INTERVIEWER: Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the potential stress of weapons of mass destruction or weapons of terror. What kind of threat do you think these pose to the U.S. public and where do you think this threat is coming from?

REP. SKELTON: Well, you have threats to Americans abroad, such as the military in Khobar(?) Towers in Saudi Arabia. You have threats to Americans here in, in the continental United States, such as the bombings in New York City and Oklahoma City. They are potentially all across the country. The crazies are out there.

INTERVIEWER: So you think there is a serious threat?

REP. SKELTON: I, I think there is a serious threat. There's a serious potential threat. The fact that we've had the bombings that have occurred and, and the, the fact that we've been able in some instances to stop, capture, and arrest people who were attempting terrorist activities tells us that yes, there are threats out there. How deep they go no one really knows, but I'm convinced they're there.

INTERVIEWER: I wonder if you could just briefly describe what Congress has been doing in response to the perceived threat of, largely coming from biological weapons and their potential use on U.S. soil.

REP. SKELTON: Well, first I have requested and received four GAO reports dealing with all phases of the terrorism threat, what can be, what should be, or what type of recommendations should be implemented from that agency in the (inaudible). And frankly, both the Congress and the Administration have been receptive to doing something, doing something better regarding these type of threats.

INTERVIEWER: What were they doing beforehand?

REP. SKELTON: Well, there're some 43 different agencies either directly or indirectly involved with the terrorist threat. And I'm convinced that the left hand does not always know what the right hand is doing. I'm convinced that there were no priorities that were set. I'm convinced that there is no threat assessment by any one or several units of the federal government.

It's a catch-as-catch-can in any particular agency. They're dedicated and well-meaning bright people, but I'm really worried about the fact that they really don't know what each other is doing--lack of coordination.

INTERVIEWER: Okay. Leading on from that, though, I mean you said there are currently a large number of agencies involved in domestic preparedness. Is it necessary that all of these have their own response teams, and has this resulted in duplication?

REP. SKELTON: It could very well be that there's some duplication but everybody, every agency has a different role to play. The Department of Defense, for instance, is a repository of all the knowledge relating to chemical agents and, and biological agents. The Health and Human Services is an agency that understands how to treat certain types of people that are infected or, or exposed. So everybody has their own proposal to offer in, in this whole area. And, be the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Defense, or the State Department, all of them play a, an integral role.

What concerns me is that they should work together. There should be a, a head, or an agency, or a unit that helps coordinate, helps them to work together so that they really know where they fit in the whole scheme of things should such an attack come to pass.

INTERVIEWER: Who do you think at the moment should be leading that?

REP. SKELTON: Well, it, it, it seems that the, this type of activity would best be under the jurisdiction of some part of the Department of Defense. But you must understand that everybody plays an important role. Whether it be the local sheriff, the local police, whether it be the local highway patrol, whether it be FEMA, whether it be Department of Defense, everybody plays a very important role in preventing or responding or coming to assistance of those who are injured or in trouble.

And consequently we all fit into this mosaic. I think they must fit into the mosaic more clearly, with, with some prioritization, and with better leadership as to what they do and how they do it.

INTERVIEWER: The most recent GAO report talks at length about threat assessment. Did federal or local governments undertake an adequate threat assessment prior to implementing their respective preparedness programs?

REP. SKELTON: No. I don't think the threat assessments have been done or done very well for those agencies that have looked at it. I think this is a major problem. It's the first major problem. The second major problem is the prioritization of what people do to either prevent, respond, or treat as a result of, of an incident.

INTERVIEWER: In light of the two most recent GAO reports which you commissioned on terrorism, what are the major strengths and weaknesses with America's domestic preparedness program and what course of action should Congress be taking to improve it?

REP. SKELTON: Well, Congress should take a good hard look at the entire spectrum. On our committee, the committee on which I sit, the National Security Committee, also the Government Operations Committee, both are taking hard looks at this. We're holding hearings. We're having extensive interviews with, with people involved. The GAO report does reflect the fact that there are agencies, that there are people out there within the federal government that can do, and can do a lot.

What we can do is to help coordinate, create laws, create prioritization, create the coordination between the agencies so that they really, should something like this happen, be able to respond correctly, promptly to help the American citizens wherever they may be.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think this whole issue is receiving adequate funding at the moment?

REP. SKELTON: Well, in, in the public (inaudible), the, in, in the, in the public domain the amount of dollars that, that's being spent is $6.7 billion. Of course, there're other dollars being spent in some other agencies that are, are, of course, classified.

But it's not the amount of money. Yes, I think that's a substantial amount of money. It's not the amount of money that's important. It's being able to do the job based upon proper threat assessment, based upon proper coordination, based upon proper plans, based upon proper leadership. I, I think you'll find overall the funding adequate but a mishmash right now as to how such a threat, such a, an event (inaudible) may be, should be responded to.

INTERVIEWER: There is a school of thought which says that rather than focusing our attention on defense we should be looking more at prevention through tools such as foreign policy and international diplomacy, that they're more effective at diminishing the threat to American citizens. What do you think about that?

REP. SKELTON: Well, international diplomacy would not have stopped a Timothy McVeigh from doing what he was convicted of doing in Oklahoma City. Regardless of what we do internationally, I'm convinced there will always be those terrorists that want to get at America. They want to get at Americans, whether they be in Saudi Arabia in Khobar Towers, or in New York City, Oklahoma City, or some other place.

Now we do have, as you know, a, a law that was passed that creates in, in, over a hundred American cities training and equipment to help stem the problem, should an incident come to pass. This is Nunn-Lugar-Domenici bill that was passed over a year ago. But it's still in its early stages. Only 27 cities have really received funding to begin the training and equipping to handle this sort of thing.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think America will ever be entirely prepared to deal with a threat on its own soil?

REP. SKELTON: America's a very open country. That's our culture. And we should, of course, be aware of the threat, have those state, local, and federal agencies do their very best to prevent, to stop the type of terrorist attack, to be able to respond, to be able to catch those and bring them to justice. That's the best we can do in, in this wonderful open society that you and I have.