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American Morning

Intelligence Report Released; Too Late for Feeding Tube for Schiavo?

Aired March 30, 2005 - 08:30   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. 8:30 here in New York. I'm Bill Hemmer. Soledad has some vacation this week.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: She -- I hope she's having a good time.

HEMMER: I am certain she is.

COSTELLO: Carol Costello. Good morning, everyone.

HEMMER: In a moment here, waiting for another key decision in the Terri Schiavo matter. A federal court considering whether or not to hear new arguments in the case. We'll talk about that. We'll also talk with Sanjay about the medical reality of Schiavo's current condition. In other words, if they put the feeding tube back in, what kind of condition would she be?

COSTELLO: Been 13 days now. We'll ask Dr. Gupta that question.

Also, the massive effort underway to reorganize America's intelligence community. Is there even more work ahead than everybody thought? A look at an important new report that says things are not going so well.

But first, let's get a check on the headlines with Kelly Wallace. Good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Carol and Bill. Good morning again, everyone. Here are some of those other stories "Now in the News."

The Vatican says Pope John Paul II is continuing a quote, "slow and progressive recovery" and is now getting nutrition from a feeding tube. That announcement coming after the pope appeared at his Vatican window earlier this morning. It is not clear whether the pope will have to go back to the hospital for further treatment. More developments as we get them here on CNN.

Doctors in Virginia say they are hoping to have a better idea today of Reverend Jerry Falwell's health condition. The reverend has been undergoing tests at Lynchburg General Hospital. He was rushed in Monday night after suffering respiratory arrest and is now on a respirator. The 71-year-old Falwell is said to be clinically stable, but is still critically ill.

To Minnesota now. Investigators there say that school shooting, well, they are reportedly looking through e-mails for potential clues about the rampage. Louis Jourdain, the son of the tribal leader, has been arrested in connection with the killings of ten people. His father says his son is innocent. Meantime, "USA Today" is reporting teen shooter Jeff Weise was shot two times by police before turning the gun on himself. And that investigation continues.

And a divorce at the home of Mickey Mouse. The Walt Disney Studios and Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the founders of Miramax, officially announced that they will part ways on September 30. Disney, though, will keep the Miramax name. Details of the settlement are being kept quiet. They're not talking about details. But you know, the name is important to Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Apparently, the name of their parents.

COSTELLO: Yes. They have to give up the company name.

WALLACE: Give up the name. Oh, well.

COSTELLO: Doesn't seem right, does it?

WALLACE: But they say in the conference -- well, they say, Disney keeps the old business. We buy the ongoing business, so...

HEMMER: Tough to match their success. Huge money. Thank you, Kelly.

COSTELLO: The failures of the American intelligence agencies will be laid out in a tough report that officially releases tomorrow. Federal officials and members of Congress will receive the report today ahead of the public release.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor is in Washington with a preview. Good morning.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. U.S. officials are confirming that the report recommends more information sharing throughout the intelligence community and more respect for the views of dissenters. More use of devil's advocates in the preparation of intelligence. All part of trying to fix what went wrong with intelligence prior to the Iraq War.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): President Bush was briefed on the recommendations of his bipartisan commission on intelligence. Sources say the report offers harsh criticisms of intelligence failings on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and other issues and suggests more changes are needed.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will carefully consider the recommendations and act quickly on the recommendations as well.

ENSOR: The commission report will charge, sources say, that, at the newly created National Counterterrorism Center, where the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies work alongside each other, there still is not enough intelligence sharing. One analyst doesn't always know what's on the other analyst's computer, the same stovepiping problem that hurt the U.S. prior to the 9/11 attacks.

John McLaughlin is the former deputy director of central intelligence.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: In this business, there's always a tension between the obvious need to share and, on the other hand, the need to be careful about sources and methods, that is, not to expose sources to danger to their lives and so forth.

ENSOR: The commission's recommendations will set the scene for next month's hearings on the nomination of Ambassador John Negroponte to be the first director of national intelligence and of General Michael Hayden to be his deputy.

One major question not resolved by the new intelligence reform law is who in the new system will be in charge of secret intelligence operations against terrorists.

MCLAUGHLIN: Much of that is to be worked out, because the legislation allows you to draw a number of conclusion on that point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: A senior U.S. officials says the White House is already planning a series of executive orders to implement some of the recommendations of the commission. The official said it's not clear to him yet whether Congress will also need to get into the act with additional legislation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So David, we heard in your story that there are analysts at the counter-terrorism center sitting right next to each other who don't even know what intelligence their neighbor in the next cubicle has on their computer. How is that still happening?

ENSOR: Well, it's still happening for a couple of reasons. I mean, first of all, I should stress that what officials say is there's much more information sharing, much more intelligence sharing among agencies than there used to be. But over at that center, where there are people from the FBI, CIA and other agencies sitting next to each other, there still are a couple of issues.

One is protecting sources and methods. Terribly important. You're not going to get more intelligence unless you can do that. So they don't want to share it too widely. Second, there issues like the privacy of American citizens. By law, it's not legal for an agency to share with others information which might include the names of a person, yours, for example, and might have information about you that isn't accurate, that hasn't been checked out yet.

And that comes up all the time. There's information about American citizens. It's not supposed to be kept and if it's inaccurate, of course, it has to be removed. But if it were distributed to thousands of people, you can imagine the privacy concerns that would raise -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I can. David Ensor, live for us today. Thank you.

HEMMER: There is more pressure on Kofi Annan to resign as head of the U.N. A report on the oil-for-food scandal did not find fault with Annan, but that is not silencing his critics. And yesterday, CNN's Richard Roth asked the secretary-general about his future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ROTH, SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Are you the man to continue to lead this organization? Critics, not just in Washington, but in this very building, some on your own staff, point to Benon Sevan, the man who ran the oil-for-food program. Deleif Maher (ph) mentioned in the report rude (UNINTELLIGIBLE), sex harassment, Congo sex, peacekeeping -- you were the former peacekeeper near Iraq. Your former chief of staff shredding documents, plus the decision by senior management on sending people back into Iraq. Do you feel it's time, for the good the of the organization, to step down?

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Hell no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: A two-word response yesterday. That is topic one today for Democratic consultant Victor Kamber in D.C. Vic, welcome back. Good morning.

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Pleasure.

HEMMER: And Republican strategist Joe Watkins, still hanging out in Philly. Good morning, Joe, to you as well. Victor, what do you think? Should Kofi Annan reconsider?

KAMBER: No, I don't see why. I mean, the 136-page Volcker report did exonerate him. It did raise some other questions about his son and some other problems, but he basically said this man on those issues was not guilty of anything. The White House has reendorsed him, basically. Said that they have confidence in him and the direction he's taking it. Certainly, third world countries have confidence.

You know, this is one senator or maybe several, but one senator in particular, who has a committee called Committee On Investigations -- Coleman from Minnesota...

HEMMER: Norm Coleman.

KAMBER: Right, and frankly, if he wants to investigate, let him go over and investigate the House of Representatives and Tom DeLay. There's somebody that needs to resign.

HEMMER: Joe, you want to see him out. Why?

JOE WATKINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, yes, sounds like Vic's been drinking one of those Starbucks lattes that he talked about the other day. Yes, the White House does support Kofi Annan. I think that's a good thing. The White House is so very kind and generous in doing that. Obviously, he's not always been supportive of the White House. Clearly, anybody who presides as CEO over an organization that is so full of scandal and corruption normally would be asked to step down. So Kofi Annan has been given a chance to stay on board. I think he is going to stay on board, obviously.

But the findings of the Volcker probe were not that -- they didn't vindicate him. What they did was they just said that they didn't find anything to -- they didn't find anything definitely that said that he was involved in the corruption. So there is the possibility that he could be continued to be examined.

KAMBER: He didn't beat his wife, Joe, right?

HEMMER: Take that point about the CEO of this organization, though, Victor. It is the largest scandal the U.N. has ever seen. Is there not culpability somewhere for Kofi Annan?

KAMBER: Well, there's no question there are problems. There are problems dealing -- when you're running a major organization, there are problems. I'm not making him into a saint, but I'm saying the reality is the investigation was centered around corruption and illegal gains on his part. Those do not exist. The fact that there are possibly some management issues that need to be dealt with, I'm all for him dealing with them. He needs to have the continued support of the United States, the financial support which we've been unwilling to pay our two debts for and he's going to be there. He's got the support of world leaders.

HEMMER: He is saying now -- he's actually going to all these African-American communities across the country, trying to increase the vote that Republicans get in 2008. For the record, Joe, in 2000, Republicans got 9 percent of the black vote. In 2004, they got 11 percent. The outgoing RNC director, Ed Gillespie, says in 2008, the Republicans will get 30 percent of the black vote in America.

WATKINS: That's fully possible.

HEMMER: What's he smoking?

WATKINS: Well, no, this is very real. If you look at some of the individual states that were targeted in the last campaign, one state in particular, Oklahoma, got something like 28 percent of the African-American vote. That's nearly 30 percent of the African- American vote already. What Ken Mehlman is doing such a great job of doing, is offering American African-Americans a choice.

And a lot of African-Americans are listening. They're saying, you know what, there's no reason for us any longer to be taken for granted by the Democrats. What are they offering besides fighting for minimum wage and higher taxes? They aren't giving us anything.

Republicans are talking about an ownership society, and talking about values. And this is one of the reasons why you're starting to see a shift away on the part of African-Americans, especially a lot of African-American church leaders, to Republicans, because Republicans happen to be more in sync.

HEMMER: All right, I got your point.

Donna Brazile, Victor, says Democrats are in the stone age when it comes to African-Americans.

KAMBER: I don't know what she's referring to. I think there's no -- I think it's wonderful that Republicans are finally talking to African-Americans, reaching out. It can only help the African- American community, as it only helps any community when both parties reaches out to them.

The difference is photo ops, dinners, pictures with the president is not going to bring about changes in the voting pattern. Richard Nixon ran, he got 28 percent, or 24 percent. Dwight Eisenhower got 28 percent. This party has become a 10 percent, 11 percent, 12 percent party with African-Americans for one reason, and one reason only. They don't deliver anything. They talk a good game, but don't give anything to the community of people. There's no way they'll get 30 percent, 20 percent, in the next election, unless they start delivering legislatively programs.

WATKINS: Under George Bush, interestingly, more African- Americans own homes than at any time in American history.

HEMMER: Got it. Thanks, Vic.

KAMBER: More Americans own homes than anytime in American history, period.

HEMMER: Pull those microphones on both of you guys today. Joe and Vic, thanks. Talk to you later -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Talk about the sharks in Florida. Beaches in Deerfield, Florida were closed to swimmers and surfers on Tuesday after hundreds of migrating sharks were spotted. The sharks were about 100 to 200 feet from shore. Experts say they were chasing bait fish. Shark sightings have closed Palm Beach County beaches numerous times in recent weeks, so you got to stay out of the water there. How scary is that?

(WEATHER REPORT)

In a moment here, Terri Schiavo's parents now with an 11th hour appeal to get her feeding tube reinserted. If that is granted, would it be too late to keep her alive? We're paging Sanjay on that, the good doctor, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A federal court of appeals is considering a petition by Terri Schiavo's parents to have her feeding tube put back in, though it has not agreed yet whether to hear the new arguments, but it's been nearly 13 days since the tube was removed. So even if the court ruled in her parent's favor, is it too late to save Terri Schiavo's life? We're "Paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta" to talk about this, and also about hospice care. Good morning.

Let's start with the feeding tube. If it's reinserted, does she have a chance?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think she does. I think, but it's not as simple as just putting the feeding tube in. She's probably could still have her life saved, but she probably also has irreversible organ damage, these things can occur simultaneously. A couple things to keep in mind, she has been without calories and hydration for some time now.

Her kidneys, most importantly, have probably had some irreversible damage. If she were to start being hydrated, if she were to start getting calories again, I think that most likely, they'd be able to save her life, but also probably need something like dialysis. Also you can't just start the tube feedings the way they were before. You probably have to start them at a slower rate, and more blander sort of tube feedings, at least to start -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We've heard that she hasn't urinated since Sunday. What does that tell us?

GUPTA: That's significant. And I think, you know, you have very few parameters that you can really measure. Obviously we're hearing descriptions of what Terri looks like, but this lack of urine output really means that her kidneys probably have started to either shut down, or started to shut down significantly now. That's a very concerning thing.

Why? Why is that significant? Because the kidneys filter toxins from the blood. Where do those toxins go? Well, they start to build up in the bloodstream now. Ultimately, they can cause disturbances in the balance of various electrolytes, and eventually cause her heart to fail. And that's probably the most common sequence of events that she's likely to have happen to her over the next couple days -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Let's turn the corner now. We want to talk about hospice care, because it's completely care from the care you'd get in a hospital, isn't it?

GUPTA: It is very different. And it's worth pointing out, Terri Schiavo's situation is very unusual, 15 years in a hospice, you don't hear of those kinds of numbers very much anymore, in part probably because she was so young when she went in. But about 1 in 15 to 1 in 75 people actually survive that long. Hospice care, particularly hospice-type care, is actually given in the hair home. It's not actually a physical dwelling; 80 to 90 percent of people actually get their care in the home, people who are close to dying. And the average time is only about three weeks when you make the determination someone is about to die, that's when you start hospice care. Terri Schiavo's case very unusual in that way -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's interesting. The hospice care workers, I mean, I've been in hospices, and they are the most caring people in the world. This will be difficult for them when Terri Schiavo passes, won't it? GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's a good point. In some ways, this is what they're trained to do. They're trained to deal with the dying, both the patient and the family as well, in terms of how they react to that. Lots of different things that they can do in terms of comfort measures, one of the big things. We've talked a lot about pain medications, for example. In Terri Schiavo's case, giving a couple of doses of pain medications, not because it was clear that she was in pain. A lot of people say she has no sense of pain, but just to make sure it's absolutely comfortable, and to talk to the family about this as well.

COSTELLO: Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Thanks, Carol.

HEMMER: About ten minutes before the hour now. In a moment here, "Things People Say" with Jack.

And who gets the biggest paycheck in the NBA and who's considered a bargain? Andy's "Minding Your Business" as well, next here on AMERICAN MORNING. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All right. Welcome back.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Bill.

American taxpayers cheating the government out of billions of dollars in taxes. And speaking of big money, we're gonna take a look at the NBA's highest paid players. Andy Serwer's got that. He's "Minding Your Business." Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Good morning, Jack.

A lot of big money. And this probably not going to surprise you. Didn't surprise me. According to the IRS, we are a nation of tax cheats, to the tune of $300 billion. Americans underreport $300 billion. Most of this is due to small businesses and self-employed people, sort of not, you know, really saying that they've got -- and here's an interesting one too, I thought. Alimony income, people underreport that. Can you imagine?

CAFFERTY: But alimony is tax deductible. Child support is not, but alimony is. I know this from experience.

SERWER: Yes. But I guess it's the recipient of the alimony -- that's why I brought this up.

CAFFERTY: Unless they changed the tax law, I know this to be fact.

SERWER: Indeed.

All right. Let's talk about some people who probably have fairly huge tax bills. The NBA's top stars. Who's the biggest recipients of salaries in the NBA? Not a surprise, number one, the big diesel, Shaq-fu, the Shaq man.

CAFFERTY: That's for one year, he gets that?

SERWER: That's one year, yes. And you know, you think about -- that's sort what Letterman gets and Leno and Dennis Kozlowski and all the big guys.

CAFFERTY: Yes, but they're funny.

SERWER: Well, Shaq can put the ball in the hole. Number two, Dikembe Mutombo. He doesn't even start. Yao Ming starts for Houston.

HEMMER: We need his agent.

SERWER: Yes, but he's a nice guy. He builds hospitals in Africa. Allan Houston, overpaid, perhaps. The New York Knicks have $100 million annual pay roll and...

HEMMER: He's out of here already.

SERWER: And we're not even going to make the playoffs this year. Chris Webber is trying to do it for the Sixers. A couple people who are underpaid in the NBA. Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade, two Olympians, make $2 million a year. Those guys are bargains. That's all.

Now, let's quickly talk about the markets. A down day yesterday. This morning, though, we could see a little up side, because GDP number for the fourth quarter came in. That's how fast the economy's growing. 3.8 percent, not so bad. That's what people are expecting for the year. Up 4.4 percent, which is the best number in five years.

CAFFERTY: Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

CAFFERTY: Time for "The Cafferty File." It's Wednesday, "Things People Say." Starting with this.

"My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights, unless they don't like what the states are doing." Republican representative Chris Shays on the congressional interference on the Schiavo case.

"Passengers can be nude while the ship is at sea." Sharon Kirsten (ph) is a publicist for a company that organized a gay nudist cruise, which was turned away from the Caribbean island of Nevis. They didn't want all them naked people on their island.

"I'm from Alabama. And they have a different alphabet." Baltimore Orioles pitcher Eric DuBose, during a Monday morning traffic stop, after being asked by Florida police to recite the alphabet. He was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. I'm from Alabama and they have a different alphabet.

"We have to be careful with the brothers. The brothers have to move to the side." Actress Sandra Bullock, on making sure her breasts didn't pop out of her "Miss Congeniality 2" costumes while they were making that movie.

SERWER: Her what?

CAFFERTY: Huh?

SERWER: Nevermind. No...

CAFFERTY: The brothers. She referred to them as the brothers.

COSTELLO: I think he was referring to breastses.

SERWER: That's strange.

CAFFERTY: "I hate being alone. I suffer from loneliness so I got two little faces tattooed on my knees. When I'm pissing people off, they don't want to talk to me, I can pretend they're alive and talk to them." This is that idiot Ozzy Osbourne talking to Conan O'Brien about smiley faces -- there they are -- that he had tattooed on what is arguably the ugliest pair of knees on the planet.

SERWER: He can't even see that far.

CAFFERTY: Talk to my knees.

HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.

Top stories in a moment here. Also, Madonna causing a bit of a stir at a party. "90 Second Pop" a bit later. Looks as a latest costume controversy. We'll show you the picture, too. Back in a moment, top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Good morning. There are developments in the Terri Schiavo case. Will a federal court step back into the fight this morning after receiving a brand new appeal?

Watching the pope's health after news from the Vatican. John Paul II now using a feeding tube, part of his recovery from throat surgery.

And Johnnie Cochran, always a way with words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNIE COCHRANE, LAWYER: If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: A lawyer with an amazing presence who took on the biggest cases. His legal legacy on this 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 March 30, 2005 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. 8:30 here in New York. I'm Bill Hemmer. Soledad has some vacation this week.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: She -- I hope she's having a good time.

HEMMER: I am certain she is.

COSTELLO: Carol Costello. Good morning, everyone.

HEMMER: In a moment here, waiting for another key decision in the Terri Schiavo matter. A federal court considering whether or not to hear new arguments in the case. We'll talk about that. We'll also talk with Sanjay about the medical reality of Schiavo's current condition. In other words, if they put the feeding tube back in, what kind of condition would she be?

COSTELLO: Been 13 days now. We'll ask Dr. Gupta that question.

Also, the massive effort underway to reorganize America's intelligence community. Is there even more work ahead than everybody thought? A look at an important new report that says things are not going so well.

But first, let's get a check on the headlines with Kelly Wallace. Good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Carol and Bill. Good morning again, everyone. Here are some of those other stories "Now in the News."

The Vatican says Pope John Paul II is continuing a quote, "slow and progressive recovery" and is now getting nutrition from a feeding tube. That announcement coming after the pope appeared at his Vatican window earlier this morning. It is not clear whether the pope will have to go back to the hospital for further treatment. More developments as we get them here on CNN.

Doctors in Virginia say they are hoping to have a better idea today of Reverend Jerry Falwell's health condition. The reverend has been undergoing tests at Lynchburg General Hospital. He was rushed in Monday night after suffering respiratory arrest and is now on a respirator. The 71-year-old Falwell is said to be clinically stable, but is still critically ill.

To Minnesota now. Investigators there say that school shooting, well, they are reportedly looking through e-mails for potential clues about the rampage. Louis Jourdain, the son of the tribal leader, has been arrested in connection with the killings of ten people. His father says his son is innocent. Meantime, "USA Today" is reporting teen shooter Jeff Weise was shot two times by police before turning the gun on himself. And that investigation continues.

And a divorce at the home of Mickey Mouse. The Walt Disney Studios and Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the founders of Miramax, officially announced that they will part ways on September 30. Disney, though, will keep the Miramax name. Details of the settlement are being kept quiet. They're not talking about details. But you know, the name is important to Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Apparently, the name of their parents.

COSTELLO: Yes. They have to give up the company name.

WALLACE: Give up the name. Oh, well.

COSTELLO: Doesn't seem right, does it?

WALLACE: But they say in the conference -- well, they say, Disney keeps the old business. We buy the ongoing business, so...

HEMMER: Tough to match their success. Huge money. Thank you, Kelly.

COSTELLO: The failures of the American intelligence agencies will be laid out in a tough report that officially releases tomorrow. Federal officials and members of Congress will receive the report today ahead of the public release.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor is in Washington with a preview. Good morning.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. U.S. officials are confirming that the report recommends more information sharing throughout the intelligence community and more respect for the views of dissenters. More use of devil's advocates in the preparation of intelligence. All part of trying to fix what went wrong with intelligence prior to the Iraq War.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): President Bush was briefed on the recommendations of his bipartisan commission on intelligence. Sources say the report offers harsh criticisms of intelligence failings on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and other issues and suggests more changes are needed.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will carefully consider the recommendations and act quickly on the recommendations as well.

ENSOR: The commission report will charge, sources say, that, at the newly created National Counterterrorism Center, where the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies work alongside each other, there still is not enough intelligence sharing. One analyst doesn't always know what's on the other analyst's computer, the same stovepiping problem that hurt the U.S. prior to the 9/11 attacks.

John McLaughlin is the former deputy director of central intelligence.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: In this business, there's always a tension between the obvious need to share and, on the other hand, the need to be careful about sources and methods, that is, not to expose sources to danger to their lives and so forth.

ENSOR: The commission's recommendations will set the scene for next month's hearings on the nomination of Ambassador John Negroponte to be the first director of national intelligence and of General Michael Hayden to be his deputy.

One major question not resolved by the new intelligence reform law is who in the new system will be in charge of secret intelligence operations against terrorists.

MCLAUGHLIN: Much of that is to be worked out, because the legislation allows you to draw a number of conclusion on that point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: A senior U.S. officials says the White House is already planning a series of executive orders to implement some of the recommendations of the commission. The official said it's not clear to him yet whether Congress will also need to get into the act with additional legislation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So David, we heard in your story that there are analysts at the counter-terrorism center sitting right next to each other who don't even know what intelligence their neighbor in the next cubicle has on their computer. How is that still happening?

ENSOR: Well, it's still happening for a couple of reasons. I mean, first of all, I should stress that what officials say is there's much more information sharing, much more intelligence sharing among agencies than there used to be. But over at that center, where there are people from the FBI, CIA and other agencies sitting next to each other, there still are a couple of issues.

One is protecting sources and methods. Terribly important. You're not going to get more intelligence unless you can do that. So they don't want to share it too widely. Second, there issues like the privacy of American citizens. By law, it's not legal for an agency to share with others information which might include the names of a person, yours, for example, and might have information about you that isn't accurate, that hasn't been checked out yet.

And that comes up all the time. There's information about American citizens. It's not supposed to be kept and if it's inaccurate, of course, it has to be removed. But if it were distributed to thousands of people, you can imagine the privacy concerns that would raise -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I can. David Ensor, live for us today. Thank you.

HEMMER: There is more pressure on Kofi Annan to resign as head of the U.N. A report on the oil-for-food scandal did not find fault with Annan, but that is not silencing his critics. And yesterday, CNN's Richard Roth asked the secretary-general about his future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ROTH, SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Are you the man to continue to lead this organization? Critics, not just in Washington, but in this very building, some on your own staff, point to Benon Sevan, the man who ran the oil-for-food program. Deleif Maher (ph) mentioned in the report rude (UNINTELLIGIBLE), sex harassment, Congo sex, peacekeeping -- you were the former peacekeeper near Iraq. Your former chief of staff shredding documents, plus the decision by senior management on sending people back into Iraq. Do you feel it's time, for the good the of the organization, to step down?

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Hell no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: A two-word response yesterday. That is topic one today for Democratic consultant Victor Kamber in D.C. Vic, welcome back. Good morning.

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Pleasure.

HEMMER: And Republican strategist Joe Watkins, still hanging out in Philly. Good morning, Joe, to you as well. Victor, what do you think? Should Kofi Annan reconsider?

KAMBER: No, I don't see why. I mean, the 136-page Volcker report did exonerate him. It did raise some other questions about his son and some other problems, but he basically said this man on those issues was not guilty of anything. The White House has reendorsed him, basically. Said that they have confidence in him and the direction he's taking it. Certainly, third world countries have confidence.

You know, this is one senator or maybe several, but one senator in particular, who has a committee called Committee On Investigations -- Coleman from Minnesota...

HEMMER: Norm Coleman.

KAMBER: Right, and frankly, if he wants to investigate, let him go over and investigate the House of Representatives and Tom DeLay. There's somebody that needs to resign.

HEMMER: Joe, you want to see him out. Why?

JOE WATKINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, yes, sounds like Vic's been drinking one of those Starbucks lattes that he talked about the other day. Yes, the White House does support Kofi Annan. I think that's a good thing. The White House is so very kind and generous in doing that. Obviously, he's not always been supportive of the White House. Clearly, anybody who presides as CEO over an organization that is so full of scandal and corruption normally would be asked to step down. So Kofi Annan has been given a chance to stay on board. I think he is going to stay on board, obviously.

But the findings of the Volcker probe were not that -- they didn't vindicate him. What they did was they just said that they didn't find anything to -- they didn't find anything definitely that said that he was involved in the corruption. So there is the possibility that he could be continued to be examined.

KAMBER: He didn't beat his wife, Joe, right?

HEMMER: Take that point about the CEO of this organization, though, Victor. It is the largest scandal the U.N. has ever seen. Is there not culpability somewhere for Kofi Annan?

KAMBER: Well, there's no question there are problems. There are problems dealing -- when you're running a major organization, there are problems. I'm not making him into a saint, but I'm saying the reality is the investigation was centered around corruption and illegal gains on his part. Those do not exist. The fact that there are possibly some management issues that need to be dealt with, I'm all for him dealing with them. He needs to have the continued support of the United States, the financial support which we've been unwilling to pay our two debts for and he's going to be there. He's got the support of world leaders.

HEMMER: He is saying now -- he's actually going to all these African-American communities across the country, trying to increase the vote that Republicans get in 2008. For the record, Joe, in 2000, Republicans got 9 percent of the black vote. In 2004, they got 11 percent. The outgoing RNC director, Ed Gillespie, says in 2008, the Republicans will get 30 percent of the black vote in America.

WATKINS: That's fully possible.

HEMMER: What's he smoking?

WATKINS: Well, no, this is very real. If you look at some of the individual states that were targeted in the last campaign, one state in particular, Oklahoma, got something like 28 percent of the African-American vote. That's nearly 30 percent of the African- American vote already. What Ken Mehlman is doing such a great job of doing, is offering American African-Americans a choice.

And a lot of African-Americans are listening. They're saying, you know what, there's no reason for us any longer to be taken for granted by the Democrats. What are they offering besides fighting for minimum wage and higher taxes? They aren't giving us anything.

Republicans are talking about an ownership society, and talking about values. And this is one of the reasons why you're starting to see a shift away on the part of African-Americans, especially a lot of African-American church leaders, to Republicans, because Republicans happen to be more in sync.

HEMMER: All right, I got your point.

Donna Brazile, Victor, says Democrats are in the stone age when it comes to African-Americans.

KAMBER: I don't know what she's referring to. I think there's no -- I think it's wonderful that Republicans are finally talking to African-Americans, reaching out. It can only help the African- American community, as it only helps any community when both parties reaches out to them.

The difference is photo ops, dinners, pictures with the president is not going to bring about changes in the voting pattern. Richard Nixon ran, he got 28 percent, or 24 percent. Dwight Eisenhower got 28 percent. This party has become a 10 percent, 11 percent, 12 percent party with African-Americans for one reason, and one reason only. They don't deliver anything. They talk a good game, but don't give anything to the community of people. There's no way they'll get 30 percent, 20 percent, in the next election, unless they start delivering legislatively programs.

WATKINS: Under George Bush, interestingly, more African- Americans own homes than at any time in American history.

HEMMER: Got it. Thanks, Vic.

KAMBER: More Americans own homes than anytime in American history, period.

HEMMER: Pull those microphones on both of you guys today. Joe and Vic, thanks. Talk to you later -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Talk about the sharks in Florida. Beaches in Deerfield, Florida were closed to swimmers and surfers on Tuesday after hundreds of migrating sharks were spotted. The sharks were about 100 to 200 feet from shore. Experts say they were chasing bait fish. Shark sightings have closed Palm Beach County beaches numerous times in recent weeks, so you got to stay out of the water there. How scary is that?

(WEATHER REPORT)

In a moment here, Terri Schiavo's parents now with an 11th hour appeal to get her feeding tube reinserted. If that is granted, would it be too late to keep her alive? We're paging Sanjay on that, the good doctor, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A federal court of appeals is considering a petition by Terri Schiavo's parents to have her feeding tube put back in, though it has not agreed yet whether to hear the new arguments, but it's been nearly 13 days since the tube was removed. So even if the court ruled in her parent's favor, is it too late to save Terri Schiavo's life? We're "Paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta" to talk about this, and also about hospice care. Good morning.

Let's start with the feeding tube. If it's reinserted, does she have a chance?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think she does. I think, but it's not as simple as just putting the feeding tube in. She's probably could still have her life saved, but she probably also has irreversible organ damage, these things can occur simultaneously. A couple things to keep in mind, she has been without calories and hydration for some time now.

Her kidneys, most importantly, have probably had some irreversible damage. If she were to start being hydrated, if she were to start getting calories again, I think that most likely, they'd be able to save her life, but also probably need something like dialysis. Also you can't just start the tube feedings the way they were before. You probably have to start them at a slower rate, and more blander sort of tube feedings, at least to start -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We've heard that she hasn't urinated since Sunday. What does that tell us?

GUPTA: That's significant. And I think, you know, you have very few parameters that you can really measure. Obviously we're hearing descriptions of what Terri looks like, but this lack of urine output really means that her kidneys probably have started to either shut down, or started to shut down significantly now. That's a very concerning thing.

Why? Why is that significant? Because the kidneys filter toxins from the blood. Where do those toxins go? Well, they start to build up in the bloodstream now. Ultimately, they can cause disturbances in the balance of various electrolytes, and eventually cause her heart to fail. And that's probably the most common sequence of events that she's likely to have happen to her over the next couple days -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Let's turn the corner now. We want to talk about hospice care, because it's completely care from the care you'd get in a hospital, isn't it?

GUPTA: It is very different. And it's worth pointing out, Terri Schiavo's situation is very unusual, 15 years in a hospice, you don't hear of those kinds of numbers very much anymore, in part probably because she was so young when she went in. But about 1 in 15 to 1 in 75 people actually survive that long. Hospice care, particularly hospice-type care, is actually given in the hair home. It's not actually a physical dwelling; 80 to 90 percent of people actually get their care in the home, people who are close to dying. And the average time is only about three weeks when you make the determination someone is about to die, that's when you start hospice care. Terri Schiavo's case very unusual in that way -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's interesting. The hospice care workers, I mean, I've been in hospices, and they are the most caring people in the world. This will be difficult for them when Terri Schiavo passes, won't it? GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's a good point. In some ways, this is what they're trained to do. They're trained to deal with the dying, both the patient and the family as well, in terms of how they react to that. Lots of different things that they can do in terms of comfort measures, one of the big things. We've talked a lot about pain medications, for example. In Terri Schiavo's case, giving a couple of doses of pain medications, not because it was clear that she was in pain. A lot of people say she has no sense of pain, but just to make sure it's absolutely comfortable, and to talk to the family about this as well.

COSTELLO: Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Thanks, Carol.

HEMMER: About ten minutes before the hour now. In a moment here, "Things People Say" with Jack.

And who gets the biggest paycheck in the NBA and who's considered a bargain? Andy's "Minding Your Business" as well, next here on AMERICAN MORNING. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All right. Welcome back.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Bill.

American taxpayers cheating the government out of billions of dollars in taxes. And speaking of big money, we're gonna take a look at the NBA's highest paid players. Andy Serwer's got that. He's "Minding Your Business." Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Good morning, Jack.

A lot of big money. And this probably not going to surprise you. Didn't surprise me. According to the IRS, we are a nation of tax cheats, to the tune of $300 billion. Americans underreport $300 billion. Most of this is due to small businesses and self-employed people, sort of not, you know, really saying that they've got -- and here's an interesting one too, I thought. Alimony income, people underreport that. Can you imagine?

CAFFERTY: But alimony is tax deductible. Child support is not, but alimony is. I know this from experience.

SERWER: Yes. But I guess it's the recipient of the alimony -- that's why I brought this up.

CAFFERTY: Unless they changed the tax law, I know this to be fact.

SERWER: Indeed.

All right. Let's talk about some people who probably have fairly huge tax bills. The NBA's top stars. Who's the biggest recipients of salaries in the NBA? Not a surprise, number one, the big diesel, Shaq-fu, the Shaq man.

CAFFERTY: That's for one year, he gets that?

SERWER: That's one year, yes. And you know, you think about -- that's sort what Letterman gets and Leno and Dennis Kozlowski and all the big guys.

CAFFERTY: Yes, but they're funny.

SERWER: Well, Shaq can put the ball in the hole. Number two, Dikembe Mutombo. He doesn't even start. Yao Ming starts for Houston.

HEMMER: We need his agent.

SERWER: Yes, but he's a nice guy. He builds hospitals in Africa. Allan Houston, overpaid, perhaps. The New York Knicks have $100 million annual pay roll and...

HEMMER: He's out of here already.

SERWER: And we're not even going to make the playoffs this year. Chris Webber is trying to do it for the Sixers. A couple people who are underpaid in the NBA. Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade, two Olympians, make $2 million a year. Those guys are bargains. That's all.

Now, let's quickly talk about the markets. A down day yesterday. This morning, though, we could see a little up side, because GDP number for the fourth quarter came in. That's how fast the economy's growing. 3.8 percent, not so bad. That's what people are expecting for the year. Up 4.4 percent, which is the best number in five years.

CAFFERTY: Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

CAFFERTY: Time for "The Cafferty File." It's Wednesday, "Things People Say." Starting with this.

"My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights, unless they don't like what the states are doing." Republican representative Chris Shays on the congressional interference on the Schiavo case.

"Passengers can be nude while the ship is at sea." Sharon Kirsten (ph) is a publicist for a company that organized a gay nudist cruise, which was turned away from the Caribbean island of Nevis. They didn't want all them naked people on their island.

"I'm from Alabama. And they have a different alphabet." Baltimore Orioles pitcher Eric DuBose, during a Monday morning traffic stop, after being asked by Florida police to recite the alphabet. He was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. I'm from Alabama and they have a different alphabet.

"We have to be careful with the brothers. The brothers have to move to the side." Actress Sandra Bullock, on making sure her breasts didn't pop out of her "Miss Congeniality 2" costumes while they were making that movie.

SERWER: Her what?

CAFFERTY: Huh?

SERWER: Nevermind. No...

CAFFERTY: The brothers. She referred to them as the brothers.

COSTELLO: I think he was referring to breastses.

SERWER: That's strange.

CAFFERTY: "I hate being alone. I suffer from loneliness so I got two little faces tattooed on my knees. When I'm pissing people off, they don't want to talk to me, I can pretend they're alive and talk to them." This is that idiot Ozzy Osbourne talking to Conan O'Brien about smiley faces -- there they are -- that he had tattooed on what is arguably the ugliest pair of knees on the planet.

SERWER: He can't even see that far.

CAFFERTY: Talk to my knees.

HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.

Top stories in a moment here. Also, Madonna causing a bit of a stir at a party. "90 Second Pop" a bit later. Looks as a latest costume controversy. We'll show you the picture, too. Back in a moment, top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Good morning. There are developments in the Terri Schiavo case. Will a federal court step back into the fight this morning after receiving a brand new appeal?

Watching the pope's health after news from the Vatican. John Paul II now using a feeding tube, part of his recovery from throat surgery.

And Johnnie Cochran, always a way with words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNIE COCHRANE, LAWYER: If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: A lawyer with an amazing presence who took on the biggest cases. His legal legacy on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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