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American Morning

President Calls For Improved Security at Nation's Airports; Interview with Homeland Security Janet Napolitano; Cheer on Wall Street: SATS, A Thing of the Past?

Aired December 28, 2009 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOE JOHNS, CNN KAYE: Good morning. It's Monday, December 28th. John and Kiran are off today. I'm Joe Johns.

RANDI KAYE, CNN KAYE: And I'm Randi Kaye.

Here are the big stories we'll tell you about in the next 15 minutes.

President Obama is expected to speak for the first time about the failed attempt to bring down a Northwest airliner headed for Detroit. A source telling us the alleged terrorist had enough explosives to blow a hole in the side of that airplane.

The impact on air travel is being felt worldwide this morning. Stepped up security measures at airports everywhere. Some you can see and some you can't.

A new information about what you can and can't do now on airplanes headed to the United States.

JOHNS: In Iran, some of the most deadly and explosive anti- government protests in months continue today while the death toll rises. Hundreds of protesters are now under arrest.

KAYE: But first, investigators right now piecing together information into the alleged plot to bring down Northwest flight 253 over Detroit. Sources tell CNN the amount of explosives carried by the suspect was enough to take down the airplane.

CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington with the very latest for us. Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Randi, that's right. A source familiar with the investigation says this device made with the explosive PETN was, indeed, powerful enough to have blown a hole in the side of the plane and taken it down. So, had it worked properly or had passengers and crew not responded so quickly, the results could have been catastrophic.

President Obama wants to know how it got smuggled on an aircraft and has ordered review of screening technology used in airport security. He has also ordered a review of watch lists, how they're put together and maintained. Although Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's father warned the U.S. about his son's radicalization and his name was placed on a government security list, he was not prohibited from flying or given additional scrutiny.

Also, today, a court hearing related to this case -- the government is seeking authorization to get a DNA sample from the suspect, presumably to link him with evidence. Abdulmutallab is not expected to attend. Randi?

KAYE: Jeanne, a lot of people this morning asking about air marshals and why there wasn't one on flight 253. Do you know the answer to that?

MESERVE: Well, there wasn't one, apparently, because it wasn't -- the analysis and intelligence didn't indicate there should be one. We're told, however, by the Department of Homeland Security, by an official there, that the use of federal air marshals has increased significantly since the events of Christmas Day.

Vacations have been canceled, instructors and administrators are being put on the air, as we said. There was no air marshal on the flight Christmas day.

And a government official says there wasn't an air marshal on the same flight yesterday when a sick passenger raised serious security concerns for several hours. Republican Congressman Peter King says this was a clear failure of judgment. "There was a terrible mistake. It makes you wonder what in the world the administration is living in.

If there was any flight that should have had an air marshal on board, it was the northwest flight coming out of Amsterdam to Detroit," that in reference to yesterday's flight.

Also, DHS Secretary Napolitano, whose department runs the air marshal program, is being criticized for saying yesterday air marshals assigned randomly. Current and former air marshals say although they do have some element of randomness, they're largely based on intelligence and analysis of which flights are most vulnerable. Randi?

KAYE: All right, Jeanne Meserve on top of all angles of this story for us. Thanks, Jeanne.

JOHNS: And a little more on that second incident Jeanne Meserve just talked about, the second scare on the same flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. This one happened on Sunday. Passengers on board this Northwest flight 253 watched as their luggage was emptied out on to the tarmac and checked by bomb-sniffing dogs.

So what happened exactly? CNN's Allan Chernoff live this morning at Detroit's Metro airport with details. Good morning, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Joe. And we clearly see that airline crews, law enforcement are now taking no chances. As you said, it was the same flight, Northwest 253, Amsterdam to Detroit, the same passenger description, a Nigerian man in his 20s.

He spent much of the flight in the bathroom and would not come out when flight attendants told him to return to his seat. That raised the concern of the crew. The pilot radioed in to his dispatcher. Law enforcement was told to meet the plane upon arrival here in Detroit.

The plane taxied to a remote area of the tarmac and was surrounded by police cars, 13 by one passenger's count. Obviously this was very anxiety provoking for the passengers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN RAUB, PASSENGER ON FLIGHT 253: About an hour and a half before we came in, they said everybody's got to sit down, stay in their seats, nobody goes to the bathroom or anything like that. No standing up.

So after all that, we just said OK. I figured it just came from December 25th that happened.

When they said they got somebody, they're going to take somebody off, that was a little panicky. I go, this is great. And then when I saw the police outside the window, I said uh-oh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Fortunately, indeed, it did turn out to be a case of just a sick passenger. Nonetheless, out of extreme caution, the entire plane was screened, the bags were rescreened, the passengers were kept sitting for a good three hours or more in some cases.

Finally last night, the sick passenger was released and allowed to continue with his travels. Joe?

JOHNS: Thanks so much, Allan Chernoff, in Detroit this morning.

KAYE: Air travelers around the world are now dealing with tighter security than ever because of the Christmas Day incident aboard Northwest flight 253. Passengers will notice a more visible police presence, longer lines, and longer delays.

Some of the new security rules on international flights to the U.S. require more physical pat-downs at the gate and more frequent checks of carryon bags.

In the last hour of flight, there's no standing in the aisles and no blankets or personal items allowed on your lap and no touching carryon baggage and no using bathrooms unless escorted by a crew member. Federal officials are urging passengers to stay vigilant and report any suspicious activity.

KAYE: But of course, the big question, is the government doing all it should be doing to keep you save in the air? We'll ask Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. She's joining us live next right here on the Most News in the Morning. JOHNS: Also new this morning, deadly riots in Iran, across Tehran and other cities in the religious holy day of Ashoura. Iran state media says at least eight people were killed in the bloodiest day of protests since President Ahmadinejad won a contested election in June.

Ahead at the half hour we'll talk live to the president of the National Iranian American Council.

The families of three Americans held in Iran say they've hired a prominent Iranian lawyer to represent them. The three hikers have been held since they accidentally crossed over the border from Iraq in July. Iranian prosecutors say they're still under investigation.

KAYE: Another deadly suicide attack in Pakistan. Police say a second blast in Karachi in less than 24 hours killed at least eight people and wounded 30. The target was a Shiite religious procession.

And the search is on for one or more possible serial arsonists this morning. Fire officials in North Hampton, Massachusetts, say nine fires were set within 90 minutes early Sunday morning, killing at least two people, five in buildings, the others in cars. Two more were attempted, but did not burn. There's a $5,000 reward for information that leads to that conviction.

JOHNS: And it's seven minutes after the hour. Let's get a check of the morning's weather headlines.

(WEATHER BREAK)

JOHNS: Coming up next, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's going to talk to us about that incident in Detroit. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

President Obama, vacationing in Hawaii, is expected to speak for the first time about the alleged Northwest Airlines terror attempt later today.

The president has ordered an investigation into possible U.S. security gaps and he's demanding reviews of both airport security and the country's terrorism watch list, and he's urging Republicans and Democrats to avoid a political fight over the incident.

Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, also weighed in on Friday's attempted terror attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN, (I) CONNECTICUT: He was able to break through all of our Homeland Security. If it was now for our good fortune, grace of god, that the explosive did not go off, 300 people and many more on the ground probably in Michigan would have been killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Senator Lieberman is urging the government to expand the use of full body scanning devices now deployed in 19 cities.

And now, a CNN exclusive, the hero passenger who took down the alleged terror suspect. Dutch filmmaker Jasper Schuringa revealed to CNN's Fredricka Whitfield just what happened aboard Northwest flight 253.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Did you help take the image or did you also help subdue the suspect? Which is it?

JASPER SCHURINGA, HELPED SUBDUE TERROR SUSPECT: Well, basically, like I reacted on the bang, and then suddenly like there was smoke in the cabin, and so people were screaming "Fire, fire!" And the first thing we like all did is to check where the fire was. So -- and then I saw the suspect. He was on his seat.

WHITFIELD: How many rows back were you?

SCHURINGA: Sorry?

WHITFIELD: How many rows back? You were behind the suspect when this smoke...

SCHURINGA: I was on the right side of the plane and the suspect was on the left side. There were quite some seats in between. So when I saw that suspect, he was getting on fire, and I freaked, of course.

And without any hesitation, I just jumped over all the seats and I just jumped to the suspect, because I was thinking, like, he's trying to blow up the plane.

And so, you know, I was trying to search his body for any explosives, and then I took some kind of object that was already melting and smoking out of him and I tried to put out the fire and then when I did that, I was also restraining the suspect.

And then the fire started beneath his seat. So I waved my hands and everything. You can see it's a little burned up. I put out the fire. And then other passengers helped me as well, and, of course, I was screaming for "water, water!" because there's a fire in the plane is not that good, of course.

And so -- but then the fire was actually getting a little worse because of what I did, it didn't extinguish the fire. So I grabbed the suspect out of the seat, because if he was wearing any more explosives, it would be very dangerous, because he was almost on fire.

And when I grabbed him from his seat, the chemicals came and they came with fire extinguishers, and they got clear of the flames. And just to be sure, like I grabbed him with other attendants and we took him to first class and there we stripped him and contained him with handcuffs and we made sure he had no more weapons, no more bombs on him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Scary, scary situation there.

Now, Randi has her interview with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Randi?

KAYE: Thanks, Joe.

CNN has learned the device carried on to the flight was powerful enough to blow a hole through the side of the plane. We also know that the suspect now in custody was already on our radar.

So how did he get through and does the government need to do more to keep you safe in the air? Here for the "A.M. Breakdown" Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Good to see you, secretary.

JANET NAPOLITANO, U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Good morning.

KAYE: First let me ask you, what is the latest on this investigation? Have you been able to learn any more about this suspect's alleged ties to Al Qaeda?

NAPOLITANO: No, that's under investigation through the criminal justice process. What we are doing is going backwards. How did this individual get on the plane? What didn't work in the screening procedure to pick him up? And why was the material he was carrying not picked up in the screening procedure as well?

KAYE: And that's what I wanted to ask you about because as CNN has learned, this suspect had enough explosives to blow a local in the airplane, bring that airplane down. How is it that eight years after 9/11 this guy was allegedly able to bring these high explosives on board in his underwear?

NAPOLITANO: Well, your experts must know more than ours do at this point in time who are ascertaining exactly what the material was, where it was on the plane and what effect it would have had had it been detonated. But that doesn't excuse the fact that it was on the plane.

And with all of the procedures we now have in place, now we've instituted new procedures moving forward, and we were able immediately upon the passengers apprehending this individual, to institute procedures for even for the planes that were already in the air so that moving forward, we could provide additional safety in the air environment. But we need to go back now, and the president has asked us to, to do a thorough review. These are procedures that have been in place since the shoe bomber in 2006, what needs to be updated, improved, upgraded to see that this doesn't happen again.

KAYE: You have said that throughout this, the system worked smoothly. What exactly worked in your opinion?

NAPOLITANO: Yes, that's a phrase taken out of context. What I said is, moving forward, meaning once the incident happened, we were able to immediately notify the 128 flights in the air, as well as airports on the ground domestically, internationally. Our law enforcement partners, our other allies, institute immediate safety procedures to make sure that this could not happen on other flights and that people were watching out for it on other flights, even as we focused on what went wrong prior to this one.

KAYE: So you do recognize that it didn't work smoothly leading up to this?

NAPOLITANO: Oh, obviously it didn't. No secretary of Homeland Security would say that.

KAYE: If screening can't detect these kinds of threats, at least the screening that we have now currently in the United States, is it up to us, the flying public, to protect ourselves and the rest of those on board an airplane now?

NAPOLITANO: Well, you know, security is something that we all have a part in. We are looking at the technology. We have deployed new technology in some airports. The question is, would it have detected this material and the way he had hidden it on his person.

We're ascertaining that. We're ascertaining why it was that he was not flagged in a more specific way when he purchased his ticket, given the information that we think was available, allegedly was available. And that's moving forward, we need to go backwards and say what happened here, what do we need to change, what do we need to do to make sure passengers that are safe moving forward.

KAYE: Maybe you can shed some light on this. We know that the suspect had obtained a visa back in June of 2008. Once his father had warned the U.S. embassy that he thought maybe his son might be looking to do jihad, might have been radicalized, why wasn't that visa revoked once he had been tagged in the system?

NAPOLITANO: I've asked the same question. And we all want to know the answer to that question. And, you know, that will be part of the process that we are undergoing at the president's direction over the next days and weeks.

KAYE: And for those of us who may not know the answer to this, what exactly does it take to get on a no-fly list? We know he was on a broader list along with 550,000 people, so half a million people or so. What would have put him on the selectee list, which is a smaller list or the no-fly list?

NAPOLITANO: Well, under the existing protocols, it requires an interagency process and the identification of other negative information that's credible to which there's a basis for, and that process whittles down from 500,000 or so that are on the tied list, the generic list, to the fewer than 5,000 that are on the no-fly list. Now, we are going to be looking at that process and how those lists are created, maintained, updated, exchanged and the like, because clearly this individual should not have been able to board this plane carrying that material.

KAYE: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, thank you so much for your time this morning.

NAPOLITANO: Thank you.

KAYE: Joe?

JOHNS: Coming up, it's a rite of passage high school students have dreaded for years. The scholastic aptitude test. Carol Costello will be reporting on why it may be a thing of the past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: It's 22 minutes after the hour. That means time for "Minding Your Business" with Stephanie Elam.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And it's time to take a look at the year that was and the year that will be. Since it is that last week of the year, we're taking a look at what's going to happen here this week.

Last week, we actually closed at the highs of the year for the market, so not a bad way to start wrapping up 2009, especially after we hit those lows back in March. If you take a look, major indices are on track to have double digit gains for the year. We're going to have to show you what we're looking at.

The Dow right now gains about 20 percent, S&P up about 25 percent, Nasdaq up about 45 percent. This will be the first yearly increase in two years. If you take a look at the decade, however, well, those numbers are good, the decade not so good. If you take a look overall, you can see that this will be the first losing decade that we will ever post for the markets. So, that's not good.

But think about all the things that happened. We had the tech bubble bursting in 2000. We also had 9/11. We also had the recession in that year. All of that impacting so much of the economy. So this kind of benchmarking the pain of the decade. So if you look at the period overall, you'll see that we actually will drop about 25 percent on the S&P 500, excluding dividends for that period.

JOHNS: Just want to put an exclamation point on that. The first losing decade?

ELAM: Yes. That we will see for this. So this shows you just how bad. Even after the Great Depression...

JOHNS: Right.

ELAM: ... that decade actually managed to come back and have a bit of a gain there. So it shows you the difference. Now the other thing we can look at is when you go into 2010, this idea of the January effect. And that's the idea of when the new year starts, people come back strong and stocks tend to rise. This year could be stronger than other years because January of '09 was just so bad. So because of that, we could see a stronger January. More deals should probably start happening next year and hopefully that will help bring the markets back.

But overall the decade that is wrapping up ever so soon -- I should also mention the markets will not be open on Friday for New Year's Day. So anything that's going to happen people have to get done by Thursday. This is a volatile week because there's just not a lot of people around, not a lot of traders, not a lot of volume.

We're here.

JOHNS: Right.

ELAM: But we will be here.

KAYE: Yes.

ELAM: Still tracking it all. Yes.

KAYE: All right. Thanks, Stephanie.

ELAM: Sure.

KAYE: And we've been watching the violence in Iran. We'll bring you the very latest on the protests there after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back everyone. It's coming up on 7:27. Top stories are only five minutes away. But first, an "A.M. Original," something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.

When it comes to getting into college, a good score on your SAT is the magic ticket, or is it? Carol Costello is taking a look at the changing standards for standardized test in an "A.M. Original," "Educating America."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Never has one test caused so much angst. That's a-n-g-s-t, a feeling of anxiety.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you nervous? Are you excited?

MCKENNA BASKETT, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: Oh, I'm so nervous.

COSTELLO: Hence, this class designed to beat the test.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's enough to get D over E.

COSTELLO: Parents pay The Princeton Review and other organizations anywhere from 600 to $8,000 for special classes or private tutors so their child can literally beat the SAT. 16-year-old McKenna Baskett from Missouri --

BASKETT: I got the gist of it.

COSTELLO: Is spending her summer in SAT class.

BASKETT: I'm really a bad test-taker and they're really hard questions, so I'm just hoping I can get through it.

COSTELLO: Imagine, all of this a-n-g-s-t for a test that many say doesn't even measure how smart you are.

ED CARROLL, THE PRINCETON REVIEW: There's a whole word list you can do.

COSTELLO: Ed Carroll tutors students to take the test.

CARROLL: There are people who think naturally and incorrectly that the SAT is a measure of intelligence and it never was. The only thing the SAT is really good at is predicting how well you do on the SAT.

COSTELLO: Carroll says it's not that a student needs to take special courses to ace the SAT. But once a student realizes there are patterns involved, sort of like Sudoku, it's a whole lot easier.

CARROLL: A squared plus B squared equals C squared. On this test the numbers that you will see most frequently, three squared plus four squared equals five squared. So if I tell students, three, four, five, that's what you need to know. You don't need to know all the terms and all the diff kinds of solutions. You need to know three, four, five.

LAURENCE BUNIN, THE COLLEGE BOARD: That's just wrong.

COSTELLO: Laurence Bunin overseas the SAT for The College Board.

BUNIN: The SAT is a test of the basic skills that one needs to succeed in college.

COSTELLO (on camera): Does it show you how smart a kid is?

BUNIN: Well, it shows you how much they've learned in school.

COSTELLO (voice-over): But many universities are now saying the SAT says very little about what a student can do. Some 850 of them have now made the SAT optional for most applicants including ten this year, some of them highly selective top tier liberal arts schools.

Would you like to see the SAT go away?

SHAWN TOLER, PRINCIPAL KIPP UJIMA VILLAGE ACADEMY: I would love to see it go away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Am I clear? STUDENTS: Crystal.

COSTELLO: Shawn Toler, principal at the KIPP school in Baltimore for inner city kids, says the deck is stacked against lower income children. They're generally not able to attend elite high schools or afford expensive tutors. According to the college board's own stat, in 2009, kids whose parents make up to $20,000 a year, scored an average 1,321 on a scale of 2,400. If a kid's parents makes above $200,000 a year, that score shoots up 381 points to an average of 1,702.

BUNIN: What you're really seeing is that the playing field isn't fair. It's not the SAT that's the problem. It's any measure of educational achievement that's going to show the same thing.

COSTELLO: But if the playing field isn't fair to begin with, educators like Principal Toler wonder why a perfect 2400 on the SAT seems to matter so much.

(on camera): Keep in mind, universities use the SAT as just one indicator of what a child is capable of in college. They also use things like high school grades, activities and written essays. All of those things weigh in.

Carol Costello, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Joe and I were just discussing our SAT scores. We're not going to go there, are we?

JOHNS: Yes, I'm not going to say what I got, but I still - I never understood why you had to take it.

KAYE: Nightmare.

JOHNS: Exactly.

KAYE: Anyway, we're wondering should the SATs be scrapped.

JOHNS: Bitter.

KAYE: You are bitter after all these years. We want to know what you think. So be sure to comment on our blog at cnn.com/amfix.

JOHNS: It's 30 minutes after the hour. And time for this morning's top stories.

Sources tell CNN the suspect in the alleged terror plot on Christmas day had enough explosives on him to blow a hole in Northwest Flight 253. This morning the suspect is out of the hospital and being held at a federal prison south of Detroit. There's a hearing set for this afternoon, though he is not expected to attend.

KAYE: President Obama is ordering a security review to find out how the suspect allegedly got an explosive device past security in Nigeria and Amsterdam. Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano said the incident showed that the response system worked.

But Congressman Peter King of New York, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security committee says airport security failed in every respect.

JOHNS: In Iran, the death toll is rising. The riots are more violent as a government crackdown continues. Iran's state run media says eight people died during Sunday's clash which took place on the holiest day on the Shiite calendar. Another 300 people reportedly have been taken into custody.

Some experts are calling it a perfect storm in Iran. One that could be a major turning point for the regime.

Joining us now, Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian-American Council. He is in Washington this morning, so is the author and former diplomatic correspondent for "The Washington Post," Robin Wright. Thank you both for joining us.

Trita, a lot of things coming together here. The holy day of Ashoura and the morning of an important dissident cleric. Can you give us an idea about the significance of what we're seeing here, why it matters to people here in the United States?

TRITA PARSI, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL: Well, I think this may actually turn out to be a breaking point. What we've seen here is how the opposition six months after the fraud in elections still have a lot of fight in them. I think they've taken the Iranian authorities by surprise.

They're still coming out in huge numbers, and morale seems to be stronger amongst the opposition than it is among the security forces at this point. So this could very well end up being one of those indicators that this is not just going to end, this is going to go for something that can be causing a dramatic change, not only in Iran but in the region as a whole.

JOHNS: Robin, these uprising and protests first started back in June after the presidential election. What we're seeing here, is this a tipping point in your mind? Is the uprising actually going to lead to anything significant? Is the government going to change in any way?

ROBIN WRIGHT, AUTHOR, "DREAMS & SHADOWS": Well, this is not yet a counter revolution and the opposition is fragmented. It does not represent one trend or one vision. Each has its own goals. They've come together in opposition to the government. But this is a very important moment in Iranian history, and it is probably time to start asking whether Iran's uprising could become a Berlin Wall moment. Not just for Iran, but the wider region.

And the important thing to understand is it's not just an issue of the sporadic protests once or twice a month, people pouring out on the streets to make their opposition known. It's also one of the most vibrant and imaginative civil disobedience campaigns anywhere in the world and that plays out on a daily basis, whether it's a boycott of goods on state-controlled television, the graffiti in green representing the green movement that appears on walls and fences throughout the country.

This is happening, the civil disobedience campaign, in cities across Iran. So we're seeing multiple sides to this opposition movement that plays out in everyday life as well as in these very vibrant protests on the streets.

JOHNS: We hear so much about the protests, of course, and the people who attend them. One question that has come to my mind, though, is what about the government response? We realize certain people have been killed and that's always a tragedy, but has the government response been more muted or has it been sort of commensurate with the size of the crowds?

WRIGHT: Well, the government has clearly become much more militarized, arguably more so than at any time since the early days of the revolution and used most of the means available to it, including the live bullets now in trying to put down protests.

We've seen show trials, mass arrests, lots of intimidation and harassment of anyone, students, professionals, women, sympathetic to the dissident - to the opposition movement. And yet it's been unable so far to put a stop to the protests or the civil disobedience campaign.

JOHNS: Trita, I want to ask you, what do you make of the United States response? What the government has said about these uprising?

PARSI: Well, I think the Obama administration has walked the balance on the one hand not trying to get too close to the opposition because that could be very hurtful to them, but at the same time, as speaking out sufficiently so the opposition doesn't think that it doesn't have the moral support of the U.S. and the hardliners in the government don't think that they can get away with all of these human rights violations with impunity.

I think though that at times the administration may have been a little bit too quiet on the human rights front, but I've seen now in the last couple of weeks that there's an increasing amount of condemnations about the human rights violations and that's very important for the moral support to the opposition, which is the type of support at this stage can be provided.

JOHNS: Another issue at play here is Iran's nuclear ambitions. President Obama wants Iran to respond to an offer to talk about the nuclear issue by the end of the year. He's warning of new sanctions if that doesn't happen. How much of the nuclear issue is impacting all of this, especially in the violence we're seeing? Does it matter? Are they apples and oranges?

PARSI: It does matter because we are now negotiating with the Iranian government and putting forward deadlines for the diplomacy that doesn't seem to take into account that Iran currently is not capable of negotiating and it's not capable of making decisions of that size mindful of what's happening on the streets of Tehran and other cities.

I think we need to adjust our policies so we put the Iranian democracy clock a little bit more into focus and that we adjust our nuclear strategy and other security strategies in accordance with that clock, rather than the other way around.

JOHNS: Great. We'll leave it there for now. Robin Wright, we'll see you back in a little while. Thank you both this morning.

KAYE: and we continue to look at all the angles surrounding the attempted attack on that U.S. jet. CNN's Christian Purefoy will join us live from Nigeria. He is heading to the hometown of the alleged Northwest Airline terrorist to talk to family and friends.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

Investigators are scouring the record of the accused terror suspect who allegedly tried to blow up a Northwest flight over Detroit. We know the suspect is a 23-year-old Nigerian national. The worldwide resources of CNN take us to our Christian Purefoy in Abuja, Nigeria. And Christian, what are you learning there?

CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Randi.

Well the investigation here continues. We've got reports of the Nigerian Secret Service searching his birthplace home, in (INAUDIBLE) north of here, and the family is in the city of (INAUDIBLE) behind me. They've gathered together in what must be an incredibly difficult time.

Not only did they pour a lot of money and time and effort to get their son educated - as we know, he was educated across the world mostly in Britain, but in the top class universities and schools around the world, a privileged background if you like, but now he's done something terrible.

The first Nigerian ever - and nobody here really expected this to happen, Randi.

KAYE: Christian, have you seen any of the papers there? I'm curious what the headlines say and how this story is playing there?

PUREFOY: Nigeria is doing a lot of soul searching right now, Randi. Nigeria, northern Nigeria, has a lot of, you know, sporadic religious violence, hundreds have died in the past, but it's always been local politics. We've never seen anything like this where, you know, anti-western, anti-American sentiment.

It is there, of course, but nobody's ever got on a plane and try to blow themselves up before. Nigeria is doing a lot of soul searching. What does this mean for Nigeria. They are also questioning, because he spent so much time abroad, was he actually a Nigerian terrorist or was he actually a British terrorist? Randi. KAYE: And what would you say in terms of how - does Nigeria welcome an investigation there or is it something that they don't want the U.S. involved in?

PUREFOY: No, Nigeria has made it quite clear and the family have made it quite clear that they're collaborating in every way they can. The father, who is here, did even report his son to the American embassy in Nigeria, fearing he was becoming radicalized and the Nigerian government, the information ministry, yes, they said they are collaborating with other international agencies.

And there is a lot of past history with collaboration, particularly with America, because of other problems Nigeria has, drugs, for example, which did make it quite curious as to why actually Abdulmutallab did come back to Nigeria to start the final leg of his journey.

The route - because he took a plane from Lagos by Amsterdam to Detroit, a well watched route for drug traffickers. Randi.

KAYE: All right. Christian Purefoy in Abuja, Nigeria for us, thank you.

JOHNS: It's now 43 minutes after the hour. Reynolds will have this morning's travel forecast right after the break.

KAYE: And in 10 minutes, we are paging Dr. Gupta.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Good morning, Atlanta, Georgia. Looking pretty good there right now in the home state of a number of people, including Reynolds Wolf, who is the guy we're getting ready to go to and talk to about the weather at this very moment.

KAYE: Looking pretty nice there, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, things are a little bit nicer here than they would be, say, in about upstate New York where by tomorrow at this time they could have a foot of snowfall in some places.

And let's be honest, you don't want to go out there and drive in that kind of stuff. So if you're sitting at home, it's going to be picture perfect but if you need to fly in any of the regional airports in Rochester or Buffalo, you might have some issues out there. So keep that in mind.

What we've got is you have that wind that's coming right off the lake, not only in parts of New York but back towards Michigan. It's going to be the same story. More of a northwesterly breeze coming in at 15 to 20 miles per hour. Picks up that moisture off the Great Lakes, then falls through the lower levels in the atmosphere in the form of snow.

So spots like 75 you see behind me, yes, whiteout conditions at times. So certainly going to be a, yes, big headache maker for you. But when you get down to the central plains, you're going to have some cold air that's going to be coming in, but the results still, though, pretty sunny for places like Dallas, same deal with Little Rock, same deal with (INAUDIBLE) and Atlanta, Georgia, and back out to the west, it is that time of year where we start getting those winter storms start developing in parts of the west coast which means mostly rainfall for the coastal range, but when you get in the highs Sierra Nevada could see some snowfall there, too.

Same story in the Pacific Northwest. And speaking of the Pacific Northwest, 49 degrees the expected high in Seattle, 39 in Denver, 30 degrees for Kansas City, 28 in Chicago and Boston, and New York nearly 30s, 41 in Atlanta and 75 in Miami.

You guys are so lucky.

Take a look at your forecast again in terms of the airports. New York, you got some wind issues, same story for you in Chicago, coupled with some low clouds and light snow in Detroit, Minneapolis light snow and wind. So unfortunately with all the new security measures we're going to have, weather not really cooperating on this Monday day.

OK, Randi, let's send it back to you in New York.

KAYE: I don't know, Reynolds. That's not what the travelers want to hear, but I guess they don't have a choice.

WOLF: Exactly.

KAYE: Between the weather and the security.

WOLF: A pair of bad news. Exactly.

KAYE: All right. Thanks, Reynolds. Joe?

JOHNS: Randi, when you think of the United Nations, the words young, hip and connected don't come to mind. But that's just the image the U.N. is going for with its Citizen Ambassadors program.

Here to tell us about it, CNN's Richard Roth, and what do you think? Young, hip, connected?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're trying. Good morning, Joe. Feeling left out? Can't get your voice heard by world big shots? Well, the U.N. has just the thing for you. It's a new program and they're called Citizen Ambassadors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH (voice-over): Emily Troutman is not your typical United Nations ambassador.

EMILY TROUTMAN, UN CITIZEN AMBASSADOR: Do you have a minute?

ROTH: The Baltimore resident is a diplomatic novelty. She is a U.N. citizen ambassador. TROUTMAN: There's five of us from around the world and I just received the title after winning a video contest on YouTube.

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: Are you ready?

ROTH: It's a new and very un-U.N. idea.

CLOONEY: If you had the opportunity to speak to the world leaders, what would you say?

TROUTMAN: It's a democratizer in some ways. It allows me to make a message that's viewed by thousands of people.

ROTH: The U.N. gave their new recruits cameras to capture the voice of the people. Roaming ambassadors with cameras is far from the traditional U.N. closed door diplomacy.

ERIC FALT, U.N. OUTREACH: The U.N. will always be about member states, therefore governments, but we're really trying to also show to people everywhere that the U.N. is also for them.

ROTH: Emily's video application was selected from more than 400 submissions.

TROUTMAN: Every day, I want you to wake up and know that you work for 6.7 billion real people, one person at a time.

ROTH (on camera): Why do we need you to talk to the people?

TROUTMAN: Well, I think the people have a lot more to more to say than they know. I think that people have a lot of knowledge already.

ROTH (voice-over): Emily had already seen and photographed the world, including time in Congo.

TROUTMAN: What sort of issues are most important to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, because of where I live, security.

ROTH: Online critics say the U.N. went purely for image, appointing only young, attractive-looking ambassadors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe it.

ROTH: The U.N. says it needed ambassadors who would reach the target audience. The five young ambassadors can say things governments may not want to hear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The current form of globalization is not working.

ROTH: However, they also got a quick lesson in the realities of power. Their videos to world leaders were screened to a nearly empty general assembly hall just as U.N. diplomats started their holidays.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: The U.N. is still pondering the best future role for these citizens. They are unpaid. My recommendation, Joe, in September when all of the 192 country leaders are there in the general assembly, show them the tapes, force them to watch.

JOHNS: It would be a good idea. Kinder, gentler U.N. but you've got to have everybody present. So the one thing about this, though, is in countries like the U.S. where there are pockets of suspicious, this might be a way to bridge some of those gaps, yes?

ROTH: That's right. People will be logging on, seeing YouTube, maybe softening that U.N. image. So far these ambassadors are from the U.S., Brazil, Mexico. They hope to broaden it, maybe get some older people to do it.

JOHNS: Awesome. Thanks so much for that great report.

ROTH: Thank you, Joe.

KAYE: This morning's top story is coming up at the top of the hour. First up, your safety in the skies. The feds investigating this morning what could have been a deadly attack in Detroit Christmas day. So what can you expect if you're heading to the airport this morning?

Plus one year in President Obama's term the world has seen major changes in U.S. foreign policy. What's working and what's not? Some answers from our expert panel.

And if you're planning on some New Year's resolutions, well, do not forget those finances. Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business" still ahead. Those stories and more coming up right here on "The Most News in the Morning." It's 7:52.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back to "The Most News in the Morning." Time for an "AM House Call", checking the stories about your health. States that already have programs in place to expand health care coverage like Arizona, California and New York are pushing back against Capitol Hill.

The "New York Times" reports such states with expanded health care argued that the Senate's health care bill is unfair forcing them to help pay for states who have done nothing to expand coverage.

Plus the disinfectants we're using to kill bacteria could actually be helping super bugs survive. A new study in the journal "Microbiology" shows that when scientists exposed infectious bacteria to more and more germ killers, well, it made them stronger. The findings could have big implications for hospital trying to stop the spread of disease between patients.

And if you've ever had a ringing sensation in your ears after listening to loud music, then you know what it's like to have tinnitus. Just imagine hearing that noise constantly. More than 50 million people in the U.S. experience it to some degree including Lars Ulrich from the band Metallica.

We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" who had a chance to sit down with the drummer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich didn't realize he was abusing his ears until it was too late.

LARS ULRICH, METALLICA DRUMMER: It's sort of like a constant ringing in your ears basically.

GUPTA: He's been playing the drums 30 years now and suffers from tinnitus. That's a ringing in the ear. It's a constant noise that sounds something like this.

ULRICH: It never sort of goes away. It never just stops.

GUPTA: Expose to loud noise is the most common known cause. And you don't have to be a rock and roller. Any loud noise, from loud machinery to the roar of a motor speedway.

How do you know when something is too loud?

DR. NORMA MRAZ, AUDIOLOGIST: If you are in an environment where you're about three feet away from an individual and you have to literally raise your voice for that person to hear you that is already becoming a very loud environment.

GUPTA: Audiologist Norma Mraz says ear plugs and ear molds like Ulrich now wears, they can help.

ULRICH: I will never sit down behind a drum kit without protection.

GUPTA: He hopes others will start sooner than he did and protect their ears now, whether at work or at play.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: You know, not to make fun of him, but, you know, if you played in a band that plays music as loud as Metallica...

KAYE: As Metallica.

JOHNS: ... you might have a lot of ringing in your ears.

KAYE: Yes.

JOHNS: You know...

KAYE: I guess he does.

JOHNS: We have these problems, too, when they turn up the sounds too loud and these...

KAYE: Right. About these little pieces that we wear.

JOHNS: Yes, exactly. Ringing in your ears.

KAYE: You got it?

JOHNS: Not at the moment but it's happened. It can happen.

KAYE: Yes, it's not good.

JOHNS: All right, top stories coming your way in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)