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Bomb Parts On Board?; 50,000 Volts Of Electricity; Tagging Taggers; Shifting Gears?; Scouring The Web; Gerri's Top Tips
Aired November 15, 2007 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning from New York, everybody. Hi there. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown for Thursday, November 15th.
Bomb parts make it past airport screeners. How could it happen six years after 9/11? We ask our CNN security analyst.
COLLINS: Was this airline passenger Tasered to death? The disturbing story and the disturbing images.
HARRIS: Why is this presidential candidate at an uncomfortable loss for words? And why is this network anchor sounding off? Rhymes with witch, in the NEWSROOM.
Frightening news about airport security just days before the holiday travel rush. Word that investigators smuggled bomb-making materials past airport screeners. A House committee investigates this hour. To Washington now and our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve.
Jeanne, good morning to you. How is the TSA responding to this?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, TSA administrator Kip Hawley is going to be asked to explain how this could happen by a congressional committee. It's supposed to start any time now. They're going to ask how when travelers are forced to give up hair spray and shampoo, GAO investigators got through TSA checkpoints with prohibited liquids and detonators to make bombs.
Hawley is expected to say that the screeners are just one of many layers of security, that TSA is deploying new, more effective screening machines and that the agency is doing its own testing to try to improve screener performance. CNN got an exclusive look at that. You see a simulated bomb is hidden in a carry-on bag. The suitcase is then take to a screening check point and put through the x-ray machine. But in this instance, the screener did not catch the threat inside. A trainer immediately points out his mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TSA TESTER: What does this look like inside here?
TSA TESTER: Jumpin' out at you. TSA TESTER: Exactly. So what do you have there?
TSA TESTER: We have an IED.
TSA TESTER: That's right. You just missed that one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: In other tests CNN watched, the screener did catch a bomb component. TSA argues that by doing thousands of these tests every day, it is improving screener components. But the GAO smuggled those bomb components just last spring.
Tony.
HARRIS: Jeanne, do we know how it happened? How the GAO investigators managed to get these bomb components past the screeners?
MESERVE: Well, some of this information is classified. But from the testimony that will be given today, we gleaned that they hid them in their carry-ons and on their bodies. Sometimes screeners let the prohibited items right on through. In other cases, the screeners did exactly what they were supposed to do, but the protocols and the machines they used were not good enough to catch the components. The GAO's own video shows what these things could do if they were eventually put together into a bomb. It is not a pretty sight.
HARRIS: That's pretty dramatic stuff.
Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve.
Jeanne, thanks.
MESERVE: You bet.
HARRIS: Bomb parts getting through airport security six years after 9/11. How could this happen? We talk with security analyst Clark Kent Ervin later this hour.
COLLINS: Alone, exhausted, and unable to communicate. A frustrated Polish immigrant at Vancouver's airport get the attention of the Mounties. They're armed with Tasers. And it's all caught on tape. But we do want to warn you, some of these pictures may be disturbing. Here now CTV's Todd Battis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD BATTIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): For 10 hours, Robert Dziekanski cased Vancouver Airport after arriving late from Europe. The new immigrant's mother from Kamloops had come and gone. It's unclear why he was there so long. Speaking only Polish, he was unable to get help. Panting, sweating, his confusion turned to anger.
This footage was shot by a traveler. Sima Ashrafina is present in much of it. She was the only person to approach him.
What did his eyes look like?
SIMA ASHRAFINA, EYEWITNESS: Tired. Very tired.
BATTIS: While others repeatedly called security, she tried to calm the man.
ASHRAFINA: I never felt threatened by him. I was very close to him.
BATTIS: Memories of the incident have troubled Ashrafina for a month. The footage pains her even more. She tried Italian, then used sign language to reason with the 40-year-old.
ASHRAFINA: I'm facing to him and there is a glass door. I was signing, just come down, and he was quiet. He was asking for help and I couldn't help him.
BATTIS: At 1:00 in the morning, four RCMP members arrived. Ashrafina claims she heard talk of Tasers before they went in. They say little to Dziekanski. Within 30 seconds, he's Tasered. He's hit with two darts. Police say he was Tasered twice. Witnesses say four times. Then officers move in to subdue him, appearing to kneel on him. Ashrafina couldn't believe it.
ASHRAFINA: Why nobody -- none of those officers tackle him.
BATTIS: Moments later the man was unconscious. CPR was not performed. And although the airport had first aid responders on that night, paramedics didn't show up for 12 minutes. Dziekanski died. The cause of death hasn't been determined, but an autopsy found no drugs or alcohol in his body. RCMP criticized for withholding the video, would only say this about its contents.
DALE CARR, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: It is only one piece of evidence and it's one person's view. It's through the viewfinder of one individual. There are many other people that we have spoken to.
COLLINS: We are right now trying to get in touch with the man who shot that video. Just wanted to let you know that we have put some phone calls in and we will be looking forward to having him as a guest on the program here a little bit later on in the broadcast.
HARRIS: Well, here's some good news. More cars than ever are safer to drive. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested them and says the number of safe vehicles tripled in the past year. Tripled. Thirty-four 2008 models rose to the top of its annual safest list. Ford's Volvo unit and Honda are riding high, claiming the most safe vehicles. Subaru and Hyundai each have four on the list and a Toyota Tundra is the first pickup truck to make the grade.
COLLINS: A confusing, new warning about a popular diabetes drug. It tells patients the drug Avandia may or may not increase the risk of heart attacks. The Food and Drug Administration says studies are too contradictory to tell if Avandia is risker than other diabetes treatments. Another major study is set to begin by next November. But in the meantime, the FDA plans to order interim tests to see how patients are doing.
HARRIS: Picking up the pieces in Chile. It is about 24 hours now since a powerful earthquake rocked the country's north, killing at least two people and injuring dozens. Hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed. The government is promising to deliver portable houses for those left homeless. Look at these shots. The 7.7 magnitude quake was so strong it was felt on the other side of the continent in Brazil.
COLLINS: Cleanup in Kentucky and Tennessee today after rough weather late yesterday. The storm rolled through Laurel County, Kentucky, at about 4:00 p.m. local time with heavy rain and high winds. Some witnesses actually saw a funnel cloud. The storm damaged at least six buildings, but no injuries were reported.
A nearly identical situation in neighboring Tennessee. Authorities say a tornado may have been responsible for this damage last night in Marion County. Some minor injuries there were reported.
It also brought much needed rain to Atlanta. What's that? I don't even know what that is. But the drought stayed behind. Of course, the rain fell one day after Georgia's governor led a prayer vigil for rain at the state capitol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SONNY PERDUE, GEORGIA: And to all Georgians and all people who believe in the power of prayer, to ask God to shower our state, our region, our nation with the blessing of water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Governor Sonny Perdue there trying to bring on the rain along with several people who were gathered with him there. Unfortunately, though, it was not nearly enough to help the region's extreme drought.
So even though we really liked seeing that down there, Reynolds, we really needed so much more. We kind of knew that from the onset of this storm that was coming through, though.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Well, Denver is going high-tech to beat graffiti vandals. Enter the graffiti cam. Tan Thron (ph) of affiliate KUSA explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL FELDMAN, LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSOCIATION: If you're a tagger in the city of Denver, you're going to get caught. That's what our technology will do.
TAN THRON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): As part of a test run, Denver police will use eight graffiti cameras in selected hot spots. The city considers graffiti such a nuisance it formed a graffiti task force last year.
MAYOR JOHN HICKENLOOPER, DENVER: For so long it was just something that was accepted and tolerated. And to a certain extent it was a joke. But when you start looking at the facts, we're spending $1 million a year to clean up graffiti.
THRON: This auto parts store is a target for taggers. It gets hit almost weekly.
RICHARD PROVINCE, STORE MANAGER: It's just bad all the way around. Even all our neighbors and stuff, they're getting hit so much.
THRON: Store manager Richard Province says he'd welcome the cameras if they can help catch violators. Here's a demonstration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here comes our tagger. And so now what's happening in the unit itself, it sensed that somebody's come into the field of view and so it's begun recording.
THRON: The camera, in its most basic functions, operates like camera phones. Once it starts recording, it sends alerts to police. Thirty-four seconds after the tagger came into view, the camera sent text messages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you can see my phone's ringing and I believe sergeant's got a phone. Those are the text messages coming in now.
THRON: The graffiti cams will also send digital pictures to designated e-mail addresses. It's technology against taggers, who often leave their distinctive marks but get away anonymously.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: The Bureau of Justice statistics ranks graffiti as the number one property crime in the United States, accounting for more than one-third of such offenses nationwide.
COLLINS: Under pressure at home and abroad. Pakistan's president picking a caretaker government. Will he turn over control though? We're live in Islamabad, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And good morning again, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
Forget about calling for takeout. We will tell you about a new quicker way to have your meals delivered to your door.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: It is supposed to be handover day in Pakistan when a caretaker government takes control. Here's the question, is that happening? Live now to CNN's Karl Penhaul in the capital, Islamabad. Karl, is there a new interim government in place?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not so far yet, Tony. We're still waiting that announcement from General Pervez Musharraf. This, in fact, though, isn't part of this emergency clampdown. This is simply the (AUDIO GAP) has filled -- has run its course. It's now being dissolved. And that is ahead of the January 9th elections, which Musharraf has said will take place. And so essentially this interim government will be shepherding the country from now until those elections in a few weeks' time.
Of course, all eyes on who will be named to the cabinet, who will be named to run that government. Some analysts suggesting that in light of the current emergency clamp down, Musharraf will stack the government with his own loyalists. Others, though, suggesting that Musharraf will follow the course from previous interim governments and that to put a span of opposition and pro government figures in place and so that will ensure some kind of neutral government.
Now in parallel with that, Tony, Benazir Bhutto has also been continuing talks, we understand, with a full march (ph) rival, Nawaz Sharif, who is currently living in exile, to see if they can come up with some sort of political opposition that eventually would take power to run the country. But again, no details of results of that. But even, we understand, Benazir Bhutto today calling for some kind of a (AUDIO GAP) national (INAUDIBLE) which she hopes would take control of the country if Musharraf were to stand down.
Tony.
HARRIS: Yes, CNN's Karl Penhaul for us in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Karl, thank you.
COLLINS: Faster, fast food and exchanging your vote for an iPod touch? What? Internet correspondent Veronica De La Cruz has been scouring the web and she's joining us now with the latest tech headlines.
All right, what is this all about?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Well, you know, if we're not already lazy enough, faster fast food, can you believe it?
COLLINS: No. I mean it's already pretty fast.
DE LA CRUZ: I know. I know. Well, you know, if you feel like a pepperoni pie tonight, all you have to do is send a text message now to Papa Johns. No need to leave your couch. The pizza chain launched a program this week that lets folks text orders to its 2,700 restaurants nationwide. All you have to do is send a text message.
But you first have to register directly on their website. And then from there you can set up to four preset favorites. They can include combinations of pizzas, side orders, drink for easy ordering from your phone, your cell phone. You also have to set up your delivery address. And all text ordering must be placed from the mobile number associated to your online account.
So Papa Johns joins several online networks of restaurants like GoMoBo, SeamlessWeb and campusfood.com. You can set up on those sites as well and then order using your phone from a list of registered local restaurants, in addition to some of the big chains like Subway, Dunkin Donuts, and Quiznos. So, Heidi, they're not really the first ones to do this, but, you know, they are joining that list and, you know, I don't know, pepperoni pizza tonight maybe.
COLLINS: Yes. I'm the worst text messager in the history of all mankind. So probably, actually, for me, it would be faster to just go ahead and make the phone call. I don't know.
DE LA CRUZ: Well, switching gears now. Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama announced a nine-page technology and invasion plan yesterday. The highlights including a proposed chief technology officer, having government meetings webcast live, along with live blogging to provide transparency as well as new subsidies for Internet broadband access.
And speaking of candidates, does your vote have a price? Well a new survey taken on the campus of NYU shows 20 percent of students would trade their vote for an iPod Touch. Two-thirds said they would do it for a year's tuition. Half said they would give up their right to vote forever for a million bucks. The survey was conducted by a class at NYU called Foundation of Journalism. Heidi Collins . . .
COLLINS: Not Foundation of American Government.
DE LA CRUZ: Clearly that was not the class.
What about you? Would you give up your right to vote?
COLLINS: Heck no.
DE LA CRUZ: Does your vote have a price?
COLLINS: Well, no. It's not supposed to have a price. No way. It's not right.
DE LA CRUZ: You got that right.
COLLINS: Gosh darn it.
DE LA CRUZ: And an iPod Touch.
COLLINS: Veronica De La Cruz, nice to see you. Thanks so much.
DE LA CRUZ: Nice to see you too.
HARRIS: And still to come in the NEWSROOM, foreclosure fallout. How you lose even if you never miss a payment. Gerri Willis is in Las Vegas. And, oh, by the way, there is a Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas as well, hosted by Wolf Blitzer, tonight 8:00 p.m. Eastern in the NEWSROOM. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Want to take a moment to look again at the big board. New York Stock Exchange now. Dow Jones Industrial average is down about six points, resting at 13,224. We're hearing the Nasdaq is just kind of laying about flat right now as well. So we're going to talk more about all of those business stories, what the numbers mean coming up with Susan Lisovicz in just a bit.
HARRIS: Foreclosures can affect the value of your property even if you have been paying your mortgage faithfully. CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis back with us and she has some ways, some tips, to help you protect your home's value. Today she is in Las Vegas where Wolf Blitzer is moderating the Democratic presidential debate tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. John Roberts and Campbell Brown. Yes, that's Campbell Brown on CNN television tonight as well.
Gerri, great to see you.
Where do you want to start here? I guess we need to know the impact, know the effect, don't we?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we do need to know the impact. I just want to tell you, Tony, a lot of my friends here are very excited about tonight's debate. As you can see, they're already campaigning.
But look, you know, at the end of the day, the big issue in the campaign could be, could be the economy. Housing has been bringing it down. Consider this. If you own a home in a neighborhood where there have been foreclosures, you could be losing $5,000 on the value of your home. Some $223 billion will be lost across the country in neighborhoods where there are foreclosures. And again, we're not talking about people who are losing their homes to foreclosure. We're talking about their neighbors.
HARRIS: OK. Let's try to protect the value of our homes here. One of the things I guess we need to do is know the value so we need to estimate our home's worth? Is that a good step?
WILLIS: I know. It sounds tough, but it's not. There's a government website, ofheo.gov. You can go there. They have a calculator. They'll tell you what your home is valued at right now given everything that's going on in the market. Keep in mind, the places that are worst hit here, California, Ohio, Florida. That's where the foreclosures are the highest and where people are really suffering the most.
HARRIS: Tell us why now is not a good idea to take on big home projects.
WILLIS: Well, face it, you know, if you have a house in a neighborhood where there are foreclosures, where prices are in flux, the last thing you want to do is invest a lot of money in that house, make it even more valuable. Do you want to be the white elephant on the block? I don't think so. You want to think seriously about any reinvestment. Keep it in line with other homes in the neighborhood.
You know, a few years ago at the peak, you would get 85 cents on the dollar of all of the money that you invested in your house. Now only a quarter of the projects do that for you. You've got to think seriously about how much money you're putting in your house.
HARRIS: And would it make some sense to join forces with some of your neighbors to sort of clean up the neighborhood, spruce it up a little bit?
WILLIS: Well, you really want to get involved with the neighborhood watch. If you don't have one already, start it up if you have foreclosures in your neighborhood. You know, look, at the end of the day, it's going to be up to you to protect the value of your house. Pull the weeds. Mow somebody else's lawn. I know it's no fun, but you've really got to take matters into your own hands.
And, Tony, I just want to tell folks out there, if you're one of those people who's worried about foreclosure, maybe you're in foreclosure right now, there is help out there for you. The Department of Housing and Urban Development can set you up with a counselor in your neighborhood to help you. Go to hud.gov. I want to give you a phone number too for the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, 888-995-HOPE. These are folks who want to help you out in your foreclosure and get you set on the right path to help you out.
Tony.
HARRIS: So that's the Homeowner's Preservation Foundation, is that correct?
WILLIS: That's right. That's correct.
HARRIS: That's the number there on the screen. 888-995-HOPE.
All right. Gerri, let's look ahead. Tell us what's coming up on the big "Open House" show this weekend.
WILLIS: Well, we've got a lot on the "Open House" show this weekend. 9:30 a.m. right here on CNN. Join us. We'll be talking about the mortgage meltdown and foreclosures, what you can do, what the numbers mean to you even if you're not in foreclosure. How to protect your house.
Tony.
HARRIS: Do they ever get tired with the placards back there? Give it a rest.
All right, Gerri Willis in Las Vegas.
WILLIS: You know, these guys are professionals, yes.
HARRIS: Professionals. There you go.
Gerri, good to see you. Thanks. COLLINS: Dropping the "b" bomb on the campaign trail. John McCain did not say it, but one of his supporters did. And everyone, including CNN's Rick Sanchez, is talking about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Bottom of the hour. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Want to tell you about this interesting report, in fact, frightening news about airport security this morning. Investigators able to smuggle bomb- making components past security checkpoints. The Government Accountability Office says the devices could cause severe damage to an airplane like what happens to this car. Investigators conducted undercover tests at 19 airports across the country. The GAO says they were able to smuggle bomb materials in their luggage and concealed on their bodies.
The Transportation Security Administration says screening checkpoints are just one part of a layered security system, and the agency says it is working to improve screener accuracy. CNN was given access to testing where a screener misses a potential danger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TSA TESTER: What does this look like inside here?
TSA TESTER: Jumpin' out at you.
TSA TESTER: Exactly, so what do you have there?
TSA TESTER: You have an IED.
TSA TESTER: That's right. You just missed that one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: A House Committee is holding a hearing on the findings this morning.
HARRIS: Hang on a second here. All the extra screenings, the restrictions on how much shampoo you can carry on the plane, but bomb parts get missed?
Clark Kent Ervin is a CNN security analyst and former inspector general with the Department of Homeland Security. He testified before a hearing on airport security just yesterday.
Clark, good to see you.
CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: You too, Tony.
HARRIS: It's been a while.
All right. You said this yesterday in your congressional testimony. It's just as easy today to slip these deadly weapons past screeners as it was on 9/11. You know, there's a part of me that wants to say, you know what, Clark, you're just being an alarmist here, but I know you well enough to know you don't play in this area. So will you explain this to us, please?
ERVIN: Well, it really is inexplicable, tony. That's the $20 billion question. I say $20 billion because that's the minimum figure everybody agrees on has been spent since 9/11 to improve aviation security, and then time and again, year after year, investigation after investigation by the GAO, by my former Office of Inspector General, by TSA itself, shows that it's just as easy as you said, as I said yesterday, to get guns and knives and bombs past the screening workforce as it was on 9/11.
HARRIS: So we're hearing that help is on the way, that help is coming, that we're going to see shortly here -- I don't know what shortly means -- more and better screening machines. Should that give us some confidence?
ERVIN: Well, I'd like to say yes, but we hear that time and again. I heard that four years ago in 2003 when we recommended enhanced training and enhanced technology. And with regard to technology, largely the technologies that could prevent that kind of thing remain in the pilot phase and the testing phase at TSA. We need to widely deploy technologies that would get us as close to 100 percent accuracy as its technically and humanly possible to get.
HARRIS: Wow, so what's going on here? Is this a matter of priorities? Is it a matter of commitment? Is this a matter of dollars? Why aren't we moving forward faster in these areas?
ERVIN: It's really all of that, Tony. It's a question of dollars. It's very costly to deploy this technology. I don't want to minimize that. It's a failure of political will. And I think subconsciously the fact that we've done, thank God, more than six years now without another 9/11 is kind of lulled us to sleep, even though the rhetoric of TSA, the leaders of the Department of Homeland Security suggest they're working overtime to close these security gaps. The record suggests otherwise. And yesterday, as you said, I was testifying at a hearing where TSA defended an e-mail that on its face was clearly intended to tip off screeners to the conduct of undercover tests. It's important that these tests be conducted with integrity, because otherwise, with he have no way of knowing whether screeners are able to actually spot concealed weapons when terrorists are trying to sneak them through.
HARRIS: Right to the point as always. Clark Kent Ervin, good to see you.
ERVIN: You too, Tony.
HARRIS: Thanks for time, Clark.
ERVIN: Anytime.
HARRIS: CNN Security Watch keeps you up to date on safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
COLLINS: The B-bomb. It is stirring headlines on the road to the White House.
CNN's Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It started with an impromptu campaign stop by John McCain Monday in Hilton Head, South Carolina. A woman uses offensive language in asking how McCain can stop Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign momentum.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do we beat the bitch?
(LAUGHTER)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I've got to get the translation.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCAIN: The way that...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, I thought (INAUDIBLE) started (INAUDIBLE) my ex-wife.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCAIN: All right. But that's an excellent question. You might know that there was a -- there was a poll yesterday, a Rasmussen poll identified (ph) that shows me 3 points ahead of Senator Clinton in a head to head match up.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: I respect Senator Clinton. I respect anyone who gets the nomination of the Democrat Party.
TODD: The exchange plays out over less than a minute. Tuesday evening, CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez takes about six minutes at the very top of his prime time show, "OUT IN THE OPEN," raising questions about why Senator McCain didn't immediately chastise the woman for insulting Mrs. Clinton like that.
RICK SANCHEZ, HOST, "OUT IN THE OPEN": Is John McCain done as a result of this?
Is this going to become a viral video?
TODD: A top official in the McCain campaign tells CNN he believes the senator did a good job trying to diffuse the situation, that it goes without saying the woman's remark was offensive, but it's not McCain's job to come to Mrs. Clinton's defense.
The McCain campaign accuses Rick Sanchez of sensationalizing the exchange in hopes of generating a news story. They use the segment as a peg for this e-mail to supporters to stand with McCain against Sanchez and to make contributions. McCain's campaign later calls for an apology. Sanchez says he has nothing to apologize for.
SANCHEZ: If someone had used this word about Laura Bush or about Senator McCain's wife or about anybody else -- be they Democrat or Republican -- there are many people out there who would have said that's an offensive word and the senator should have distanced himself not only from the statement made against Senator Clinton, but against the use of the word itself. And at no time does it seem that he does that and that's the reason we did the story.
TODD: We asked Howard Kurtz of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" and "The Washington Post" about the blow up.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": It probably would have been better for John McCain to not have laughed along with the crowd and talked about that being an excellent question. But his campaign has a point. That little incident was pretty badly hyped by Rick Sanchez. Senator McCain did not embrace the "B" word that this woman in the audience used.
TODD: McCain has been criticized for some of his more candid public moments.
MCCAIN: You know, The Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran?
You know?
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb...
Anyway...
TODD: But he has also publicly shown solidarity with Hillary Clinton -- visiting Iraq with her, making other appearances. And the McCain campaign says he's expressed his utmost respect for Mrs. Clinton several times on the campaign trail.
We contacted Mrs. Clinton's campaign for a response to the woman's remark and Senator McCain's reaction. Her spokesman had no comment.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And again, be sure to tune in tonight for an America votes special, the Democrats debate, posted by Wolf Blitzer live in Las Vegas. Don't miss Campbell Brown's CNN debut. Campbell Brown on CNN television tonight as part of the best political team on television. It all kicks off at 8:00 Eastern.
COLLINS: Bracing now, a powerful cyclone is closing in on Bangladesh and India. Cyclone Sidr is expected to make landfall tonight. Authorities are taking no chances. An official in Bangladesh said some three million people are being evacuated. We were talking with Reynolds about it just a few moments ago. The storm is expected to trigger tidal surges as high as 20 feet and also threatens massive flooding.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Mystery in Houston. Was someone inside when this building -- well, there it is, this building comes tumbling down? The story coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. Was someone inside? That is the question this morning in Houston as searchers look for a possible victim in a building implosion. The Crowne Plaza Hotel was demolished on Sunday, but just before it came crashing down, an outside door was seen closing. Check out this home video of the impact from another angle. The door's closing is highlighted there. Dogs may have sniffed something yesterday. The recovery effort is dangerous. The debris unstable. Still police just don't know if someone actually closed the door or if a gust of wind actually closed it.
COLLINS: Contingency planning under way. The U.S. looking at plan b in case Pakistan's president can't survive his country's crisis. We want to go live to CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr now.
Good morning to you, Barbara. Wondering what Pentagon officials are saying about Pakistan now.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Heidi, the public word has been for days now a lot of concern about Musharraf, a lot of effort to get him to go back on that road to democracy. But largely support for him, and public statements that they believe his government will survive.
But now the Pentagon taking a slightly different tone. Yesterday, for the first time, the Pentagon publicly talked about the fact in detail that it has begun contingency planning to try and assure that the U.S. can continue the war in Afghanistan if the Musharraf government should fall. The U.S. is very reliant on Pakistan for supply lines into that war in Afghanistan.
Listen to what they have to say:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON PRESS SECY.: That is a very real area of concern for our commanders in Afghanistan, because 75 percent of all of our supplies for our troops in Afghanistan flow either through or over Pakistan, including 40 percent of all fuel, which comes from Pakistani refineries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Some very delicate information being offered there publicly, Heidi, because until yesterday the Pentagon really had not talked publicly in such detail about its reliance on Pakistani supply routes, Pakistani airspace. Geoff Morrell went on to say, at this point, military commanders don't think those supply lines are at risks, but clearly a little chink in the armor here at the Pentagon of the sort of belief, if you will, that Musharraf is totally going to survive. Planning -- hoping for the best, planning for the worst just in case. It's what the military does -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, it is what the military does. Just quickly, though, Barbara, if you're talking about 75 percent of supplies that fly through or over Pakistan, 40 percent of fuel that comes from their refineries, what type of dent, it's probably a silly question, it seems like a very severe dent by way of supporting the troops if this relationship went bad.
STARR: It is very significant, and that's why behind the scenes in the very classified fashion they are beginning the contingency planning. They cannot afford to lose Pakistan as that ally in the global war on terror for so many reasons. The supply lines into Afghanistan being just one of them. If they do not have access to Pakistan, the U.S. military has very little choice about where else to turn. They can look north to some of those central Asians countries up north of Pakistan, but it's going to be very tough business, and they are very concerned about it -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Diplomacy and politics right there, and the military obviously all working together on this one, we hope.
All right, CNN's Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon for us this morning. Barbara, thanks.
HARRIS: A doctor accused of recycling needles.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty scary, because we let the doctors, you know, do whatever.
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HARRIS: Hundreds of patients worried about their health today.
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COLLINS: A shot for your child or time in jail for you? One county's get-tough vaccination policy. The debate ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: Good morning again, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hello. And good morning, everybody. From New York I'm Heidi Collins. Developments keep coming into the CNN NEWSROOM on Thursday the 15th of November. Here's what's on the rundown: Undercover agents smuggle bomb parts past airport screeners. Your security still in doubt six years after 9/11.
HARRIS: All aboard for Vegas, baby. The Democrats roll the dice in a live CNN presidential debate tonight. Wolf Blitzer, the keeper of the keys to "THE SITUATION ROOM," live with a preview.
COLLINS: A doctor accused, patients left wondering are they sick? Recycled needles, in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Another earthquake hits Chile. It happened just a short time ago in the same northern area as yesterday's quake, and actually right about the same time. Today's earthquake, 6.2. Yesterday's was 7.7. It killed at least two people and injured dozens of others.
We want to get straight to Reynolds Wolf. He is in the weather center now with more on all of this. So maybe we should clarify it Reynolds. Any way to know whether or not this was some type of aftershock, or if it's an entirely new earthquake?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Entirely new. Let me give you a step by step of what happened. First we're going to take you back in time. Yesterday we had this one, a 7.7, just a mammoth, mammoth earthquake. And then just recently -- let's take you back from all the ones we had. The first one we had this morning was actually a 6.2. This one just to the south of yesterday's big quake, and then shortly after we had another one. This one was a bit stronger. The second we had this morning was a 6.8, and then an aftershock of the 6.8 that was a 5.6. So we'd had three big earth-shakers, no question, just over the last moment.
No, if you want to get an idea of exactly where this is occurring, it's happening just 780 miles north of Santiago, right on the coastline. We've got a subduction zone. You've got the South American plate and you have the Pacific plate.
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