Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
New Information Raises Questions About Possible Preventative Measures in Fort Hood Shooting; United Airlines Pilot Arrested for Intending to Fly Drunk; Senate Begins Health Care Bill Process; New Bill Attempts to Rein in Exorbitant Credit Card Rate Increases; A Look at Senator Dodd's Financial Fix; What the Veterans Affairs is Doing to Help U.S. Service Members
Aired November 11, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome. Thanks for being with us on this Veterans' Day. It's Wednesday, November 11, coming up on just about 7:00 here in New York. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being with us today. And here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
The revelation that the Fort Hood suspect reached out to a radical imam overseas this morning giving way to a frenzy of finger- pointing over who in the government knew what and when they knew it. In just a moment we'll take you live to Fort Hood.
CHETRY: Also a United Airlines pilot arrested in London, pulled from the cockpit by police just minutes before takeoff. They say he was too drunk to fly. Another embarrassment for the airlines, and it's raising serious questions about air safety and pilot stress as well.
ROBERTS: Plus, former President Bill Clinton delivers a pep talk to Senate Democrats urging them to put aside their differences and pass health care reform now. But will they listen? A live report from Washington just ahead.
CHETRY: First this morning government agencies are deflecting blame over what could have been missed opportunities in the Fort Hood attack.
The FBI has searched a trash bin where the suspect Major Nidal Hasan worshipped. It said it turned over other information about Hasan to the army months ago, but the army says it did not learn of Hasan's e-mails to a radical Muslim cleric until after last week's shooting.
Our David Mattingly is live in Fort Hood, Texas this morning. It sounds like there is quite a bit of finger-pointing going on in the aftermath of this tragedy.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kiran. We know that Major Hasan's activities caught the attention of a joint task force that was set up to investigate terrorism activity, but just how far up the chain of command did that information go? (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: At a somber memorial service surrounded by families of the fallen soldiers, the president had strong words for alleged gunman Nidal Hasan.
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: For what he has done we know that the killer will be met with justice in this world and the next.
MATTINGLY: As the families grieve, the FBI was going through the trash outside Hasan's mosque in Killeen, Texas, and in Washington growing questions about possible missed opportunities with the Pentagon saying it was never told of a terror investigation that uncovered Hasan's relationship with a radical cleric.
Senior investigative officials tell CNN Hasan communicated at least 20 times with Anwar al-Awlaki, who had close relationships with two 9/11 hijackers. Investigators reviewed those communications, determined they didn't appear threatening, and were consistent with Hasan's research as a psychiatrist.
Former Bush White House Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend says it's often difficult to put the pieces of different investigations together.
FRANCIS TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: It's very difficult for investigators to get all of that information in one place, especially when he's not the overall target of the investigation.
MATTINGLY: Hasan himself is saying nothing to investigators. He's under guard in the intensive care unit of this army medical facility in San Antonio.
COL. JOHN GALLIGAN (RET.) MAJ. HASAN'S ATTORNEY: Let's ensure that the process is followed, that the investigation is complete, and that we proceed with the same kind of impartiality that we would want in any case involving anyone, including ourselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: The Associated Press this morning quoting a senior Defense Department official who says that the military was not told about the findings about Major Hasan until after the shootings here at Fort Hood -- Kiran?
CHETRY: David Mattingly for us, thanks so much.
And also, coming up in less than 30 minutes we'll learn more about the suspect Major Nidal Hasan's state of mind when we talk to his attorney, retired Colonel John Galligan.
ROBERTS: Other stories new this morning. Today is Veterans' Day and we are honoring the men and women who served in the United States armed forces. It's celebrated on the anniversary of the end of World War I.
And later this morning President Obama will mark the day by laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
CHETRY: The lights are back on in Brazil's largest cities, but last night tens of thousands of people were in the dark for hours when transmission problems knocked a massive hydroelectric dam offline. Traffic, subways, and airports all grounded.
ROBERTS: The woman who killed eight people including herself driving the wrong way on a New York parkway seemed to be ill before the deadly head-on crash. Police say witnesses reported seeing Diane Schuler vomiting near the side of the road.
An autopsy revealed that Schuler's blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit and that she had smoked marijuana before the crash.
He was too drunk to fly. That from Scotland Yard today after they yanked a United Airlines pilot from the cockpit just moments before takeoff. This morning he's in London awaiting a court appearance.
It's another troubling development for an industry that is already facing serious questions about pilot stress and air safety.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: British police pulled 51-year-old pilot Irwin Washington out of the cockpit minutes before takeoff Monday afternoon. United flight 949 from London to Chicago had to be cancelled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The authorities are alleging that a United Airlines employee, apparently the pilot from Colorado, was arrested for being over the legal limit, having too much alcohol in his system to operate a plane.
ROBERTS: A suspicious coworker turned Washington in. Police say he flunked a breathalyzer test and was arrested.
United Airlines has grounded Washington, releasing a statement saying, quote, "Safety is our highest priority." Washington is now the third U.S. pilot and the second from united to be busted at Heathrow on alcohol charges in just over a year.
It's been a tough year for pilots. In October, a Delta crew made a near catastrophic mistake when they landed on an active taxiway instead of the runway in Atlanta. No one was hurt in that incident.
Two days later two Northwest pilots overshot their landing in Minneapolis by 150 miles and failed to respond to radio calls for over 90 minutes.
JOSEPH BALZER, AUTHOR, "FLYING DRUNK": You can't justify someone showing up for work under the influence. ROBERTS: Joseph Balzer is a recovering alcoholic, a commercial pilot, and author of the book "Flying Drunk." He was arrested in 1990 for exactly that, flying drunk, and spent a year behind bars.
BALZER: If it was up to me I'd have my own personal breathalyzer. If I had my own device, it never would have happened. I would have been able to preflight myself. I preflight the plane, I could preflight myself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And 4,400 commercial pilots have under gone alcohol rehabilitation since 1972 and have safely returned to the cockpit. Irwin Washington is free on bail this morning and remains in London where he's scheduled to appear in court in nine days' time.
Should we be concerned for safety when we fly, and are airlines putting too much stress on the pilots? In the next hour of American morning, we'll be joined by Peter Goelz, the former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.
CHETRY: Now to health care reform. President Obama wants a bill on his desk by the end of the year, but the big question is can Congress deliver?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he'll bring a bill to the floor next week and send it to the president by Christmas. Other Democratic leaders though believe it is unlikely they will meet the White House deadline.
Former President Bill Clinton visited the Capitol yesterday telling fellow Democrats that the worst they can do is nothing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, (D) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Whatever their differences are, I just urged them to resolve their differences and pass a bill. And I also believe, you know, people hire us to come to work in places like this to solve problems and stand up and do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Senior Congressional Correspondent Dan Bash is live for us in Washington this morning. Good morning, Dana. So who's right here, those who say that it's probably not going to happen or the more optimistic types like Harry Reid?
DANA BASH, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Obama, Kiran, hasn't drawn many bright lines on health care, but the timing is something that they are crystal clear about over at the White House, that the president wants a health care bill on his desk to sign by the end of this year.
So it was surprising when his close confidant, Senator Dick Durbin suggested that's not going to happen and the best he thinks they can do by year's end is pass health care in the Senate. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DICK DURBIN, (D) ILLINOIS: Getting it out of the Senate. Now, if we're fortunate enough to get it done earlier, then who knows? But I would say our goal is to make sure it's out of the Senate this year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Democratic leadership aids quickly insisted to us nothing has changed and that Senator Durbin is just being cautious, but for reporters like our own Ted Barrett who was talking to Senator Durbin, it appeared that it was a moment of candor, because passing a bill and then finding compromise, resolving differences with House Democrats, passing it again through both chambers, that is going to be incredibly difficult to do in the next six weeks -- Kiran.
CHETRY: So where do things stand in the Senate?
BASH: Well, the Democratic leader Harry Reid has been waiting now for nearly three weeks for the Congressional Budget Office to tell him how much his health care professional will cost. He can't move on without it because cost is a huge issue, especially for conservative Democrats who are already very wary about a health care over haul.
Now Democratic leadership sources say that they do still hope to get that information by the end of this week, and last night Democrats actually put the wheels in motion for a vote to start the health care debate as early as this coming Tuesday.
But, Kiran, as of now, it's really unclear even if they have the 60 votes needed to do just that, even to begin the debate.
CHETRY: As you told us yesterday, a huge sticking point right now for the Senate right now is whether or not they are going to be able to put in language about whether federal money will go to fund abortions, and there are very divided opinions on that in the Senate.
BASH: Very divided opinions, it is really unclear how that will shake out. And very divided opinions, just like what happened in the House, very divided opinions within the Democratic caucus. That is one of several issues, but probably one of the most emotional issues.
CHETRY: Dana Bash for us this morning. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Other stories new this morning, parents who were lucky enough to get their children vaccinated for H1N1 now have something else to worry about -- follow up boosters shots. Clinical trials have shown that kids six months through nine-years-old do not have adequate immune response to just one dose. But many clinics will not give out the second dose, opting to give one does to as many children as possible.
CHETRY: One day after North South Korea Navy ships clashed at sea, officials in Seoul put their troops on high alert for a possible retaliation from the North. South Korean officials says that the North Korean ship was nearly destroyed, one of its officers killed.
The White House says the incident won't stop an upcoming face-to- face meeting between the U.S. and Pyongyang.
ROBERTS: Plus, President Obama will discuss four possible scenarios for the war in Afghanistan in a meeting today with his top advisers. Some of the details are still fuzzy, but we do know that one calls for putting an additional 34,000 troops on the ground.
"The New York Times" reports that is the option that top officials are leaning toward, but the president is not satisfied with answers on how the Afghan and Pakistani governments will be incorporated into that plan.
In about 10 minutes time we'll be talking to General Eric Shinseki, President Obama's Secretary of Veterans' Affairs. I'll ask how fighting two wars is affecting veterans.
Chris Dodd versus the fed and the FDIC. It's a fiduciary fistfight. Christine Romans is monitoring it, and she's coming up next with all the details about what Senator Dodd wants to do.
Stay with us. It's 11 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Straight ahead on the Most News in the Morning, the only suspect in the attack on Fort Hood refusing to speak with investigators. So what is his state of mind, and is he saying anything. We'll find out when we talk to Nidal Malik Hasan's attorney, retired colonel John Galligan.
CHETRY: More than a year after the market meltdown we now have a bill that is supposed to protect us, the taxpayers, and also protect our financial system in general, preventing a repeat of near collapse.
Senator Chris Dodd and the banking committee unveiled the legislation yesterday. It's a hefty one, 1,136 pages. So what's in it? Our Christine Romans is Minding Your Business.
You also want to sound off a little bit because you say these are the people who sort of allowed this to happen a decade ago.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Let me start first. With a decade ago, Senator Dodd and others many other people voted to tear down Depression-era barriers that prevented these banks from getting too big. There were very clear laws in effect that made sure banks couldn't have insurance and risky investments and bank deposits all in one house.
That was all torn down ten years ago, and now we have too big to fail. The idea was these banks were allowed to get big by the very same people who are now saying we have to try to rein in what's happened on Wall Street.
So I just want to get out there right away and say the very people who are trying to fix this, even people in the administration, people in the Treasury Department, people in Congress, they've all been there for this very long ride, and now they're trying to fix it. So that's -- that's just -- that's just the truth.
Now what Senator Dodd is trying to do here, he's laid down this big bill yesterday. He has kind of a different approach for trying to regulate Wall Street and reform these issues. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS CHAIRMAN: The financial crisis exposed a financial regulatory structure that was the product of historic accidents, one after another over the past 80 years. Created piece by piece over decades with little thought given to how it would function as a whole and unable to prevent threats to our economic security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: This is specifically his fix. He wants new curbs on the fed and the FDIC, really stripping a lot of power from the fed. He wants to create three new agencies, one to deal with too big to fail. He wants another agency to oversee the banking industry and another to safeguard borrowers and bank customers. That would be that Consumer Financial Protection Agency that the administration is interested in as well.
But, again, he's been on the Senate Banking Committee for 26 years. The very people -- and I'm not just singling out Chris Dodd, Senator Dodd, but the very people who are now arguing about the best way to fix this thing, they have been along for the ride the whole way.
ROBERTS: Voted yes on (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: And they voted yes in (INAUDIBLE) in 1999. And it's just a reminder, folks, that the people who are fixing our problems there are unintended consequences and sometimes they don't have all the right answers.
CHETRY: Can I throw one other thing into the mix?
ROMANS: Sure.
CHETRY: What about the mandates about giving loans to people -- about, you know, Freddie and Fannie loans and not checking as to whether or not people could actually afford them?
ROMANS: There are a thousand things that we could go back and point to that were really big mistakes all along the way. Things that were encouraged by Congress, that were encouraged by White Houses of different political persuasions all along the way. There were mistakes that were made and now we're trying to mop it up and we hope that we mop it up the right way.
ROBERTS: Let's hope as they look to the future, they look to the past as well.
ROMANS: I agree. And I think sometimes they don't hold themselves accountable enough for the mistakes that they've made, what it's getting to where we are.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Coming up next, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, General Eric Shinseki. Stay with us.
It's 17 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. This Veterans Day comes at a time of serious strain on the men and women currently serving in the U.S. military. They are fighting two wars overseas and dealing with the worst attack on the U.S. military post in history. The one last week at Fort Hood. So what is the government doing to help?
Joining me now from Washington is Eric Shinseki. He's the secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Mr. Secretary, General Shinseki, thanks for joining us this morning. Good to see you.
ERIC SHINSEKI, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: Good to see you. Good morning, John.
ROBERTS: Let me ask you, first of all, if I could about the situation at Fort Hood, because you were stationed there with the First Cav, 1994 to 1995. We are learning today that a Pentagon analyst was aware that Major Nidal Hasan had had some contact with this radical clerk in Yemen but it was seen to be no big deal. And the question many people have and perhaps maybe you have the same question is, if a soldier has a contact with a radical imam in Yemen, should that person at least be asked about it?
SHINSEKI: Well, I can tell you, John, that I have no background in this particular case, but I'm sure the appropriate authorities will investigate and find out what's there and if there is a problem, corrections will be made. If I might, I'll just tell you that -- you indicated I spent some time there. Still have a lot of friends there. What I saw was a very resilient military community coming together over this unspeakable tragedy and, as you know, the president was there as well and provided just the right touch to begin the healing.
ROBERTS: All right. Let me -- let me if I could, Mr. Secretary, ask you about something that you are very heavily involved in and that is Veterans' Affairs issues. And we talked about this idea of post traumatic stress disorder and how many of our troops are coming back from overseas showing signs of that traumatic brain injury as well. The V.A. diagnosed 111,239 veterans with PTSD but it's only treated a fraction of those. Those who haven't been given treatment or disability payments continue to deteriorate. Why are so many of these troops waiting for either treatment or disability claims?
SHINSEKI: Well, two different issues here. One, we screen all returning -- all veterans who return from Iraq and Afghanistan just to be sure that we get early diagnosis, and we begin treatment for those who need it. It's a percentage of those returning that we find valid PTSD and TBI cases. We know that when we diagnose and treat, people get better. Where we don't, they don't usually get better.
The other issue you mentioned is backlog of claims, and that's something that I'm taking on personally. It's an accumulation that's grown over years. It is driven by a paper-bound process. And so we're going to do something about that.
ROBERTS: Well, Mr. Secretary, let me go back to what you just said about post traumatic stress disorder. You say if we treat them, they get better. If we don't treat them, they don't get better. But the fact is that 111,000 service members have been diagnosed with PTSD and only a fraction are receiving treatment. Why is it only a fraction?
SHINSEKI: Well, it's -- first of all, I can't validate those exact numbers. If there are numbers that pertain to veterans who are enrolled with the V.A., they are under treatment.
So I will tell you that two weeks ago for these very issues, Secretary Gates and I co-hosted a National Mental Health summit to bring both of our departments together and to go after just the very issue you talk about and that is we need to be better at diagnosing and treating young people coming back from hyper stress environments.
ROBERTS: Right. Right. So the question, Mr. Secretary is then what are you doing about it? Because in addition to these soldiers and Marines who are coming back with post traumatic stress disorder, more and more service members, active duty service members are committing suicide.
There were 256 active duty suicides in 2008. There's a big problem here, and there are a lot of veterans who want to know from the secretary what you're going to do about it.
SHINSEKI: Well, we are already doing a lot about it, John. We have hired 19,000 -- we have 19,000 professional mental health providers who work in the V.A. for these very issues. PTSD is not just something that occurred in these latest two conflicts. It's been with us for a while. And so we do have a very aggressive treatment program.
You may know we established a national suicide prevention hotline that we man with mental health providers, not just operators, mental health providers, professionals who very quickly can in the conversation diagnose that they have issues to deal with. And we have had a number of people in crises. We've intervened in what could have been suicide attempts.
So we are working this very hard. As I say, the summit with DOD and V.A. is an important partnership that we intend to continue. ROBERTS: Mr. Secretary, I know personally people whose sons have committed suicide when they came back from the war. So they're really looking for answers here. Is it safe to say that you still have a lot of work to do? And I notice that this didn't all occur on your watch, but is it safe to say that you have an awful lot of work to do here?
SHINSEKI: I do. And we're taking it on. As I indicated to you, every one of our hospitals, every one of our health care outlets has a mental health, you know, capability for just these very reasons. We run 153 hospitals, 770 outpatient clinics and about 232 vet centers and the vet centers are really an outgrowth of our experiences following Vietnam.
ROBERTS: And Mr. ...
SHINSEKI: So PTSD has been with us and we...
ROBERTS: Mr. Secretary, if I could, too...
SHINSEKI: Go ahead, John.
ROBERTS: You mentioned the medical centers and the hospitals. There are a lot of problems there as well. There's the excess doses of radiation for cancer. People who have prostate cancer got excessive doses of radiation. The controversy over the dirty colonoscopy equipment that exposed many service members to the HIV virus.
SHINSEKI: Sure.
ROBERTS: There were the letters to the 2,000 vets that went out saying that they had Lou Gehrig's disease. Is the V.A. medical system failing our vets? And what are you going to do about that?
SHINSEKI: John, that's three great questions. The brachytherapy which you referred to occurred in one hospital. We discovered it. We put the corrective actions in place and then we made known to the general public what had happened because transparency is one of our first priorities.
In the case of endoscopies, we discovered that in a V.A.-wide inspection. It occurred in three hospitals. We had failures in leadership in those hospitals and we've taken proper action here and ensure that veterans have high quality -- and they do have a high quality of health care available to them and that it is safe as well.
ROBERTS: I know, Mr. Secretary, that these are issues of great concern to you. I do know that the Veterans Affairs Administration is beginning to do things to reach out to vets. We just showed that mobile medical unit that goes out there into the rural areas for people who can't make it in veterans hospitals.
SHINSEKI: Right.
ROBERTS: But can you say this morning to people who are in the V.A. system to those troops who are over in Iraq and Afghanistan that they will be adequately cared for by the V.A. hospital system?
SHINSEKI: Absolutely. This health care system is a large and robust and very capable health care system. It is supported by good people who come to work every day to do the right thing and occasionally we have, like in any large organization a few disappointments and we are the ones that discover them. We are the ones that do something about them. And I assure the veterans, 23 million veterans in this country that their V.A. health care system is second to none.
ROBERTS: Is it a personal guarantee from you that they can have faith in this? Does the buck stop with you, Mr. Secretary?
SHINSEKI: John, the buck stops with me.
ROBERTS: All right. General Eric Shinseki, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, thanks for being with us. We really appreciate your time, sir.
SHINSEKI: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: All right.
SHINSEKI: Good to be with you.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks for joining us.
And we're coming up on the half hour now. And here are this morning's top stories.
NATO officials confirming that one of two missing U.S. soldiers in western Afghanistan has been found dead. Family members have identified him as Army paratrooper Ben Sherman. They say that he apparently drowned after jumping into a river to rescue a fellow soldier. The military still searching for a missing second paratrooper.
CHETRY: Well, once a hurricane then a tropical storm. This morning the remnants of Ida bringing rain to the mid-Atlantic after lashing the Gulf Coast with heavy rain when it made landfall yesterday morning. What's left of Ida is now drenching the Carolinas and Virginia.
ROBERTS: And E.T. phone Rome? The Vatican exploring the possibility of alien life in the universe. Astronomers, physicists, biologists and religious leaders wrapping up a five-day conference. They discussed what effects life beyond earth would have on the Catholic church and Christianity in general. But the director of the Vatican Observatory said the main focus was on the scientific perspective.
CHETRY: Well, we're turning to our developing story and the investigation into what may have allegedly driven Major Nidal Hasan to go on a shooting spree that left 13 people dead, including 12 of his fellow soldiers. So far he's not talking to investigators. So what is he saying? Well, joining me now live from Fort Hood, Texas is retired Colonel John Galligan. He is now the attorney for Major Hasan. Thanks for being with us this morning.
COL. JOHN GALLIGAN (RET.), CIVILIAN ATTORNEY FOR ALLEGED FT. HOOD SHOOTER: You're welcome. Good morning.
CHETRY: Will you be able to walk us through what your communications had been like with Major Hasan, please?
GALLIGAN: Well, they've been very limited. As you know, I was only recently retained and I've only had one opportunity to meet directly with him and that was for a brief 30-minute period shortly after I was retained. I went down myself and together with the military detail defense counsel and met with him. But it was primarily just to ensure that he was satisfied with the current composition of the defense team and then because of his medications and it was obvious that he was very tired. We terminated our interview at that time.
CHETRY: What is his physical condition like? We know that he took at least four gunshots. He was on a ventilator for some time in the aftermath of that attack. How is he now?
GALLIGAN: Well, I'm not a doctor, but I'd qualify his condition as guarded. He's still hospitalized, still in an I.C.U. and I can assure you that before I make any attempt to continue to talk to him about his case or representation of him, I'm going to coordinate that through appropriate medical officers to make sure it would not impinge or be a detraction to proper medical care.
CHETRY: Right. How did you come to represent Major Hasan right now? I'm sure that was probably a tough decision for you.
GALLIGAN: Well, family members are the ones that originally contacted me and in terms of the decision to represent Major Hasan, suffice it to say I'm a former military myself, as you know, and I consider it a privilege to be able to represent every soldier that walks in my office and has problems or a legal issue whether it's in the military, whether it's in the civilian sector. I take great pride in the fact that a major part of my law practice is to defend those who defend us.
CHETRY: Yes. And you did say that before. And I read it when I was doing research for this interview and I thought to myself, what do you say then to the families of the 12 soldiers who were gunned down -- these innocent soldiers who were gunned down, the one civilian who was killed, investigators say at the hands of the man that you are now defending.
GALLIGAN: Well, first and foremost, I share and extend my sympathies to all of the victims that were involved in the case. I would also caution and remind everyone how important it is that we ensure that as we go through a pretrial and trial process, whether it's within the military or outside of the military, that we remember why we all wear the uniform and the important rights we seek to protect.
And that is the right to a fair trial. And my biggest concern right now is to ensure that this military defendant still cloaked with the presumption of innocence and entitled, as all of us as Americans are, that is to a fair and impartial trail actually receives that.
CHETRY: And Hasan continues to be the sole...
GALLIGAN: And I think...
CHETRY: Go ahead.
GALLIGAN: I'm sorry I was going to say, I think most military members, when you advise them of the fact whole heartedly agree with me. Everyone wants to ensure that a fair trial is conducted.
CHETRY: Well, Hasan continues to be the sole suspect in the massacre. As we understand, he has not yet been questioned by military or federal authorities and that you are going to be advising him not to speak with investigators. Why is that?
GALLIGAN: Well, I mean, I have seen a lot of statements about other allegations, other investigations. None of which have been furnished to me. I have received no formal charge sheet in this case. In fact, it was only last night about 8:00 that I received my first official notification from Army officials.
And that was with respect to a change in his pre-trial status in the hospital. And I was advised that his leave and pass privileges had been suspended. I received that at 8:00 last night. No prior notice. That's the first formal notification that I have received from Army officials.
CHETRY: I got you. Well, one of the things that CNN has learned is that senior investigative officials are telling us that Major Hasan communicated at least 20 times with Anwar Al-Awlaki, this is a radical imam who had close relationships with two 9/11 hijackers. Have authorities given you any clue as to whether or not Major Hasan could be facing or they will be trying to pursue terror charges against him?
GALLIGAN: Again, I have received no formal notice from government officials, prosecutors, military or civilian about their intent. Again, no formal charge sheet. I haven't received the ordinary DD form 458, the charge sheet that traditionally you have in military court martial cases. So the answer is no. I have received nothing from them.
CHETRY: One other quick...
GALLIGAN: I have been advised he's a suspect.
CHETRY: Right. So it's been limited -- your communication has been limited.
GALLIGAN: I have been advised that he's a suspect and appropriate authorities have been advised that he has counsel and like every American in those circumstances, official questioning of him must cease. That's a right that we all enjoy. It's a right that we all should respect.
CHETRY: Do you ever...
GALLIGAN: Particularly as so many of these statements and allegations are flying about us and we don't really know the veracity of any of them.
CHETRY: And you have talked about military courts in the past. You have actually defended them in the past saying they're not, you know, kangaroo courts, that if applied correctly the uniform of military justice is a wonderful thing that can produce a fair outcome. Do you think that those sentiments apply to your client? Because you have said that you have concerns as to whether or not he can get a fair trial.
GALLIGAN: Let me just say, with respect to the military justice system, I was part of it for a 30-year period. I have high regard for the system. If, as you indicated earlier, it is applied properly. But like any system, if it's derailed or if things go awry, you can have the Army coming after you and you've get out of the way. I want to make sure that a fair trial occurs.
And yes, I'm concerned about whether or not someone can receive a fair trial, particularly here at this location. And any defense counsel mindful of the events of yesterday, I think, would share in my at least concern that that be a factor, among others, that has to be reviewed.
A fair trial, whether it's in Killeen or Ft. Hood or even in downtown -- you know, a city in Texas, a fair trial is something that we're all entitled to under the Constitution. And I think we all want to ensure it is provided.
CHETRY: All right.
GALLIGAN: Otherwise the whole purpose of us serving in uniform is lost.
CHETRY: Colonel John Galligan, civil attorney now for Major Hasan. Thanks for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
GALLIGAN: You're welcome. Thank you.
CHETRY: Thirty-seven minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Investigators are connecting the dots as they delve deeper into possible motives behind the attack on Ft. Hood and the key focus in this investigation, as we have been talking about is the suspect Major Nidal Hasan's contacts with a radical Muslim cleric.
ROBERTS: That man is Anwar Al-Awlaki, an exiled American who became a powerful on-line voice. Our Carol Costello live in Washington this morning with an "AM" original. Carol, who is this fellow?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he was born in New Mexico, but he now lives and preaches out of Yemen. Experts say he represents a new kind of terrorist, charismatic, soft spoken and Facebook-savvy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Experts say Anwar Al-Awlaki is a low-key extremist. They say fiery rhetoric is out, under stated is in. Listen to one of Al-Awlaki's Youtube lectures.
ANWAR AL-AWLAKI, MUSLIM CLERIC: We sometimes neglect our duties toward our fellow Muslims until we fall into their trials and realize the importance of standing in support of the oppressed.
COSTELLO: That's right, under stated terrorist talk on Youtube and Facebook. Al-Awlaki has more than 5,000 friends. Jarrett Brockman wrote "Global Jihadism." He is also a U.S. government consultant on counter terrorism.
JARRET BRACHMAN, AUTHOR "GLOBAL JIHADISM": A lot of guys in the United States read Al-Awlaki's work. They watch his videos. They listen to his sermons.
COSTELLO: It's easy.
Al-Awlaki speaks perfect English. He's American-born. Before leaving the U.S. in 2002, he was an imam at mosques in Colorado, California, and then Virginia where he had contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers. Imam Johari Abdul-Malik knew Al-Awlaki. At first he was moderate in his views and popular.
IMAM JOHARI ABDUL-MALIK, DAR AL-HIJRAH ISLAMIC CENTER: Young, handsome, Californian, has the benefit of English without an accent.
COSTELLO: Then 9/11 happened. Imam Johari told us Al-Awlaki grew angry at the way Muslim Americans were treated by authorities. He left for Yemen in 2002 telling his friends --
ABDUL-MALIK: This is not an environment for teaching Islam or preaching Islam. I'd rather go back to Yemen. And he told us, I can teach or maybe I can do a television program.
COSTELLO: But in Yemen, he was jailed. Imam Johari says it was after that that Al-Awlaki became radicalized with a growing following. His views unrecognizable to those who knew him in the United States.
ABDUL-MALIK: What he is saying from wherever he is in Yemen to his minions that it is not only legitimate to kill Americans. That's the message people got -- but that it is also permissible to kill American Muslims.
COSTELLO: Something Imam Johari says is against both Islam and the United States. It may be, he says, that Al-Awlaki has lost his mind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Al-Awlaki wrote on his web site that Major Hasan, the alleged Ft. Hood shooter was a hero. Today that web site is not accessible. It's not exactly clear why but some experts say Al-Awlaki is afraid he's getting too much attention now and he closed down his own web site because right now he's laying low. John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Carol, anybody you talked to have any thoughts on whether or not it should have been further investigated more diligently, these contacts between Hasan and Al-Awlaki?
COSTELLO: Well, supposedly Hasan sent 10 to 20 e-mail messages to Al-Awlaki. You know, he's got a small number of very fervent followers. And they say he's growing in popularity online because he uses technology so well. So there are those who say authorities should have looked at this closer and you know, kind of delved deeper into it instead of dismissing it as nothing. Because I guess they said Major Hasan was doing research and that's why he reached out to this imam.
ROBERTS: All right. Carol Costello for us this morning. Carol, thanks so much.
They have hung the help wanted sign. That sign outside the White House and not just looking for a communications director. A lot of jobs that are going wanting. If you're unemployed, there's the House to go to. It's 44 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Are you looking for a job? The Obama administration has got the "help wanted" sign hung out in front.
Nearly a year into the president's first term nearly 200 jobs remain unfilled and many of the vacant jobs head up agencies that handle hot button issues like health care, foreign policy, immigration and drugs and arms trafficking. With so many key jobs vacant, concerns are being raised at how effective the White House can actually be.
CHETRY: Well, here's a fresh opening in the White House Communications Office this morning. It's that of Anita Dunn. The department's director is stepping down.
ROBERTS: Dunn is a trusted confidante of the president. Lisa Sylvester reports that her departure comes after a high profile dust- up with FOX News.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anita Dunn is a member of the president's inner circle, so close to him that he was caught off guard the first time she called him "sir." But after just six months serving as Communications Director, Dunn is stepping down. The White House says, no story here, that when Dunn took the job it was supposed to be only on a temporary basis, but her departure comes after a very public fight with the FOX News Network.
ANITA DUNN, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The reality of it is that FOX News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.
SYLVESTER: Dunn also drew criticism when during a June 5th speech she cited her admiration for the philosophy of former Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-Tung.
DUNN: ... come from two of my favorite political philosophers, Mao Tse-Tung and Mother Teresa -- not often coupled with each other.
CRAIG GORDON, POLITICO: Obviously probably the most famous communist leader ever and here's a person inside the Obama administration saying that, you know, she looked to his words for guidance. Again, I suspect that's one Anita Dunn wouldn't mind having back and the White House wouldn't mind having back either.
SYLVESTER: Dunn, in a response to CNN, shot back at her critics saying, quote, "The use of the phrase 'favorite political philosophers' was intended as irony, but clearly the effort fell flat."
Dunn joins a number of administration appointees to leave recently. The first Communications Director Ellen Moran moved over to the Commerce Department after less than a hundred days, citing family reasons. Green Jobs czar Van Jones departed after controversial comments he made about the Republican Party surfaced. National Endowment for the Arts Communications Director Yosi Sergant left amid allegations of using his office to promote a political agenda. And Louis Caldera, the former director of the White House Military Office resigned after he approved an Air Force flyover over New York City for publicity photos that frightened many residents.
SYLVESTER (on camera): Dunn will step down at the end of this month. Her deputy, Dan Pfeiffer will take her place although she still will be an adviser to the White House on media and communications issues, just not from the inside.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ROBERTS: Well, this morning's top stories are just minutes away, including lots of finger pointing in the search for clues in the Fort Hood shootings. We're live on the ground with the very latest.
CHETRY: Also, a dangerous trek through "IED Alley." We're going to take you inside a military humvee for an inside look at the threat on the ground in Afghanistan.
ROBERTS: And a pilot pulled from the cockpit because he was too drunk to fly. All that and more at the top of the hour right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
It turns out that we're not the only ones who were up working in the dead of night preparing for the day for everybody else out there.
CHETRY: That's right, fortifying people not only with news but with milk. Here in New York City there are two men who go door to door delivering milk the old-fashioned way, complete with the glass bottles. And they turned this nostalgic idea into a booming and lucrative business.
Our Stephanie Elam stayed up late or got up early -- whichever way you want to look at it -- in this AM Original.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Delivering milk door-to-door just like the old days. But these are not your grandparents' milkmen.
FRANK ACOSTA, CO-OWNER, THE MANHATTAN MILK CO.: We're the modern version. We had this new twist with (ph) the sneakers and the jeans.
ELAM (on camera): Yes, that -- and the ripped-up jeans. That too.
ELAM (Voice-over): Meet Matt and Frank. Their city slicker customers place orders on their Manhattan Milk website for organic, farm fresh goods.
MATT MARONE, CO-OWNER, THE MANHATTAN MILK CO.: The minimum of $15 order so say three bottles of milk, so that's -- $15 covers that and there's a $5 charge.
ELAM: Overnight, they make delivery after delivery after delivery. Why so early?
MARONE: Want to know why we start early? Well, one, for the traffic, and then, two, people -- so everybody has their milk and dairy products before they go to work and so it's not sitting outside for all those hours and, you know, in the heated hallway in all the buildings.
ACOSTA: Actually, one client, the kids will wake up early and they try to, like, bring the milk in themselves and they're like 2, 3- year-old kids.
JOE BECUAR (ph), CUSTOMER, THE MANHATTAN MILK CO.: Did Frank bring you that milk?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. ELAM: Joe Becuar (ph) who's been a loyal customer since their start a year and a half ago says Frank and Matt are like family.
BECUAR (ph): When I heard about Manhattan Milk, I thought, wow, this takes me back to where I was growing up and my kids are going to get to experience something I got to experience. So every, you know, Wednesday morning we go out and get the milk and bring it in just like we did when I was a kid.
ELAM: While they have several competitors, Matt and Frank say they are the cream of the crop because of their personal touch, hormone-free products and reused glass bottles from local dairies.
MARONE: They call us, they reach one -- either Frank or myself, and they could talk to the boss, the owner.
ELAM (on camera): It's 2:30 AM. How many stops have you guys made and how many do you have to go?
ACOSTA: Say about 10 stop, about 40...
MARONE: Ten, 12 stops we did already.
ACOSTA: About 40, 50 more.
MARONE: Yes. About 40, 45 more to go.
ELAM: And what time do you guys expect to be done?
ACOSTA: Hopefully by 9:00.
MARONE: Hopefully by 9:00.
ELAM (voice-over): While they admit the hours hurt their personal lives, the guys say they are satisfied.
ACOSTA: Yes. Well, we love what we do. I wouldn't change it, you know?
ELAM: So as most of the Big Apple awakens, the guys are finishing up, off to catch some Zs. After all, sleep does a body good, too.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ELAM: So while the guys are hopefully maybe getting some sleep right about now since this is their delivery day -- oh, you know, it's still too early. They're still probably delivering and not even watching this at this point. They are hoping to expand into Brooklyn next, and it really is just Matt and Frank. These are the two guys behind this company. They're doing everything, they're taking the orders, making orders from what they need, and then getting it out to their customers out here.
But a little sunny side comment here. When I was asking them if they ever thought that they'd grow up to become milkmen, Matt actually said to me that, no, thought he'd, you know, go play for the Yankees and pitch in the World Series, which is timely since they, you know, they just won. And then Frank said that he thought he would have gone on to law school. But they're both really happy with what they're doing now.
ROBERTS: It's great, the little bit of Fred MacMurray comes to Manhattan.
CHETRY: Love it.
ROBERTS: It's terrific.
CHETRY: And you said they're also in North -- in the county Northeast of here, West Chester (ph). That's where they started, and now they're going to move into Brooklyn, so wow!
ELAM: And eventually they're hoping, you know, maybe they'll be able to train somebody else to do the delivery so they don't have to do them all and really do with it the same care that they do. But they really liked the fact that they're personalized their business and so that when someone calls they get the owner and they can resolve any problem. People know them by their first names, so.
ROBERTS: Nothing like having a bottle of milk in your hand, even if it's -- even if it's a five-dollar bottle.
ELAM: And, on top of it, I have to point out that other delivery companies in Manhattan charge more than they do. So, you know -- in Manhattan they delivery rates are crazy, but it's even crazier than... Well, you might say (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTS: Drink up, everybody!
CHETRY: Stephanie, thank you.
ROBERTS: The latest on the investigation into the Fort Hood shootings. We're live from the post coming up in 90 seconds. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
