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Security System Has Failed; No Security Pics at Newark Airport; Dodd Won't Run Again; Florida Shivers; Health Care Compromise

Aired January 06, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning, guys. And good morning to you, everybody. Here's what we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Most of the East Coast still shivering this morning. And boy, the bad news is there is more cold weather on the way. We'll get to that.

Also, splitting Democrats. These two, not running for re- election. So what does that mean for the party's control of the Senate?

And also, this story for you. Slamming the intelligence community. That's what President Obama did. He cites failures leading up to the Christmas day bombing attempt. But why did he wait so long?

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins, it is Wednesday, January 6th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Called on the carpet. The intelligence community faces presidential wrath over the failed bombing of Northwest Flight 253.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on Christmas day, the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way.

It's my responsibility to find out why and to correct that failure so that we can prevent such attacks in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Eleven days after the Flight 253 incident in a private meeting, President Obama says it was a screw-up that could have been disastrous. He says the U.S. intelligence community uncovered numerous red flags before the attack but failed to put the information together.

President Obama said he ordered his national security team to complete preliminary reviews this week. He also says he will allow suggested reforms to be implemented.

There is a lot of ground to cover, of course, this morning. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is joining us now with more details on the meeting.

Suzanne, what's the take-away here?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you could tell by the language he was using there, it was very strong after that meeting he had with the security team as well as during the meeting.

I spoke with senior administration officials who say that he really was quite serious, very direct, even stern in his message to those who were sitting around the table. There's a great deal of frustration at these failures, as he's called them.

He said, in particular, in the situation room, he said, "This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous. We dodged a bullet but just barely. It was averted by brave individual, not because the system worked and that is not acceptable. While there will be a tendency for finger pointing, I will not tolerate it."

I think, Heidi, what's clear here is that the president is frustrated, but also just, you know, the fact that we got these on our BlackBerrys right before the evening newscast, this is a White House that really underscores the points that this is White House that wants to show or paint a picture, at least, of the president eager, urgent, on top of these things, passionate.

It's part of the PR, if you will, as well.

COLLINS: Yes. But it has been almost two weeks since this incident happened. There's certainly criticism out there of the president for waiting so long to have a meeting like this in the first place. How is he going to be holding his team accountable now?

MALVEAUX: Well, I asked the president yesterday whether or not he thought anybody is to lose their jobs over the failures that he's talking about. He did not answer that question.

We'll see what happens, you know, in the days to come here. What the president did talk about is that he wants each of these Cabinet heads to present a concrete recommendation in the next 48 hours or so. So we should be getting more information.

And he did outline at the very least some things that have been done immediately. We've seen enhanced screening at the airports. There have been more of these explosive detection teams that have been at the airports as well.

We have seen more -- at least they say there are more marshals, flight marshals aboard airlines, and that they have advanced, updated this terror watch list, the no-fly list. They've actually added names to that list of people they suspect who are dangerous or pose a threat to the United States. Heidi?

COLLINS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux for us at the White House this morning, thank you, Suzanne.

President Obama says he is still moving forward on plans to close the U.S. terror prison at Guantanamo Bay, but for now no detainees there will be returned to Yemen. That's where the suspect in the failed Christmas day attack was reportedly trained.

Now about half of the remaining prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are from Yemen. And at the bottom of the hour, CNN's Paula Newton will be joining us with the very latest developments out of that country. Three suspected al Qaeda members have now been captured by police.

And now to that security breach over the weekend at Newark, New Jersey airport. A CNN iReporter captured the whole thing on camera. In fact, security cameras did not. It turns out they weren't recording.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is here now with some new information this morning.

Good morning, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi. Happy new year. You know, we are now finding out this new piece of information that the Port Authority police did not find out about it, according to an airport source here at Newark. Did not find out about this incident until 80 minutes after it had happened on Sunday night. Eighty minutes had gone by.

And we're -- we're also asking the question, why are we only learning about this now after the incident happened on Sunday? Why is it that we're only finding out now that, after a man went through the wrong way through an exit security checkpoint, did this come to light that the cameras were rolling but were not recording for the TSA.

That in fact caused the TSA to scramble and to turn to continental airlines to look at their videos to see if they captured this incident on camera. Now TSA's explanation for all of this is that, well, it's our job to pay for the cameras, but it's the job of the Port Authority to make sure that they are working properly.

The Port Authority has no comment on that, but again this airport source is saying to us that it's not the job of the Port Authority to -- to operate the cameras, make sure they are running properly, because after all, they said, the cameras are at every work station for the TSA and it's up to them to tell the Port Authority if something goes wrong.

Now we do have this response or a quote, rather, from the Transportation Security Administration, that says, "After reviewing the circumstances and meeting with the Port Authority surrounding the breach, the TSA has volunteered to check the surveillance cameras on a daily basis to ensure consistent operations."

Well, after that, we then turned to our CNN national security consultant, Fran Townsend, to have her weigh in on all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCES FRAGOS TOWNSEND, FORMER BUSH HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY ADVISER: This is another one of those security failures where what we need to know are the facts and the chronology of when did they stop working, when were people notified, and who failed to take responsibility for correcting what is a very serious problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Of course, now what we're trying to find out is whether other airports around the country are now making sure that their surveillance cameras are, in fact, working...

COLLINS: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: Involving the TSA. So we'll be checking on that as well -- Heidi.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: I'm sure you will. All right. Terrific. CNN's Susan Candiotti for us. Thanks, Susan.

Two high-ranking Democrats are calling it quits now. Sources say Connecticut senator, Christopher Dodd, won't run again this year. Neither will North Dakota senator, Byron Dorgan.

CNN's senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash joining us from Washington this morning.

So, Dana, this kind of came out of nowhere. What happened?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start with Byron Dorgan, Heidi. He was a big surprise actually. He's popular back home but appears to be a victim of intense polarization here in Washington.

A close associate told me that he's just frustrated and has been for months. But when it comes to, really, the high-profile resignation, and that is of course Chris Dodd who will announce at noon today -- I should say retirement, not resignation.

That's another story, because he's been gearing up for a tough reelection battle all year long.

COLLINS: Yes.

BASH: And it has been rumored for a while that he may retire, so much so that I actually asked him pointblank in the hallways a couple of weeks ago if it were true. And he had laughed it off and actually dodged my questions.

But, look, Dodd clearly couldn't escape the fact that his standing among Connecticut voters is very low right now and the irony, Heidi, is that his high-profile political roles led him to trouble.

He ran for president in 2008, moved his entire family to Iowa. That hurt him in his home state of Connecticut. He is banking chairman at a time the financial system collapsed. Then last year you remember of course, he got unwanted publicity for a role that he had in AIG executives actually getting bonuses.

COLLINS: Yes, definitely. But you know, it's really interesting, obviously, Democrats, a 60-seat majority, in jeopardy now. What's the plan?

BASH: Well, look, when it comes to Chris Dodd, there actually were some in the Democratic Party that hoped for this, that hoped he would announce he's not running again and even push for it because they thought he was going to lose his seat.

And his leaving actually clears the way for Connecticut's popular Democratic attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, to run. In fact, Blumenthal isn't wasting any time, Heidi. He's jumping in this afternoon like two hours after Dodd's formal retirement announcement.

But when it comes to North Dakota, Byron Dorgan's announcement, and that may endanger that seat for Democrats now because North Dakota is a red state. There are rumors that a popular Republican governor may run. So it could jeopardize the Democrats' already-endangered 60- vote majority.

And look, when it comes to what matters, and that is the president's agenda, it could have an effect. Because remember, take health care. It passed last month by exactly 60 votes.

COLLINS: Yes, it is.

BASH: That's the minimum number they needed to pass that and any other highly partisan legislation. And so without that, the president may have to change his approach.

COLLINS: Yes.

BASH: Maybe compromise more with Republicans to get his agenda passed.

COLLINS: Yes. And boy, welcome to 2010, huh? It's going to be quite the year.

Dana Bash...

BASH: It sure will.

COLLINS: ... we'll see a lot more of you. Thanks so much.

BASH: Thanks, Heidi.

COLLINS: Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, that's right, the spotlight back on health care now as you know. Two very different bills passed. So what will happen next with those?

And in Florida, a state of emergency in the orange groves as the mercury continues to drop.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Danger for crops. Danger for pets. Danger for people. Dangerously cold air across much of the mid south and more on the way. We'll tell you how cold it's going to be and where, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: All right, so here we go again. Every day I get up and I come in and I remind myself I am in Atlanta, Georgia because I can't believe the bundling up that I'm still having to do. And we're going to be looking at more and more, right, Rob?

MARCIANO: We are. And you're not the only person who's not used to this kind of cold that's has to deal with it.

COLLINS: I'm not?

MARCIANO: No, but believe it or not, folks across not only the south, the mid-south, places like Memphis, have been in the single numbers and teens the past couple days. And we've been mentioning the crops down in Florida. And we'll have more on that in a second.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: As far as what it looks like right now in Tampa, this looks like clear water beach. There you go. Twenty-seven earlier this morning.

COLLINS: Wow.

MARCIANO: So you're just looking for all sorts of places to warm up. If you're a manatee on the other side of the coast, you can go to the power plant. This is FPL power plant near West Palm in Riviera Beach.

They actually would just warm the waters naturally with the coal fire-burning power plant but now they're going a little bit cleaner. So they've actually installed electric heaters to help warm the waters near there below if it goes below 60, apparently that creates some immune problems with the manatees.

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: The Sea cows.

COLLINS: Yes. Isn't it unbelievable? I mean they don't move very fast. But they're no dummies.

MARCIANO: They're fat. No. They're very smart so they'll be...

COLLINS: Yes, I guess there are, like, 300 of them or so they're trying to keep warm there.

MARCIANO: Yes, they're kind of cool looking animals. They look like they live a pretty good life. And FPL trying to make it right for them during this cold snap as well.

COLLINS: Very sweet. We nearly forgot about the alligators before, we forgot about the manatees for a second, but we are on track now with this cold weather, my friend. All right, we'll check back a little bit later on.

MARCIANO: OK.

COLLINS: Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: Meanwhile, with these temperatures near freezing or below, farmers and growers in Florida, too, are worried about their livelihood now. The governor has already signed an emergency order to help them out and our John Zarrella is out in the cold with them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is plenty of sunshine in Florida. The problem is right now it's not throwing much heat. For folks here not used to sub-60s, it's downright miserable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've got layers. A layer. I'm freezing!

ZARRELLA: The brisk air has a tendency to get people moving at a brisker pace. For the most part the beaches were empty, although there is always someone who wants you to believe it's really true, the water is warmer than the air.

Of course, everything is relative. If you're in town from Iowa for the college bowl game, this is like summer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You Florida people don't know cold.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't know cold. Minus 3 in our hometown of Sheraton. So it's still 60 degrees warmer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly. We love it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sixty degrees warmer here. We love it.

ZARRELLA: Yes, and when you leave, take the cold with you. The state's farmers and growers would like that more than just about anyone.

(On camera): Still have a heck of a lot of fruit that can be damaged.

LOUIS SCHACHT, SCHACHT GROVES: Definitely. I mean the honeybells, this is the prime time of year for them. People love to ship them north.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Louis Schacht's family has been growing citrus in Vero Beach for 60 years. It's a small family operation. They've done what they can to protect the crop. Flooding the ground between each row of trees will keep the temperature up a couple of degrees. That's all it might take to save the fruit.

SCHACHT: If it stays just above freezing, it can really help sweeten the fruit and be fine and really tie the season a little bit farther for us. But it -- you know, it's a fine line to walk. If it gets too cold, then you can definitely have some damage.

ZARRELLA: The feared number is 28 degrees. Below that for more than four hours would freeze the fruit right on the trees and could wreck Florida's $9 billion a year citrus industry.

Strawberry growers are not in a good place either. The fields have been watered to allow an insulating coat of ice to form over the tender berries.

VICKIE BECK, ANDREW'S SOD AND STRAWBERRY FARM: Nothing you can do but try to do your best and protect them and make the best out of it and say a few prayers to watch over them and...

(LAUGHTER)

BECK: Keep going.

ZARRELLA: Perhaps a lot of prayers. Even colder temperatures are expected by the weekend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And John Zarrella joining us now from an orange grove in Vero Beach. John, I imagine the temperature pretty chilly even as we speak.

ZARRELLA: Yes, it is. You're absolutely right. You know we first got out here a couple hours, three hours or so ago, it was hovering right at 30 degrees so it never fell into that 28-degree magic number that...

COLLINS: Yes.

ZARRELLA: ... can spell gloom and doom for the growers. Right now we had a thermometer out here and it's sitting at right about 40 degrees, Heidi. So it's come up pretty significantly with the sun out, bright sunshine, and you know, as I was saying in that piece, the real concern, of course, is going to be the weekend.

The farmers, the growers, are really concerned that the next blast of cold air is going to actually be colder than what they faced this time. If you got a minute, you know, this is one of those honeybell oranges. And you know what they worry about when the temperature falls, Heidi, below 28...

COLLINS: Yes.

ZARRELLA: ... is that the orange actually freezes on the inside.

COLLINS: Sure.

ZARRELLA: And then it's no good anymore. But you can see, they got lucky, at least here on the east coast today. Look at that.

COLLINS: Yum.

ZARRELLA: Still a lot of good juice. Yes. It didn't freeze.

COLLINS: It looks...

ZARRELLA: Which is what...

COLLINS: It didn't freeze.

ZARRELLA: ... they want.

COLLINS: And yes, that's good for them and the orange juice looks fantastic. In fact, it's coming up a little bit later on right here on our show, John, we're going to talk with the Florida Citrus Mutual Association, more on the impact of the cold weather.

So we appreciate it. John Zarrella for us in Vero Beach this morning.

It's the one thing we can't stop talking about, in fact, here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Everyone complaining like crazy. It's so cold that -- we want you to finish the phrase for us. Finish the sentence. Go ahead and post your comments at our blog, CNN.com/heidi. Keep them clean and we'll read some of them coming up in the next hour of the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Time to check some of the top stories now that we're covering this morning.

Four people are dead after their helicopter clipped power lines in the Sierra National Forest in central California. Among the victims, three biologists with the California Department of Fish and Game. They were surveying herds of deer. The pilot also died in the crash.

An Amtrak train with more than 200 passengers on board derailed in Arkansas early this morning. There are no reports of any injuries. The Texas Eagle derailed about 45 miles northeast of Little Rock. It was headed from Chicago to Los Angeles through San Antonio, Texas. Amtrak officials now deciding how to get those passengers to their destinations.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Well, health care is heating up again. Both the House and Senate passed bills last year, as you remember. But that just left more wrangling to be done on some sort of compromise.

Now the holiday break put those talks on hold but now the holidays are over.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining me now.

Then we also, Sanjay, had of course this attempted terror attack so we are back to talking about health care reform. Remind us of where exactly we are. DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, you know, technically we're on vacation. The House comes back next Tuesday, the Senate the Tuesday after that.

But a lot of, you know, closed-door meetings that are going on, as you might imagine. House and Senate both feel that Democrats alone have the votes to get this passed. So that's where these meetings are happening behind closed doors to try and work through some of these details.

The way it was explained to me, about 70 percent of these compromises taking place is between the aides than for the big discussions, the senators and the congressmen want to get involved themselves.

COLLINS: Sure.

GUPTA: What's interesting is that Republicans aren't really part of these closed-door meetings but we're hearing about potential obstacles that will come up there. For example, is it constitutional to mandate someone to buy health care insurance?

COLLINS: Exactly.

GUPTA: That's a potential argument. Also in Nebraska, something you and I talked about quite a bit, should the rest of the country be footing the bill for Medicaid for Nebraska into perpetuity? That's something that's likely to come up.

COLLINS: Just that one state because of...

GUPTA: Just that one state.

COLLINS: That one senator.

GUPTA: That's right. Because of the abortion language specifically in the Senate bill that was compromised on.

COLLINS: Yes. Yes. And so then, the big one for me is the vast differences between the bills that passed, the one in the House and the one in the Senate.

GUPTA: There's differences?

COLLINS: And now they're going to somehow come together.

GUPTA: They're going to reconcile. They're going to go into conference they call it. And yes. You know, again, they hope that a lot of that formal process can be bypassed by these closed-door meetings so the formal process becomes a formality. But you're right. I mean there are big differences. The cost being one.

There are different price tags on these two bills, the House bill, about $871 billion, the Senate bill $1.1 trillion. Or vice versa, that is. Also how to pay for that is a big difference.

COLLINS: Yes.

GUPTA: The surtax on the wealthy versus Cadillac plan taxes and payroll taxes on Medicare. But also, you know, the public option which we've been talking about since the campaign.

COLLINS: That's one of the big ones. Yes.

GUPTA: Yes. And the Senate bill did not have it in, the House bill did. And how they're going to reconcile that exactly we're not sure, although we are hearing from our sources that the final version probably won't have a public option, which is you know very controversial.

And the bottom one you just talked about. Abortion language. And the House bill was much stricter on abortion language than the Senate bill.

I don't know. People keep saying how is this all going to play out? I'm not sure. It's...

COLLINS: Yes, it's going to be just really, really incredible to watch.

GUPTA: We hear it's going to happen fast if it happens though, by the end of January, or early February even, if some of these closed-door meetings continue on. But -- yes.

COLLINS: And remind us again when it all goes into place? 2014?

GUPTA: Right. The implementation of a lot of these things, you know.

COLLINS: Got it.

GUPTA: The pre-existing condition, non-discrimination for children will go into place faster but you're right, we're not going to see the effects of this for some time.

COLLINS: All right. We'll be watching closely, of course. Thanks so much.

GUPTA: Yes. Keep doing it.

COLLINS: Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Cracking down on al Qaeda in Yemen. Three suspects now in custody, several others killed or wounded. We've got a live report coming your way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Investors took a break yesterday and stocks ended a little changed. But today as we hear that opening bell we have some encouraging jobs news.

For a look at whether it will be enough to start some sort of new round of buying, let's go to Susan Lisovicz now at the New York Stock Exchange.

***0930 COLLINS: Investors took a break yesterday and stocks ended little changed. But today as we hear that opening bell we have some encouraging jobs news.

For a look at whether it will be enough to spark some sort of new round of buying, let's go to Susan Lisovicz now at the New York Stock Exchange.

Good morning, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And, well, we've seen a little weakness in the first few seconds of trading despite better news from the labor market.

Payroll processing firm ADP says 84,000 jobs were eliminated last month. That is a huge improvement from November, and the fewest since March of 2008.

Meanwhile, a separate report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows a similar trend. Job cut announcements fell for the fifth month in a row. This sets us up for Friday. And analysts expecting the government's monthly jobs report to show improvement there as well.

We certainly hope so.

But there is still problems in the auto industry. GMAC, GM's finance arm, says it expects to post a record quarterly loss of $5 billion. The company's also going to sell its mortgage unit, ResCap. GMAC's chief says ResCap has been a millstone around the company's next.

This all comes just a week after GMAC scored a third government bailout. This amid auto sales falling to a 27-year low. Automakers, though, are cautiously optimistic about this year though because sales in December actually rose by double digits.

Unfortunately, we're not seeing double-digit gains for the three major averages. Just a little bit of weakness in the first minute of trading. We'll follow it all for you and report back to you accordingly -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, very good, Susan. Thank you.

Tired of working for the man? Want to try it on your own? Well, don't do anything until you listen to what Josh Levs has to say.

Wow, such power, Josh! This is a good time, a bad time, to go into business on your own as an entrepreneur?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what I'm learning is there's an expert who's telling me it's the ideal time to do exactly that. Who should start a business and what the key tools are that you have to have? I'm about to show you -- Heidi. COLLINS: Money. All right. Josh Levs, we'll hear more from you in just a couple of minutes. Thank you.

LEVS: Thanks.

COLLINS: Three al Qaeda suspects under arrest in Yemen following clashes with the government troops there. The three were believed to be part of a group accompanying a key al Qaeda leader in that area.

CNN's Paula Newton is live in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a.

Paula, good morning to you.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, Heidi. Quite a day here. The entire city really on a hair trigger. I can't say that's much different a year and a half ago when I was last here.

What's incredible, Heidi, is that going back to the U.S. embassy, there is security in place. Not much more than what I saw two months before that embassy was bombed in 2008. You know the personnel was there, but again, Heidi, by trying to confront the war on terror in this country, there are well-meaning people.

People are organized to try and be the security but it's clear the know-how is just not here yet. And that's what the U.S. government are going to do -- and its allies -- over the next few months. Heidi?

COLLINS: So what does that mean exactly? I mean is there a way to know what the plan will be, within reason, of course, talking about over the broadcast airwaves?

NEWTON: One thing is clear, Heidi. There is nothing that is going to be too overt here, too heavy-handed. This is a deeply anti- American, anti-western country. Saw a little bit of that again today.

What the United States will need to do is to tread carefully, make sure that any kind of involvement is effective. But basically very pointed. And (INAUDIBLE) many times covert. And that is the preference of the government.

Officials here, Heidi, confiding to me that, look, they're struggling to cope but at the same time they do not -- they can't afford, really, Heidi, to be seen as puppets of an American government.

If you look at the place here, Heidi, coming in, it's incredible how much it actually looks like Afghanistan.

COLLINS: Sure.

NEWTON: How much, you know, the tribes function the way they do in Afghanistan. Many people don't want to hear that but it is -- a lot of the same problems here mirror those in Afghanistan.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. I just wonder, though, Paula, if any of this means that there will be more discussions with Saudi Arabia and what their role could be.

NEWTON: Well, Saudi Arabia, already, they're fighting on the Yemenis' behalf, basically a separatist -- well, a rebel movement in the north. Now that is separate from the bid to try and stamp out al Qaeda here.

Saudi Arabia already gives more than $2 billion in aid to this country here. It's a country of grinding poverty but yes, Heidi. People are saying that, look, Saudi Arabia and the other Arab allies need to engage with Yemen. And the Yemenis themselves say that they had been forgotten here and that they do want more of their Arab allies to step up to the plate and help them mainly -- mainly -- first and foremost they say -- with the grinding poverty.

COLLINS: All right. Reporting live for us, Paula Newton, this morning. Paula, thank you.

The attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253. President Obama says the intelligence community failed to connect the dots and prevent the near catastrophe. Now he's promising new measures like expanding the terror watch list.

That won early approval from Tom Ridge, a former security of homeland security. A secretary, that is. But on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," he said that the devil's actually in the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RIDGE, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: What is the threshold to get people's names on the list? What's the amount of information that they expect agencies to share? Have they found a technological platform that will enable them to manage all that knowledge and maybe an algorithm that churns at 24/7 that sends up red flags? But there is still a lot of work to be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Ridge went on to say there should also be focus on improving and expanding the technology to help reduce human error.

Reaction from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano coming up next hour. She sits down with our Jeanne Meserve to talk about the Christmas day almost-attack and threats against the United States. It's coming your way exclusively around 10:15 Eastern.

Two high-ranking Democrats are calling it quits. Sources say Connecticut senator Chris Dodd won't run for reelection. He joins North Dakota's Byron Dorgan who made his retirement announcement yesterday.

Here's a look now at some of the open seats in the upcoming midterm elections. Of the 36 Senate races, seven have no incumbents because of retirement. So joining Dodd and Dorgan are Republicans Judd Gregg and Sam Brownback among others.

And five seats are currently occupied by short-term replacements. They include fill-ins for President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

And that doesn't count the January 19th special election to pick someone to fill out the last two years of Senator Ted Kennedy's term.

A Washington attorney says his client is the man considered the third White House party crasher. Meet Carlos Allen, the publisher and owner of "Hush" magazine. The Secret Service says a third person who was not on the official guest list made it into the November state dinner by going in with the Indian delegation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BOLDEN, ATTORNEY: He rejects the notion that he is a gate crasher, that he contributed to some type of security breach. If the government's position is that he wasn't on the official guest list, then I guess someone at the state dinner should have told him that and should have turned him around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: A Secret Service statement which did not identify Allen says the party crasher went through all required security measures.

Well, sure, the meals and the service at fast food places, not always the best. But talk about a Big Mac attack. Look at this. You're going to see how this angry McDonald's customer files her complaints. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A planned terrorist attack backfires big-time. Fourteen suspected terrorists died in northern Afghanistan when the bus they rigged blew -- with explosives blew up too early. Authorities say they were going to attack police or foreign soldiers.

The airport in Bakersfield, California back open this morning after a suspicious bag led to a shutdown and evacuation. Turns out the substance inside was honey. Authorities had claimed the bag tested positive for traces of explosives but the owner was released without any charges.

In Kansas City, Missouri, check out this lady throwing a bucket of water over the counter at a McDonald's. Not happy. Then she starts shoving the cash registers to the floor. The manager there says she got angry when the restaurant would not refund her money. Police say she caused $3,000 in damage. They're still looking for her.

Get that order right. You know? Rob Marciano joining us now. A lot of people would like to order up some warmer weather for sure.

MARCIANO: Yes, you know, that new coffee -- well, it's not new. I guess it's been a few years now. But McDonald's has got some good coffee now.

COLLINS: I know. That's what I hear. (WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: All right, I want to show you this picture out of Quincy, Illinois. That's the Mississippi River, my friends. And looks awfully frozen to me. Sub-teens and zero temperatures there the past few nights have caused the Mississippi to freeze over in spots.

Chunky kind of ice there, Heidi, but that's not seen every year. Matter of fact, I think in the last 10 years it only happened once so -- in this particular part of the world. And no warm-up really in sight until around about the beginning of next week. So the next four or five days still look to be rather Arctic-like.

COLLINS: It's even cold in here. It's sniffing cold in here. All right, Rob.

MARCIANO: All right. Stay warm.

COLLINS: Yes. Thanks.

As the mercury drops, in fact, the worries increase over Florida's $9 billion citrus crop. We're going to get the very latest straight from the Florida Citrus Association coming up next hour.

We may not give you much comfort but the U.S. isn't the only country suffering through a cold snap. Much of Europe in fact is going into a deep freeze, too.

Our Frederik Pleitgen is joining us now live from Berlin.

So what is this? It is cold in Germany, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's absolutely freezing in Germany.

One of the things that is actually going on is that at local zoos, some zoos here in this country, the zookeepers are even giving the monkeys there, the chimpanzees, some hot tea to apparently keep them warm. And I can tell you I found out it is lemon tea that the monkeys like best. So there's a lot of things you can say about the Germans, they do love their monkeys.

But seriously, it is very, very cold here in all of central Europe. Germany in the lowest temperatures last night temperatures were seven degrees below zero Fahrenheit. So it's been very, very cold and it's having a huge impact on these countries.

Of course, there's a lot of traffic disruptions that are going on and just like in America, this weather is going to hold on for another couple of days -- Heidi.

COLLINS: I'm sorry. I just can't get over the video with the lemon tea and the monkeys.

PLEITGEN: The monkeys, the monkeys they're great, yes. COLLINS: That is priceless. We're going to show that at least ten more times throughout the show, I promise. But listen, really, I mean, Europeans are used to dealing with cold winters. How is this different?

PLEITGEN: Yes, the reason it's really different here in Europe right now is first of all, it's been going on for a very long time. There was a cold spell really from mid-December until right now that's been going on. And you're right. Usually the Europeans are very good at dealing with these things, especially the northern Europeans, the Germans, the Swedes...

COLLINS: Sure.

PLEITGEN: ... the Finns, also the Poles, they're very good at dealing with this. However, right now they are having some trouble a lot of the salt that they used to clear the streets of ice running very low they say. And they say if this goes on they're even worried about the highway system possibly freezing over and then not having enough salt to clear that.

So certainly they are having a lot of difficulty simply because it's been going on for such a long time and also because the temperatures are just so low in so many parts of the continent that they are really having trouble keeping up with it.

However, until this point for travelers going to Europe right now, right now flights seem to be going ok. There are some delays, not too many.

The railway system here in Europe really a big issue; a lot of people take trains here on the continent and those are having a lot of trouble because the power lines for those trains are just simply freezing over -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, wow. All right. I haven't thought of that, obviously a lot of train travel there.

And all right, Frederik Pleitgen, thank so much. I appreciate it, live from Berlin this morning.

Stars die young, celebrities in the spotlight losing personal battles making a different kind of headline.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Well, the signs are there the economy is starting to rebound a bit, but millions of people still can't find a job. So what to do? Our Josh Levs is here with some advice for those of you wanting to strike out on your own.

Hey there, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.

Yes, you know, we hear from so many people all the time who are unemployed, who are struggling, who are looking for direction. And that's why I was so struck by them.

I met an expert from Temple University who has studied behavioral economics for more than 30 years. She says everything shows that now is the time for you to be an entrepreneur.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLOTTE PHELPS, ECONOMIST, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: This is the time to go into business for yourself. And the government is making credit more available now to help entrepreneurs. So my research, although it's based on economic history, shows that the entrepreneurs are at the vanguard of social economic change. They are the leaders of the economy.

LEVS: Really, now is the time to take that kind of a risk?

PHELPS: Yes. They are the ones -- you know, looking back on it, people will say why didn't I think of that. When times are bad, that's an opportunity and only the people who have confidence and a desire for a long-term career involvement; those are the people who 20 years from now will be looking back on a successful career.

Count on your friends. It's the network of friendships, the network of social interactions can help you survive as a family, but they also -- well, your friends can point you to opportunities. There are so many opportunities now because of the electronic age and the Internet. You have to be creative and think of a niche where you can sell your idea and that's what will pay off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: We have so many people over time looking at today's economy and what she says is so interesting as she looks back at decades of history and she says everything shows that right now this can help you. If you have that confidence, if you know how to harness the technology and you have an idea, definitely don't be afraid. She said now is the time to go for it.

We know lots of people have lots of views and lots of experience on this which is why you can get in touch with us here. We're having this conversation over Twitter and Facebook. You can go to my page, it's JoshLevsCNN. We've also got the blog, CNN.com/josh.

And I'll tell you Heidi, it was really nice to meet her, especially at the beginning of the year. A lot of people are looking ahead to 2010 and thinking how they're going to -- either try to put themselves together financially this year.

Very interesting to hear from someone who does behavioral economics who says, you know what, take that risk. You will be a leader of the future economy -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes and such a big deal too for the small business owners on the incentives that the government has out there right now...

LEVS: Huge, huge.

COLLINS: ... it certainly helps.

LEVS: Yes, huge.

COLLINS: Josh Levs, thank you.

LEVS: Thank you.

COLLINS: A busy morning right here in the CNN NEWSROOM; our crews working very hard to get all the details on the big stories that we are working on for you. We want to go first to our senior Congressional correspondent, Dana Bash. Hey, Dana.

BASH: Hey, Heidi. Well, a little more than two hours from now a 30-year Democratic veteran of the senate will announce he's retiring. We'll talk about what that says about Democratic prospects and problems for this election year.

MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. The southeast cold again and expected to get colder; record-breaking lows this morning across the state of Florida. The citrus crop is in danger and the coldest air is still yet to come. We'll tell you how cold and where in the next hour -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, thanks, guys.

Also getting dumped for putting on pounds; our Jeannie Moos takes a look at the harsh reality of a Web site for beautiful people only.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Young celebrities in the spotlight, for some the bright light is burning out too fast leaving behind only questions and unfulfilled promise. CNN's Ines Ferre has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At just 30 years old, Casey Johnson's death makes her the latest in a string of Hollywood celebrities to die young. The daughter of the New York Jets owner and fiance of Tila Tequila was a diabetic. The cause of her death is still a mystery, but her death and that of other young celebrities leave the public fascinated with how they lived and died.

GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHOLOGIST: When we think of somebody who's on a trajectory of fame and potential accomplishment and then that is abruptly ended, we do of course think about what was the potential lost, who could they have been and that adds some mystery, some mystique to their death.

FERRE: Last month, 32-year-old actress Brittany Murphy collapsed in her Hollywood home and later died. A toxicology investigation is underway to determine the cause of her death. The coroner's office says prescription drugs in her name were found, but none were illegal. It's not known if they had anything to do with her sudden death. Last August D.J. AM, who had been scheduled to have a show on MTV, overdosed on a combination of illegal and prescription drugs, only adding to the list of young stars whose lives were cut short, several of them in recent years to prescription drugs.

DR. NORA VOLKOW, NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE: These are medications that are prescribed by physicians and so they think if a physician prescribed them, they cannot be so dangerous as a classically lethal substance like heroin or methamphetamine. When in fact when used inappropriately, these drugs can be as dangerous as illicit substances.

FERRE: The National Institute of Drug Abuse says prescription drug use has been on the rise with an estimated 48 million people or 20 percent of the population who have used them for non-medical reasons in their lifetimes.

Ines Ferre, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Here are some of the other stories that we're following right now.

Rush Limbaugh back on the air today; the popular conservative radio host was in the hospital for a bit while on vacation in Hawaii last week. He felt chest pains, but says tests show nothing is wrong with his heart.

Expect to pay a little more for cable this year. Consumers are expected to see a hike of about 5 percent. The rising prices are not expected to stop any time soon either, according to one research firm. Competition and the rising cost of carrying network programming are causing the hikes.

The FAA investigating a small plane crash near Chicago, two people are dead. The empty cargo plane crashed into a river shortly after being cleared for landing at the airport in Wheeling, Illinois. Divers were called in and are expected to pull the bodies out of the wreckage this morning.

Assessing the danger, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sits down with our Jeanne Meserve happening right about now, I believe, to talk about the Christmas Day attack and the threats against the United States. We're going to be hearing some of her comments just as soon as that interview is complete.