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CNN Live At Daybreak
Hard Decision; Hot Pursuit in L.A.; Scrambling Scare
Aired May 12, 2005 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, high alert in the nation's capital. Fallout this morning from a false alarm.
Plus, no end to the violence in Iraq. More suicide bombers take their toll.
And an L.A. freeway, a police chase, and a violent, deadly end.
It is Thursday, May 12. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News," one violent day follows another in Iraq today. A suicide bomber targets a movie theater. A short time later, a second bomb explodes near a mosque near the first bombing. There are an unknown number of casualties. Several bombings and attacks yesterday left 58 Iraqis dead and nearly 100 wounded.
This morning, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote on John Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton has been a blunt critic of the world body.
NASA tries again. In just about 90 minutes, it hopes to launch a weather satellite into a polar orbit. It was going to be sent up yesterday, but bad weather scrubbed the launch.
And perhaps that new shuttle -- new satellite, rather, will warn us about this: hail. It fell in parts of northeastern Colorado, but that's nothing. Nearly two feet of snow was reported in the mountains of northern Wyoming.
That can not be normal, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we don't like to use the term "normal" because that starts to give weathermen complexes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob.
MARCIANO: OK. See you.
COSTELLO: Washington wakes up this morning perhaps a bit more braced for the day after that big scare. Fighter jets bristling with missiles were scrambled after a flew plane flew intro restricted airspace. It turns out it was a wrong turn, so to speak, so we bring you the latest this morning.
The two aviators, Jim Shaeffer and Troy Martin, were questioned and released last night. Authorities say they were using old maps with outdated information.
Washington's mayor is upset this morning that the city wasn't told about the threat until it was over. In total, about 35,000 people were evacuated from the Capitol, the White House, and other government buildings. And it is the safety of those 35,000 people that's on the minds of the Defense Department.
One option out there, order the plane to be shot down, an obviously hard decision to make. Here's our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, with that side of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was just nine days ago that CNN visited Paul McHale in his fifth floor Pentagon office to talk about the very type of thing that happened today. A small plane is flying over restricted air space in Washington, D.C. It is just after 12:00 noon. And in McHale's office, the secure phone rings. As the first ever assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, McHale listens briefly and then notifies other senior officials in the Pentagon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Folks, you have to get off the grounds now!
STARR: Aides keep him informed until the crisis passes. In the interview with CNN, McHale discussed the nightmare scenario, shooting down a commercial aircraft in the post-9/11 world.
PAUL MCHALE, ASST. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We train routinely for the sobering mission of shooting down a commercial airliner if that commercial airliner is commandeered by terrorists, as occurred on September the 11th. That's a chilling order. It's one that we -- we certainly hope no one ever has to give.
But the president, the secretary of defense and others in the chain of command are prepared to make that very difficult decision if that decision is required to save an even greater number of American lives. The terrorists know that. And we believe that that has a deterrent effect, saying to the terrorists, if you commandeer an aircraft, you will likely be interdicted by F-16s and you won't make it to the target.
STARR: Fighter jets scrambled quickly to intercept this small aircraft. But it's just one scenario McHale worries about each morning when he begins his day at the Pentagon with an intelligence briefing on the latest threats. Terrorists using ports to bring a nuclear, chemical or biological device into the United States is a constant concern.
MCHALE: If we were to experience a domestic attack involving a weapon of mass destruction, there are highly trained Department of Defense personnel who are prepared to respond almost immediately to assist civilian authorities in beginning the remediation, the response to that attack.
STARR: McHale's office is within steps of where the airliner hit the Pentagon on 9/11, a fact never very far from his mind and at the forefront of his priorities.
MCHALE: Three thousand Americans died on that day because we were not fully prepared to defend our country. We're committed to the proposition that won't happen again.
STARR (on camera): This incident did not result in the nightmare decision to shoot a plane down. But the military now has the plans and procedures to do just that if it is ever required.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Want to talk more about this, this morning. And that brings us to our DAYBREAK e-mail "Question of the Day."
This small plane was three miles from the White House -- three miles. It could get to the White House very, very quickly, because you know you can run three miles in a half-hour.
So we ask you this morning, should a shoot-down order have been given? We know it's a difficult decision, and we're glad it wasn't given. But we want to know what you think this morning. Should a shoot-down order have been given?
E-mail us at DAYBREAK@CNN.com. DAYBREAK@CNN.com. And be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
In other news "Across America" this morning, prosecutors say they have a motive in the killings of two young girls in Zion, Illinois. Laura Hobbs' father, Jerry, is charged with killing her and Krystal Tobias. Prosecutors say Hobbs became angry when his daughter left Sunday with her friend despite being grounded. They say he tracked her down and then stabbed her and her friend to death.
Macaulay Culkin says Michael Jackson is still a friend. The actor testified at Jackson's molestation trial, telling the jury the entertainer never sexually molested him or touched him in any improper way. He calls the allegations against Jackson absolutely ridiculous. Culkin adds, his stay at Jackson's Neverland ranch was "good old fun."
Former first lady Nancy Reagan says perhaps we should do this more often. She was speaking to both Republicans and Democrats who came together at a dinner in her honor. The evening raised $2.5 million for a pavilion at the Reagan Presidential Library.
A hail of police gunfire ends a high-speed chase in Los Angeles. Police say the car was stolen during a home invasion. As CNN's Peter Viles tell us, LA TV stations provided live coverage of the man's death.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like he's hitting the brakes again and going into a parking lot here. OK, he's in to a parking lot. He's getting out. He's starting to run.
OK, shots are being fired. Shots are being fired.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began as your typical televised L.A. car chase. The car was stolen, the driver was reckless.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa. Look at how close it was to that vehicle there. Oh my goodness. Look at the high speeds. He's increasing his rate of speed.
VILES: With live television following his every move, the driver runs out of freeway, crashes, and is surrounded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, we need to come out of this shot just a little bit in case shots would be fired here.
VILES: But it wasn't over. The driver simply took off and lived long enough to write a new chapter of violence in a spring that has already seen this shootout in Compton on tape and a dozen freeway shootings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, he just almost rear-ended that pickup truck there as he hit the brakes. And more of the tire is disintegrating there and coming apart.
VILES: The driver, now losing control...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you can see a lot of passengers -- a lot of pedestrians getting in the way. OK, he's backing up.
VILES: And then he makes one last turn, the last of his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, it looks like he's hitting the brakes again.
VILES: In a fast-food parking lot, he makes a run for it. You'll see his gun, and you'll see the first shot blow out his window. Los Angeles TV viewers saw what happened next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired, it appears.
Pull out! Pull out, Mike! Pull out!
VILES: The driver pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Peter Viles, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: They're still investigating that incident. In a separate shooting on a southern California roadway, shots were fired from one car into the vehicle next to it on L.A.'s Harbor Freeway.
One man died in that incident. A second man was shot in the shoulder but is expected to survive.
Police have not found the shooter yet. Officials say they don't believe this shooting is part of a string of recent attacks on southern California highways.
It is down to the wire today in the battle over John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will meet this morning for a final debate on the controversial nominee, and they will vote this afternoon. The committee chairman says the vote to send the nomination to the full Senate will be strictly along party lines.
Critics have accused Bolton of abusing subordinates and misusing intelligence, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disagrees. She tells CNN Bolton is imminently qualified for the job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: There are a lot of people who work for John Bolton who are inspired by him and who are intensely loyal to him. And John is hard-charging, there's no doubt about that. But he has been very successful in managing people, he's been very successful in his diplomacy.
I expect that when John leads the mission at the United -- at the U.N., that he's going to do it in a way that is respectful of the people who work for him, and that he'll get the best out of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Rice says she expects Bolton to be approved for the U.N. job.
And speaking of the United Nations, a Senate panel investigating the agency's defunct oil-for-food program in Iraq is accusing two European politicians of corruption. The panel's report alleges that British lawmaker George Galloway received allocations for 20 million barrels of Iraqi oil in exchange for supporting Saddam Hussein's regime. The panel also accuses former French interior minister Charles Pasqua of receiving allocations for 11 million barrels of oil.
Both men have previously denied the allegations.
Coming up on DAYBREAK, a convicted serial killer sits in a Connecticut prison. He's thinking about what may be the final 21 hours of his life. I believe this was his victim.
Coming up in seven minutes, CNN's Deborah Feyerick reviews the last 24 years of Michael Ross' life.
Now that the Real I.D. Act has become law, it could mean even longer lines at the DMV. We'll take a look in 26 minutes.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:15 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
North Korea says it has completed a step that could enable the country to create weapons-grade plutonium for nuclear weapons. The government announced the removal of 8,000 fuel rods from a reactor at its main nuclear complex.
Two car bombs have exploded in Baghdad this morning. One blast in front of a movie theater, the other by a mosque. There are numerous casualties, but so far no specific numbers to give you.
In money news, the man who steered Eastman Kodak's transformation to digital imaging is ascending to the company's top job. Antonio Perez, who joined Kodak just two years ago, has been named the company's next CEO.
In culture, supermodel Heidi Klum and singer Seal are now husband and wife. They tied the knot on a beach in Mexico on Tuesday. Two months ago, the couple announced that Klum is pregnant.
In sports, a ninth inning homer lifted the Red Sox over the Athletics 6-5. Boston has won its last nine games against Oakland.
To the forecast center and Rob.
MARCIANO: My Yanks' last five games in a row, got to show...
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: Good morning, Carol. Here's a look at the forecast weather map for today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Rob.
That's a look at the latest headlines for you this morning.
Let's get more now on that scrambling scare, when a small plane flew into restricted airspace over Washington, D.C. We're joined by Virg Jacques with our D.C. affiliate WTTG.
Good morning, Virg.
VIRG JACQUES, REPORTER, WTTG: Good morning, Carol.
It was quite a scene yesterday as the Capitol and adjacent federal buildings were evacuated. About 35,000 people in all, everyone from tourists to lawmakers. About 200 people evacuated from the White House when that small Cessna from rural Pennsylvania came into restricted airspace here in D.C. It was a very, very strange situation, reminiscent of what happened back in June of last year during President Reagan's funeral, when a plane carrying the governor of Kentucky inadvertently came into restricted airspace.
Yesterday, though, the situation was handled, according to U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terry Gainer, as well as could be expected. There are some complaints, however, from D.C. Mayor Tony Williams.
He's upset. He says D.C. officials were not notified about the evacuation, about what was happening with that aircraft until after the fact.
That plane came within minutes of reaching the White House. And according to Chief Gainer, came about as close as you could come without being shot down.
The plane actually did fly over the vice presidential -- the vice president's residence. Of course President Bush, at the White House, was not there. He was out jogging at the time.
No problems here. No one injured in that evacuation. The normal chaos you would expect. People were out of the buildings and put back in safely, probably within an hour -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Virg, from what we're hearing this morning, Mayor Anthony Williams, the mayor of Washington, D.C., is quite upset that he was not informed of this incident until after it was over. That's not likely going to change, though, is it? There's always that battle between federal officials and city officials in D.C.
JACQUES: Well, the mayor thought that some type of notification process, some type of joint sharing of information had been worked out. But apparently it had not.
Now he is calling for a regional notification process. He says that incidents like this could be life-or-death situations and that city officials have to be notified at the same time as everyone else if this system is to work effectively.
COSTELLO: And we also heard -- in fact, our Kelli Arena is reporting that maybe an evacuation wasn't the best idea, because if that plane was carrying chemical weapons of any kind, the chemicals could be dropped, and all the people running from the buildings. Perhaps it would have been smarter to keep the people inside the buildings instead of evacuating.
JACQUES: Well the Capitol Police chief says this is what they're trained to do. They're trained to evacuate people, and this is the plan if aircraft fly into restricted airspace and get as close as this plane did.
By the way, no charges are expected to be filed against these pilots. Government officials say this was just a simple mistake. Apparently, the pilot and student pilot were using outdated maps, maps that were not in line with changes made after September 11. COSTELLO: No criminal charges, but both could lose their pilots' licenses. We're still following that angle of the story, as I'm sure you are as well.
Virg Jacques, reporting live from Washington this morning. Thank you.
Convicted killer Michael Ross has decided to forgo any more appeals. He's scheduled to die by lethal injection tonight at 2:00 a.m. Eastern. But a federal lawsuit filed yesterday on behalf of other Connecticut inmates says the execution would cause a wave of suicide attempt among the state's prison population. The move is just one more legal maneuver in what's become a test case for the death penalty in New England.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick talked to the family of one of Ross' first victims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been 24 years since his sister died, 24 years since her body was found at the bottom of the gorge at Cornell University.
LAN TU, DZONG TU'S BROTHER: I have never been able to properly cry for my sister.
FEYERICK: Dzong Tu, born in Vietnam, was a graduate student in economics.
TU: At first, it was thought that maybe she committed suicide, which everyone who knows her agrees that it is impossible.
FEYERICK: At the time, police could not know for sure.
LAUREN SIGNER, ITHACA POLICE CHIEF: There were no marks on her body to say someone grabbed her, there were no defensive wounds. There was no one that saw anything. No one saw someone struggling or standing on the bridge. So we just don't know how she ended up in the water.
FEYERICK: The case remained unsolved for six years. That's when the killer, on trial for the murder of four other women, confessed to killing the graduate student.
DET. MICHAEL MALCHIK, CAUGHT MICHAEL ROSS: She was alive when she went over those falls and went over the gorge. She was still alive.
FEYERICK: Michael Ross was a senior at Cornell University. He shared a class with the young woman. Her murder is believed to have been Ross' first killing, following a string of rapes on campus in the spring of 1981.
It was Detective Michael Malchik, investigating other murders in Connecticut three years later, who linked Ross to the campus crimes. MALCHIK: He didn't seem to miss a beat. You know, he's got two Bs, an A, a C and a D. So while he's committing these homicides and avoiding the police, he's able to maintain his grade point average.
FEYERICK: The question Dzong Tu's brother asks is, could campus and local police have found Ross sooner?
TU: I have a kind of (INAUDIBLE) that maybe if the killer had been found at the time, maybe these other young women would be alive today.
FEYERICK: Ithaca police chief Lauren Signer teaches about the Ross case.
SIGNER: He would follow women from parties and things.
FEYERICK: She says the investigation back in '81 was by the book.
SIGNER: They did everything they could have done, short of looking into a crystal ball and coming up with Michael Ross' name.
FEYERICK: Lan Tu says his family welcomes Ross' execution. And one it's over...
TU: I would like to visit the place where she died, just to say, "Sleep, little girl. Sleep."
FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: President Bush wastes no time in signing the Real I.D. Act into law. But the new law could bring a lot of wasted time for you and me waiting in line at the DMV.
You're watching DAYBREAK for Thursday, May 12.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Washington looks beautiful and peaceful this morning. It's 5:26 Eastern.
That red alert security scare in Washington, though, has everyone talking. So, in this "Late Night Laughs" segment, Rob...
MARCIANO: They ran some jokes last night, did they?
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. They saw the funny side of this incident.
MARCIANO: Good.
COSTELLO: So let's listen.
MARCIANO: Sweet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Quite a scare today. I'm sure you heard about this.
The White House and the Capitol building were evacuated today when a small plane flew into restricted airspace. Did you hear about this?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
LENO: Actually, it got within three miles of the White House. Three miles. That's closer than John Kerry ever got. Three miles!
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Did you see people rushing out of the Capitol? It was unbelievable. That's the fastest Congress has ever moved and it didn't involve giving themselves a pay raise.
You know who was really scared? Tom DeLay. He had to get 25 family members on the payroll out of there. He had to get everybody out. They were all...
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: ... get Uncle Bob, cousin Billy. Go! Go! Go!
During the scare, Vice President Cheney was working in the West Wing, and President Bush was outside riding his bicycle. So it was a typical day at the White House, really.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's kind of unfair.
MARCIANO: Well.
COSTELLO: The president was actually in Maryland riding his bike. So he was away from the White House. But a little bit of controversy here, because they didn't tell him about the incident until after it was over.
MARCIANO: Oh, really?
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: Well, what is going to -- he has to make a decision whether to shoot the plane down? I mean, isn't that kind of underneath him?
COSTELLO: No, he would be the top dog. So...
MARCIANO: No, but I mean, like, is it that big of a deal to where, you know, someone else couldn't make that decision?
COSTELLO: Well, there are others on hand, like Donald Rumsfeld, to make the decision.
MARCIANO: Yes.
COSTELLO: But, still, as president of the United States, wouldn't you want to know? He says he's not upset about it, by the way. But I'm just throwing this out because it's our e-mail "Question of the Day," which we'll get to in just a second.
MARCIANO: OK.
COSTELLO: But right now, let's listen to Jon Stewart's take on this.
MARCIANO: Cool.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW": The important thing is, in the three-and-a-half years since 9/11, we've made tremendous progress in dealing with these kinds of situations. A new strategy has been implemented and worked to perfection today. It's called run for your lives.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: Run in blind terror! Run without knowing where you're going! Run as fast and as aimlessly as you can!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: And there's some controversy about that, too, about evacuating the White House and the buildings around it, including the Supreme Court. Kelli Arena reported yesterday that there was some talk that that wasn't the best move, because what if that plane was carrying chemical weaponry of any kind...
MARCIANO: Right.
COSTELLO: ... and they just dropped them on all those people running?
MARCIANO: Right.
COSTELLO: Maybe it would have better to keep them inside. Who knows. And I'm sure they're being -- that's going to be talked about later today.
Our e-mail question this morning, though, since that plane came within three miles of the White House, should a shoot-down order have been given? We want to know what you think this morning, so send us some e-mail, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
We're going to take a short break. We'll be back with much more in a minute. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 12, 2005 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, high alert in the nation's capital. Fallout this morning from a false alarm.
Plus, no end to the violence in Iraq. More suicide bombers take their toll.
And an L.A. freeway, a police chase, and a violent, deadly end.
It is Thursday, May 12. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News," one violent day follows another in Iraq today. A suicide bomber targets a movie theater. A short time later, a second bomb explodes near a mosque near the first bombing. There are an unknown number of casualties. Several bombings and attacks yesterday left 58 Iraqis dead and nearly 100 wounded.
This morning, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote on John Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton has been a blunt critic of the world body.
NASA tries again. In just about 90 minutes, it hopes to launch a weather satellite into a polar orbit. It was going to be sent up yesterday, but bad weather scrubbed the launch.
And perhaps that new shuttle -- new satellite, rather, will warn us about this: hail. It fell in parts of northeastern Colorado, but that's nothing. Nearly two feet of snow was reported in the mountains of northern Wyoming.
That can not be normal, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we don't like to use the term "normal" because that starts to give weathermen complexes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob.
MARCIANO: OK. See you.
COSTELLO: Washington wakes up this morning perhaps a bit more braced for the day after that big scare. Fighter jets bristling with missiles were scrambled after a flew plane flew intro restricted airspace. It turns out it was a wrong turn, so to speak, so we bring you the latest this morning.
The two aviators, Jim Shaeffer and Troy Martin, were questioned and released last night. Authorities say they were using old maps with outdated information.
Washington's mayor is upset this morning that the city wasn't told about the threat until it was over. In total, about 35,000 people were evacuated from the Capitol, the White House, and other government buildings. And it is the safety of those 35,000 people that's on the minds of the Defense Department.
One option out there, order the plane to be shot down, an obviously hard decision to make. Here's our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, with that side of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was just nine days ago that CNN visited Paul McHale in his fifth floor Pentagon office to talk about the very type of thing that happened today. A small plane is flying over restricted air space in Washington, D.C. It is just after 12:00 noon. And in McHale's office, the secure phone rings. As the first ever assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, McHale listens briefly and then notifies other senior officials in the Pentagon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Folks, you have to get off the grounds now!
STARR: Aides keep him informed until the crisis passes. In the interview with CNN, McHale discussed the nightmare scenario, shooting down a commercial aircraft in the post-9/11 world.
PAUL MCHALE, ASST. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We train routinely for the sobering mission of shooting down a commercial airliner if that commercial airliner is commandeered by terrorists, as occurred on September the 11th. That's a chilling order. It's one that we -- we certainly hope no one ever has to give.
But the president, the secretary of defense and others in the chain of command are prepared to make that very difficult decision if that decision is required to save an even greater number of American lives. The terrorists know that. And we believe that that has a deterrent effect, saying to the terrorists, if you commandeer an aircraft, you will likely be interdicted by F-16s and you won't make it to the target.
STARR: Fighter jets scrambled quickly to intercept this small aircraft. But it's just one scenario McHale worries about each morning when he begins his day at the Pentagon with an intelligence briefing on the latest threats. Terrorists using ports to bring a nuclear, chemical or biological device into the United States is a constant concern.
MCHALE: If we were to experience a domestic attack involving a weapon of mass destruction, there are highly trained Department of Defense personnel who are prepared to respond almost immediately to assist civilian authorities in beginning the remediation, the response to that attack.
STARR: McHale's office is within steps of where the airliner hit the Pentagon on 9/11, a fact never very far from his mind and at the forefront of his priorities.
MCHALE: Three thousand Americans died on that day because we were not fully prepared to defend our country. We're committed to the proposition that won't happen again.
STARR (on camera): This incident did not result in the nightmare decision to shoot a plane down. But the military now has the plans and procedures to do just that if it is ever required.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Want to talk more about this, this morning. And that brings us to our DAYBREAK e-mail "Question of the Day."
This small plane was three miles from the White House -- three miles. It could get to the White House very, very quickly, because you know you can run three miles in a half-hour.
So we ask you this morning, should a shoot-down order have been given? We know it's a difficult decision, and we're glad it wasn't given. But we want to know what you think this morning. Should a shoot-down order have been given?
E-mail us at DAYBREAK@CNN.com. DAYBREAK@CNN.com. And be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
In other news "Across America" this morning, prosecutors say they have a motive in the killings of two young girls in Zion, Illinois. Laura Hobbs' father, Jerry, is charged with killing her and Krystal Tobias. Prosecutors say Hobbs became angry when his daughter left Sunday with her friend despite being grounded. They say he tracked her down and then stabbed her and her friend to death.
Macaulay Culkin says Michael Jackson is still a friend. The actor testified at Jackson's molestation trial, telling the jury the entertainer never sexually molested him or touched him in any improper way. He calls the allegations against Jackson absolutely ridiculous. Culkin adds, his stay at Jackson's Neverland ranch was "good old fun."
Former first lady Nancy Reagan says perhaps we should do this more often. She was speaking to both Republicans and Democrats who came together at a dinner in her honor. The evening raised $2.5 million for a pavilion at the Reagan Presidential Library.
A hail of police gunfire ends a high-speed chase in Los Angeles. Police say the car was stolen during a home invasion. As CNN's Peter Viles tell us, LA TV stations provided live coverage of the man's death.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like he's hitting the brakes again and going into a parking lot here. OK, he's in to a parking lot. He's getting out. He's starting to run.
OK, shots are being fired. Shots are being fired.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began as your typical televised L.A. car chase. The car was stolen, the driver was reckless.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa. Look at how close it was to that vehicle there. Oh my goodness. Look at the high speeds. He's increasing his rate of speed.
VILES: With live television following his every move, the driver runs out of freeway, crashes, and is surrounded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, we need to come out of this shot just a little bit in case shots would be fired here.
VILES: But it wasn't over. The driver simply took off and lived long enough to write a new chapter of violence in a spring that has already seen this shootout in Compton on tape and a dozen freeway shootings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, he just almost rear-ended that pickup truck there as he hit the brakes. And more of the tire is disintegrating there and coming apart.
VILES: The driver, now losing control...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you can see a lot of passengers -- a lot of pedestrians getting in the way. OK, he's backing up.
VILES: And then he makes one last turn, the last of his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, it looks like he's hitting the brakes again.
VILES: In a fast-food parking lot, he makes a run for it. You'll see his gun, and you'll see the first shot blow out his window. Los Angeles TV viewers saw what happened next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired, it appears.
Pull out! Pull out, Mike! Pull out!
VILES: The driver pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Peter Viles, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: They're still investigating that incident. In a separate shooting on a southern California roadway, shots were fired from one car into the vehicle next to it on L.A.'s Harbor Freeway.
One man died in that incident. A second man was shot in the shoulder but is expected to survive.
Police have not found the shooter yet. Officials say they don't believe this shooting is part of a string of recent attacks on southern California highways.
It is down to the wire today in the battle over John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will meet this morning for a final debate on the controversial nominee, and they will vote this afternoon. The committee chairman says the vote to send the nomination to the full Senate will be strictly along party lines.
Critics have accused Bolton of abusing subordinates and misusing intelligence, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disagrees. She tells CNN Bolton is imminently qualified for the job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: There are a lot of people who work for John Bolton who are inspired by him and who are intensely loyal to him. And John is hard-charging, there's no doubt about that. But he has been very successful in managing people, he's been very successful in his diplomacy.
I expect that when John leads the mission at the United -- at the U.N., that he's going to do it in a way that is respectful of the people who work for him, and that he'll get the best out of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Rice says she expects Bolton to be approved for the U.N. job.
And speaking of the United Nations, a Senate panel investigating the agency's defunct oil-for-food program in Iraq is accusing two European politicians of corruption. The panel's report alleges that British lawmaker George Galloway received allocations for 20 million barrels of Iraqi oil in exchange for supporting Saddam Hussein's regime. The panel also accuses former French interior minister Charles Pasqua of receiving allocations for 11 million barrels of oil.
Both men have previously denied the allegations.
Coming up on DAYBREAK, a convicted serial killer sits in a Connecticut prison. He's thinking about what may be the final 21 hours of his life. I believe this was his victim.
Coming up in seven minutes, CNN's Deborah Feyerick reviews the last 24 years of Michael Ross' life.
Now that the Real I.D. Act has become law, it could mean even longer lines at the DMV. We'll take a look in 26 minutes.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:15 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
North Korea says it has completed a step that could enable the country to create weapons-grade plutonium for nuclear weapons. The government announced the removal of 8,000 fuel rods from a reactor at its main nuclear complex.
Two car bombs have exploded in Baghdad this morning. One blast in front of a movie theater, the other by a mosque. There are numerous casualties, but so far no specific numbers to give you.
In money news, the man who steered Eastman Kodak's transformation to digital imaging is ascending to the company's top job. Antonio Perez, who joined Kodak just two years ago, has been named the company's next CEO.
In culture, supermodel Heidi Klum and singer Seal are now husband and wife. They tied the knot on a beach in Mexico on Tuesday. Two months ago, the couple announced that Klum is pregnant.
In sports, a ninth inning homer lifted the Red Sox over the Athletics 6-5. Boston has won its last nine games against Oakland.
To the forecast center and Rob.
MARCIANO: My Yanks' last five games in a row, got to show...
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: Good morning, Carol. Here's a look at the forecast weather map for today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Rob.
That's a look at the latest headlines for you this morning.
Let's get more now on that scrambling scare, when a small plane flew into restricted airspace over Washington, D.C. We're joined by Virg Jacques with our D.C. affiliate WTTG.
Good morning, Virg.
VIRG JACQUES, REPORTER, WTTG: Good morning, Carol.
It was quite a scene yesterday as the Capitol and adjacent federal buildings were evacuated. About 35,000 people in all, everyone from tourists to lawmakers. About 200 people evacuated from the White House when that small Cessna from rural Pennsylvania came into restricted airspace here in D.C. It was a very, very strange situation, reminiscent of what happened back in June of last year during President Reagan's funeral, when a plane carrying the governor of Kentucky inadvertently came into restricted airspace.
Yesterday, though, the situation was handled, according to U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terry Gainer, as well as could be expected. There are some complaints, however, from D.C. Mayor Tony Williams.
He's upset. He says D.C. officials were not notified about the evacuation, about what was happening with that aircraft until after the fact.
That plane came within minutes of reaching the White House. And according to Chief Gainer, came about as close as you could come without being shot down.
The plane actually did fly over the vice presidential -- the vice president's residence. Of course President Bush, at the White House, was not there. He was out jogging at the time.
No problems here. No one injured in that evacuation. The normal chaos you would expect. People were out of the buildings and put back in safely, probably within an hour -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Virg, from what we're hearing this morning, Mayor Anthony Williams, the mayor of Washington, D.C., is quite upset that he was not informed of this incident until after it was over. That's not likely going to change, though, is it? There's always that battle between federal officials and city officials in D.C.
JACQUES: Well, the mayor thought that some type of notification process, some type of joint sharing of information had been worked out. But apparently it had not.
Now he is calling for a regional notification process. He says that incidents like this could be life-or-death situations and that city officials have to be notified at the same time as everyone else if this system is to work effectively.
COSTELLO: And we also heard -- in fact, our Kelli Arena is reporting that maybe an evacuation wasn't the best idea, because if that plane was carrying chemical weapons of any kind, the chemicals could be dropped, and all the people running from the buildings. Perhaps it would have been smarter to keep the people inside the buildings instead of evacuating.
JACQUES: Well the Capitol Police chief says this is what they're trained to do. They're trained to evacuate people, and this is the plan if aircraft fly into restricted airspace and get as close as this plane did.
By the way, no charges are expected to be filed against these pilots. Government officials say this was just a simple mistake. Apparently, the pilot and student pilot were using outdated maps, maps that were not in line with changes made after September 11. COSTELLO: No criminal charges, but both could lose their pilots' licenses. We're still following that angle of the story, as I'm sure you are as well.
Virg Jacques, reporting live from Washington this morning. Thank you.
Convicted killer Michael Ross has decided to forgo any more appeals. He's scheduled to die by lethal injection tonight at 2:00 a.m. Eastern. But a federal lawsuit filed yesterday on behalf of other Connecticut inmates says the execution would cause a wave of suicide attempt among the state's prison population. The move is just one more legal maneuver in what's become a test case for the death penalty in New England.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick talked to the family of one of Ross' first victims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been 24 years since his sister died, 24 years since her body was found at the bottom of the gorge at Cornell University.
LAN TU, DZONG TU'S BROTHER: I have never been able to properly cry for my sister.
FEYERICK: Dzong Tu, born in Vietnam, was a graduate student in economics.
TU: At first, it was thought that maybe she committed suicide, which everyone who knows her agrees that it is impossible.
FEYERICK: At the time, police could not know for sure.
LAUREN SIGNER, ITHACA POLICE CHIEF: There were no marks on her body to say someone grabbed her, there were no defensive wounds. There was no one that saw anything. No one saw someone struggling or standing on the bridge. So we just don't know how she ended up in the water.
FEYERICK: The case remained unsolved for six years. That's when the killer, on trial for the murder of four other women, confessed to killing the graduate student.
DET. MICHAEL MALCHIK, CAUGHT MICHAEL ROSS: She was alive when she went over those falls and went over the gorge. She was still alive.
FEYERICK: Michael Ross was a senior at Cornell University. He shared a class with the young woman. Her murder is believed to have been Ross' first killing, following a string of rapes on campus in the spring of 1981.
It was Detective Michael Malchik, investigating other murders in Connecticut three years later, who linked Ross to the campus crimes. MALCHIK: He didn't seem to miss a beat. You know, he's got two Bs, an A, a C and a D. So while he's committing these homicides and avoiding the police, he's able to maintain his grade point average.
FEYERICK: The question Dzong Tu's brother asks is, could campus and local police have found Ross sooner?
TU: I have a kind of (INAUDIBLE) that maybe if the killer had been found at the time, maybe these other young women would be alive today.
FEYERICK: Ithaca police chief Lauren Signer teaches about the Ross case.
SIGNER: He would follow women from parties and things.
FEYERICK: She says the investigation back in '81 was by the book.
SIGNER: They did everything they could have done, short of looking into a crystal ball and coming up with Michael Ross' name.
FEYERICK: Lan Tu says his family welcomes Ross' execution. And one it's over...
TU: I would like to visit the place where she died, just to say, "Sleep, little girl. Sleep."
FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: President Bush wastes no time in signing the Real I.D. Act into law. But the new law could bring a lot of wasted time for you and me waiting in line at the DMV.
You're watching DAYBREAK for Thursday, May 12.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Washington looks beautiful and peaceful this morning. It's 5:26 Eastern.
That red alert security scare in Washington, though, has everyone talking. So, in this "Late Night Laughs" segment, Rob...
MARCIANO: They ran some jokes last night, did they?
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. They saw the funny side of this incident.
MARCIANO: Good.
COSTELLO: So let's listen.
MARCIANO: Sweet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Quite a scare today. I'm sure you heard about this.
The White House and the Capitol building were evacuated today when a small plane flew into restricted airspace. Did you hear about this?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
LENO: Actually, it got within three miles of the White House. Three miles. That's closer than John Kerry ever got. Three miles!
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Did you see people rushing out of the Capitol? It was unbelievable. That's the fastest Congress has ever moved and it didn't involve giving themselves a pay raise.
You know who was really scared? Tom DeLay. He had to get 25 family members on the payroll out of there. He had to get everybody out. They were all...
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: ... get Uncle Bob, cousin Billy. Go! Go! Go!
During the scare, Vice President Cheney was working in the West Wing, and President Bush was outside riding his bicycle. So it was a typical day at the White House, really.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's kind of unfair.
MARCIANO: Well.
COSTELLO: The president was actually in Maryland riding his bike. So he was away from the White House. But a little bit of controversy here, because they didn't tell him about the incident until after it was over.
MARCIANO: Oh, really?
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: Well, what is going to -- he has to make a decision whether to shoot the plane down? I mean, isn't that kind of underneath him?
COSTELLO: No, he would be the top dog. So...
MARCIANO: No, but I mean, like, is it that big of a deal to where, you know, someone else couldn't make that decision?
COSTELLO: Well, there are others on hand, like Donald Rumsfeld, to make the decision.
MARCIANO: Yes.
COSTELLO: But, still, as president of the United States, wouldn't you want to know? He says he's not upset about it, by the way. But I'm just throwing this out because it's our e-mail "Question of the Day," which we'll get to in just a second.
MARCIANO: OK.
COSTELLO: But right now, let's listen to Jon Stewart's take on this.
MARCIANO: Cool.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW": The important thing is, in the three-and-a-half years since 9/11, we've made tremendous progress in dealing with these kinds of situations. A new strategy has been implemented and worked to perfection today. It's called run for your lives.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: Run in blind terror! Run without knowing where you're going! Run as fast and as aimlessly as you can!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: And there's some controversy about that, too, about evacuating the White House and the buildings around it, including the Supreme Court. Kelli Arena reported yesterday that there was some talk that that wasn't the best move, because what if that plane was carrying chemical weaponry of any kind...
MARCIANO: Right.
COSTELLO: ... and they just dropped them on all those people running?
MARCIANO: Right.
COSTELLO: Maybe it would have better to keep them inside. Who knows. And I'm sure they're being -- that's going to be talked about later today.
Our e-mail question this morning, though, since that plane came within three miles of the White House, should a shoot-down order have been given? We want to know what you think this morning, so send us some e-mail, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
We're going to take a short break. We'll be back with much more in a minute. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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