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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Interview with Donald Rumsfeld; Jamie Lee Curtis Discusses Missing Children; What Can Forensics Experts Find Out from Chandra Levy's Remains?
Aired May 23, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE SNOW, HOST: A captured al Qaeda leader reveals the intended target, but, terrorists may have even more diabolical plans, involving nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: But we do have evidence that they have been trying to get these kinds of capabilities, particularly chemical and biological.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Wolf Blitzer goes one-on-one with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Almost 2,000 children are reported missing everyday. I'll discuss efforts to find them with actress and activist, Jamie Lee Curtis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE LEE CURTIS, ACTRESS: This has got to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: It is Thursday, May 23rd, 2002. I'm Kate Snow in Washington. Wolf Blitzer is off tonight. We begin with the Chandra Levy mystery. Now that they have found her remains, investigators are back on the scene in Washington's Rock Creek Park, seeking clues to the cause of Levy's death. Forensic experts, led by the medical examiner, will analyze the skeletal remains and other bits of evidence. The former government intern, linked to Representative Gary Condit, was last seen on April 30th of last year.
She left her apartment with her keys, but apparently, little else. Based on her habits and clothing found at the scene, there is speculation she may have gone jogging in that park. There were prior assaults on women in the area where Levy's body was found, and sources say investigators are looking for a possible connection.
For more on he Chandra Levy mystery and the new direction the investigation may be taking, let's go live now to CNN national correspondent, Bob Franken, who joins us live from Rock Creek Park -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Kate I think the word is directions, plural. If you look right by me, you see a police tape that wasn't here until about an hour ago. They have expanded the scene. The crime scene it would be called if they'd establish it's a crime. They're looking for any evidence they can find here, remains, evidence that might contribute to their knowledge of what caused the demise of Chandra Levy.
They also brought out recruits from the D.C. Police Academy, fanning them out to search the area again. These are the same class of policemen and women who had searched Rock Creek Park its entirety, at least in the Washington area last year without success. Now they are scouring a smaller area, but one that is expanding.
Now, as far the possibility of assaults in this area at about the same time, police have expressed a very strong interest -- a very strong interest in a man whose name is Imar Juandocky (ph). He is a prisoner. He's serving 10 years in a prison in North Carolina for assaults in this area, this part of Rock Creek Park in May and July of last year. Remember, Chandra Levy disappeared May 1st. In May and July of last year, he was convicted for taking women joggers, trying to grab them behind the back and hold them at knifepoint.
Both of the women were able to escape. The woman in July contacted the police. He was arrested 45 minutes later and he is now serving time in prison. There are so many coincidences that police say this is one that they have to look at very, very closely. There are plans to talk to him again to see what they can learn.
Police said from the moment that the remains were found yesterday, their interests were peaked in this man. Park Police spokesman talked to us earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had those two cases. We convicted -- we got the conviction on the subject. We turned that information over to the Metropolitan Police Department and I know that they're going to look into everything as thoroughly as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: And of course one of the principal figures in this case, Congressman Gary Condit is quoted by an associate as saying that he hopes what is found here -- quote -- "exonerates him". Kate.
SNOW: Bob Franken reporting tonight from Washington. Thank you. The man heading the investigation into what happened to Chandra Levy is here with us in Washington. D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey joins us now live. Thanks for being with us on a busy day.
CHIEF CHARLES RAMSEY, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: Thank you.
SNOW: How soon before you know when she died and how long the body has been there? RAMSEY: Really difficult to say. The medical examiner has the remains now. Because they are skeletal remains it does take some time before they can make that determination. We don't have a real timeline, but I'm hopeful that it won't take too long.
SNOW: Do you suspect this is now a homicide?
RAMSEY: Well we're carrying it as a death investigation. Only the medical examiner can determine manner and cause of death. But we're handling it as if it were a homicide, which we would do at any death investigation in terms of processing the scene and so forth.
SNOW: Given where she was found, though, does that offer any indications in that direction? I mean she was not in a very well traveled area.
RAMSEY: Well you're right. I mean it's very suspicious, the circumstances around her death obviously, but we are waiting for the official ruling from the medical examiner. But that doesn't mean that we are aggressively working it.
SNOW: What exactly was found? We know there were bones, a skull. There have been some reports that perhaps the skull was cracked, maybe you can address that for us and also was there clothing, a walkman?
RAMSEY: Well skeletal remains, we did get clothing, different items of clothing consistent with the kind of clothing that she wore, athletic wear. There was a walkman that was recovered. As far as any injury to any parts of the body, I'll refrain from answering that directly right now because it has to be determined whether or not any of that would have occurred as a result of an injury inflicted upon her or some kind of accident or animals attacking the body later.
SNOW: Any hair or blood ...
RAMSEY: Well again, it's been exposed to the elements for some time. We do have clothing. It could have fibers, hair, semen, blood, but it's going to take some analysis in order to determine that.
SNOW: As far as this area, you combed this area, police in conjunction with several other agencies; your group went through that area foot-by-foot last summer. Why did you not discover the body then? Do you think maybe it was buried? Was it buried?
RAMSEY: Well I mean that is a possibility, but Rock Creek Park is over 1700 acres. It's very, very rugged. It's really an urban force for people that aren't familiar with Rock Creek Park and this is at the base of a very steep cliff, an actual cliff. There's a path not too far away, but then there's a very steep cliff and the remains were found at the bottom underneath about a foot of under brush and foliage.
SNOW: You heard mention just now from Bob Franken, that there is a man in jail -- I'm sure you're aware of this man, who is serving out 10 years for assaulting two other women, separate incidents last summer, one in May and one in July. Have you talked to this man since yesterday?
RAMSEY: Well, actually we spoke to him some time ago and we planned to perhaps visit again and talk to him once more.
(CROSSTALK)
RAMSEY: But not since yesterday? In fact, there are probably several people that we'll want to talk to including new canvases that will be conducted in the area of Rock Creek Park.
SNOW: So you've known about this case, that this gentleman was arrested and had gone to ...
RAMSEY: We have been looking at all kinds of cases that could possibly be connected, but at the moment we don't have anyone that ties anyone into the disappearance of Chandra Levy.
SNOW: Does it -- I mean it seems very coincidental that this gentleman was found guilty of assaulting these two other women in a very, very similar part -- the path of Rock Creek Park if I ...
RAMSEY: Yes but we ...
SNOW: ...understand correctly.
RAMSEY: ... but we can't make the leap from that to anything to do with Chandra Levy. First we have to make determine if, in fact, she was murdered. Secondly, then we have to tie this person if even that person is even involved into that particular crime. So there's quite a leap and we need evidence to do that.
SNOW: And one last question for you. Congressman Gary Condit, do you plan to interview him again?
RAMSEY: I don't know if there'll be a need to interview him again or not. Detectives, U.S. attorney, the FBI, and all of us working the case will sit down and discuss who, if anyone, needs to be spoken to again and if so, then that's what we will do.
SNOW: Police Chief Charles Ramsey, thanks so much for coming in.
RAMSEY: Thank you.
SNOW: Appreciate it. Our Web question of the day, will the Chandra Levy case ever be solved? Vote at cnn.com/wolf and while you're there, you can let us know what you are thinking as well. You can send us your comments and we'll read some of them each day on the air. Also, you can read Wolf's daily online column. That's at cnn.com/wolf.
Police are hoping more pieces of the puzzle in the Levy mystery will fall together once the medical examiner's office issues its report. Now, the question is, will experts be able to gather enough information from the decomposed remains to determine a cause and a time of death? Joining us with a little more insight on this is James Starrs, a professor of forensic science at George Washington University here in Washington. Thanks for joining us.
PROF. JAMES STARRS, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Good evening.
SNOW: You ...
STARRS: All three of us.
SNOW: Yes, you got a couple of skulls there with you. We want to talk about that in all seriousness. What can forensic scientists determine in terms of injury? Let's start with that, from looking at skull or looking at bone fragments?
STARRS: Well we can determine quite a good deal. First of all you'll notice here that we do not have the lower jaw. That's quite typical with respect to finding skeletonized (ph) remains in the skull. The lower jaw is very loosely articulated.
SNOW: Is that a female or male?
STARRS: This one, I would -- I would say is female and this one is male. And this skull looks to be very intact and so on until you turn it over on this side and then you realize that we have a massive area of collapse of the skull. In addition you have an area here where -- what we call the mastoid process is missing. You see the mastoid process on this side but not here. This would indicate the likelihood of two individual blows or a blunt force possible trauma to the skull. Those would -- this certainly would be a killing blow, would be a fatal blow. And then you see the line going across the skull indicative of the fracture line from that particular break. So that we can't say that this person died from that fracture, but we can say that that fracture would have killed them.
SNOW: Yes.
STARRS: It could well be they were strangled first and then the insult to the skull ...
SNOW: Yes.
STARRS: ... occurred afterwards.
SNOW: I guess another thing that people have been talking about is could you tell whether a body has been moved to the location? Can you tell how long it's been sitting there, based or what -- things about the environment based on what the skull looks like or what the bones look like?
STARRS: Well, it's going to be very difficult with respect to skeletal remains. If you have flesh you can tell if there are drag marks and so on ...
SNOW: But in this case probably no flesh. STARRS: Right. The fact that the bones have been scattered from the location also indicating animal ravaging makes it much more difficult to make those determinations, but the bones themselves can tell you a great deal particularly with respect to whether it's after death or before death. The body immediately tries to restore itself upon suffering an impact during life, and we can tell from the cellular structure microscopically whether that's true or not.
SNOW: How specific a date do you think they will eventually be able to get in terms of when the death occurred and how long does it take to determine that?
STARRS: I don't think there's going to be very much probability with respect to making a determination as to precisely the moment at which she died except from some of the circumstantial evidence as to when she was last seen. Again, the difficulty is we don't have the stomach contents. We don't have some of the other organs that could give us a B line on that issue.
SNOW: One last quick question for you, beyond the bones there was also a walkman and clothing found. The chief just said that perhaps they could find some blood, semen, other ...
STARRS: Fingerprints.
SNOW: Fingerprints.
STARRS: That's quite possible with respect to ...
SNOW: All of that, would that be degraded by the weather over the past year?
STARRS: Not necessarily. People wrongfully think that fingerprints would be obliterated by rain and snow, that's not true, particularly if there is some protection by leaf cover or otherwise.
SNOW: Dr. James Starr, thank you -- Starrs ...
STARRS: Thank you.
SNOW: ... excuse me, thank you so much for joining us ...
STARRS: Thank you very much.
SNOW: ... Professor at George Washington University, appreciate your time.
Now to the war on terror, one of the airliners seized on September 11th did not reach its target. It crashed in a field in Pennsylvania when passengers battled the hijackers. After talking to a captured al Qaeda, U.S. authorities now say they know what the terrorists had in mind.
CNN national security correspondent David Ensor joins us now live with more -- David. DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, Abu Zubaydah the most senior of the al Qaeda prisoners that the U.S. is holding and interrogating has told U.S. officials that that fourth plane was aimed at the White House. That is what he is telling them, that it was going to try and hit the White House in downtown Washington, D.C. Of course it ended up instead in a field in Pennsylvania. The passengers had resisted the hijackers and very courageously stopped the hijacking effort, but it cost them their lives and that is where things ended up.
Officials say that they treat what everything Abu Zubaydah says with a good deal of skepticism. They check it out very carefully, but in this case there are some other reasons for them to believe that most likely the White House was indeed the main target. They have other information from Zubaydah that they have not -- not revealing publicly, that they've crossed checked with other intelligence that leads them to believe that he is telling the truth, some of the time at least, and in this case as well Kate.
SNOW: ... tonight reporting, thank you so much.
Insider information on your security, what the terrorists have, what you need to know in the wake of warnings about potential attacks. Wolf talks one-on-one with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
A parent's worse nightmare, a child missing, the critical steps you need to take to protect your kids. I'll talk with actress and activist, Jamie Lee Curtis.
And why is it so hard to lose weight and then keep it off? A new discovery may explain why dieters often fail. First, today's news quiz.
Americans are increasingly turning to weight loss surgery to help slim down. How overweight do you have to be to qualify as a candidate for weight loss surgery, which reduces the size of the stomach -- 50 pounds, 75 pounds, 100 pounds or 125 pounds? The answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SNOW: The Pentagon today dropped a bombshell after complaints from aging and ailing veterans. It now admits it used an actual nerve gas and other agents in tests involving U.S. military personnel during the 1960s.
Let's go live now to CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kate, these were done in the 1960s to test whether U.S. Navy ships could survive an attack by chemical or biological agents. Up until now the Pentagon had basically said these tests were done with harmless stimulants (ph), not actual biological or nerve agents. But after complaints from complaints from veterans, an investigation that began in August of 2000 has revealed that of 12 tests conducted, some used actual deadly VX (ph) and saran (ph) nerve gas, although the Pentagon insists during those tests the military personnel involved were protected at the time according to the standards of the time.
But they also admit that by today's standard those military personnel were not fully informed of all the risks that might be involved in the test. As a precaution they are notifying some 600 personnel who were crews or somehow involved in these tests in the 1960s involving the actual deadly VX (ph) and saran (ph) nerve gas to tell them of their involvement in case they were unsure. Altogether, about 2700 people were involved, but not all of those are still alive today because these tests, as I said, were conducted nearly 40 years ago -- Kate.
SNOW: Jamie McIntyre, thank you.
What do terrorists have in store for America? How deadly is the threat? Today, Wolf Blitzer sat down one-on-one with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who, as usual, pulls no punches.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Mr. Secretary, thanks once again for joining us. You caused some alarm bells on Tuesday when you spoke out about the notion that the terrorists were going to get chemical, biological, perhaps even nuclear weapons. It was inevitable you said. Was that based on a hunch or some hard new intelligence information that you have?
RUMSFELD: Wolf, I didn't set off any alarm bells. The press did. I was asked in a Senate hearing to respond to a question by Senator Inouye, I did. And I said exactly what I have been saying for six, eight, ten, twelve months. Nothing new, nothing notable other than the truth, which is extremely important and that is that there are a series of terrorist states, that everyone knows which ones they are, that have weapons of mass destruction. They have chemical weapons; they have biological weapons for the most part.
Some have or shortly will have nuclear weapons and they have close relationships with terrorist states. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that because of those relationships and that nexus, that connection, that we have to expect that global terrorist networks that we know are trying to get these weapons will in fact be successful at some point n the future. That's all I said.
BLITZER: Is there some new information, though, that's come to you?
RUMSFELD: There's new information every day. We see all kinds of intelligence information and there's no question that exactly what I said is correct, that we do have evidence that they have been trying to get these kinds of capabilities, particularly chemical and biological and that the countries that they have relationships with do have these capabilities.
BLITZER: And let's review those countries -- Iran, be one of them?
RUMSFELD: Certainly Iran, certainly Iraq ... BLITZER: Which groups are (UNITELLIGIBLE) ...
RUMSFELD: Certainly North Korea. Syria has chemical and biological weapons. The -- Libya has been on the terrorist list as another country, another example.
BLITZER: Supposedly ...
RUMSFELD: (UNITELLIGIBLE) on the terrorist list.
BLITZER: What are you going to do about it?
RUMSFELD: Well, let me ask you a question.
BLITZER: I thought I was supposed to ask ...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: ... I thought I was supposed to ask ...
RUMSFELD: Did what I just said sound -- send off alarm bells?
BLITZER: It does to me. I've heard it before, but ...
RUMSFELD: Well you have.
BLITZER: But it's still alarming to hear the secretary of defense say that it's only a matter of time before people who hate the United States, terrorists who have shown no reluctance in the past to kill as many Americans as possible, that they might get their hands on chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons.
RUMSFELD: But it should come as no more newsworthy today than it did three, six, eight, nine months ago.
BLITZER: Coming on the heels of what the vice president said on Sunday when he said that the suicide bombings that have occurred, the types of suicide bombings that have occurred in Israel could spill over here to the United States ...
RUMSFELD: What the vice president said was exactly correct ...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: And the FBI ...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: ... the FBI Director Mueller made a similar comment on Monday in Alexandria, Virginia, then you on Tuesday, it sounded, at least to some of your critics as if you were trying to change the subject from the questions about ...
RUMSFELD: That's the conspiratorial view of the world. I get asked a question, I answer it honestly and then the "Washington Post" has an editorial saying my goodness, there's something going on here. Baloney, that's nonsense. I was asked a question, I gave a proper answer, the same answer I've given repeatedly.
BLITZER: Let me ask you this, the kind of suicide bombings, the soft targets, the restaurants, the coffee shops, the malls, what we've seen in Israel. Are you concerned that could happen here?
RUMSFELD: I think that when you have terrorists that are looking for ways to attack a country like the United States, they're not likely to go against our armies, navies or air forces. They're likely to go after asymmetrical advantages that they can achieve, and that includes ballistic missiles, includes cruise missiles. It includes cyber attacks. It includes the kinds of things we saw on September 11.
It includes suicide bombings. All of those things are the kinds of things that they can do because we are a free people, because the terrorists can attack any place at any time, using any technique, and you can't defend everywhere at everytime, which is why President Bush's approach is so silent and so solid and so important. We simply have to go after the global terrorists, where they are and root them out and deal with countries that are harboring those terrorists.
BLITZER: And remember the president said the United States will not differentiate between terrorists and those states that harbor terrorists. But you're suggesting that states like Iran and Syria are harboring and supporting terrorists. Iraq, to a certain degree, of course, as well. What are you doing about that?
RUMSFELD: Well there's a full spectrum of things one can do ranging from diplomatic and economic. If you want me to take Iraq, what we're doing, that Congress has passed a law suggesting that they believe that regime change is the proper thing for Iraq, that Saddam Hussein's regime, it's so clear the way they repress their people. It's so clear that they're developing weapons of mass destruction. Now how do you -- how do you do that? Well there's lots of things one does.
There are diplomatic steps. There's economic steps. We're using these northern and southern no-fly zones now to keep them constrained and try to reduce their ability to be successful in their quest towards nuclear weapons.
BLITZER: There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of support among the allies in Europe or the moderate Arab states for another U.S. military strike at Iraq with the aim of regime change or getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Can you go it alone?
RUMSFELD: I'm not going to get into that. You can be sure the United States isn't going to do anything that it's not capable of doing, and if we do something, we'll be capable of doing it. But it's not for me to make those judgments.
BLITZER: You saw the story in today's "USA Today" on the front page suggesting that your military chiefs are not enthusiastic about going after Iraq right now, that military might be stretched too thin already in Afghanistan. RUMSFELD: I glanced at it. I didn't read it. The -- I meet with those folks all the time. I have no reason to give credence to that.
BLITZER: Obviously, there's no specific authorization from the president yet to take military action against the Iraqis, but you probably noticed in the last few days alone, that there were several incidents that the U.S. was shot at by Iraqi ground fire in the no-fly zones and the U.S. shot right back. Is that situation heating up right now?
RUMSFELD: No, we -- our aircraft and the coalition aircraft, we have -- the British fly those missions as well. And we get shot at from time to time and in almost every instance, find an opportunity to go back and attempt to destroy the surface-to-air missiles or the anti-aircraft or the radars that were coordinating the ground fire. It happens, you know, once or twice a week. There has not been any noticeable change in recent period with respect to the frequency.
BLITZER: The dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians, how much of a setback has that been in your planning for the possible resumption of military strikes against Iraq?
RUMSFELD: Well that, question is promised on a set of assumptions about Iraq that seems to me are, you know, not on the table. I would say that it is unfortunate that Israel and the Palestinians are engaged in a process which is killing lots of people and another suicide bombing in Israel recently, which is a terrorist act. But it is -- it isn't effecting anything other than causing great harm to the people in the region.
BLITZER: Let's talk about the war in Afghanistan. Some critics now and you know there's always going to be some critics, they're coming out and suggesting U.S. is getting bogged down, Operation Anaconda becomes Operation Mountain Lion, becomes Operation Condor, and that you're not really engaged in significant military action against al Qaeda and Taliban forces recently.
RUMSFELD: Well of course the press is impatient. They are constantly wanting high drama and bombs dropping and flares going up and lights and sound. The fact of the matter is we are doing what we say we were going to do on September 10 and -- September 11 and 12 and 13. We are using all elements of national power to put pressure on terrorists. Some of it is visible. Some of it is not visible. We're drying up bank accounts. We're making it more difficult to transfer money.
We're making it more difficult for them to recruit. We've changed the government in Afghanistan from the Taliban terrorist harboring collection of thugs to a -- an interim government headed by Mr. Karzai that is attempting to move it towards a transitional government. Every time in every place we see concentrations of al Qaeda or Taliban or global terrorists, we will go in and attack them. They know that and every place there were concentrations, we went and attacked them and we killed a lot of them, and we captured a lot of them. They don't get into concentrations any more. Now they're hiding in caves, and they're hiding in tunnels and they're in small groups, and they're much more difficult to find. They're less of a military task now than a law enforcement and an intelligence gathering task ...
BLITZER: And you're still working on the assumption Osama bin Laden is alive.
RUMSFELD: I don't have to have an assumption. I don't know if he is or isn't. We've not heard a sound from him since last December.
BLITZER: These recent videotapes that have surfaced are old stuff?
RUMSFELD: That's what everyone seems to conclude. I haven't bothered to look at them, but it doesn't make a difference in this sense. If he's alive, he is clearly having a tough time running his organization. There's so much pressure on him. If he's not alive, there are four, five, six, eight people who can step right in and run the organization. They know where the bank accounts are. They know where the weapons are hidden. They know the training manuals. They can set up a training camp somewhere else. There's lots of places in the world that are not being governed, if you will, where they could set up training camps and if they do, we'll find them and we'll go after them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Join us tomorrow when the defense secretary talks to Wolf about something many of us consider unthinkable, at the heart of it, growing tension between two nuclear
END
SNOW: Join us tomorrow when the Defense Secretary talks to Wolf about something many of us consider unthinkable. At the heart of it, growing tension between two nuclear-armed neighbors over the border they share.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUMSFELD: Millions of people would die in the event that there was a nuclear exchange between those two countries. Water supplies would be damaged. Agriculture would be damaged. Their economies would both go into the tank. Neighboring countries would be adversely affected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: More from Secretary Rumsfeld tomorrow night. Are Americans taking terror warnings seriously? The results of a new poll just ahead; missing children found and reunited with the people who saved them, lessons learned from those who've lived the nightmare. And are you desperately dieting? We'll tell you why scientists think you may not be losing weight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SNOW: Joseph Gray, a disgraced New York City policeman is being sent to prison for 15 years, his sentence for killing a family while drinking and driving. Gray's minivan plowed into the Herrera family as they were crossing a street last August, killing the mother, her son, her unborn child and her sister.
Officials in Paris say there's no evidence of foul play in a fire that gutted the Israeli Embassy there overnight. Instead, it might have been an electrical short in part of the building that was under renovation. Eight firefighters were slightly injured.
Government prosecutors say the accused shoe bomber, Richard Reid, told his mother why he wanted to blow up an American Airlines plane last December. Prosecutors say Reid wrote her in an e-mail that attacking America was "his duty as a Muslim and that carrying out an airplane attack during the holiday season would cause the American public to stop traveling."
A new CNN/USA Today Gallup Poll indicates the public is taking seriously all those terror alerts that have been issued recently. Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they believe an attack is likely in the next few weeks, and even more expressed confidence in the government's ability to protect them.
A separate Gallup poll shows Americans overwhelmingly approve of President Bush's mission to Moscow. For more on that, let's go to our Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty. Jill, in the past these summits between the Americans and the Russians have often involved arms control. Is that the case this time around?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, it is to a certain extent. There will be a major, you could call it, arms control agreement that is going to be cutting the deployed nuclear warheads by two-thirds over the next ten years.
But, Kate, this is a very different type of agreement. The old ones used to be hundreds of pages long, very specific and lots of detail. This one is essentially kind of a roadmap that allows them to at least put on paper what they want to agree at at this point.
But it is not specific. It allows both sides really to do pretty much what they want to do with the remaining missiles, or the remaining warheads that they will have. So it's a different type of agreement, less specific, but nonetheless important in the long run for what it doesn't say.
SNOW: And, Jill, how is President Bush being received by the Russian people there? DOUGHERTY: Well, if you look at the polls and you look at, in fact, a demonstration today as President Bush was arriving at the airport, just before that, there was a demonstration by the communists over at the American Embassy.
And essentially what the communists say is, President Putin has sold the country down the river to the United States, that Mr. Putin gave too much, gave everything to George Bush and he did not defend the interests of Russia.
This is a feeling and an opinion that some people do have here, and you would have to say that there is still a significant amount of anti-American feeling.
Much of it is based on the idea that the United States throw around its weight too much in the world, dictates to the world what it wants to do. And that's a strong feeling here, Kate, indeed.
SNOW: Jill Dougherty, our Moscow Bureau Chief, thank you so much. Parents, listen up. Do you know your child's weight, height, eye color? You might be surprised how many parents don't know those basics offhand. When we come back, we'll talk with actress Jamie Lee Curtis about her drive to protect children from predators and what parents need to know.
Also ahead the dieting dilemma; why it's so hard to keep the weight off. But first after the break, dramatic video just released of a Coast Guard cutter off the Bahamas. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SNOW: Checking our newswire, the Coast Guard has released a dramatic infrared video taken off the Bahamas this month. A boat crammed with dozens of Haitian migrants tipped over, causing everyone to fall into the water. Seventy-three people were rescued. At least 13 Haitians died. The Coast Guard says small, poorly-built boats like this one are routinely used to transport undocumented migrants from Haiti to the Bahamas or the U.S.
Forest Service officials are calling this fire in Colorado the number one firefighting priority in the country at the moment. Four thousand acres are burning near Deckers (ph) in the Pike National Forest. Hundreds of people have been evacuated, while hundreds of firefighters are trying to bring the flames under control.
A birthday party for a famous New York City landmark is being delayed. Looming threats of more terror attacks in the city and the security demands of Fleet Week have forced officials to cancel the June 2nd celebration marking 119 years for the Brooklyn Bridge. The festivities will be rescheduled for a later date.
In Miami this evening, a circuit court judge is expected to announce which records will be made public in the Rilya Wilson case. The five-year-old girl had been missing since January of last year, but her disappearance was discovered only last month. Rilya had been under state supervision. Rilya Wilson is just one of the thousands of children reported missing each year, 2,000 a day are reported missing. Activists hope to focus attention on their plight during National Missing Children's Day to be observed this Saturday, and joining us now, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who's also been an activist on this issue. Thanks for being here with us.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS, ACTRESS/ACTIVIST: Thank you.
SNOW: Something interesting we pointed our earlier in the show. A lot of parents don't know their children's weight, height, eye color, things you would think people notice.
CURTIS: The type of information though that is the most important information that a law enforcement officer will need if, God forbid, you have to report your child missing, that and a current photograph. And, it is a staggering thing to hear that 30 percent of parents don't know that and yet completely understandable, given the incredible demands of dual working families, people with many children.
And yet, there is a wonderful program underway that is being offered free of charge at your local Ford dealerships, which is really the program I'm sponsoring, which is the Commitment to Kids certified Ford program.
And what it is, is you're allowed to take your child to any dealer that is offering this program and have them photographed and fingerprinted, and then the information of their stats, you know their height, weight, description, hair color, et cetera, other pertinent information and then you're given this kit.
SNOW: Which you can take home?
CURTIS: Keep it with your passport, your other important papers, because you know, God forbid you have to report your child missing. This is the tool the law enforcement officer is going to need, and it's being offered in conjunction with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and also as you said, Saturday is National Missing Children's Day.
And, of course, today in the news we're hearing one story of a family, of a child who obviously the remains have been found, the Rilya Wilson child. There are so many cases we hear about in the news.
SNOW: Two thousand a day according to the -
CURTIS: Seven hundred and twenty-five thousand children a year reported missing. It's astounding to the FBI.
SNOW: How many of those are reunited with their families? How many make it home?
CURTIS: You know what, it's hard to know because, of course, these are criminal cases and therefore they're private. This isn't a public forum. But obviously, the numbers are going down. They're the lowest ever, and yet the numbers are still staggering, so it's sort of a quandary because we're getting better -- I think we're getting better because of media.
A lot of attention is being focused. TV shows like "America's Most Wanted," which helps find missing children. There have been a lot of cases of children being found now with those cards, those identification cards that you see in the mail and in the post office.
We heard a story today, this morning we were at the Congressional Breakfast honoring police officers that have...
SNOW: Who helped reunite families?
CURTIS: No, that have found missing children through their incredible police work, and they were there along with the children. And being there on behalf of Ford Motor Company, as a corporate sponsor doing this, to be there in this community of law enforcement personnel and people united to trying to bring these children home, it was very moving, and incredibly gratifying.
SNOW: How did you get into this? You're an actress. You don't have to do this?
CURTIS: You know, I'm an actress for a long time. I'm a child author. I write books for small children. I have two children of my own, a 15 and a six-year-old, and I really do believe that fame is designed, you know besides the fun of being in the movies and stuff and I've had a good time, I think that if there is a reason for being famous.
If there is a reason for attracting media attention, it is to then deflect it immediately to causes that need attention, and there's no more important cause than the plight of children. Children's health causes, children's you know obviously safety issues. This program that Ford is offering, and this is, by the way free of charge. It costs you nothing.
SNOW: And I suppose you could just do that at home too if you don't want to take the time to go?
CURTIS: You could it at home, except that it does give you the opportunity to have it done: a) by a police officer. When you go into a Ford dealership --
SNOW: This registers them then?
CURTIS: No, there's absolutely no database. This is not about kind of Big Brother and people having your personal information. Quite frankly, you use a charge card, you give more personal information than this does.
This is a program for you to be able to talk about safety with your children and have a tool that God forbid you need to use it, you have in that moment of panic, you can do it.
SNOW: Talking about it is so important too. Jamie Lee Curtis, thank you so much for dropping by.
CURTIS: Thank you. I look forward to seeing you again.
SNOW: You'll be in Washington for a couple days. Thank you. Still ahead, that age-old question, once you get the weight off, why's it so hard to keep it off? Scientists say they may have an answer when we come back.
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SNOW: Earlier we asked, how overweight do you have to be to qualify as a candidate for weight loss surgery? Doctors say those who are 100 pounds overweight or morbidly obese are candidates for the surgery, which reduces the size of the stomach.
It's something you've probably always suspected. After losing weight, your body isn't as satisfied with the results as you are, and it sets out on a new mission to fatten you up. Researchers now say there could actually be a medical explanation for that. CNN Medical Correspondent Rea Blakey can explain.
REA BLAKEY, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well let's hope so, Kate. I like to blame my friends for bringing birthday cakes and donuts and so forth, but the research is about something called Ghrelin and it could turn out to be a major contributor in the unprecedented worldwide obesity epidemic.
Now it's the first hormone found to trigger appetite in humans. The research so far very preliminary, a lot more work needs to be done. But a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine today concludes that Ghrelin, which is secreted in the stomach, definitely plays a role in the long-term regulation of body weight.
In fact, it appears to protect the body from weight loss, from famine specifically. The study compared just 13 obese people, a small study, who dieted for six months, compared them with five people who had undergone gastric bypass, stomach stapling, and finally there was a control group of people of normal weight.
Now the gastric bypass patients had a steep drop in Ghrelin levels, almost 80 percent lower than people of normal weight. That may explain why people who have had their stomachs stapled often are able to keep off those large amounts of weight for years.
Now among the dieting obese, the researchers noted that the greater the weight loss, the higher the post diet Ghrelin levels. Now the researchers theorize that the boosted Ghrelin production may be the body's way of protecting against what it perceives to be a famine when you're eating less food.
Now, of course, today's obesity epidemic proves that most people in developed countries do eat plenty. In fact, too many people are eating too much. Obesity is a global epidemic and is a leading cause of illness and death worldwide.
Well since the discovery of Ghrelin in 1999, researchers have suggested that a drug might one day be created to block Ghrelin. In the meantime, a lot more research needs to be conducted. SNOW: Has any research been done before about Ghrelin? Any other studies?
BLAKEY: There was a study just last year in Britain, and basically what they did is confirm its ability to trigger appetite. So they know that's exactly what it does. The other information that's ongoing now, they want to look more at what the stomach stapling does and how bypassing the stomach may have an effect on its production.
SNOW: Fascinating stuff, Rea Blakey, thanks. Let's go to New York now and get a preview of Lou Dobbs MONEYLINE, which begins at the top of the hour. Jan Hopkins is sitting in for Lou tonight. Jan.
JAN HOPKINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Kate. Coming up on "MONEYLINE" President Bush is in Moscow. He'll sign a historic treaty drastically reducing U.S. and Russian nuclear forces. We'll have the live report from Moscow.
The White House turning over more Enron files, we'll tell you why a Senate committee wants them, and the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance is putting doctors out of business. We'll have a special report, all of that and a lot more at the top of the hour, back to Kate.
SNOW: You have two minutes to weigh in with you opinion. Our web question of the day asks: Will the Chandra Levy case ever be solved? We'll have the results when we return, and we'll read some of your e- mail as well.
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SNOW: Now for the results of our web question of the day. Earlier we asked: Will the Chandra Levy case ever be solved? Fifty- five percent of you said yes, while 45 percent of you said no. Remember, this is not a scientific poll.
Time now to hear from you, Cindy writes: "I wish the government would stop these terrorist threat warnings. They are playing right into the hands of the terrorists. These warnings are scaring the living daylights out of people. I live beside a nuclear plant and don't need to be any more scared than I already am."
Julius poses this question: "At this time last year, the U.S. media were so preoccupied with the Chandra Levy case that no one in the country had heard of al Qaeda. Now we know what they're capable of. Are we again pushing the terror threats facing the nation to the back burner and bringing the Levy case to the headlines?"
One last note tonight from Jamie Lee Curtis who was our guest just a short time ago, she wanted us to mention that if you're interested in filling out one of those cards that she had, you can go to a Ford dealership to do that and you can find out where you can go at this number, 866-BLUE-OVAL. That's 866-BLUE-OVAL.
We have a little breaking news, a little breaking news to tell you about. Legendary golfer Sam Snead has died. We'll have more on that just as soon as we know anymore. For now, I'm Kate Snow in Washington. Wolf Blitzer will be back tomorrow and Lou Dobbs "MONEYLINE" begins right now.
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