CBS News
Transcript: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on “Face the Nation,” March 31, 2024
The following is a transcript of an interview with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that aired on March 31, 2024.
ED O’KEEFE: For the latest we’re joined by the Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Mr. Secretary, happy Easter. Thank you for spending part of it with us and good morning.
U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION PETE BUTTIGIEG: Happy Easter. Good to be with you.
ED O’KEEFE: Part of the reason we wanted to chat with you is because you know, we have this incident in Baltimore. we’ve seen parts of planes falling out of the sky, you’ve described the fact that it’s a national crisis, that more than 40,000 people are killed in car accidents each year, we’re going to work our way through some of this. But let’s begin in Baltimore. How long is it going to take to remove that ship, clear out the debris, and reopen the channel?
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: We haven’t received a timeline yet. But what I can tell you is the work is now underway, parts of the non-federal channel are already being worked on. And there is a thousand ton capacity lift crane on a barge being put into place now there’s another 600 ton crane on its way to back it up. This is going to be a very complex process, there are even now forces acting on that steel. So it takes a lot to make sure that it can be dismantled safely, to make sure that the vessel stays where it is supposed to be and doesn’t swing out into the channel. But it has to be done. Because that is the only way to get into most of the Port of Baltimore. And of course, it’s important not just to the people in the workers of Baltimore, but to our national supply chains to get that port back up and running as quickly as possible. Then you have the process of getting the bridge back up. That’s going to take longer, but that work is already getting underway as well. We’ve released the first $60 million in emergency relief funding through our department to go toward that work, everything from removing wreckage to design and procurement for the new bridge structure. This is not going to happen overnight. But we’re going to help Maryland do it as quickly as they responsibly can.
ED O’KEEFE: And is there any sense of how long it would take to rebuild that bridge?
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: We haven’t received estimates on that yet either. I can tell you the original bridge took about five years to build. But that doesn’t necessarily inform us about the timeline on the reconstruction. A lot goes into how that reconstruction will be designed, how the process is going to work. Right now we don’t fully know everything we need to know about the condition of the portions of the bridge that did not collapse. Obviously, that work is underway right now. And a lot of great work under the leadership of Governor Wes Moore by the Maryland DOT. We’re backing them up with funding technical assistance, everything else we can do to help.
ED O’KEEFE: To that point about funding, we’ve heard that it sounds like most of this is going to be paid for by the federal government either about 90%- 80% depending on how it works, the rest by the state. Where’s that money going to come from?
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: So we’re using an authority called the emergency relief. This is through our Federal Highway Administration. That’s how we got those first 60 million out and there will be more where that came from. Now it is possible we may need to turn to Congress to supplement that fund. That has happened in the past, if you remember the 2007 bridge collapse in Minnesota, ultimately about $260 million put together, including funds that were put through Congress on a bipartisan basis. And I hope and expect this too will be a bipartisan priority. It’s not just the right thing to do for the people of Baltimore. But really important, again, for our whole supply system to make sure that that port and that bridge are operating just the way they were supposed to.
ED O’KEEFE: Well, real quick, you know Congress these days can’t get much of anything done. And there seems to be partisan disagreement about even when to go to lunch. So what exactly would be the pitch to any skeptical lawmaker who says why on earth should we have to pay for this?
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: Well, the pitch is your district could be next. And also this has historically been bipartisan, and I’m not just reaching back to bygone eras. Remember, the infrastructure package itself President Biden’s infrastructure plan went through on a bipartisan basis. A lot of people didn’t think that was possible when we got here in 2021. But the President never gave up on the idea. And sure enough, a lot of Republicans were willing to cross the aisle, work with President Biden, work with Democrats to get this done. If there’s anything left in this country that is more bipartisan than infrastructure, it should be emergency response. This is both and I hope that Congress will be willing if and when we turn to them.
ED O’KEEFE: On another matter. This week, Boeing- or this past week, Boeing announced some big changes in its leadership, the CEO, the Board Chairman, the head of the commercial airplanes unit are all leaving by the end of the year. Are those changes enough to satisfy concerns about the company?
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: Well, one personnel change or several personnel changes are not the same thing as what we most need to see, which is a change in culture. Whoever takes these new leadership positions and everybody else at Boeing, especially those senior leaders who are accountable for the planes that that Boeing produces, and the work that that company does, they need to demonstrate that they put safety first. FAA has been putting Boeing under a microscope ever since this incident happened in January and frankly, there were a lot of concerns about what the FAA administrator saw in the course of those visits and in the audit. He gave Boeing about 90 days to come up with a comprehensive plan to show that they’re on the path to deliver the right kind of quality and safety. We’re about 30 days into that. There are regular check-ins and FAA is not going to allow Boeing to increase their production until they demonstrate that they can do it safely.
ED O’KEEFE: You know, Thursday was the busiest day of the year so far, at least in terms of TSA screenings, because we’re seeing an uptick now ahead of spring break. We’re in the midst of spring break for a lot of people, but given these aviation incidents: the blown off door on the Alaska Airlines plane, the panel that fell off a Delta flight recently, what would you say to those who are scared to fly right now?
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: Well, I would say that every time I step onto an airliner, whether I’m going to look at a bridge, or whether I’m flying somewhere with my husband, and kids, like we will be later this week, I know that I’m participating in the safest form of travel in America. And that what makes it the safest – safest form of travel in America is all of the work and all of the people who stand behind that, including the men and women of our FAA. We’re talking about an extraordinary safety record. And just think about this mode of travel, it involves being propelled by flammable liquids and a metal tube through the sky at nearly the speed of sound. And again, is the safest way to travel. That is because of extremely rigorous standards and processes for inspection. And that’s why so far, since this administration arrived, there have been about 3 billion passengers getting on airplanes in the United States, and 100% of them getting to where they need to go. So we’re going to continue doing everything we can holding airlines, aerospace manufacturers, and everybody else accountable. And turning to those flight crews, mechanics, tech workers, everybody who is part of that safety equation, to try to keep it that way.
ED O’KEEFE: You really sold it there metal- metal to flammable liquid flying through the air. But I hear you on this on the safety aspects of this.
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: Safest in the world.
ED O’KEEFE: You know, if the President gets another four years later this year, you’re gonna be sticking around?
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: Again, I’m right now I’m completely focused on doing a good job in the job that I have. I’m humbled and honored that the President asked me to do this work. We knew, even in those early days that we’d be pursuing the biggest infrastructure package, in certainly in my lifetime, we were able to get that through Congress. Now we’re out there delivering that. There were other things that we never could have seen coming when President Biden invited me to take on this role, like the Baltimore bridge collapse we’re dealing with right now. So I got my head down, hard at work and hoping to do right by the trust that’s been placed in me and really proud of the 55,000 people at the Department of Transportation helping us meet that mission every day.
ED O’KEEFE: I know when a lot of people see you on television these days, they may still think to themselves, “Oh, I wonder if he still wants the big job one day.” Now that you’ve been closer to it, working alongside a president, is it still something you aspire to?
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: Well, I certainly have a new perspective on just how demanding that job is watching President Biden deal with so many concerns, challenges and opportunities for this country. And I’m proud to be a small part of the big team that helps him get that done. I sincerely don’t know what, whether I will run for elected office of any kind again, what I do know is that I’ve been asked to take on a big job. I’m honored and humbled to do it. It’s hard, it’s rewarding, and it’s taken about 110% of what I have to give right now.
ED O’KEEFE: All right, well, we are honored and humbled you spend part of your Easter with us. Our best to Chasten and the kids and we’ll talk again soon.
SECRETARY BUTTIGIEG: Thanks very much. Good being with you.
CBS News
Tajikistan nationals with alleged ISIS ties removed in immigration proceedings, U.S. officials say
When federal agents arrested eight Tajikistan nationals with alleged ties to the Islamic State terror group on immigration charges back in June, U.S. officials reasoned that coordinated raids in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia would prove the fastest way to disrupt a potential terrorist plot in its earliest stages. Four months later, after being detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, three of the men have already been returned to Tajikistan and Russia, U.S. officials tell CBS News, following removals by immigration court judges.
Four more Tajik nationals – also held in ICE detention facilities – are awaiting removal flights to Central Asia, and U.S. officials anticipate they’ll be returned in the coming few weeks. Only one of the arrested men still awaits his legal proceeding, following a medical issue, though U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive proceedings indicated that he remains detained and is likely to face a similar outcome.
The men face no additional charges – including terrorism-related offenses – with the decision to immediately arrest and remove them through deportation proceedings, rather than orchestrate a hard-fought terrorism trial in Article III courts, born out of a pressing short-term concern about public safety.
Soon after the eight foreign nationals crossed into the United States, the FBI learned of the potential ties to the Islamic State, CBS News previously reported. The FBI identified early-stage terrorist plotting, triggering their immediate arrests, in part, through a wiretap after the individuals had already been vetted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News in June.
Several months later, their removals following immigration proceedings mark a departure from the post-9/11 intelligence-sharing architecture of the U.S. government.
Now facing a more diverse migrant population at the U.S.-Mexico border, a new effort is underway by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and the Intelligence Community to normalize the direct sharing of classified information – including some marked top-secret – with U.S. immigration judges.
The more routine intelligence sharing with immigration judges is aimed at allowing U.S. immigration courts to more regularly incorporate derogatory information into their decisions. The endeavor has led to the creation of more safes and sensitive compartmented information facilities – also known as SCIFs – to help facilitate the sharing of classified materials. Once considered a last resort for the department, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has sought to use immigration tools, in recent months, to mitigate and disrupt threat activity.
The immigration raids, back in June, underscore the spate of terrorism concerns from the U.S. government this year, as national security agencies point to a system now blinking red in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, with emerging terrorism hot spots in Central Asia.
A joint intelligence bulletin released this month, and obtained by CBS News, warns that foreign terrorist organizations have exploited the attack nearly one year ago and its aftermath to try to recruit radicalized followers, creating media that compares the October 7 and 9/11 attacks and encouraging “lone attackers to use simple tactics like firearms, knives, Molotov cocktails, and vehicle ramming against Western targets in retaliation for deaths in Gaza.”
In May, ICE arrested an Uzbek man in Baltimore with alleged ISIS ties after he had been living inside the U.S. for more than two years, NBC News first reported.
In the past year, Tajik nationals have engaged in foiled terrorism plots in Russia, Iran and Turkey, as well as Europe, with several Tajik men arrested following March’s deadly attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow that left at least 133 people dead and hundreds more injured.
The attack has been linked to ISIS-K, or the Islamic State Khorasan Province, an off-shoot of ISIS that emerged in 2015, founded by disillusioned members of Pakistani militant groups, including Taliban fighters. In August 2021, during the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, ISIS-K launched a suicide attack in Kabul, killing 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians.
In a recent change to ICE policy, the agency now recurrently vets foreign nationals arriving from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries, detaining them while they await removal proceedings or immigration hearings.
Only 0.007% of migrant arrivals are flagged by the FBI’s watchlist, and an even smaller number of those asylum seekers are ultimately removed. But with migrants arriving at the Southwest border from conflict zones in the Eastern Hemisphere, posing potential links to extremist or terrorist groups, the White House is now exploring ways to expedite the removal of asylum seekers viewed as a possible threat to the American public.
“Encounters with migrants from Eastern Hemisphere countries—such as China, India, Russia, and western African countries—in FY 2024 have decreased slightly from about 10 to 9 percent of overall encounters, but remain a higher proportion of encounters than before FY 2023,” according to the Homeland Threat Assessment, a public intelligence document released earlier this month.
A senior homeland security official told reporters in a briefing Wednesday, that the U.S. is engaged in an “ongoing effort to try to make sure that we can use every bit of available information that the U.S. government has classified and unclassified, and make sure that the best possible picture about a person seeking to enter the United States is available to frontline personnel who are encountering that person.”
Approximately 139 individuals flagged by the FBI’s terror watchlist have been encountered at the U.S.‑Mexico border through July of fiscal year 2024. That number decreased from 216 during the same timeframe in 2023. CBP encountered 283 watchlisted individuals at the U.S.-Canada border through July of fiscal year 2024, down from 375 encountered during the same timeframe in 2023.
“I think one of the features of the surge in migration over recent years is that our border personnel are encountering a much more diverse and global population of individuals trying to enter the United States or seeking to enter the United States,” a senior DHS official said. “So, at some point in the past, it might have been primarily a Western Hemisphere phenomenon. Now, our border personnel encounter individuals from around the world, from all parts of the world, to include conflict zones and other areas where individuals may have links or can support ties to extremist or terrorist organizations that we have long-standing concerns about.”
In April, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that human smuggling operations at the southern border were trafficking in people with possible connections to terror groups.
“Looking back over my career in law enforcement, I’d be hard-pressed to think of a time when so many different threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once, but that is the case as I sit here today,” Wray, told Congress in June, just days before most of the Tajik men were arrested.
The expedited return of three Tajiks to Central Asia required tremendous diplomatic communication, facilitated by the State Department, U.S. officials said.
Returns to Central Asia routinely encounter operational and diplomatic hurdles, though regular channels for removal do exist. According to agency data, in 2023, ICE deported only four migrants to Tajikistan.
Robert Legare and
contributed to this report.
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