'This Week' Transcript: McKay, Napolitano, Salazar and Allen

May 2, 2010 — -- TAPPER: Good morning. We'll get to our main story on the oil spill in a moment, but first a breaking news from overnight. A car bomb discovered in New York's Times Square. Police cleared thousands of people from the streets after finding an SUV loaded with propane tanks, gasoline, black powder and a timing device, the makings of what appeared to be a crude car bomb. The situation is now safe, but joining me this morning is Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. And Secretary Napolitano, I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions about this.

First of all, I know that the federal government is treating this as a potential terrorist attack and that you have some evidence, you're dusting for fingerprints. But this attempted attack resembles car bomb attempts in London and Scotland in 2007. How concerned are you that this is not an isolated incident?

NAPOLITANO: Well, right now, we have no evidence that it is anything other than a one-off, but we are alerting state, local officials around the country, letting them know what is going on. The forensics are being done. As leads evolve or develop, they will all be tracked down. This is getting attention. FBI, Department of Homeland Security, New York City police, everybody is on it.

TAPPER: I got to think that Times Square is one of the most surveilled areas in the entire world. How close are we to finding a suspect?

NAPOLITANO: Well, right now, it is heavily surveilled, and as you know, there are cameras all over, and so tape is being reviewed. But traditional forensics are being done in addition to that. Looking for fingerprints, tracking down the vehicle, the license plate number, looking at the timer -- the (inaudible) of the explosive device. Right now it doesn't look like it's all a very sophisticated one, quite frankly, but looking into that. So there is a lot of work that's being done, and then of course other intel being developed, and that will evolve as the day goes on.

TAPPER: How concerned should the American people be?

NAPOLITANO: Well, Times Square I think is now safe, and I believe that right now, we have no information other than it is a one-off. But nonetheless, we are alerting state and local law enforcement, everybody to be on their toes.

TAPPER: OK, great. We'll come back to you and other Obama administration officials in a second. Right now, we're going to turn to our main interview, and that is the President Obama is heading down to the Gulf Coast this morning for his own assessment of the oil spill, a massive slick almost the size of Connecticut. It's making its way to the Louisiana coast, threatening wild life, the environment and the economic livelihood of residents there. Meanwhile, efforts to plug the gush almost a mile below the surface have failed.