"Face the Nation" transcript: September 11, 2011

Below is an advance transcript of "Face the Nation" on September 11, 2011, hosted by CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer from ground zero in New York City, on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The guests are counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

INTERVIEW WITH WHITE HOUSE COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER JOHN BRENNAN

Schieffer: And we're back now at Ground Zero with a special edition of Face the Nation. I'm Bob Schieffer and we want to go immediately to the White House for an update on the terror threat today. John Brennan is the President's counterterrorism adviser. Mr. Brennan, bring us up to date with this thing. We got this report earlier this week that someone might try to provoke an incident here. Set off a bomb, what can you tell us?

Brennan: Good morning, Bob. We convened another meeting this morning in the White House situation room to review all the available intelligence and to go over the actions that we're taking. The President met with his senior national security team yesterday, directed us to do everything possible to pull these threads, to see about the information that's been provided to us, that is specific and credible. Again, it's not confirmed, but the president wants to make sure that we leave no stone unturned. And that's what the intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security communities are doing.

Schieffer: Have you received any information yet to corroborate these original reports? It's my understanding that you think you might have an idea of who gave these orders and you have some general idea anyway of who may have been ordered to carry them out.

Brennan: We do have some information about the nature of the attack that is being reported. We also have some information about the possible individuals, but I don't want to get into any operational details and I know that you and your viewers don't want us to reveal anything that could compromise our ability to find out whether or not there are individuals here in the United States that are trying to carry out an attack.

Schieffer: Do you have any information yet Mr. Brennan that would indicate that any of these people are actually in the United States?

Brennan: We're looking at a number of leads. We are looking at travel data, other types of pieces of information and trying to correlate them against other reporting that is coming in. And so we're pursuing a number of leads. Again, it's not confirmed but we're not relaxing at all. This is a 24/7 round the clock effort by all elements of the U.S. counterterrorism community both here in the United States as well as abroad.

Schieffer: There was one report that one of these people who might be suspected of this might be a United States citizen. Can you tell us anything about that?

Brennan: Well Bob again, I don't want to get into the operational aspects of this. I don't want to compromise anything that could lead us to individuals who may be a part of this plot. We do have some information that we're tracking down. Again none of this is confirmed at this point, but we are doing everything possible to see if we can find any additional information that would give us a lead about where these individuals, if they do exist, if they are planning to carry out an attack here in the States, may be residing right now.

Schieffer: What exactly were they trying to do Mr. Brennan or what information did you have along that line?

Brennan: The information is that there were plans to carry out an attack here in the States, either in Washington or New York that would coincide with the 9/11 anniversary. This is something that we have seen before as far as Al Qaeda's intent. We know that we're acquired material from the Bin Laden compound in Pakistan. He was looking at the 9/11 anniversary as a possible time to carry out an attack. So there are elements of this report that are consistent with our knowledge of Al Qaeda, but also there are things here that are new that we are tracking down.

Schieffer: Was it supposed to be a truck bomb, something of that nature?

Brennan: Again Bob, I'm sorry but I'm not going to get into specifics here because these are important leads that we need to run to ground and we want to make sure that we protect the sources that are cooperating with us. At the same time, we want to see what we can do as far as uncovering these opportunities that might be here in the States.

Schieffer: The attack that came off in Afghanistan this morning, a rather large bomb went off there. Is there any suggestion that that might have been tied in any way to the events in this country today?

Brennan: Well, unfortunately our troops and the troops of the international coalition in Afghanistan as well as the Afghan forces themselves have been targeted many times by the Taliban and the militants inside Afghanistan. This was a tragic attack and a large number of individuals were injured in this attack but the effort to prevent such attacks is ongoing and we see, at this point at least, no correlation between that attack out there and the reported threat stream.

Schieffer: Where do you think we stand right now on the war on terrorism? I know you don't even call it that anymore, but where are we?

Brennan: Well today is a day of remembrance, of what happened nine, or ten, years ago on 9/11. Evil visited us in the homeland at that time. Since that time, the counterterrorism community and the U.S. government has made enormous strides as far as making this country safer. The threat is still out there, we know that Al Qaeda has posed a serious threat. We're not going to relent, but I think the American people should feel a deal of pride that we've been able to accomplish so much in the last decade.

Schieffer: Alright. Thank you so much, Mr. Brennan.

INTERVIEW WITH FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD AT GROUND ZERO

BOB SCHIEFFER: On that day, 40 were killed in a thwarted attack in Shanksville, PA and 184 were killed when another plane plowed into the Pentagon. Donald Rumsfeld was sitting at his desk at the Pentagon when the plane struck...

DONALD RUMSFELD.....the building shook at the Pentagon. And-- and it-- we had been hit and I didn't know if it was a bomb or an airplane or what. So I went out of my office and ran down the hall until the smoke was so bad that you couldn't get any farther and-- and went downstairs and outside and there on the apron outside the Pentagon were the-- were just thousands of pieces of metal. Small pieces. Not big chunks of an airplane.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, I mean-- I-- if I remember, you actually helped-- some of the first responders to get people on the gurneys and--

DONALD RUMSFELD: Well, at that point the first responders hadn't gotten there. These were just people from the Pentagon who came out and started helping and bringing people out of the burning building. And the flames were leaping up and the smoke. And-- and at that moment I just gave somebody a hand and-- and then when the first responders did come in I went back to my office and got about my business.

BOB SCHIEFFER: I thought one of the more interesting things is you did not close down the Pentagon that day. Why was that?

DONALD RUMSFELD: It was clear they had hit the seat of economic power in New York and the seat of military power of the United States in Washington. And another plane of course was probably gonna try to hit the seat of political power in the White House or the Congress. And I just made a decision that when the fire Marshall said evacuate the building, I said, "No, get the non-essential personnel out of there and-- and-- we'll leave it open." I didn't wanna-- I don't want the world to think that a group of terrorists could shut down the U.S. Department of Defense.

BOB SCHIEFFER: What was the hardest part of it for you that day, Mr. Secretary?

DONALD RUMSFELD: The hardest part, of course, was-- was when the plane was hit and we saw people-- people in the Pentagon family-- civilians and military-- who were being brought out burned and-- and dead and-- and-- wounded. The-- George Tenet called me the-- in-- in the morning and said he-- he-- he confirmed that it was al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. And at that point the president called and said, "Look-- it's gonna come to you and you should begin getting your people thinking through-- what we do next." And-- and-- the-- the hardest part was there was no roadmap. There was no guidebook. There was no-- no war plan on the shelf that-- the Pentagon had thought through, "This is what you do." .. So we had to begin to think through what we would do about it. And the president was very decisive. He said immediately, "We're not gonna pound sand. We're not gonna simply indict some people in absentia and-- and-- fire off a few cruise missiles. We're going to deal with this problem before something this bad or something worse happens to the American people. And we're gonna find ways to--to protect them."

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you think-- in retrospect that it was an over-reaction that day?

DONALD RUMSFELD: Well, I don't at all. I think it was a measured reaction. You-- you begin thinking it through. And-- and what was clear is-- that-- free people-- we are vulnerable because we wanna be able to go where we want and say what we want. And-- and-- and that-- a terrorist can attack any time, any place using any technique. And it-- instead of 3,000 it could have been 300,000 with a chemical or a biological weapon. So the president was-- was right to say the-- the goal is not to retaliate. The-- or-- or it's not retribution. The goal is to protect the American people. And the only way to do that was to put pressure on terrorists around the world and make everything they do harder.

BOB SCHIEFFER: What are the things that if you could do it over, to make it absolutely perfect, what would you have done differently?

DONALD RUMSFELD: The thing where we I think fell way short was in understanding that-- this is not something that's gonna be solved with bullets. It's something that'll take all elements of our country competing with the ideas of the radical Islamists...until we're able to compete with that as we did in the Cold War and-- and-- against communication and in favor of free political systems and free economic systems, it-- we won't know how long it'll last or what the outcome will be.

BOB SCHIEFFER: When you wake up on 9/11, what will you be thinking about?

DONALD RUMSFELD: Oh, I'll be thinking' of-- remembering the people that died and their families and friends. And-- and the wonderful young men and women who volunteered to serve our country and go wherever the president decides they should go. And-- and do it with such patriotism and such courage and-- and sacrifice.

INTERVIEW WITH NYC MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG AT GROUND ZERO

BOB SCHIEFFER: I spoke earlier with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who told us the city IS prepared...

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: New York is probably the safest city in the world. We have 1,000 cops dedicated just to intelligence and counterterrorism. We have more Urdu and Pashtu speakers than the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. put together. We have 3,000 cameras. We have all sorts of stuff. We spend $8 and a half billion a year on our police department alone. And then, there are other people that help as well. So, I think-- I don't think that you and I should worry about it. If you see something, say something. Leave it to the professionals. But you are safe...We will heighten up a little bit more. But, you know, at some points, you've got every cop you have out there. You can't hype up anymore. You just-- it put-- I think it crystallizes it in your mind a little bit. You focus a touch more. But our professionals do that for a living. And we've gone through ten years when we've stopped a lot of terrorist attacks. And, for all we know, we stopped an awful lot more than that, where people just said, "Oh, it's that-- they're too on top of things. I don't want to go near it."

BOB SCHIEFFER: You know, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask you about something. You said, if I'm correct, at some point, "We've spent too much time looking back at 9/11." What exactly did you mean by that?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: I think in this country, we're always looking for-- a guilty party for reasons. That's what we're doing with the economy. We argue about how we got into the mortgage crisis, rather than how we get outta the mortgage crisis. When it comes to 9/11-- terrible tragedy, 3,000 people. We have an obligation though to look forward. We wanna remember. We wanna memorialize. We wanna give families a place to go. And that's what this memorial behind me will do. And it will do it in a wonderful way. But, those that died were working for a living to take care of their families. They're not here anymore. We've gotta make sure that their families have good schools, have good places to live, have good jobs, and can enjoy everything that the deceased would've wanted them to have, and were working towards that. And so-- while-- it's not to s-- I think somebody said, "It's not about closure. It's about-- maybe the tenth anniversary's a time to rededicate ourselves to look forward." And we've really been doing that. New York is back. And the terrorists didn't win. And those are the two real messages here.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Yup. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: All the best.

INTERVIEW WITH FORMER NYC MAYOR GIULIANI AT GROUND ZERO

BOB SCHIEFFER: Now let's go back to what happened 10 years ago, and Mayor Rudy Giuliani's recollections of that day...

RUDY GIULIANI: ...I was having breakfast at the Peninsula Hotel about six miles from here, Midtown Manhattan. And I was told that a twin engine plane had hit the north tower and that there was a bad fire here. So I didn't know how bad it was until I actually got here. About a mile away I saw a big explosion, the second plane. I knew it was a terrorist attack. And when I got basically over there, I can see it where I was. I saw a man-- throwing himself out of the 100th floor. And that-- that really changed all my emotions. That said to me this is much worse than anything we've ever faced before and we're gonna just have to do the best we can. That's when I really knew how bad it was. But it wasn't until then that I-- until I actually got here and I saw the planes and I saw people throwing themselves out of the window that-- my-- my goodness, this is the worst that we've ever faced. And we just better pray to God that we can do the right job.

BOB SCHIEFFER: You-- a lot of people-- there was a report that you were dead.

RUDY GIULIANI: That's right...We were trapped in a building about two and a half blocks right back there when the first-- in fact, I was waiting for a call from the vice president. White House was on the phone, waiting for Dick Cheney's call the phone went out, the building started to shake, felt like an earthquake. And the first tower had come down-- hit our building. And we were trapped there for about 20 or 30 minutes. And people couldn't reach me and that's why they thought we were-- they thought we had been crushed with that first building. But then we got out-- we had-- we had to go through a basement, through an underground passage. And we got-- got into another building and-- and I got out and the police commissioner and my deputy mayor.

BOB SCHIEFFER: You think it changed the country?

RUDY GIULIANI: Sure, it changed the country. Mostly in good ways, I think it made us more realistic about the threat that we faced. I think we have much better intelligence today. I think spiritually we're stronger. I don't-- we have to remind ourselves of that. We were attacked with the worst attack in the history of this country and we survived it. And the city is bigger, stronger, you know, twice as many people live down here now as before September 11th. So the terrorists thought they were gonna destroy this place, this place is twice as big as it was before. So we showed a lot of resiliency that we need to remind ourselves of. And we had a tremendous unity.

BOB SCHIEFFER: sometimes I wonder if this happened again do you think we'd come together?

RUDY GIULIANI: Absolutely, I have no doubt about it...If we got attacked again and it was the same kind of situation where our freedom was in jeopardy, our future was in jeopardy, we don't-- we forget about all these petty differences that we have. You know, it's like when you find out that somebody you love is ill or just died. All those little small things you're thinking' about go away. That's what would happen then. But I wish we could apply some of that to some of the other things we face, which are almost as big. I mean, our-- economy is now a national security issue, not just a debate about one ideology or the other, it's hurting our national security because our economy is so bad. Well, we should get over being Republicans and Democrats and think as Americans and get it solved.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Are you-- thinking about running for President?

RUDY GIULIANI: I'm thinking about it-- not today. But I'm gonna sorta put my thinking off for a couple of weeks until I get over the emotion of this and-- and see where everything stands. I understand the realistic problems I'd have getting nominated. So I have to take that into consideration. And around 9/11 I don't like to think about politics as much.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Mr. Mayor, what will you think of when you wake up on 9/11?

RUDY GIULIANI: I don't know. Maybe I'll think about that man that I saw jumping out of the 101st, 100-- I don't know who he was, but he's in my thoughts all the time. Maybe I'll think about-- the construction workers and my-- one of my best moments that day was about 5:00, 6:00 at night when I came back here for the second or third time. I was standing up north there and I saw all these big men walking toward me. And they weren't firefighters, weren't police officers. They were construction workers. And I went up to one of them, I said, "What are you doin' here?" He said, "We came here to pick things up because we're big and we can help." I said, "Well, you can. You're just gonna have to put hats and masks on." And-- about 300 or 400 of them just walked in and started picking-- picking things up. And then eventually turned out to be about 1,000. And it made you feel like you weren't alone, made you feel like, "Gosh, all these big men are gonna come and help (LAUGH) and get you out of it." And that was true of the whole country. We-- we got tremendous help from Mayor Daley in Chicago. He sent Chicago police officers here. We got tremendous help from Governor Bush in Florida. He sent Florida State Police here. That was real important. I think the people of this city felt alone and isolated and the rest of America embraced New York. And I think that helped us get through it.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Mr. Mayor, thank you.

RUDY GIULIANI: Thank you.