[Cuomo:] ISIS makes threats. That's what they do. However, when they come to two American cities, including the Big Apple, New York City, just ahead of Thanksgiving holiday parade, millions are going to be there. You have to deal with it.
[Camerota:] So, the NYPD is stepping up their counterterrorism training including a major drill this past Sunday.
[Pereira:] Here to discuss the security efforts and so much more, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray. Really a pleasure to have you both here. In fact, we want to talk to you about a very important and exciting new mental health initiative that's taking place and is ongoing. But, obviously, with the Thanksgiving Day parade around the corner, we have to talk about with urgency what's going on in the city. Understand there's some major preparations under way and have been going on. We saw some drills that the NYPD was conducting. How are you feeling about security in your fair city, Mayor?
[Mayor Bill De Blasio , New York City:] I feel very good about what NYPD is doing. Remember, we've had the Macy's parade, the Thanksgiving parade for years.
[Pereira:] For a few years.
[De Blasio:] It's always been a yes, a few years. It's been a very big event. But the NYPD has really perfected over the years how to handle these large events and actually the most impressive version of that was when we had the pope here simultaneously with 140 leaders from around the world, presidents of different countries and the president of the United States all in the course of one week and the NYPD literally made it look easy. They were that good. Since then we've now added the beginning of a 500-person counterterror force which we call critical response command. And this is a specifically trained armed force for counterterror activities only. You saw the drills on Sunday. Very impressive group of men and women in our police force who have volunteered to focus on fighting terror and they are the best of the NYPD and I'm really happy to say, this is the best prepared city in the country to both prevent terrorism and to respond in God forbid we had any here.
[Camerota:] But, I mean, given what happened in Paris where soft targets were hit. How can you feel confident that that wouldn't happen in New York?
[De Blasio:] I think in the age of the lone wolf, we have to be sober about the fact that you can never account for everyone. But we can say this: for 14 years since 911, NYPD working with our federal partners, FBI, et cetera, have kept the city safe. And part of that is an extraordinary intelligence gathering capacity and a real focus on prevention, which has worked. Now, we're adding to that capacity. So, what we find is having close relationships to the community and getting intelligence early and looking for those leads, using a variety of techniques has helped us to stay ahead of anyone who may have evil intentions. But in the age of the lone wolf it's important to be able to respond quickly as Commissioner Bratton said last week. We now have a 500-person plus counterterrorism force on top of the other capacity that we have. If there are even multiple events around New York City, we can respond within minutes with a lot of firepower and a lot of training.
[Cuomo:] And also, look, the experts you hear all the time in your briefings, they're surprised things haven't happened, how much stuff they stop. Bad guys only have to be successful once. You do have big advantages over Paris. That's an obviously fractured society. They have big problems with community that thank God we don't have here yet. It's a different equation. But you can never over-prepare.
[Pereira:] Well, add to it, we have technology on our side. We understand someone's brother has launched an initiative, an app. We know of see something and say something. Now there's see something send something the idea that if you see something, take a picture and then send that image to the proper authorities.
[De Blasio:] That's exactly right. People should feel empowered that if they have information, they can actually help to fight terrorism. What we shouldn't do is play into the terrorists hands and change our habits, change our lifestyle, change our democracy. Secretary Jeh Johnson, our homeland security secretary, said it beautifully, he said, terrorists can't succeed if we refuse to be terrorized. This is psychological warfare. That's what it is. Remember, you know, think back to World War II, how the different sides tried to convince each other they're going to lose. This is psychological warfare. If we say, no, we're better than that, we can prevail but it's important for the average citizen if they do see something, if they hear something, if they think somebody is up to no good, report to the authorities immediately.
[Cuomo:] An organic segue, we're dealing with terrorists, we're dealing with people of unstable of mind.
[De Blasio:] Yes.
[Cuomo:] Mental health is an issue, Chirlane. We're trying to figure out how to deal it because of stigma, you know, when people if you have diabetes, you have diabetes. If you have leukemia, you have leukemia. If you have schizophrenia or bipolar, they call you crazy. There are stigma that you're dealing with doesn't have parity with physical healthcare the way we want it to be. What can you do?
[Chirlane Mccray, First Lady Of New York City:] That's right. We need to change the mindset around the mind. It's very much a part of the body. That's what Thrive NYC sets out to do, is bring about a culture change and help people understand that mental illness is, first of all, pervasive. The number is one in five New Yorkers have a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year and it's treatable. This is something that we can address in children and seniors and parents. There is something for everyone.
[Pereira:] What's so interesting is people think that and they think extreme cases. But there is a spectrum. And included in that spectrum one of the focuses of Thrive NYC is dealing with mothers. This is very important to you. Talk about that.
[Mccray:] Maternal depression is very common. The estimate is one in ten women who are pregnant or new mothers have maternal depression. But we don't really know because we don't collect data. Pediatricians and OB-GYNs don't always.
[Pereira:] And there's a stigma, too. You don't want to say I'm struggling.
[Mccray:] Who wants to be a bad mom?
[Cuomo:] They're least likely to self-report.
[Mccray:] That's right. There's such a stigma. It's a mark of disgrace to feel anything but joyous because you have a new child. But it's a real condition. It's a disease. And it can be treated. We want women to get screened.
[Camerota:] Mr. Mayor, this is a personal issue for you. Your father suffered. Your daughter has been public about suffering. It's heartbreaking.
[De Blasio:] And we have to talk about it. We talk about what our daughter Chiara has gone through and she's been very open, because she sees it as her obligation to talk about her struggles, both mental health struggles and substance abuse struggles, because that's part of how we heal our society, it's part of how we help reach people to talk about it. I talked yesterday about what my dad went through, you know, World War II hero. He was a wounded veteran, battle of Okinawa. Came back with what we now call PTSD. We didn't call it back when I was growing up, we didn't say PTSD. We tried to avoid the fact that he obviously something he was carrying from the war with him. It devolved in his case into alcoholism and substance abuse and mental health problems so often go together. But we have to talk about it, because as Chirlane was saying, the stigma is keeping people from getting treatment.
[Pereira:] Avoidance is never a good tactic, isn't it? We're glad you both joined us. We wish you both a wonderful Thanksgiving and a safe one. Thanks for joining us today.
[De Blasio:] Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.
[Camerota:] Thanks for being here.
[Cuomo:] A lot of news on the table right now. So, let's get right to it. A Russian military jet shot down by Turkey near the Syrian border.