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Time Warner Identity Theft Risk; Firefighter Finds His Voice

Aired May 04, 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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Our parent company, Time Warner, has lost 600,000 computer records with important personal information. What makes this case is a little bit different is that it involves company employees, not customers. We'll take a closer look at that this morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's an issue.

Also, the firefighter who could not speak since a head injury more than nine years ago suddenly started talking. Other patients have come back even longer, but Sanjay will explain why this could not have happened in the Terri Schiavo matter. So we'll get to that coming up in a few minutes with Sanjay.

O'BRIEN: First let's get the headlines. Carol Costello here. Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," nearly 50 people killed in a suicide bombing in northern Iraq this morning. Officials say the attacker slipped in among a group of some 300 people waiting to sign up for the Kurdish regional police force. 100 would-be recruits were injured in that blast.

President Bush is hoping to shore up more support for his Social Security reforms. One day after speaking with Mississippi auto workers, the president is discussing his proposals with Latino business men and women at an economic conference in Washington.

A Philadelphia police officer has been taken off active duty after claims of police brutality. Video from the scene shows the suspect being walked towards the squad car when a police officer suddenly punches him after he was handcuffed. The spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Force joined us last hour. Here's his reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INSPECTOR WILLIAM COLARULO, PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPT.: We have to look at all the circumstances before we can make any kind of judgment. The commissioner was very forthcoming. He did say it was disturbing. Immediately after the commissioner viewed the tape, he ordered an internal affairs investigation. The officer was put on administrative duty pending the outcome of that investigation. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The suspect seen in that tape is expected to be interviewed about the incident as well.

Michael Jackson's attorneys are getting ready to start the pop star's defense. Prosecutors wrapping up their case. They're focusing on Jackson's apparent financial problems, claiming money problems drove him to desperation. The prosecution will call its final witness to the stand in about three hours. And actor Macaulay Culkin is among the first witnesses expected to testify on behalf of Michael Jackson. That will happen either today or tomorrow. Of course, Bill, we will keep everyone posted, as usual.

HEMMER: That we will. Thank you, Carol.

I.D. fraud is an all too familiar headline lately, and it's hitting close to home for us here at CNN. As we reported on Tuesday, our parent company Time Warner has lost a cooler size box containing computer back-up tapes with very sensitive data. 600,000 current and former Time Warner employees are affected. The lost data includes both names and personal information, but no customer data was involved, just the employee information. The Secret Service is investigating, and so far we are told there is no evidence that the information has been stolen, which brings us to our question.

What do you do when your company accidentally opens up you to I.D. fraud? Financial correspondent Valerie Morris with me here now. Good morning to you.

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.

HEMMER: What do you do?

MORRIS: Well, I've called the hotline, have you? To do a fraud alert. That's really the thing that you need to do. And here's the reason why, Bill. When someone steals your identity, whether it is -- and in this case, Time Warner didn't lose it. Actually, it was Iron Mountain, which was the data collection company. This is data on 600,000 former and current employees, their dependents, their beneficiaries. This is employment data, as opposed to credit card data, so it goes a little deeper. It gives more information about you, and that's the reason that there is more of a concern.

Time Warner has put in place, as many companies will do, a hotline where employees can call. You make one call to either Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. Ask for a fraud alert to be put on your credit reports. That one will then contact the others. So you don't have to call all three of the agencies. You need to get your credit report, read it, dispute any wrong information.

One other thing that Time Warner is doing is that they're paying for a monitoring service that will let you know if anything odd is happening with regard to your credit accounts.

HEMMER: The other thing Time Warner is doing, they're giving identity theft protection to its employees. Is it too late for that?

MORRIS: It's too late in the sense that the information has been compromised. We don't know whether it's been used. The thing is that oftentimes the information isn't used for as much as a year. What a fraud alert does -- and the importance of that is -- that for 90 days, you have a free alert on your report.

Now, some people say there are drawbacks, and it's true. There are some drawbacks to a fraud alert. It can slow down getting new credit. You have to be at your home phone, your office phone, or if you give your cell phone, a cell phone so that, if you're out and you want to open a new credit or a new -- if you want to open something like a new credit account, they will have to actually call you in order for this to happen. That prevents someone from using your name. So it will slow down the credit-granting process, but it doesn't penalize you. What it does is it requires creditors to be more diligent in making sure that the person who wants to open new credit in your name is actually you.

HEMMER: You mentioned the company Iron Mountain. How is it possible? This is a company that's charged with...

MORRIS: It's kind of a gold standard, isn't it?

HEMMER: ... keeping things secure.

MORRIS: They said it was just human error. But the reality is, regardless of whose fault it is, it becomes your problem or our problem, that it's now closer to home. My thing is I would really like to see just a credit freeze legislation. The Congress today at 10:00 is actually going to have a Senate hearing with regard to these latest security breaches, because the problem is growing so quickly. That's good that Congress is doing that. However, I think that until there is a standard law that says, your personal information is going to be protected, this is still going to be a compromised situation.

And one last thing, I always say to people, shred everything. If in doubt, shred it. The other thing is, if you do get a credit alert on your account, just know there was a law passed called facto in December of last year that says that alert cannot be extended beyond that 90 days.

HEMMER: A lot of really good information, too. Thanks for that, Valerie.

MORRIS: Sure.

HEMMER: And that shredder always feels good at the end of the day, doesn't it? Zzzz, drop it in there.

MORRIS: Get your kids to do it, even. Because then that makes them understand the importance.

HEMMER: Oh, I enjoy it.

MORRIS: You do, too? HEMMER: Thanks, Valerie.

MORRIS: Good.

HEMMER: We'll talk to you later.

MORRIS: Sure.

HEMMER: Soledad?

O'BRIEN: So what's North Korea getting ready to do, and is the U.S. ready? Newspaper reports say North Korea may be preparing for a nuclear test. If that is true, can the U.S. stop it? That's one of the issues that's up for debate this morning.

Joining us from Washington this morning, from the left is Democratic consultant Victor Kamber. On the right is former RNC communications director Clifford May. Nice to see you, gentlemen, as always.

CLIFFORD MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good to see you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for talking with us. Vic, we're going to begin with you. But first, let's set this up. Word, as you well know, that North Korea is preparing for an underground nuclear test. Here's what Condoleezza Rice had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States maintains significant -- and I want to underline significant -- deterrent capability of all kinds in the Asia Pacific region. So I don't think there should be any doubt about our ability to deter whatever the North Koreans are up to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Whatever they're up to. And then she says we'll be able to deal with it. So Vic, do you think this is a new direction, a threat of military action coming from Condoleezza Rice?

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Well, I think the more telling issue was her last sentence: whatever they're really up to. We don't know. And I don't know how you can talk about deterrence or our ability or our capability when we don't really know what they're doing. Our intelligence gathering is still very weak, very poor, and North Korea is obviously -- has nuclear capability. And you know, I worry very much that we're not prepared. One, because we don't know the facts, and then, two, the question is are we spread too thin militarily? Period. Even if we knew the facts.

O'BRIEN: Well, we're going to talk about being spread too thin militarily in just a minute, but Cliff, I want to get back to North Korea here. Is there a sense, when you hear what Condoleezza Rice is saying, that she's moving away from the diplomatic efforts, maybe going a new direction?

MAY: No, I think behind the diplomatic effort, you always want to have a sword. You always want to say, if the diplomatic efforts fail, we have recourse to other things. We're not going to just talk forever, especially when you're dealing with somebody like Kim Jong- Il, the dictator of North Korea, who may not be entirely rational or who may have a calculus that is so different from ours that we can't possibly understand it. It is a very dangerous thing for someone as odd and unpredictable as him to be having nuclear weapons and missiles, as well. He's been developing this capability for a lot of years, and it's a very dangerous situation. That's all you can say.

O'BRIEN: But Cliff, when you get, then, a report from the Joint Chiefs that says the military is being stretched too thin, to some degree, doesn't that undercut what we've just heard from the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice? Can we actually follow through on the threats that she seems to be making?

MAY: Well, I think we can, and I think it's important that we make that clear. What General Myers and others are saying is, look, it's difficult when we're fighting a war like we are fighting, in various parts of the world, but we can complete our missions. Believe me, if we want to take down North Korea, we could do so. But here's the rub. They may have nuclear weapons. They have missiles, thousands of them, pointed at South Korea, and they would be very likely to launch them.

We don't -- I hope the Pentagon has good contingency plans for North Korea. I don't know that it does. You certainly want the North Koreans to think that we do, but it's a difficult situation. We have numerous enemies out there. And for a long time, the fact of the matter is, the Pentagon was planning for a war against the Soviet Union, even after the Soviet Union had disappeared, not planning for the kind of enemies we face right now.

O'BRIEN: Cliff, the good news is, if you listen to General Myers, it can be winnable. It's going to be winnable. He has no doubt about that. But he says -- in fact, let's turn this to Vic -- that it's going to take longer to win, which of course really translates into more lives lost, more American lives lost. It seems that what he's saying is not exactly raising any red flags. Does it raise red flags to you?

KAMBER: Well, yes. And I didn't see that last part that you said. I saw "The L.A. Times" piece where he didn't say we can win it. I assume he believes we can win it, but I think he did say we're stretched too thin with Iraq and Afghanistan. Our commitments are too great. I think you had earlier on the show today the problem of the recruitment. We're not recruiting enough people for the military today. There's really a question, are we prepared? And, yes, I mean, obviously, in a nuclear situation, we could bomb the hell out of somebody. They could bomb the hell out of somebody, which just means more lives lost. It's a dangerous situation we're in, and it's the first time the Pentagon has really ever alluded to the fact we may have some problems. O'BRIEN: Let's turn to a much lighter note. Laura bush, version 2.0. She's a laugh riot. I'm sure you guys saw her at the correspondents dinner. You know, my question was, Cliff, why wait so long to launch Laura Bush on the American public? She was hilarious.

MAY: Yes, you're right. It's long overdue. She was hysterically funny. She's also, as you know, one of the most popular people in America today, for good reason. And I don't know why they've kept her under wraps. I think it's good to have her out there. She's a benefit to the administration.

O'BRIEN: You guys, we're out of time. That's going to be our final word this morning. Victor Kamber and Cliff May, as always, nice to see you, guys. Thanks.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: In a moment, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's got some good news for people who hate to sit through commercials before those movies.

Also, "Paging Dr. Gupta" and a remarkable story. A firefighter severely injured and speechless for 10 years suddenly finds his voice again. Sanjay has that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning about a true medical miracle. A firefighter suffered who brain damage in the line of duty has made a sudden and remarkable recovery. As Sanjay tells us, he found his voice against all odds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEIL KEANE, FMR. BUFFALO FIRE COMMISSIONER: He was knocked down the stairs when the roof caved in.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On that snowy night in 1995, firefighter Donald Herbert lay pinned under a mound of debris, the fire around him wracking his body and his brain. He would survive, able to walk and gesture, but the brain damage he sustained during his fall rendered him blind and virtually speechless. Then this week, nine-and-a-half years after his accident, Herbert stunned everyone by summoning words and memories. And according to "The New York Times," he called home, and the phone was answered by his 13-year-old son Nicholas, who was just a toddler at the time of the accident. Herbert was stunned, saying that can't be. He's just a baby. He can't talk.

KEANE: I never thought for a moment that he would ever come out of it. It was so devastating an injury.

GUPTA: It's a feat brain specialists agree is nearly impossible.

DR. DANIEL BARROW, EMORY UNIV. HEAD OF NEUROSURGERY: When patients have a severe head injury, they do recover in many instances, but that recovery usually will occur over a period of a year or maybe two to three years at the most. For somebody to make a dramatic improvement nine-and-a-half years after an injury is quite distinctly unusual.

GUPTA: There have been other anomalies. In 1996, eight years after being shot and sustaining brain damage, police officer Gary Dockery suddenly came to, bantering about old camping trips and telling jokes. In 2003, after 19 years, Terry Wallace emerged from a coma, calling out for his mom and asking for a Pepsi, please. And in February, Sara Scanlon, 20 years after being run down by a drunk driver and left unable to communicate except by blinking yes or no...

SARA SCANLON: Hi.

GUPTA: ... began to speak with family members.

What recent cases have in common the patients were not in a persistent vegetative state, a phrase we heard so often during the Terri Schiavo case. Like Schiavo, most of these patients were not unable to speak. But unlike her, they could communicate with hand gestures, by blinking or move around using a walker. To get a clearer picture of Herbert's case, I visited with Dr. Daniel Barrow, my chief of neurosurgery at Emory University.

(on camera): Is fluke the right word to use?

BARROW: I don't think it would be the word I would use. I would prefer a word that describes something that's much more I think positive. Fluke kind of connotates a mistake, and this really is -- this is a blessing of some type, and I'm not sure I can explain why. We simply don't know everything there is to know about the human nervous system. It's a very, very complex organ, the brain and the spinal cord. And there it remains a mystery in terms of understanding how it functions and how it sometimes dysfunctions.

GUPTA (voice-over): A mystery Herbert's family probably can live with. Since he reportedly began speaking, Herbert can only muster one-word answers and the thumbs-up sign. It's unclear whether he'll ever speak again. But after speaking once, the chances are pretty good.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: We're told Herbert is resting, catching up with his family now. Doctors continue to monitor him closely in the event of a relapse. We wish him the best -- Soledad.

GUPTA: Up next this morning, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's got a preview of the markets. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Camping, hiking, fishing, and fighting piracy. Who'd a thunk the Boy Scouts could do all these things? Well, they can. And the theater chain that's finally figured out how to attract some fans. Those stories and a look at the markets. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Be prepared and all that, right?

We'll talk about this movie deal, first of all. You ever notice that listings say the movie begins at 8:00, and the feature doesn't really start until about, what, 8:20? Trailers, trailers, ads, ads, more ads, more ads. Well, actually, a bunch of politicians have been lobbying the movie industry to come clean on this, the movie theater industry, I should say. And actually, there have been some attempts at class action lawsuits.

Forget about that. Loews, the big movie theater company, though, is now going to have truth in listings. It's going to say in the newspaper, 8:00 show, but then it's going to have a little note that says the feature begins 10 or 15 minutes later.

CAFFERTY: How nice.

SERWER: I think that's nice. On the other hand, now people are going to show up 10 or 15 minutes later and get in front of you and try to sit down and spill popcorn on you.

CAFFERTY: I'd -- that's fine. I would rather put up with a few late-comers than those insipid ads that I didn't pay to see.

SERWER: The ads are the bad thing.

CAFFERTY: I'm paying money to go watch the movie, not to watch some jerkwad a commercial for Harry's used cars.

O'BRIEN: I disagree.

SERWER: I like a couple trailers.

O'BRIEN: No. Because it gives you the 15 minutes to get there. So you think you make the 8:00, you make it by 8:15 because you're late.

SERWER: But then just come earlier.

CAFFERTY: You know, if you had the same attitude about AMERICAN MORNING, you'd never be here until 7:20.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: I think it's a great idea.

SERWER: All right, listen to this. Boy Scouts usually get badges for fishing, camping, lanyard making, things like that. Scout masters -- lanyard making -- is that the correct phrase? You know what lanyards are.

CAFFERTY: Yes, I do.

SERWER: Soledad doesn't, I don't know. So anyway, scout masters in Hong Kong will now be handing out a new badge. It's an IPR badge. That stands for Intellectual Property Rights badge. In Hong Kong -- this is true -- scouts are going to seminars and such to learn not to pirate videos and other intellectual properties. Apparently, it's such a problem in Hong Kong that scouts need to know about this stuff.

CAFFERTY: And what is the -- what do you get if you win the badge?

SERWER: The IPR badge?

CAFFERTY: Free DVDs?

SERWER: No, you get a little IPR badge. Maybe we can get one. We'll see if we can get one from Hong Kong.

And also just quickly, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian is buying a bigger stake in General Motors. This is interesting stuff. He already owns 3.9 percent, he's going up to 8.64 percent. He took -- tried to take over Chrysler years ago. And interesting guy. And that's big news. G.M. stock is up and so is the market, the futures of the market on that news.

CAFFERTY: Yes, it is interesting. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

CAFFERTY: Wednesday, time for "The File," "Things People Say."

Beginning with this. "You didn't notice $25 million was missing from your W-2?" Prosecutor Ann Donnelly to former Tyco CEO and soon- to-be prison inmate Dennis Kozlowski, in his trial for securities fraud. Kozlowski says he didn't notice the $25 million bonus was missing from his tax return.

"Usually it's the other way around. When I'm five minutes into the speech, the audience gets sick." Former Senator Zell Miller on becoming ill just as he began addressing a book tour audience. Actually, Zell -- and he's going be here, isn't he, this morning? He'll be showing up here on AMERICAN MORNING, along with that guy who made that hamburger.

"No pressure at all. I don't think it's my job to tell Americans what they should eat. We might as well go back to communism." Burger King CEO Greg Brenneman on whether Burger King feels pressure to alter its menu to appease the fast food critics.

"Everybody knows you always start with scissors." Carol Costello was right about this. 11-year-old Alice MacLean told her dad, a fine arts specialist, at auction house Christie's, how to win a game of rock, paper, scissors. A Japanese businessman used that game to decide whether Christie's or Sotheby's would get to auction his $20 million art collection. On Alice's advice, Christie's won the deal.

O'BRIEN: Go Alice!

CAFFERTY: Yes.

And finally this. "Accord to a new poll, Laura Bush's popularity rating is 80 percent, while President Bush's rating is down to 47 percent. When she heard this, Laura said, hey, it's just like our grades in college." That would be Conan O'Brien, interpreting the president's wife's approval ratings versus his.

HEMMER: They're getting some mileage out of Saturday night, aren't they?

CAFFERTY: Pretty funny stuff.

O'BRIEN: That's pretty funny.

And in fact, coming up in just a moment, Zell Miller is going to talk with us about his love-hate relationship with his own party. We'll talk to the fiery Democrat about his new book, the party's future, and his take on Hillary Clinton. That's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired May 4, 2005 - 08:30   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 exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Our parent company, Time Warner, has lost 600,000 computer records with important personal information. What makes this case is a little bit different is that it involves company employees, not customers. We'll take a closer look at that this morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's an issue.

Also, the firefighter who could not speak since a head injury more than nine years ago suddenly started talking. Other patients have come back even longer, but Sanjay will explain why this could not have happened in the Terri Schiavo matter. So we'll get to that coming up in a few minutes with Sanjay.

O'BRIEN: First let's get the headlines. Carol Costello here. Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," nearly 50 people killed in a suicide bombing in northern Iraq this morning. Officials say the attacker slipped in among a group of some 300 people waiting to sign up for the Kurdish regional police force. 100 would-be recruits were injured in that blast.

President Bush is hoping to shore up more support for his Social Security reforms. One day after speaking with Mississippi auto workers, the president is discussing his proposals with Latino business men and women at an economic conference in Washington.

A Philadelphia police officer has been taken off active duty after claims of police brutality. Video from the scene shows the suspect being walked towards the squad car when a police officer suddenly punches him after he was handcuffed. The spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Force joined us last hour. Here's his reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INSPECTOR WILLIAM COLARULO, PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPT.: We have to look at all the circumstances before we can make any kind of judgment. The commissioner was very forthcoming. He did say it was disturbing. Immediately after the commissioner viewed the tape, he ordered an internal affairs investigation. The officer was put on administrative duty pending the outcome of that investigation. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The suspect seen in that tape is expected to be interviewed about the incident as well.

Michael Jackson's attorneys are getting ready to start the pop star's defense. Prosecutors wrapping up their case. They're focusing on Jackson's apparent financial problems, claiming money problems drove him to desperation. The prosecution will call its final witness to the stand in about three hours. And actor Macaulay Culkin is among the first witnesses expected to testify on behalf of Michael Jackson. That will happen either today or tomorrow. Of course, Bill, we will keep everyone posted, as usual.

HEMMER: That we will. Thank you, Carol.

I.D. fraud is an all too familiar headline lately, and it's hitting close to home for us here at CNN. As we reported on Tuesday, our parent company Time Warner has lost a cooler size box containing computer back-up tapes with very sensitive data. 600,000 current and former Time Warner employees are affected. The lost data includes both names and personal information, but no customer data was involved, just the employee information. The Secret Service is investigating, and so far we are told there is no evidence that the information has been stolen, which brings us to our question.

What do you do when your company accidentally opens up you to I.D. fraud? Financial correspondent Valerie Morris with me here now. Good morning to you.

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.

HEMMER: What do you do?

MORRIS: Well, I've called the hotline, have you? To do a fraud alert. That's really the thing that you need to do. And here's the reason why, Bill. When someone steals your identity, whether it is -- and in this case, Time Warner didn't lose it. Actually, it was Iron Mountain, which was the data collection company. This is data on 600,000 former and current employees, their dependents, their beneficiaries. This is employment data, as opposed to credit card data, so it goes a little deeper. It gives more information about you, and that's the reason that there is more of a concern.

Time Warner has put in place, as many companies will do, a hotline where employees can call. You make one call to either Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. Ask for a fraud alert to be put on your credit reports. That one will then contact the others. So you don't have to call all three of the agencies. You need to get your credit report, read it, dispute any wrong information.

One other thing that Time Warner is doing is that they're paying for a monitoring service that will let you know if anything odd is happening with regard to your credit accounts.

HEMMER: The other thing Time Warner is doing, they're giving identity theft protection to its employees. Is it too late for that?

MORRIS: It's too late in the sense that the information has been compromised. We don't know whether it's been used. The thing is that oftentimes the information isn't used for as much as a year. What a fraud alert does -- and the importance of that is -- that for 90 days, you have a free alert on your report.

Now, some people say there are drawbacks, and it's true. There are some drawbacks to a fraud alert. It can slow down getting new credit. You have to be at your home phone, your office phone, or if you give your cell phone, a cell phone so that, if you're out and you want to open a new credit or a new -- if you want to open something like a new credit account, they will have to actually call you in order for this to happen. That prevents someone from using your name. So it will slow down the credit-granting process, but it doesn't penalize you. What it does is it requires creditors to be more diligent in making sure that the person who wants to open new credit in your name is actually you.

HEMMER: You mentioned the company Iron Mountain. How is it possible? This is a company that's charged with...

MORRIS: It's kind of a gold standard, isn't it?

HEMMER: ... keeping things secure.

MORRIS: They said it was just human error. But the reality is, regardless of whose fault it is, it becomes your problem or our problem, that it's now closer to home. My thing is I would really like to see just a credit freeze legislation. The Congress today at 10:00 is actually going to have a Senate hearing with regard to these latest security breaches, because the problem is growing so quickly. That's good that Congress is doing that. However, I think that until there is a standard law that says, your personal information is going to be protected, this is still going to be a compromised situation.

And one last thing, I always say to people, shred everything. If in doubt, shred it. The other thing is, if you do get a credit alert on your account, just know there was a law passed called facto in December of last year that says that alert cannot be extended beyond that 90 days.

HEMMER: A lot of really good information, too. Thanks for that, Valerie.

MORRIS: Sure.

HEMMER: And that shredder always feels good at the end of the day, doesn't it? Zzzz, drop it in there.

MORRIS: Get your kids to do it, even. Because then that makes them understand the importance.

HEMMER: Oh, I enjoy it.

MORRIS: You do, too? HEMMER: Thanks, Valerie.

MORRIS: Good.

HEMMER: We'll talk to you later.

MORRIS: Sure.

HEMMER: Soledad?

O'BRIEN: So what's North Korea getting ready to do, and is the U.S. ready? Newspaper reports say North Korea may be preparing for a nuclear test. If that is true, can the U.S. stop it? That's one of the issues that's up for debate this morning.

Joining us from Washington this morning, from the left is Democratic consultant Victor Kamber. On the right is former RNC communications director Clifford May. Nice to see you, gentlemen, as always.

CLIFFORD MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good to see you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for talking with us. Vic, we're going to begin with you. But first, let's set this up. Word, as you well know, that North Korea is preparing for an underground nuclear test. Here's what Condoleezza Rice had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States maintains significant -- and I want to underline significant -- deterrent capability of all kinds in the Asia Pacific region. So I don't think there should be any doubt about our ability to deter whatever the North Koreans are up to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Whatever they're up to. And then she says we'll be able to deal with it. So Vic, do you think this is a new direction, a threat of military action coming from Condoleezza Rice?

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Well, I think the more telling issue was her last sentence: whatever they're really up to. We don't know. And I don't know how you can talk about deterrence or our ability or our capability when we don't really know what they're doing. Our intelligence gathering is still very weak, very poor, and North Korea is obviously -- has nuclear capability. And you know, I worry very much that we're not prepared. One, because we don't know the facts, and then, two, the question is are we spread too thin militarily? Period. Even if we knew the facts.

O'BRIEN: Well, we're going to talk about being spread too thin militarily in just a minute, but Cliff, I want to get back to North Korea here. Is there a sense, when you hear what Condoleezza Rice is saying, that she's moving away from the diplomatic efforts, maybe going a new direction?

MAY: No, I think behind the diplomatic effort, you always want to have a sword. You always want to say, if the diplomatic efforts fail, we have recourse to other things. We're not going to just talk forever, especially when you're dealing with somebody like Kim Jong- Il, the dictator of North Korea, who may not be entirely rational or who may have a calculus that is so different from ours that we can't possibly understand it. It is a very dangerous thing for someone as odd and unpredictable as him to be having nuclear weapons and missiles, as well. He's been developing this capability for a lot of years, and it's a very dangerous situation. That's all you can say.

O'BRIEN: But Cliff, when you get, then, a report from the Joint Chiefs that says the military is being stretched too thin, to some degree, doesn't that undercut what we've just heard from the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice? Can we actually follow through on the threats that she seems to be making?

MAY: Well, I think we can, and I think it's important that we make that clear. What General Myers and others are saying is, look, it's difficult when we're fighting a war like we are fighting, in various parts of the world, but we can complete our missions. Believe me, if we want to take down North Korea, we could do so. But here's the rub. They may have nuclear weapons. They have missiles, thousands of them, pointed at South Korea, and they would be very likely to launch them.

We don't -- I hope the Pentagon has good contingency plans for North Korea. I don't know that it does. You certainly want the North Koreans to think that we do, but it's a difficult situation. We have numerous enemies out there. And for a long time, the fact of the matter is, the Pentagon was planning for a war against the Soviet Union, even after the Soviet Union had disappeared, not planning for the kind of enemies we face right now.

O'BRIEN: Cliff, the good news is, if you listen to General Myers, it can be winnable. It's going to be winnable. He has no doubt about that. But he says -- in fact, let's turn this to Vic -- that it's going to take longer to win, which of course really translates into more lives lost, more American lives lost. It seems that what he's saying is not exactly raising any red flags. Does it raise red flags to you?

KAMBER: Well, yes. And I didn't see that last part that you said. I saw "The L.A. Times" piece where he didn't say we can win it. I assume he believes we can win it, but I think he did say we're stretched too thin with Iraq and Afghanistan. Our commitments are too great. I think you had earlier on the show today the problem of the recruitment. We're not recruiting enough people for the military today. There's really a question, are we prepared? And, yes, I mean, obviously, in a nuclear situation, we could bomb the hell out of somebody. They could bomb the hell out of somebody, which just means more lives lost. It's a dangerous situation we're in, and it's the first time the Pentagon has really ever alluded to the fact we may have some problems. O'BRIEN: Let's turn to a much lighter note. Laura bush, version 2.0. She's a laugh riot. I'm sure you guys saw her at the correspondents dinner. You know, my question was, Cliff, why wait so long to launch Laura Bush on the American public? She was hilarious.

MAY: Yes, you're right. It's long overdue. She was hysterically funny. She's also, as you know, one of the most popular people in America today, for good reason. And I don't know why they've kept her under wraps. I think it's good to have her out there. She's a benefit to the administration.

O'BRIEN: You guys, we're out of time. That's going to be our final word this morning. Victor Kamber and Cliff May, as always, nice to see you, guys. Thanks.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: In a moment, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's got some good news for people who hate to sit through commercials before those movies.

Also, "Paging Dr. Gupta" and a remarkable story. A firefighter severely injured and speechless for 10 years suddenly finds his voice again. Sanjay has that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning about a true medical miracle. A firefighter suffered who brain damage in the line of duty has made a sudden and remarkable recovery. As Sanjay tells us, he found his voice against all odds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEIL KEANE, FMR. BUFFALO FIRE COMMISSIONER: He was knocked down the stairs when the roof caved in.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On that snowy night in 1995, firefighter Donald Herbert lay pinned under a mound of debris, the fire around him wracking his body and his brain. He would survive, able to walk and gesture, but the brain damage he sustained during his fall rendered him blind and virtually speechless. Then this week, nine-and-a-half years after his accident, Herbert stunned everyone by summoning words and memories. And according to "The New York Times," he called home, and the phone was answered by his 13-year-old son Nicholas, who was just a toddler at the time of the accident. Herbert was stunned, saying that can't be. He's just a baby. He can't talk.

KEANE: I never thought for a moment that he would ever come out of it. It was so devastating an injury.

GUPTA: It's a feat brain specialists agree is nearly impossible.

DR. DANIEL BARROW, EMORY UNIV. HEAD OF NEUROSURGERY: When patients have a severe head injury, they do recover in many instances, but that recovery usually will occur over a period of a year or maybe two to three years at the most. For somebody to make a dramatic improvement nine-and-a-half years after an injury is quite distinctly unusual.

GUPTA: There have been other anomalies. In 1996, eight years after being shot and sustaining brain damage, police officer Gary Dockery suddenly came to, bantering about old camping trips and telling jokes. In 2003, after 19 years, Terry Wallace emerged from a coma, calling out for his mom and asking for a Pepsi, please. And in February, Sara Scanlon, 20 years after being run down by a drunk driver and left unable to communicate except by blinking yes or no...

SARA SCANLON: Hi.

GUPTA: ... began to speak with family members.

What recent cases have in common the patients were not in a persistent vegetative state, a phrase we heard so often during the Terri Schiavo case. Like Schiavo, most of these patients were not unable to speak. But unlike her, they could communicate with hand gestures, by blinking or move around using a walker. To get a clearer picture of Herbert's case, I visited with Dr. Daniel Barrow, my chief of neurosurgery at Emory University.

(on camera): Is fluke the right word to use?

BARROW: I don't think it would be the word I would use. I would prefer a word that describes something that's much more I think positive. Fluke kind of connotates a mistake, and this really is -- this is a blessing of some type, and I'm not sure I can explain why. We simply don't know everything there is to know about the human nervous system. It's a very, very complex organ, the brain and the spinal cord. And there it remains a mystery in terms of understanding how it functions and how it sometimes dysfunctions.

GUPTA (voice-over): A mystery Herbert's family probably can live with. Since he reportedly began speaking, Herbert can only muster one-word answers and the thumbs-up sign. It's unclear whether he'll ever speak again. But after speaking once, the chances are pretty good.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: We're told Herbert is resting, catching up with his family now. Doctors continue to monitor him closely in the event of a relapse. We wish him the best -- Soledad.

GUPTA: Up next this morning, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's got a preview of the markets. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Camping, hiking, fishing, and fighting piracy. Who'd a thunk the Boy Scouts could do all these things? Well, they can. And the theater chain that's finally figured out how to attract some fans. Those stories and a look at the markets. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Be prepared and all that, right?

We'll talk about this movie deal, first of all. You ever notice that listings say the movie begins at 8:00, and the feature doesn't really start until about, what, 8:20? Trailers, trailers, ads, ads, more ads, more ads. Well, actually, a bunch of politicians have been lobbying the movie industry to come clean on this, the movie theater industry, I should say. And actually, there have been some attempts at class action lawsuits.

Forget about that. Loews, the big movie theater company, though, is now going to have truth in listings. It's going to say in the newspaper, 8:00 show, but then it's going to have a little note that says the feature begins 10 or 15 minutes later.

CAFFERTY: How nice.

SERWER: I think that's nice. On the other hand, now people are going to show up 10 or 15 minutes later and get in front of you and try to sit down and spill popcorn on you.

CAFFERTY: I'd -- that's fine. I would rather put up with a few late-comers than those insipid ads that I didn't pay to see.

SERWER: The ads are the bad thing.

CAFFERTY: I'm paying money to go watch the movie, not to watch some jerkwad a commercial for Harry's used cars.

O'BRIEN: I disagree.

SERWER: I like a couple trailers.

O'BRIEN: No. Because it gives you the 15 minutes to get there. So you think you make the 8:00, you make it by 8:15 because you're late.

SERWER: But then just come earlier.

CAFFERTY: You know, if you had the same attitude about AMERICAN MORNING, you'd never be here until 7:20.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: I think it's a great idea.

SERWER: All right, listen to this. Boy Scouts usually get badges for fishing, camping, lanyard making, things like that. Scout masters -- lanyard making -- is that the correct phrase? You know what lanyards are.

CAFFERTY: Yes, I do.

SERWER: Soledad doesn't, I don't know. So anyway, scout masters in Hong Kong will now be handing out a new badge. It's an IPR badge. That stands for Intellectual Property Rights badge. In Hong Kong -- this is true -- scouts are going to seminars and such to learn not to pirate videos and other intellectual properties. Apparently, it's such a problem in Hong Kong that scouts need to know about this stuff.

CAFFERTY: And what is the -- what do you get if you win the badge?

SERWER: The IPR badge?

CAFFERTY: Free DVDs?

SERWER: No, you get a little IPR badge. Maybe we can get one. We'll see if we can get one from Hong Kong.

And also just quickly, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian is buying a bigger stake in General Motors. This is interesting stuff. He already owns 3.9 percent, he's going up to 8.64 percent. He took -- tried to take over Chrysler years ago. And interesting guy. And that's big news. G.M. stock is up and so is the market, the futures of the market on that news.

CAFFERTY: Yes, it is interesting. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

CAFFERTY: Wednesday, time for "The File," "Things People Say."

Beginning with this. "You didn't notice $25 million was missing from your W-2?" Prosecutor Ann Donnelly to former Tyco CEO and soon- to-be prison inmate Dennis Kozlowski, in his trial for securities fraud. Kozlowski says he didn't notice the $25 million bonus was missing from his tax return.

"Usually it's the other way around. When I'm five minutes into the speech, the audience gets sick." Former Senator Zell Miller on becoming ill just as he began addressing a book tour audience. Actually, Zell -- and he's going be here, isn't he, this morning? He'll be showing up here on AMERICAN MORNING, along with that guy who made that hamburger.

"No pressure at all. I don't think it's my job to tell Americans what they should eat. We might as well go back to communism." Burger King CEO Greg Brenneman on whether Burger King feels pressure to alter its menu to appease the fast food critics.

"Everybody knows you always start with scissors." Carol Costello was right about this. 11-year-old Alice MacLean told her dad, a fine arts specialist, at auction house Christie's, how to win a game of rock, paper, scissors. A Japanese businessman used that game to decide whether Christie's or Sotheby's would get to auction his $20 million art collection. On Alice's advice, Christie's won the deal.

O'BRIEN: Go Alice!

CAFFERTY: Yes.

And finally this. "Accord to a new poll, Laura Bush's popularity rating is 80 percent, while President Bush's rating is down to 47 percent. When she heard this, Laura said, hey, it's just like our grades in college." That would be Conan O'Brien, interpreting the president's wife's approval ratings versus his.

HEMMER: They're getting some mileage out of Saturday night, aren't they?

CAFFERTY: Pretty funny stuff.

O'BRIEN: That's pretty funny.

And in fact, coming up in just a moment, Zell Miller is going to talk with us about his love-hate relationship with his own party. We'll talk to the fiery Democrat about his new book, the party's future, and his take on Hillary Clinton. That's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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