Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Intelligence Reform; Future of NASA; '90-Second Pop'
Aired December 17, 2004 - 07:32 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Miles O'Brien is in for Bill Hemmer, who maybe he's still traveling.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He's still on that plane, I think, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: It's a long flight, but it's not that long of a flight.
M. O'BRIEN: Hopefully they've fueled up.
S. O'BRIEN: He's got the day off.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, he's got the day off. He's hanging around. All right. Well, I hope he's enjoying it. I hope he's not watching. I hope he's sleeping in. Whatever time it is for him. All right.
S. O'BRIEN: No, we hope he's watching. Hi, Bill.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Hello again. Are we really going back to the moon, Alice? Yes, maybe. We'll talk about what the retiring NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe has to say about that. O'Keefe presided over a lot of changes, to say the least, in the past few years during his tenure at the helm of NASA. We'll talk about his legacy and some of the unfinished business.
S. O'BRIEN: Also, this morning, "90-Second Pop." Donald Trump has picked another protege. Hs latest apprentice was named last night. Did he get it right? Are people still buying what Trump is trying to sell? Our panel is going to weigh in on all of that.
M. O'BRIEN: You know, it was a Kelly love fest last night. A Kelly love fest.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: And I kept thinking of you.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You did?
M. O'BRIEN: You know, I was just thinking -- but it's not you.
WALLACE: But it's not me.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. They kept saying how great Kelly wasn't.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, we love Kelly.
M. O'BRIEN: But it was Kelly, the guy.
WALLACE: It's another Kelly, all right.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, thanks for giving away the punch line on who won.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh!
S. O'BRIEN: I'm just kidding.
M. O'BRIEN: I've got to go now. What time is my flight?
WALLACE: Anyway, but let's move right along. All right. Hello again, everybody.
"Now in the News."
The Iraqi government is preparing for war crimes trials for several former members of Saddam Hussein's regime. Meanwhile, the former Iraqi dictator himself met with a member of his defense team yesterday for the first time since his capture one year ago. We'll hear from a member of Saddam's legal team in our next hour.
Renewed violence overnight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli forces raiding a refugee camp in southern Gaza, saying at least six Palestinians were killed. But the Palestinians are disputing the number of casualties. The Israelis moving in to destroy buildings, where they say -- where they suspect weapons were stored.
And a security guard is headed to court this morning, charged in connection with last week's fires at a Maryland housing development. Police say 21-year-old Aaron Speed (ph) worked at the complex where the fires were set December 6. Ten homes under construction were destroyed, 30 others were damaged. Investigators are still looking into whether other people might have been involved.
And when these fires broke out, there was some discussion about, could it be eco-terrorism? Because environmental groups opposed the site very close to a nature preserve. But authorities are ruling out any connection to that.
S. O'BRIEN: OK, Kelly, thanks.
WALLACE: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: In just few hours from now, President Bush is going to sign the 9/11 reform bill into law. The intelligence overhaul was set in motion by the 9/11 Commission and approved by Congress earlier this month. Suzanne Malveaux, live for us at the White House with more on this, this morning.
Hey, Suzanne, good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
This really is seen as the first big test for President Bush's leadership, whether or not he can convince his own party to pass this intelligence reform legislation. It was not easy. It was back in July when the 9/11 Commission presented its recommendations for reforming intelligence.
But the president and the vice president had to directly get involved in the process. That is because some of the Republican leadership threatened to derail actually passing this legislation over issues of immigration and a power play involving the Pentagon.
After the president made phone calls and even public appeals, they were able finally to get a compromise, an agreement here for the legislation.
And just some of the highlights of the intelligence reform bill includes creating a position of the national intelligence director, establishing a federal counterterrorism center, unifying all 15 spy agencies, increasing border patrol by 2,000 agents each year for five years. It also provides $83 million to hire more air marshals, allows federal agents to pursue independent terrorism suspects, and finally creates a civil liberties watchdog panel.
Now, Soledad, it's fair to say that the White House went through somewhat of an evolution in actually approving this bill. But having said that and having done that, the White House sees this as its first post-election success -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning. Suzanne, thanks.
CNN, of course, is going to have live coverage of this morning's signing ceremony, President Bush signing that 9/11 intelligence reform bill at 9:55 a.m. Eastern Time. Obvious 6:55 on the West Coast -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Through tragedy and rebirth at NASA, Sean O'Keefe has been a steady hand at the head of the space agency for the past three years. He is stepping down now to take on new some challenges, moving to academia. What will this mean for the future of the U.S. space program?
I spoke with O'Keefe from Washington about NASA's future and his tenure after the Columbia shuttle disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: I think it was a defining moment for the agency overall. And indeed it reminded us of how challenging and how much risk there is with space exploration. But at the same time, I think it reminds us of the price that we really must continue to pay to be diligent in order to continue that exploration objective.
The president said, you know, exploration is not an option we choose; it's a desire within the human heart. We all, you know, see advances in human history that have occurred as a consequence of exploring and understanding what's on the other side of that ridge. And it's just a matter of being cognizant of what that risk is.
M. O'BRIEN: You mentioned the president. Out of the ashes of Columbia came the president's proposal for NASA to return to the moon and ultimately press on towards Mars. As you leave, are you confident NASA is funded properly to do something as audacious as that?
O'KEEFE: Absolutely. I think the technology advances that have occurred in the last three decades now facilitate a whole new way of looking at that challenge. And moreover, as the president articulated, this is a journey, not a race. This is not a crash program. This is the development of technologies in order to achieve that set of objectives over a measured period of time. And this is now a very concerted, pointed strategy in order to achieve that objective.
M. O'BRIEN: Final thought here on the Hubble Space Telescope. As you leave, you leave pretty much adamantly opposed sending a shuttle up for a fifth Hubble repair mission, putting astronauts in risk in order to fix that telescope. A lot of opposition in the scientific community to that decision. The National Academy of Sciences recently coming out and saying it would be prudent and wise and worth the risk to do just that.
Is this a decision you're going to leave to your successor? Or will you be giving a strong recommendation on this?
O'KEEFE: Well, again, Miles, I think that the objective here is not so much the risk per se. It's really the fact that we've got to meet all of the recommendations of the Columbia accident investigation board. They laid out some very careful objectives on what's required. And if you can't achieve those objectives, you've got to wonder why you'd send a shuttle to an asset that has no means of recovery and no means of rescue other than an untried, untested approach that may be employed, if necessary.
So, you've got to be able to at least accomplish all of those objectives. Going to the space station is a whole lot different kettle of fish here, in which, once there, if you inspect the damage, you get an opportunity to do that more thoroughly, over a longer period of time, whereas it's a very short period of time you'd have on Hubble.
So, I think it's a trade-off, and it's one that I think is a capacity, too, on a robotic mission, to develop a brand-new technology that we need to have in order to pursue these broader exploration goals of which the imperative and the motivation to get on with it would be the service life extension of the Hubble itself. That's a pretty powerful motivation, and one that we ought to explore fully.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: That's Sean O'Keefe, the tenth NASA administrator, about to become the seventh chancellor of Louisiana State University.
Now, I've got some space food for you this morning. I was in Houston this week.
S. O'BRIEN: Yummy.
M. O'BRIEN: What do you think this is right here? I mean, it kind of looks like a Rice Krispie treat, right?
S. O'BRIEN: I was going to say, it's a Rice Krispie treat.
M. O'BRIEN: No. That's scrambled eggs, seasoned.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, that's nasty.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. So, we're going to try those. These are kind of obvious. These are smoked almonds.
S. O'BRIEN: Right. OK.
M. O'BRIEN: Quite tasty. And then finally, of course, you wouldn't have almonds for breakfast.
S. O'BRIEN: You might if this was your other option, scrambled eggs.
M. O'BRIEN: You might. This is coffee with sugar.
S. O'BRIEN: Is there some in it?
M. O'BRIEN: It's in there. You've got add water. Anyway, a little later I'm going to tell about what's going on in the space station. They're on, you know, kind of reduced rations right now. And I'm going on this diet.
S. O'BRIEN: OK.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I'm going to go on the diet, and I'm keeping...
S. O'BRIEN: It's all you.
M. O'BRIEN: You can sample all you want, all right?
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, stock prices. This close to a -- this close, this close.
S. O'BRIEN: This close.
M. O'BRIEN: We've got the visual cue here -- to a three and a half year high. Andy Serwer previews the market open.
S. O'BRIEN: Also, another prominent Republican is publicly questioning Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's leadership. A look at that's ahead in our next hour.
M. O'BRIEN: And parents may want to keep younger kids from seeing Jim Carrey's new children's movie. We were planning to see that this weekend. I don't know. Maybe your kids are too young for it.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Details ahead in "90-Second Pop." Stay with AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: The "Question of the Day," Jack Cafferty.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Miles.
At a White House ceremony this week, President Bush gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Iraqi administrator Paul Bremer, retired General Tommy Franks and former CIA Director George Tenet. Bremer was the one who disbanded the Iraqi army. Tommy Franks campaigned openly for Bush's re-election last summer. And George Tenet said it was a slam dunk that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction back when he was running the CIA.
The medal is considered this nation's highest civilian award, and it caught some people, frankly, by surprise when it was seen hanging around these three necks. Since its inception, the Medal of Freedom has been awarded to the likes of Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the pope.
So, here's the question: Who else should get the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
Dutch in Miamisburg, Ohio: "Karl Rove has earned the Freedom Medal. Like Mother Teresa, he has performed a miracle. Like the pope, he is infallible. And like George Tenet, he overlooked and misjudged obvious signs of poor intelligence while he did his job."
Jeff in Seattle writes: "My guess is that based on Bush's selections this year, he's kicking himself for not giving the Medal of Freedom to Paul O'Neill and Richard Clark. The medals might as well have been zippers to apply to the recipient's lips."
Michelle in Buffalo: "Did you know that during the previous Roman empire, Caligula appointed his favorite horse to the Senate? I'm not implying anything here."
And Dave writes from Japan, as I knew he would: "Jack, he's dead. But how about Tensing Norge (ph)? You know, the sherpa (ph) that basically piggybacked Edmond Hillary up Mount Everest. The guy is due for some recognition. Hillary got knighted; Tensing (ph) got Bupkcas (ph). It's strange, but as a Cafferty contributor, I feel a very close natural bond to Mr. Norge (ph)."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Wow!
S. O'BRIEN: Not implying anything, though.
CAFFERTY: Kind of. Yes, well...
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: Huh?
CAFFERTY: And there will be no cheap giveaways on "The Cafferty File."
M. O'BRIEN: No, the iPod, you're going for the expensive giveaways.
CAFFERTY: And if they don't come up with something worthwhile, we're just not going to do it.
S. O'BRIEN: Only giveaways.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Can we talk football? Because I know nothing about football, and yet I'm doing so well.
M. O'BRIEN: You're rocking the house.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I am. Let's take a look at that, also the market activity this morning. Andy is "Minding Your Business."
SERWER: Let's talk about stocks, first of all. Yesterday, the rally continued, if you only own blue chips. You can see here the Dow was up, powered by drug stocks, which were powered by the Johnson & Johnson and Guidant merger. Merger activity is at a four-year high. You can see there, the broader markets and the Nasdaq slipped a bit.
On to football. Soledad is so dominant. She's dominant. And I don't think we're going to catch her. She's the leader of the pack. Her numbers are fantastic. And there we go. OK. And there, mediocrity equals Bill, Andy and Heidi, and Jack is stirring the pot and not doing the football picks quite as well as he stirs the pot.
Let's talk about this week's games. The NFL's best defense meets the NFL's best offense. What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? I'm picking the Colts here. Peyton Manning's glorious season continues. He only needs three more TDs.
On to the Bills versus the Bengals. Sorry, Bill Hemmer. The Bills in a row, four in a row they have won. Jon Kitna is playing quarterback for the Bengals.
And finally, the Steelers against the Giants. It looks like the Steelers. You've got to pick upsets sometime, in my business. And I am going to go for the Giants. There's a lot of trash talking. Eli Manning is -- well, he's learning. And he is bound to get better. I now that's going to happen.
M. O'BRIEN: One direction.
SERWER: He's got a brother to look to, you know, who is doing better.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
CAFFERTY: That's the mantra in the Mira (ph) household these days.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: He's learning and he's bound to get better. Hopefully those things happen before he gets killed.
SERWER: Yes. I know, because he really got beat up last week. And this week is even more dangerous, potentially.
CAFFERTY: Well, they've got line in front of him. I mean, nobody could stand behind that line. And they had that veteran, Kurt Warner, they brought in.
SERWER: Right.
CAFFERTY: He gets knocked around like a Barbie doll back there, too, because they've got nobody to protect them.
SERWER: So they put the rookie in.
CAFFERTY: Yes. So put the kid in and let him get the snot beat out of him.
S. O'BRIEN: We will see.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: But, you know what? I'll be winning next week, too.
SERWER: Dominant. She's dominant.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning...
CAFFERTY: Does that make you a dominatrix?
SERWER: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does, Jack.
SERWER: Set him up.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does. SERWER: Set him up. Set him up.
S. O'BRIEN: And I've got the outfit to go with it.
SERWER: Oh!
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come, "The Apprentice" comes down to a choice between a well-liked West Point man and a hard-driving West Coast lawyer. What does the "90-Second Pop" crew think of Donald Trump's choice? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: "90-Second Pop" for a Friday with our pop tarts this morning. Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: I like that.
S. O'BRIEN: Our first pop tart. B.J. Sigesmund, staff editor for "US Weekly." Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly."
Good morning.
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Nice to see you guys. Let's see how it all ended on "The Apprentice," shall we?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, HOST, "THE APPRENTICE": Jennifer, nevertheless, I have to say you're fired. Kelly, you're hired.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: The Donald milking it for all it's worth.
SHAW: I thought she was going to get it for a second there, because last year that's how he hired Bill. He said, I have to say you're hired. And -- but, no, after three long and very tedious hours, Donald Trump decided to hire Kelly, the Marine, over Jenn, the Harvard and Princeton graduate.
S. O'BRIEN: An obnoxious chick all around basically.
B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Yes. If I have to hear one more time her pedigree, not just that she went to Princeton and then Harvard, but that she was magda (ph), and she was in the honor society.
SHAW: At Princeton, her sorority (UNINTELLIGIBLE). But I have to say that when Kelly kept talking so much about how he was a Marine, he went to West Point, I just felt like you know what? Like, he made it seem like if Donald didn't hire him, Donald was anti-Army and anti- American. BERNARD: That was his strategy, and it obviously worked. But I think this really proved that it's more important to have people like you than to be...
SIGESMUND: Right.
BERNARD: ... you know, whatever pedigree you have.
SIGESMUND: Well, that is part of this...
BERNARD: Because no one liked her on the show.
SIGESMUND: Right.
BERNARD: I mean, that was -- they kept asking the other people who were off the show who would you pick? And everyone said Kelly.
SIGESMUND: Right. It was clear.
BERNARD: So...
SIGESMUND: I mean, Donald Trump kept saying, hmm, I'm really not sure who I'm going to pick. But...
S. O'BRIEN: We all know...
SIGESMUND: ... it was so obvious who he was going to pick.
SHAW: That's right. And the true lesson is that Caroline, his right-hand woman, she said she wanted Kelly. Whatever Caroline says goes.
S. O'BRIEN: Exactly. Whatever Caroline says goes.
The next question for you. A couple of movie openings to talk about. "Lemony Snicket," which stars Jim Carrey.
SIGESMUND: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: It kind of looks scary.
BERNARD: Spooky.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean, my kids are too little to go anyway.
SIGESMUND: Yes, they're too little.
S. O'BRIEN: But even for older kids...
SHAW: I think the twins would love it.
S. O'BRIEN: You know what? They probably would. They'd sleep right through that.
SIGESMUND: Yes. This is a movie based on the "Lemony Snicket" books. S. O'BRIEN: Based on.
SIGESMUND: It's actually based on the first 3 out of the 11 books. And, like the books, it's tone is sort of macabre, and you have to be careful about what kids you take to it. I would say age 10 and up you could certainly take them. Below 10, you have to watch it. Will this kid understand that these kids aren't really in peril? You know, but there is some assumed violence that happens off-screen, but there isn't really much besides a slap of a child. And the movie has gotten very nice reviews, especially people who love Jim Carrey in it.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I think if the kids are old enough to get it.
SHAW: I mean, kids definitely think about dark things, and there's a lot of, you know, sort of creepy, as you said, macabre things going on in children's minds. And there's a lot being made of, like is this too dark for children?
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
SHAW: But kids know about a lot of it.
S. O'BRIEN: But, you know, I was thinking about "The Wizard of Oz." Remember how scary that was when we first saw that?
BERNARD: Yes.
SIGESMUND: Oh, yes.
BERNARD: It's a little bit like "The Adam's Family" the way they have it. Remember that with Christina Ricci, and that was kind of, like, dark...
SIGESMUND: Right.
BERNARD: ... but also wacky. And that's what this sort of looks like.
S. O'BRIEN: Older kids probably would be able to handle it.
SIGESMUND: Yes.
SHAW: And, again, adults will see it. I think this might be Jim Carrey's Oscar nomination.
SIGESMUND: That's true.
S O'BRIEN: Really? How about "The Aviator," speaking of Oscar nominations.
SIGESMUND: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Actually Leonardo DiCaprio maybe?
SIGESMUND: Right. Well, "The Aviator" is opening on 35 screens today. And then it will go to 1,600 on Christmas Day. And I've seen it. I thought it was good, but not great. Leonardo DiCaprio is actually one of the best things about it, surprising to everyone.
BERNARD: Why are you so surprised by that?
SIGESMUND: I mean, I liked "Titanic." I didn't have any big problems with "Titanic."
S. O'BRIEN: Didn't you see him in "Growing Pains?" He was fantastic.
BERNARD: Because that was his best work.
SIGESMUND: Right. But he is very strong. And the aviation scenes like we just saw are also spectacular.
S. O'BRIEN: And the topic, frankly, I think, is pretty fascinating.
BERNARD: And he was the one -- Leonardo was the one who was actually fascinated with Howard Hughes. He started the project rolling and then got Martin Scorsese on board, which I thought was kind of an interesting twist. I just assumed that Martin Scorsese was the one who, you know, hired the actors.
SIGESMUND: Yes.
BERNARD: But -- so this is something that Leonardo has really wanted to do for a while.
SIGESMUND: Right.
SHAW: Yes. But is this really going to be his year? Will he get the Oscar nomination? I think the movie definitely will. People love Scorsese and every movie he makes. But I don't know. He was snubbed for "Titanic," I think.
SIGESMUND: Yes. I see...
SHAW: So he might get snubbed again.
SIGESMUND: Leonardo has been working it, too. He's really been working the academy. I see him certainly getting an Oscar nomination.
S. O'BRIEN: Working it. OK. Moving on. The Elvis estate, $100 million. That sounded low to me.
BERNARD: Doesn't that sound cheap?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I thought -- I mean, 100 million obviously is goo-gobs of money. But for Elvis?
BERNARD: For Elvis. I know. So what happened is a guy named Robert Silleman, who is an impresario of SFX Entertainment, which produces a whole bunch of concerts, he actually produced Madonna's concerts this year. He decided that he was going to invest, I think it was, yes, $100 million, to buy 85 percent of the Elvis estate. Now, that means that he doesn't actually own the title to Graceland, but he owns the right to it. And he also owns the right to Elvis' name and likeness, which is kind of bizarre.
SHAW: I mean, why on earth would Lisa Marie let that go?
(CROSSTALK)
BERNARD: I know. Well, her quote was that she wanted to -- she owed it to her dad to help expand the brand. And I'm thinking, I mean, can get any bigger than Elvis is already?
SHAW: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) her bank account for Christmas. That's what's she's doing.
SIGESMUND: But, actually, the guy -- the SFX guy sees whole other areas that he can get into with this, whole other niche markets around the world that haven't been explored, haven't been exploited.
S. O'BRIEN: And he'll be making his $100 million investment even more worthwhile. You guys, as always, thank you very much.
Miles -- back to you.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. In a moment, today's top stories, including an arson suspect who speaks out about being accused of the massive fire that burned two dozen homes in Maryland. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 17, 2004 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Miles O'Brien is in for Bill Hemmer, who maybe he's still traveling.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He's still on that plane, I think, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: It's a long flight, but it's not that long of a flight.
M. O'BRIEN: Hopefully they've fueled up.
S. O'BRIEN: He's got the day off.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, he's got the day off. He's hanging around. All right. Well, I hope he's enjoying it. I hope he's not watching. I hope he's sleeping in. Whatever time it is for him. All right.
S. O'BRIEN: No, we hope he's watching. Hi, Bill.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Hello again. Are we really going back to the moon, Alice? Yes, maybe. We'll talk about what the retiring NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe has to say about that. O'Keefe presided over a lot of changes, to say the least, in the past few years during his tenure at the helm of NASA. We'll talk about his legacy and some of the unfinished business.
S. O'BRIEN: Also, this morning, "90-Second Pop." Donald Trump has picked another protege. Hs latest apprentice was named last night. Did he get it right? Are people still buying what Trump is trying to sell? Our panel is going to weigh in on all of that.
M. O'BRIEN: You know, it was a Kelly love fest last night. A Kelly love fest.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: And I kept thinking of you.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You did?
M. O'BRIEN: You know, I was just thinking -- but it's not you.
WALLACE: But it's not me.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. They kept saying how great Kelly wasn't.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, we love Kelly.
M. O'BRIEN: But it was Kelly, the guy.
WALLACE: It's another Kelly, all right.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, thanks for giving away the punch line on who won.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh!
S. O'BRIEN: I'm just kidding.
M. O'BRIEN: I've got to go now. What time is my flight?
WALLACE: Anyway, but let's move right along. All right. Hello again, everybody.
"Now in the News."
The Iraqi government is preparing for war crimes trials for several former members of Saddam Hussein's regime. Meanwhile, the former Iraqi dictator himself met with a member of his defense team yesterday for the first time since his capture one year ago. We'll hear from a member of Saddam's legal team in our next hour.
Renewed violence overnight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli forces raiding a refugee camp in southern Gaza, saying at least six Palestinians were killed. But the Palestinians are disputing the number of casualties. The Israelis moving in to destroy buildings, where they say -- where they suspect weapons were stored.
And a security guard is headed to court this morning, charged in connection with last week's fires at a Maryland housing development. Police say 21-year-old Aaron Speed (ph) worked at the complex where the fires were set December 6. Ten homes under construction were destroyed, 30 others were damaged. Investigators are still looking into whether other people might have been involved.
And when these fires broke out, there was some discussion about, could it be eco-terrorism? Because environmental groups opposed the site very close to a nature preserve. But authorities are ruling out any connection to that.
S. O'BRIEN: OK, Kelly, thanks.
WALLACE: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: In just few hours from now, President Bush is going to sign the 9/11 reform bill into law. The intelligence overhaul was set in motion by the 9/11 Commission and approved by Congress earlier this month. Suzanne Malveaux, live for us at the White House with more on this, this morning.
Hey, Suzanne, good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
This really is seen as the first big test for President Bush's leadership, whether or not he can convince his own party to pass this intelligence reform legislation. It was not easy. It was back in July when the 9/11 Commission presented its recommendations for reforming intelligence.
But the president and the vice president had to directly get involved in the process. That is because some of the Republican leadership threatened to derail actually passing this legislation over issues of immigration and a power play involving the Pentagon.
After the president made phone calls and even public appeals, they were able finally to get a compromise, an agreement here for the legislation.
And just some of the highlights of the intelligence reform bill includes creating a position of the national intelligence director, establishing a federal counterterrorism center, unifying all 15 spy agencies, increasing border patrol by 2,000 agents each year for five years. It also provides $83 million to hire more air marshals, allows federal agents to pursue independent terrorism suspects, and finally creates a civil liberties watchdog panel.
Now, Soledad, it's fair to say that the White House went through somewhat of an evolution in actually approving this bill. But having said that and having done that, the White House sees this as its first post-election success -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning. Suzanne, thanks.
CNN, of course, is going to have live coverage of this morning's signing ceremony, President Bush signing that 9/11 intelligence reform bill at 9:55 a.m. Eastern Time. Obvious 6:55 on the West Coast -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Through tragedy and rebirth at NASA, Sean O'Keefe has been a steady hand at the head of the space agency for the past three years. He is stepping down now to take on new some challenges, moving to academia. What will this mean for the future of the U.S. space program?
I spoke with O'Keefe from Washington about NASA's future and his tenure after the Columbia shuttle disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: I think it was a defining moment for the agency overall. And indeed it reminded us of how challenging and how much risk there is with space exploration. But at the same time, I think it reminds us of the price that we really must continue to pay to be diligent in order to continue that exploration objective.
The president said, you know, exploration is not an option we choose; it's a desire within the human heart. We all, you know, see advances in human history that have occurred as a consequence of exploring and understanding what's on the other side of that ridge. And it's just a matter of being cognizant of what that risk is.
M. O'BRIEN: You mentioned the president. Out of the ashes of Columbia came the president's proposal for NASA to return to the moon and ultimately press on towards Mars. As you leave, are you confident NASA is funded properly to do something as audacious as that?
O'KEEFE: Absolutely. I think the technology advances that have occurred in the last three decades now facilitate a whole new way of looking at that challenge. And moreover, as the president articulated, this is a journey, not a race. This is not a crash program. This is the development of technologies in order to achieve that set of objectives over a measured period of time. And this is now a very concerted, pointed strategy in order to achieve that objective.
M. O'BRIEN: Final thought here on the Hubble Space Telescope. As you leave, you leave pretty much adamantly opposed sending a shuttle up for a fifth Hubble repair mission, putting astronauts in risk in order to fix that telescope. A lot of opposition in the scientific community to that decision. The National Academy of Sciences recently coming out and saying it would be prudent and wise and worth the risk to do just that.
Is this a decision you're going to leave to your successor? Or will you be giving a strong recommendation on this?
O'KEEFE: Well, again, Miles, I think that the objective here is not so much the risk per se. It's really the fact that we've got to meet all of the recommendations of the Columbia accident investigation board. They laid out some very careful objectives on what's required. And if you can't achieve those objectives, you've got to wonder why you'd send a shuttle to an asset that has no means of recovery and no means of rescue other than an untried, untested approach that may be employed, if necessary.
So, you've got to be able to at least accomplish all of those objectives. Going to the space station is a whole lot different kettle of fish here, in which, once there, if you inspect the damage, you get an opportunity to do that more thoroughly, over a longer period of time, whereas it's a very short period of time you'd have on Hubble.
So, I think it's a trade-off, and it's one that I think is a capacity, too, on a robotic mission, to develop a brand-new technology that we need to have in order to pursue these broader exploration goals of which the imperative and the motivation to get on with it would be the service life extension of the Hubble itself. That's a pretty powerful motivation, and one that we ought to explore fully.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: That's Sean O'Keefe, the tenth NASA administrator, about to become the seventh chancellor of Louisiana State University.
Now, I've got some space food for you this morning. I was in Houston this week.
S. O'BRIEN: Yummy.
M. O'BRIEN: What do you think this is right here? I mean, it kind of looks like a Rice Krispie treat, right?
S. O'BRIEN: I was going to say, it's a Rice Krispie treat.
M. O'BRIEN: No. That's scrambled eggs, seasoned.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, that's nasty.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. So, we're going to try those. These are kind of obvious. These are smoked almonds.
S. O'BRIEN: Right. OK.
M. O'BRIEN: Quite tasty. And then finally, of course, you wouldn't have almonds for breakfast.
S. O'BRIEN: You might if this was your other option, scrambled eggs.
M. O'BRIEN: You might. This is coffee with sugar.
S. O'BRIEN: Is there some in it?
M. O'BRIEN: It's in there. You've got add water. Anyway, a little later I'm going to tell about what's going on in the space station. They're on, you know, kind of reduced rations right now. And I'm going on this diet.
S. O'BRIEN: OK.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I'm going to go on the diet, and I'm keeping...
S. O'BRIEN: It's all you.
M. O'BRIEN: You can sample all you want, all right?
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, stock prices. This close to a -- this close, this close.
S. O'BRIEN: This close.
M. O'BRIEN: We've got the visual cue here -- to a three and a half year high. Andy Serwer previews the market open.
S. O'BRIEN: Also, another prominent Republican is publicly questioning Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's leadership. A look at that's ahead in our next hour.
M. O'BRIEN: And parents may want to keep younger kids from seeing Jim Carrey's new children's movie. We were planning to see that this weekend. I don't know. Maybe your kids are too young for it.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Details ahead in "90-Second Pop." Stay with AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: The "Question of the Day," Jack Cafferty.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Miles.
At a White House ceremony this week, President Bush gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Iraqi administrator Paul Bremer, retired General Tommy Franks and former CIA Director George Tenet. Bremer was the one who disbanded the Iraqi army. Tommy Franks campaigned openly for Bush's re-election last summer. And George Tenet said it was a slam dunk that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction back when he was running the CIA.
The medal is considered this nation's highest civilian award, and it caught some people, frankly, by surprise when it was seen hanging around these three necks. Since its inception, the Medal of Freedom has been awarded to the likes of Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the pope.
So, here's the question: Who else should get the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
Dutch in Miamisburg, Ohio: "Karl Rove has earned the Freedom Medal. Like Mother Teresa, he has performed a miracle. Like the pope, he is infallible. And like George Tenet, he overlooked and misjudged obvious signs of poor intelligence while he did his job."
Jeff in Seattle writes: "My guess is that based on Bush's selections this year, he's kicking himself for not giving the Medal of Freedom to Paul O'Neill and Richard Clark. The medals might as well have been zippers to apply to the recipient's lips."
Michelle in Buffalo: "Did you know that during the previous Roman empire, Caligula appointed his favorite horse to the Senate? I'm not implying anything here."
And Dave writes from Japan, as I knew he would: "Jack, he's dead. But how about Tensing Norge (ph)? You know, the sherpa (ph) that basically piggybacked Edmond Hillary up Mount Everest. The guy is due for some recognition. Hillary got knighted; Tensing (ph) got Bupkcas (ph). It's strange, but as a Cafferty contributor, I feel a very close natural bond to Mr. Norge (ph)."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Wow!
S. O'BRIEN: Not implying anything, though.
CAFFERTY: Kind of. Yes, well...
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: Huh?
CAFFERTY: And there will be no cheap giveaways on "The Cafferty File."
M. O'BRIEN: No, the iPod, you're going for the expensive giveaways.
CAFFERTY: And if they don't come up with something worthwhile, we're just not going to do it.
S. O'BRIEN: Only giveaways.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Can we talk football? Because I know nothing about football, and yet I'm doing so well.
M. O'BRIEN: You're rocking the house.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I am. Let's take a look at that, also the market activity this morning. Andy is "Minding Your Business."
SERWER: Let's talk about stocks, first of all. Yesterday, the rally continued, if you only own blue chips. You can see here the Dow was up, powered by drug stocks, which were powered by the Johnson & Johnson and Guidant merger. Merger activity is at a four-year high. You can see there, the broader markets and the Nasdaq slipped a bit.
On to football. Soledad is so dominant. She's dominant. And I don't think we're going to catch her. She's the leader of the pack. Her numbers are fantastic. And there we go. OK. And there, mediocrity equals Bill, Andy and Heidi, and Jack is stirring the pot and not doing the football picks quite as well as he stirs the pot.
Let's talk about this week's games. The NFL's best defense meets the NFL's best offense. What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? I'm picking the Colts here. Peyton Manning's glorious season continues. He only needs three more TDs.
On to the Bills versus the Bengals. Sorry, Bill Hemmer. The Bills in a row, four in a row they have won. Jon Kitna is playing quarterback for the Bengals.
And finally, the Steelers against the Giants. It looks like the Steelers. You've got to pick upsets sometime, in my business. And I am going to go for the Giants. There's a lot of trash talking. Eli Manning is -- well, he's learning. And he is bound to get better. I now that's going to happen.
M. O'BRIEN: One direction.
SERWER: He's got a brother to look to, you know, who is doing better.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
CAFFERTY: That's the mantra in the Mira (ph) household these days.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: He's learning and he's bound to get better. Hopefully those things happen before he gets killed.
SERWER: Yes. I know, because he really got beat up last week. And this week is even more dangerous, potentially.
CAFFERTY: Well, they've got line in front of him. I mean, nobody could stand behind that line. And they had that veteran, Kurt Warner, they brought in.
SERWER: Right.
CAFFERTY: He gets knocked around like a Barbie doll back there, too, because they've got nobody to protect them.
SERWER: So they put the rookie in.
CAFFERTY: Yes. So put the kid in and let him get the snot beat out of him.
S. O'BRIEN: We will see.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: But, you know what? I'll be winning next week, too.
SERWER: Dominant. She's dominant.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning...
CAFFERTY: Does that make you a dominatrix?
SERWER: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does, Jack.
SERWER: Set him up.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does. SERWER: Set him up. Set him up.
S. O'BRIEN: And I've got the outfit to go with it.
SERWER: Oh!
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come, "The Apprentice" comes down to a choice between a well-liked West Point man and a hard-driving West Coast lawyer. What does the "90-Second Pop" crew think of Donald Trump's choice? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: "90-Second Pop" for a Friday with our pop tarts this morning. Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: I like that.
S. O'BRIEN: Our first pop tart. B.J. Sigesmund, staff editor for "US Weekly." Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly."
Good morning.
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Nice to see you guys. Let's see how it all ended on "The Apprentice," shall we?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, HOST, "THE APPRENTICE": Jennifer, nevertheless, I have to say you're fired. Kelly, you're hired.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: The Donald milking it for all it's worth.
SHAW: I thought she was going to get it for a second there, because last year that's how he hired Bill. He said, I have to say you're hired. And -- but, no, after three long and very tedious hours, Donald Trump decided to hire Kelly, the Marine, over Jenn, the Harvard and Princeton graduate.
S. O'BRIEN: An obnoxious chick all around basically.
B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Yes. If I have to hear one more time her pedigree, not just that she went to Princeton and then Harvard, but that she was magda (ph), and she was in the honor society.
SHAW: At Princeton, her sorority (UNINTELLIGIBLE). But I have to say that when Kelly kept talking so much about how he was a Marine, he went to West Point, I just felt like you know what? Like, he made it seem like if Donald didn't hire him, Donald was anti-Army and anti- American. BERNARD: That was his strategy, and it obviously worked. But I think this really proved that it's more important to have people like you than to be...
SIGESMUND: Right.
BERNARD: ... you know, whatever pedigree you have.
SIGESMUND: Well, that is part of this...
BERNARD: Because no one liked her on the show.
SIGESMUND: Right.
BERNARD: I mean, that was -- they kept asking the other people who were off the show who would you pick? And everyone said Kelly.
SIGESMUND: Right. It was clear.
BERNARD: So...
SIGESMUND: I mean, Donald Trump kept saying, hmm, I'm really not sure who I'm going to pick. But...
S. O'BRIEN: We all know...
SIGESMUND: ... it was so obvious who he was going to pick.
SHAW: That's right. And the true lesson is that Caroline, his right-hand woman, she said she wanted Kelly. Whatever Caroline says goes.
S. O'BRIEN: Exactly. Whatever Caroline says goes.
The next question for you. A couple of movie openings to talk about. "Lemony Snicket," which stars Jim Carrey.
SIGESMUND: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: It kind of looks scary.
BERNARD: Spooky.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean, my kids are too little to go anyway.
SIGESMUND: Yes, they're too little.
S. O'BRIEN: But even for older kids...
SHAW: I think the twins would love it.
S. O'BRIEN: You know what? They probably would. They'd sleep right through that.
SIGESMUND: Yes. This is a movie based on the "Lemony Snicket" books. S. O'BRIEN: Based on.
SIGESMUND: It's actually based on the first 3 out of the 11 books. And, like the books, it's tone is sort of macabre, and you have to be careful about what kids you take to it. I would say age 10 and up you could certainly take them. Below 10, you have to watch it. Will this kid understand that these kids aren't really in peril? You know, but there is some assumed violence that happens off-screen, but there isn't really much besides a slap of a child. And the movie has gotten very nice reviews, especially people who love Jim Carrey in it.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I think if the kids are old enough to get it.
SHAW: I mean, kids definitely think about dark things, and there's a lot of, you know, sort of creepy, as you said, macabre things going on in children's minds. And there's a lot being made of, like is this too dark for children?
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
SHAW: But kids know about a lot of it.
S. O'BRIEN: But, you know, I was thinking about "The Wizard of Oz." Remember how scary that was when we first saw that?
BERNARD: Yes.
SIGESMUND: Oh, yes.
BERNARD: It's a little bit like "The Adam's Family" the way they have it. Remember that with Christina Ricci, and that was kind of, like, dark...
SIGESMUND: Right.
BERNARD: ... but also wacky. And that's what this sort of looks like.
S. O'BRIEN: Older kids probably would be able to handle it.
SIGESMUND: Yes.
SHAW: And, again, adults will see it. I think this might be Jim Carrey's Oscar nomination.
SIGESMUND: That's true.
S O'BRIEN: Really? How about "The Aviator," speaking of Oscar nominations.
SIGESMUND: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Actually Leonardo DiCaprio maybe?
SIGESMUND: Right. Well, "The Aviator" is opening on 35 screens today. And then it will go to 1,600 on Christmas Day. And I've seen it. I thought it was good, but not great. Leonardo DiCaprio is actually one of the best things about it, surprising to everyone.
BERNARD: Why are you so surprised by that?
SIGESMUND: I mean, I liked "Titanic." I didn't have any big problems with "Titanic."
S. O'BRIEN: Didn't you see him in "Growing Pains?" He was fantastic.
BERNARD: Because that was his best work.
SIGESMUND: Right. But he is very strong. And the aviation scenes like we just saw are also spectacular.
S. O'BRIEN: And the topic, frankly, I think, is pretty fascinating.
BERNARD: And he was the one -- Leonardo was the one who was actually fascinated with Howard Hughes. He started the project rolling and then got Martin Scorsese on board, which I thought was kind of an interesting twist. I just assumed that Martin Scorsese was the one who, you know, hired the actors.
SIGESMUND: Yes.
BERNARD: But -- so this is something that Leonardo has really wanted to do for a while.
SIGESMUND: Right.
SHAW: Yes. But is this really going to be his year? Will he get the Oscar nomination? I think the movie definitely will. People love Scorsese and every movie he makes. But I don't know. He was snubbed for "Titanic," I think.
SIGESMUND: Yes. I see...
SHAW: So he might get snubbed again.
SIGESMUND: Leonardo has been working it, too. He's really been working the academy. I see him certainly getting an Oscar nomination.
S. O'BRIEN: Working it. OK. Moving on. The Elvis estate, $100 million. That sounded low to me.
BERNARD: Doesn't that sound cheap?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I thought -- I mean, 100 million obviously is goo-gobs of money. But for Elvis?
BERNARD: For Elvis. I know. So what happened is a guy named Robert Silleman, who is an impresario of SFX Entertainment, which produces a whole bunch of concerts, he actually produced Madonna's concerts this year. He decided that he was going to invest, I think it was, yes, $100 million, to buy 85 percent of the Elvis estate. Now, that means that he doesn't actually own the title to Graceland, but he owns the right to it. And he also owns the right to Elvis' name and likeness, which is kind of bizarre.
SHAW: I mean, why on earth would Lisa Marie let that go?
(CROSSTALK)
BERNARD: I know. Well, her quote was that she wanted to -- she owed it to her dad to help expand the brand. And I'm thinking, I mean, can get any bigger than Elvis is already?
SHAW: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) her bank account for Christmas. That's what's she's doing.
SIGESMUND: But, actually, the guy -- the SFX guy sees whole other areas that he can get into with this, whole other niche markets around the world that haven't been explored, haven't been exploited.
S. O'BRIEN: And he'll be making his $100 million investment even more worthwhile. You guys, as always, thank you very much.
Miles -- back to you.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. In a moment, today's top stories, including an arson suspect who speaks out about being accused of the massive fire that burned two dozen homes in Maryland. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
