Face the Nation transcripts April 21, 2013: Boston bombings - Patrick, Davis, McCaul, more

(CBS News) Below is a transcript of "Face the Nation" on April 21, 2013, hosted by CBS News' Bob Schieffer. Guests include: Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, CBS News' John Miller and Bob Orr, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, and Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman. Plus a conversation on gun control with Newtown family members Neil Heslin, Carlee Soto and Erica Lafferty.

Bob Schieffer: Today on FACE THE NATION, the week from hell and back. One of America's most revered sporting events took a horrific turn, leaving us to wonder, will we ever be truly safe. The city of Boston was locked down for one of the largest manhunts in us history that ended in a dramatic firefight with police. But many questions about the two suspects remain. And we'll get the latest from Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, our correspondents covering the story, John Miller and Bob Orr, plus the chairman of the House homeland security committee, Michael McCaul, and we'll get analysis from former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. But that was not the only story this week - there was also the Senate's failure to strengthen gun control laws.

President Barack Obama: All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington.

Bob Schieffer: We'll hear this morning from the Newtown victims' families

Erica Lafferty: My mom was not scared in the halls of Sandy Hook, they should not be scared to cast a vote to protect millions of innocent people.

Bob Schieffer: It was a week of lows and highs. And we'll cover it all, because this is FACE THE NATION.

Announcer: From CBS news in Washington, FACE THE NATION with Bob Schieffer.

Bob Schieffer: And Good morning again. We're going to start this morning with the very latest, and we begin with Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis. Commissioner thank you so much for joining us. I know you told reporters earlier this morning that you can't speculate on the motives of these two young men, but can I ask you this, were they planning other acts after the bombs they set off at the marathon?

Ed Davis: I personally believe they were. I personally believe they were. We have reason to believe, based upon the evidence that was found at that scene. The explosions, the explosive ordinance that was unexploded and the fire power that they had that they were going to attack other individuals. That's my belief at this point.

Bob Schieffer: Speaking of ordinance, they had a lot of homemade bombs and other ordinance; they had guns obviously when the police encountered them that night. What kind of ordinance was this? Was it all homemade? Did they have other things and what kind of guns did they have?

Ed Davis: There were over 250 rounds of extended ammunition that was found at the scene. This was a 5-10 minute gun battle that occurred there, punctuated by loud explosions. Several explosive devices went off, they were homemade. There have been published reports that the top of the pressure cooker was discovered, and my officers reported to me that there was an extremely loud explosion followed by smaller ones as they engaged in the gun battle with the suspect so they had IEDs, they had homemade hand grenades that they were throwing at the officers. This was a heavily armed and extremely dangerous group of individuals-- not group, but two individuals.

Bob Schieffer: Commissioner, were there unexploded devices also recovered there and did you find other unexploded devices in other places?

Ed Davis: We did, we did. The scene was loaded with unexploded improvised explosive devices that actually we had to point out to the arriving officers and clear the area. They were strewing about the area, there was also one found in the motor vehicle that was abandoned, the Mercedes SUV, so this was as dangerous as it gets in urban policing.

Bob Schieffer: And were there other devices found in other places and what were these other devices? Were they pipe bombs or, give us some description?

Ed Davis: They were homemade explosives. The kettle-- the pressure cooker has been widely talked about. There is not only explosive gun powder but shrapnel that's put into this device. And there were smaller ones that were comprised of the same type of shrapnel. So there's no doubt that they were made by these two guys.

Bob Schieffer: Can you give us a number? How many approximately did you recover?

Ed Davis: There were at least four or so. I don't know exactly the number from Watertown, I haven't got the full report on it, but I saw two or three of them on the ground and there was at least one more.

Bob Schieffer: Now the suspect that you have in custody, the younger man, what is his condition this morning and have you been able to extract any information from him at this point?

Ed Davis: He is in serious but stable condition and we have not been able to interrogate him at this point in time. There's a special FBI interview team that's coming out to talk to him, but at this point in time we have not done that.

Bob Schieffer: Commissioner, as you go about this investigation, I mean, where do you go from here? What are the questions you need to answer at this point?

Ed Davis: Well, clearly motive needs to be answered. We need to collect all the evidence we can from the scene. And we need to interview witnesses now that we know what these two individuals look like. This case will be put together very methodically for prosecution. That's all led by Cameron Ortiz. The physical evidence at the scene collected by the ATF and the FBI is extraordinary and extensive and all of that will play a roll in this investigation.

Bob Schieffer: Well, this suspect, there were reports that he may have tried to commit suicide, that one of these bullet wounds that he sustained, it indicated he may have tried to take his own life when he was in that boat as police were closing in. Can you tell me any more about that?

Ed Davis: There were shots fired from inside the boat. As to where they orient I can't speculate at this point in time.

Bob Schieffer: Well, did he actually fire at anyone else there at either the police or the man who looked into the boat?

Ed Davis: No one was struck there, but there was gunfire emitting from the boat. It's hard to say where it was aimed.

Bob Schieffer: And, and the man who looked into the boat, was he injured in any way?

Ed Davis: No he was not. He saw the suspect, retreated immediately and called the police. We were there instantaneously.

Bob Schieffer: And what about charges against this man that's now in the hospital? Will he be charged today? Or what happens now on that side of it?

Ed Davis: United States Attorney Ortiz is reviewing all of the information right now and there will be more information to come along those lines later on.

Bob Schieffer: Do you have any idea where they weapons they had came from? They obviously had...

Ed Davis: Again, ATF...

Bob Schieffer: Go ahead, I'm sorry.

Ed Davis: That's ok. They were armed with side arms and explosive devices. ATF is tracing all of those weapons right now and we hope to find out exactly where they obtained them. That's a significant part of the investigation as well.

Bob Schieffer: Well, Commissioner we want to thank you so much. And we also want to say the nation learned a lot watching this unfold and watched your people do a very professional and we wish you the very best.

Ed Davis: I'm very proud of them. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that.

Bob Schieffer: The calm presence of Governor Deval Patrick became so familiar to millions of us during this crisis, and he joins us this morning from Richmond, Massachusetts. Governor, thank you so much for joining us. I understand that you want to leave the details of the investigation to the investigators, but let me just ask you this, how close is Boston to being back to normal this morning?

Deval Patrick: Well I don't know that we'll ever be quite the same we'll be, you know, people are moving out and moving back into their regular routines but vigilance is still the order of the day and of course we're still trying to heal from a shocking tragedy less than a week away.

Bob Schieffer: Let me just ask you about some of the actions that you took. You asked millions of people, it was unprecedented. We've seen in this country lockdowns of schools, lockdowns of neighborhoods but you basically asked millions of people to stay in their homes and not go out, don't go to work, don't travel until this crisis had passed or at least some developments had happened. Did you have any fear of political backlash when you asked people to do these things?

Deval Patrick: I think people understood that we were making decisions in the face of a rapidly developing investigation and that we were making them in the best interests of people's public safety, or the public's safety. So, the main focus that the outset was in Watertown and the neighborhood of the gunfight on Thursday night, and then we had reasons to expand that to Boston proper based on leads that the investigators were following. But I can tell you in the aftermath when the suspect was taken into custody and yesterday morning as people were coming out the sense of relief and gratitude for law enforcement, whose lead I was following, was palpable. So I think there won't be political backlash and frankly I'm not thinking about that anyhow.

Bob Schieffer: Was there ever any point when you thought that people wouldn't follow your orders or your requests as it were

Deval Patrick: Well, Bob, having been in this job for six years I'm fully aware that there are knuckleheads out there and people moved around. The point was to be very careful, particularly in the area where we believed the suspect was still at large and to be vigilant as I said and I thank the public for following those instructions and for their patients. They were a part of this investigation in many, many respects and their having responded to requests to submit photographs and videotapes and so on. All of that helped in narrowing down who we were looking for and ultimately finding him

Bob Schieffer: Governor, are you satisfied that this threat has passed, that it's over?

Deval Patrick: I am. I think you know there's still an ongoing investigation. There are lots of questions about how and why and so forth and many, many leads still to be tracked down. But the immediate threat, I think all of law enforcement feels, is over based on the information we have and that is a good thing and you can feel the relief at home here.

Bob Schieffer: Do you have any clearer idea, Governor, of what the motive of these two young men was?

Deval Patrick: Not yet, Bob, and it's hard for me and for many of us to imagine what could motivate people to harm innocent men, women and children in the way that these two fellows did.

Bob Schieffer: Governor, I know that you're proud of your city and the people of Massachusetts and we're proud of you too. Thank you so much

Deval Patrick: Thank you, thank you so much

Bob Schieffer: And we're back now with the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Texas Congressman Mike McCaul. Congressman, obviously, are you getting briefings from intelligence officials here. What do they think the motive of this thing is?

Mike McCaul: Well, I think that's the big question is, I think to answer that, you have to look at where they came from right, the father, the family. We have to understand Chechnya, the Chechen rebels, some of the fiercest Taliban or jihadist fighters out there having an allegiance with Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan. So when you look in that world historical context, it starts to make a little more sense, of putting the pieces of the puzzle together. When you look at the foreign travel, particularly, the older son who did travel to see his father in the Chechen region, July 2012 or January to July. He spent six months over there and I think the real question investigators have right now is what was he doing over there for six months? When he comes back one of the first things he does is put up a YouTube site that has radical jihadist rhetoric on that website and then of course nine months later pulls off the largest attack on American soil, terrorist attack, since 9/11.

Bob Schieffer: So we know that one of the things that happened while he was there, we know he -- we think he saw his parents, but we really don't know much else at this point. But what you're saying is, it appears that he had become somehow radicalized?

Mike McCaul: My theory is he was radicalized by 2009, 2010. Reports show the Russian Intelligence Service reach out to our law enforcement to interview this individual, which they did. He was on the radar, then he got off the radar. Then he travels overseas. I would assume the Russians would have some intelligence on this individual.

Bob Schieffer: But they asked our FBI to check him out, and, apparently, they reported back they really had nothing to report. Is there a problem here, are you planning to look into that?

Mike McCaul: Well my job as Chairman of Homeland Security is to find out what happened, what may have gone wrong, and how can we prevent this in the future to save American lives. So I've sent a letter to the Director of the FBI, Secretary Napolitano, Clapper, the head of the D.N.I., to give us answers as to what came out of that interview. Why weren't customs flags put on this individual when he traveled abroad? I think another important point are the tools of trade craft used here. This pressure cooker device is very similar to what the Taliban in Pakistan use. The idea that they could make pipe bombs and then there are reports they had suicide vests, all point to the fact that this was...

Bob Schieffer: Do you have any evidence of that, direct evidence, or is this...

Mike McCaul: Well, the reporting from the police cars as the first ones to pull them over when they got in the shoot-out, that they had explosives strapped to their chests. That takes it up to another notch, another level and I think, just my theory, something happened during that six-month period to change this individual.

Bob Schieffer: All right, well we want to, are you going to hold hearings, by the way on this?

Mike McCaul: We are. We are in the process due time. I do want to commend the FBI, ATF, the Boston Police and the Boston people who responded to this. When they sang the national anthem after the second terrorist was brought down, it was very inspirational. Very reminiscent of when we sang "God Bless America" on the capitol steps after 9/11.

Bob Schieffer: Congressman, thank you so much and we'll be back in just a minute.

Bob Schieffer: The pattern of the horrific events of this past week has become all too familiar. First, an act of inexplicable tragedy and unspeakable loss occurs. Then we cry out for answers. And then the president flies in and offers words of condolence at a memorial service, then he flies back to Washington . . . and not much changes. That's how the week started in Boston. I'm sure the president said all the right things there, but I had a hard time keeping my mind on his words. What kept running through my mind was, when will he be called on to offer words of condolence at the next memorial service? And the one after that? And based on past episodes, I didn't expect much to be different this time. But I was wrong. Here's what was different: while Washington found itself trying to explain to the families of the Newtown massacre victims why it was so difficult to strengthen background checks for gun buyers, and while some in Washington sought political leverage even in this awful event, the people of Boston showed us what happens when people put aside the partisan games, work together, and find the courage -- and, yes, the competence -- to confront the problem at hand. Competence and courage are rare commodities these days. But Political Washington could learn a lot from what we saw in Boston last week -- a lot. Back in a minute.

Bob Schieffer: And welcome back to "Face the Nation." We want to talk some more about the gun story and the vote that was taken in the Senate this week. Families of the Newtown victims, those children and the teachers and their principal who were gunned down in the Connecticut shooting, were watching as all this unfolded in the Senate and three of those people are with us today. Carlee Soto, sister of Victoria Soto, who died shielding the children in her classroom. She had hid them in a closet and then the man came in and shot her. Erica Lafferty, she is the daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, the brave principal of Sandy Hook Elementary. She was in a meeting, she heard the first shots, ran into the hallway. She yelled at the gunman to stay back and then lunged at him. And then finally, Neil Heslin, father of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, one of the students who were hiding in Vicki Soto's class.

Bob Schieffer: It must have been very difficult for you all this week in light of this other story that was unfolding in Boston. You must have just, your emotions must have been almost out of control after what you'd been through, even before this.

Carlee Soto: It was unbelievable that we were talking to senators and their staff and then we get news of this while talking to a senator's staff member and we're just freaking out, like, our country's really doing this. People are still, like, so evil.

Bob Schieffer: Erica, what was your reaction to the events of this week?

Erica Lafferty: Honestly, it felt like I was reliving the worst day of my entire life over again, thinking about the pain that all of the Boston victims' families are going through and will continue to go through. It was all too familiar of a feeling.

Bob Schieffer: Neil?

Neil Heslin: It was a shock when I heard what happened in Boston. What went through my mind was all of what we went through in Sandy Hook on December 14th, and I could just imagine it was the same as what it was in Sandy Hook with the police and the ambulances. The same sort of scene.

Bob Schieffer: You came here, you talked to senators, they talked to you. And then the Senate votes and basically, they voted against the bipartisan measure, the Manchin-Toomey bill. They voted against the Republican substitute, and they voted against the Democratic bill, which was Dianne Feinstein's, to outlaw these fast firing weapons. What do you do now? Where do you go from here?

Carlee Soto: We're not going away. We're going to keep fighting for our loved ones and everyone else who has died from gun violence. You know, we knew going into it that we weren't going to get the 60 votes, but we also knew that this is just the beginning, this is the first step and we're going to keep fighting.

Bob Schieffer: Were you - you're obviously disappointed. Did it go beyond that?

Erica Lafferty: I'm honestly disgusted that there were so many senators that are doing nothing about the fact that my mom was gunned down in her elementary school, along with five other educators and 20 six- and seven-year-old children. It's grossly unfair to the family members of Newtown as well as all other gun violence victims. I just hope that nothing like this has to happen to any of them, but I think you have to be in our shoes to understand how bad it hurts.

Bob Schieffer: Did you talk to any of these senators who voted against this bill?

Erica Lafferty: Yes. Collectively, I think that the Newtown families had talked to quite a few of them. We spent all week on Capitol Hill, going literally door to door, talking to a couple of senators, a lot of staff members, just trying to get things figured out. Trying to understand if there was anything that we could do to sway their decision, to have a conversation with them, to explain where it is standing from our point.

Bob Schieffer: Some people use the word cowardice and cowards. Do you feel that that's an appropriate word to use?

Neil Heslin: Um...

Bob Schieffer: Those who voted against this?

Neil Heslin: I do. I feel they're not standing up for what they should be. You know, at this point, I think I view it as a political game. You had 90 percent of the Democrats who voted in favor of these, to support these bills. Voted in favor of them. And 90 percent Republicans that did not. Fifty four percent of the majority did vote in favor of it. This is something that 90 percent of the citizens support. It's not about the Second Amendment. It's strengthening and adding to laws that are already in effect. So I don't think they did justice for all the victims of Newtown.

Bob Schieffer: Carlee, how do you feel?

Carlee Soto: My sister wasn't a coward that day. My sister pushed the kids up against the wall, out of sight. If you look into her class, my sister left the wall to grab her keys to lock her door and that's when he came in the room. My sister was not a coward. She protected her kids. Why aren't they protecting us?

Erica Lafferty: The same. I mean I've said it a plethora of times before, my mom was not scared in the halls of Sandy Hook, they should not be scared to cast a vote to protect millions of innocent people.

Bob Schieffer: How do you get something done here? You say you're not going away. What specifically can you do?

Erica Lafferty: I know we have a great team of senators that are not giving up on this, they are going to work to try to find some type of new compromise to maybe, I know there was question about the rural part of the Toomey-Manchin legislation that they are going to try to work on. So I'm really going to be here to do anything that they need me to do, get the word out, talk to anyone that will listen. People are going to get sick of seeing my face because I'm not giving up on this, I'm not giving up on my mom.

Bob Schieffer: What was the hardest part? I'd just like to hear from each of you, what was the hardest part of this week for each of you? After all you've been through before this week -

Erica Lafferty: Having to live the worst day of my entire life multiple times daily. It's excruciating.

Carlee Soto: Same. Basically you tell, you sit down with these senators and you sit down with their staff and you tell exactly what happened on December 14th. And you tell them all the excruciating details so they have that picture in their mind when they're casting their vote. And for them just to look at you like, nothing. They have no emotion. They're not, oh I'm sorry, it's nothing.

Neil Heslin: I'd like to go back. You know, Jesse's class, 11 children survived. That was in Vicki Soto's class. And Jesse was six-and-a-half years old and he was yelling, "Run. Run now." Four of the children ran at that point. When he yelled the second time, four more ran. And then one more ran, a total of nine. They survived. Jesse was shot and killed, looking that gunman in the face. He was shot in the forehead. And you know, the courage of a little six-year-old boy to even be able to think to yell, "Run" under those circumstances clearly showed he was no coward. The same as Vicki Soto was a hero. And she was no coward. And Dawn, Principal. They all looked him in the face. They all, eye-to-eye, and they were killed by him eye-to-eye. And it's beyond me how these Congressmen cannot stand up and support something that would prevent - or help prevent - something like this from ever occurring again. As simple as a background check, putting aside the assault weapon ban or limitation or control, it's just a stepping stone of the background check with the mental health and the school security. I think the most discouraging part of this week was to, after the vote, to see who voted and who didn't vote, support it, and realize it's a political game. It was nothing bipartisan about it, at all. And we aren't going to go away. I know I'm not. We're not going to stop until there are changes that are made.

Bob Schieffer: I know how hard it was for you even now to sit down and talk about it. But I thank you for coming and helping us tell your story. Thank you so much. And we'll be back.

Bob Schieffer: And we're back now with the former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Mayor Giuliani is in our New York studio this morning. Thanks to both of you. We just heard, Secretary Ridge, this heart-wrenching story being told by these families of the Newtown victims. What are we going to do about this?

Tom Ridge: Well that's one of the most poignant interviews I've heard in a long, long time, particularly the Dad talking about the six-year-old looking the shooter in the eye. The daughter talking about her mom and the principal and at the end of the day, I think the President has said and these people are absolutely determined to start the process. And as someone who previously voted for an assault weapon ban back in '85, I think it is certainly within the right, as a matter of public policy, to circumscribe your ability to access certain kinds of firearms and I certainly thought at least the background check would find bipartisan support. I regret that it didn't.

Bob Schieffer: Mayor Giuliani what do you think is going to happen on gun violence in this country? Are we any closer to containing it than we ever were?

Rudy Giuliani: In a strange way, I think we are. I mean, just having the debate was a lot better than what's happened in the last 10 years where this debate has been suppressed. I think Tom is pretty much exactly where I've been. I supported the assault weapons ban when I was a prosecutor and when I was the Mayor and in the Justice Department. Unfortunately, I think the way this was presented gave people who wanted to vote against it an out. It never dealt with the mental health aspect of this. So if you say, if this law had been passed would it have prevented Adam Lanza? The sad answer to it is no, it would not have prevented Adam Lanza because Adam Lanza was not in any database indicating that he had mental illness because all that information is kept very private. It's kept very confidential. If we're really going to improve here, if we're really going to be honest with these people you had on the show, and prevent, or attempt to prevent another Sandy Hook, you've got to do something about how secretive all of these mental health records are. The privacy aspect of it. It's one thing to say you have a background check and a database. It's another thing to say the information is not in the database. So you've got to deal with both parts of it. And I think that would have made a much more difficult vote for those people who voted against it. I would have voted for it in any event but I think it would have made it a more difficult vote.

Tom Ridge: I think Rudy has a good point, Bob. I was on the panel that investigated the Virginia Tech incident and again, there was a gap between the information available on the background check and what had been retained. And this individual was under a court order because of a psychological illness. So I think there's a lot to be done. But I think it would have been a very positive first step.

Rudy Giuliani: I agree.

Bob Schieffer: Mr. Mayor, let me ask you about the situation in Boston. You earned the nickname "America's Mayor" after 9/11. How do you best think Boston can get back up on its feet after this?

Rudy Giuliani: Well, I think Boston has made some very positive steps of getting back up on its feet -- I think they were on their feet immediately. I think the people there were tremendously resilient. I think they handled it very well. It reminded me of the people of New York the way they handled it. I think the fact that the two primary actors, possibly sole actors but maybe not, have been arrested so quickly in what was a very, very efficient law enforcement operation, that helps a lot. It helps even with the families you see, even the young boy's family, they put out a statement congratulating law enforcement at a time of great grief. This helps. So I think there are some very positive steps that have happened here.

Bob Schieffer: What's different about this situation and what happened on 9/11?

Rudy Giuliani: Well, you know, for me this reminds me more of the attack in London back in 2005. Unfortunately I lived through that also. I was a half block away from the Liverpool station when the first bomb went off, and I spent a few days at Tony Blair's request getting involved in that. It reminds me more of that kind of an attack. A lot of similarities. You have people who had become citizens, in that case in the U.K., here in the United States, citizens who appeared to have been radicalized after previously not having been. People who joined the jihadist cause. The cities reacted in a very, very similar way. They used video surveillance there to catch, or figure out who did it. Video surveillance was used here. I think there were a lot of similarities with that case in particular.

Bob Schieffer: Secretary Ridge, I guess you were the first Homeland Security Secretary. The post was actually created after 9/11. You know, since then, a lot of people say maybe we've just added another level of bureaucracy. Do you think it has been effective, and are we safer now? Will we ever really feel safe again?

Tom Ridge: Well, I think we certainly are safer. I certainly think it's been effective. A little anecdote, positive anecdote amidst all this horror and this tragedy was the extraordinary response of the emergency service personnel, the integration of capabilities between the federal, state, and local level. I think a lot of this can be attributed to the engagement of the federal government through the Department of Homeland Security with training, with exercises, with equipment, with funding -- but I also think this incident shows that the breadth and the type of terrorism we're going to confront in the years ahead has changed dramatically. If you compare 9/11, multiple actors in multiple venues, training, a lot of finances and all of a sudden we're seeing two individuals living in one place, materials that can be acquired by you and me, and so while we maybe continue to look at the strategic actors, the big event, I think this -- and Rudy was there -- I was in London four, five days before that happened; I think it's changing the breadth and scope of the terrorist activity that all free people are going to have to look at. At the end of the day, I think Rudy and I probably agree. He saw it in New York. We saw it in Boston. We saw it in Sandy Hook from the six-year-old to the principal. Americans don't live in fear.

Bob Schieffer: You know, when Osama Bin Laden was killed, we heard a lot about Osama Bin Laden is dead and I think a lot of people maybe got the idea that the threat of terrorism is over. Do you think it's over? Obviously, we don't know exactly what caused all of this situation in Boston, but what's your take on that, Mayor?

Rudy Giuliani: Well, of course it's not over. In fact, I think many people, including me and Tom, warned at the time that we better not think it's over because it's not over for them. The reality is whether we want to call this a War on Terror, they call it a war on us. Several of them have described it as a war in court, when they're being arraigned, and these people, these two young men joined a war. If you look at their website, they're talking about jihad. They're talking about war. They are at war against us. We have to recognize that. Also, I think it would be very helpful to reclassify the Major Hasan case as a terrorism attack. It's really kind of strange and I think harmful in the effort of kind of breaking through this political correctness so that we can analyze this effectively, not to describe Major Hasan's attack, yelling Allahu Akbar, after three years of consulting with Islamic clerics, consulting with Allawi, talking about jihad. I mean the people that were killed there were killed as part of this war, and that should be described as a terrorist attack and studied from that point of view. Maybe that would have helped a little bit in getting us further ahead if we had classified that correctly.

Bob Schieffer: All right. Well, thank you so much to both of you for bringing this perspective. And we'll be right back with a happy story.

Bob Schieffer: Well you had to go a long way to find good news over this past week but we did--we went all the way to China. Earlier today at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, American Investor Stephen Schwarzman, founder of the Blackstone Group, announced a $300 million scholarship program to be located on the campus of a university in Beijing. He is donating $100 million of his own money to the program and is well on his way to raising the rest of the money. It has widespread bipartisan support here and strong support from China's leaders. He joins us this morning from Beijing. Mr. Schwarzman, I understand this is going to be based on the well-known model of the Rhodes Scholarship program--45 percent of the students come from this country, 20 percent from China, 35 percent from the rest of the world. How did you come up with this idea and why did you decide to do it?

Stephen Schwarzman: Thanks, Bob. The idea actually was started by the people at Tsinghua University for their 100th anniversary in 2011. And they asked me if I'd be interested in thinking about an international program, and I thought about the Rhodes and how effective that's been developing so many leaders over the years, including Bill Clinton as a model, and what we tried to do was adapt that as best we could to bring students, instead of to Oxford in England, to bring them to Tsinghua University in China. And the reason for that is that the center of the world's economy is moving to Asia much more than it used to be in 1902 when it was more U.S. and Europe when the Rhodes was established. And I think that bringing students to China is an essential part of their education. China is no longer an elective course, it's really core curriculum.

Bob Schieffer: Now as I understand it, this will impact on 200 students a year, they get all expenses paid, they come to China, you're building a facility there modeled on the one where the Rhodes Scholars lived. And what is it? Nearly 45 percent of them will be Americans, the others will be Chinese, and you have broad bipartisan support for this - I think I should underline that again - you have former Secretaries of State both Republicans and Democrats, finance people, people in business. How long do you think it's going to take you to raise the rest of the money? How much have you got so far?

Stephen Schwarzman: Well we've been at it for six months, I think another six months ought to do it. It was really a pretty remarkable experience today at the Great Hall where new President Xi wrote a lengthy letter endorsing the program, as well as the concept of exchanges between the U.S. and China. President Obama wrote a similar kind of letter. And John Kerry did a long video, having just gotten back from China, endorsing the Schwarzman Scholars program as well as the exchange concept. And so did Henry Kissinger, who of course came here first in 1971 and helped open China for the West.

Bob Schieffer: Well it is a remarkable thing -that I think almost everyone would agree on, and we want to thank you for being with us as we broke this story. It's something we're all going to be hearing about in the days to come. And I must say, some good news in a week when there was not very much of that. Thank you so much, Mr. Schwarzman, and we'll be right back.

Bob Schieffer: Well that's it for us today, and we're going to leave you remembering the victims of the Boston Marathon bombs.