact, are saying someone, get in the car, put your seat belt on, well, that may be helpful. But telling someone there is a threat, well, we all know there is a threat, tell us what to do. And the problem is that it shows the impotence of the American security is that they have nothing that we can do. They don't tell us what to do. And they haven't explained any systematic approach to security...
CAVUTO: But normally you get anecdotal evidence when there is a heightened alert, and people come out and say, all right, I noticed some curious activity outside of this post office, or if something was going on in New York's Grand Central Station, you do have people reporting more unusual things, isn't that good?
CHERKASKY: Well, normally, all it does is create wild goose chases for people who have hard information. And the impact on the economy and on people's lives, it is just not worth it.
CAVUTO: One thing we can do right now?
CHERKASKY: National identification card, that's the one thing. We need to understand we have 490 million people coming across our borders. We need to understand who they are.
CAVUTO: All right. Michael, thank you very much. Michael Cherkasky of Kroll.
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