IN THE BALANCE..Legal and Health and Safety Implications of Terrorist Threats (TOO RICH!!)

Thirteen/WNET New York ^ | 8-3-05

[STARWISE]

Fred Friendly Seminars Presents IN THE BALANCE, a Provocative Look at the Social, Political, Economic, Legal and Health and Safety Implications of Terrorist Threats - Wednesday August 3, 12:42 pm ET

Programs To Air During National Preparedness Month In September

Presented on PBS by Thirteen/WNET New York

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 2005-- A videotape claiming that a terrorist attack will happen at a shopping mall in the next few days is sent to a major national news organization. How does the organization respond? On the one hand, this is an exclusive news event; on the other, it's a potential national tragedy. Who gets involved--the FBI? The CIA? How is the distribution of information handled? How much or little should the public know? How do you choose between protecting the public and apprehending the terrorists?

These and other questions are explored in detail on IN THE BALANCE, a two-part series from Fred Friendly Seminars examining the political, economic, health and safety issues posed by a terrorist threat. The programs will air on PBS in September - National Preparedness Month.

IN THE BALANCE: BIOATTACK premieres Monday, Sept. 12, 2005 at 10 p.m. and IN THE BALANCE: CITY UNDER SIEGE premieres Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 at 10 p.m. (check local listings).

IN THE BALANCE brings together powerful people who put their values to the test and reveal what they might do when everything hangs 'in the balance.' The unscripted and unrehearsed programs confront people representing different levels of authority and areas of responsibility with riveting scenarios. IN THE BALANCE: BIOATTACK dramatizes a biological attack and IN THE BALANCE: CITY UNDER SIEGE asks participants to deal with a credible rumor of a dirty bomb arriving in a harbor on the Fourth of July.

"The scenarios presented may be hypothetical, but the dilemmas and decisions are real," said Barbara Margolis, series producer. "Each decision has consequences - often contradictory ones - for public safety, for law enforcement, for constitutional rights, for the lives of citizens. The series is designed to spur thoughtful, intelligent and informed discussion on preparedness across the country."

The first program in the series, IN THE BALANCE: BIOATTACK dramatizes a threatened attack intended for a major shopping mall. Moderated by Cynthia McFadden of ABC News, the panel explores the kinds of choices that the media, public officials, health care workers, law enforcement, and citizens may all have to confront in the case of a biological attack. Participants face tough, wrenching questions: Who is in charge of the response? What is more important - the public's right to know, or the government's need to keep operations secret in the interests of national security? Who gets treated first if there's been exposure to a biological agent? Are there enough antibiotics for everyone?

Panelists for IN THE BALANCE: BIOATTACK include Richard Clarke former senior White House advisor and author, Against All Enemies; Martin O'Malley, mayor of Baltimore; Frank Sesno, CNN Special Correspondent; Congressman Charles B. Rangel, D-NY; Dale Watson, former executive assistant director for Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Intelligence, Federal Bureau of Investigation; James Gilmore, former governor of Virginia; Charles Ramsey, District of Columbia Chief of Police; Susan Allan, M.D., public health director for the state of Oregon and former public health director for Arlington County, Virginia, during the anthrax attacks; and Warren Rudman, former New Hampshire Senator.

IN THE BALANCE: CITY UNDER SIEGE moderator and Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree navigates panelists through another frightening but entirely credible 'what-if' scenario. With reliable information about a dirty bomb coming into a harbor on the Fourth of July, what steps should be taken? Should the ports be shut down? Would that thwart the plan or just direct it to a different target? How disruptive would it be to the local economy? And, once a suspect is in custody, how far should law enforcement be allowed to go to elicit information? Is torture ever a justifiable or effective option?

Panelists for IN THE BALANCE: CITY UNDER SIEGE include Clarke, Watson and Rudman, along with Dana Priest, national security reporter for the Washington Post; Ahmed Younis, national director, Muslim Public Affairs Council; Frank Keating, former Governor of Oklahoma who held that post during the Oklahoma City bombings; Jamie Gorelick,, former deputy attorney general of the United States; and Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, among others.

(SNIP)

The IN THE BALANCE programs will be the centerpiece of an ongoing community engagement effort designed to expand public awareness about family, workplace and community public safety preparedness. Additional resources, including a discussion guide and educational materials, will be available at www.pbs.org/inthebalance/terrorism.

IN THE BALANCE is a production of Fred Friendly Seminars at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in association with Thirteen/WNET New York. Richard Kilberg is executive producer of IN THE BALANCE, and Barbara Margolis is series producer. Joan Greco is producer/writer of BIOATTACK. Caroline Waterlow is producer and Jay Brown, writer of CITY UNDER SIEGE. Mark Ganguzza is broadcast producer/director of the series and Ruth Friendly is senior editorial consultant. Stephen Segaller is executive in charge for Thirteen/WNET.

The series' production was supported by a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Association of Schools of Public Health through the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; BearingPoint, Inc., Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Century Foundation.

National Preparedness Month is co-sponsored by the American Red Cross and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with local participation from Citizen Corps, a grassroots organization created to help communities better prepare to respond to any emergency situation. The Association of Public Television Stations and Fred Friendly Seminars are also partnering with dozens of other organizations during National Preparedness Month to bring attention to the role public television can play in preparing its citizens and its communities for coping with disasters.

For more information, visit www.thirteen.org/pressroom or www.fredfriendly.org.

[STARWISE]

This really too rich .. SO many of our favorite people .. all in one place! But where's Sandy?? Bets on whether Gorelick and Clarke and any pertinent others whose jobs were keeping US safe in the Clinton Follies will suddenly have to call in sick? UnFREEPING-believable.

[STARWISE]

Surreal world PONG! Ping it on, please.

[Howlin]

Dear lord. I'm not counting on THESE people to save my Southern white butt.

[Mo1]

This really too rich .. SO many of our favorite people .. all in one place! But where's Sandy??

I believe he is scheduled to have a sentencing hearing around that time for stealing and destroying National Security Documents

[BigSkyFreeper]

Just more leftist Liberal bilge at the expense of the American taxpayer.

[STARWISE]

PLEASE read and pass on .. and this isn't the Twilight Zone .... or, is it?

[STARWISE]

Jamie S. Gorelick
Commissioner

Jamie Gorelick is a partner at Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr . Prior to joining Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr in July 2003, Gorelick was vice chair of Fannie Mae.

As part of the four-person Office of the Chairman, she shared responsibility for overall management of the company, directed its efforts to reach underserved markets and oversaw Fannie Mae's external relationships, legal and regulatory affairs.

Prior to joining Fannie Mae in May 1997, Gorelick was deputy attorney general of the United States, a position she assumed in March 1994. From May 1993 until she joined the Justice Department, Gorelick served as general counsel of the Department of Defense. From 1979 to 1980 she was assistant to the secretary and counselor to the deputy secretary of energy. In the private sector, from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1993, Gorelick was a litigator in Washington, D.C., representing major U.S. companies on a broad range of legal and business matters. She served as president of the District of Columbia Bar from 1992 to 1993. Gorelick is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

She also serves on several boards, including the Fannie Mae Foundation, United Technologies Corporation, Schlumberger, Limited, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Harvard College Board of Overseers, America's Promise, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and The National Park Foundation.

She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Law Institute. Gorelick co-chaired, with Senator Sam Nunn, the Advisory Committee of the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, and currently serves on the Central Intelligence Agency's National Security Advisory Panel as well as the President's Review of Intelligence.

GORELICK GATE

[kcvl]

Dear lord. I'm not counting on THESE people to save my Southern white butt.

roflol!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!!

I heard that Gorelick was on the Foxnews Cavuto show today....guess she wanted everybody to remember her face.

[nopardons]

Aarrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggg...what a conglomerate of the useless and crazed. Not to mention the fact that a lot of these people are the ones responsible for 9/11 happening. If not for them and their complete incompetence,` the terrorist could never have pulled it off in the first place.

[Peach]

Wasn't Sandy Berger already sentenced? I thought he had a $10,000 fine and had his security clearance removed for 3 years.

[Mo1]

Wasn't Sandy Berger already sentenced? I thought he had a $10,000 fine and had his security clearance removed for 3 years

Not yet .. it was delayed till September

[Peach]

I must have missed that Berger's sentencing was delayed until September; we had so much company in July I just thought it had already happened. Thank you for that information, Mo1.