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American Morning
On the Terror Money Trail: Three Arrested May Have Funneled Money to NYC Times Square Bomber; How to Get Out of Facebook; What's Next for BP to Contain Oil Spill; NYC on Edge; Is NRA Bulletproof; The Battle at the Border
Aired May 14, 2010 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Friday, May 14th. I'm Christine Romans in today for Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning as we get you ready for your weekend. Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about coming your way in the 15 minutes.
FBI raids in the Times Square plot, new arrest as a new scare shuts down a different square in New York. All of the new details just ahead.
ROMANS: The oil spill in the gulf could be a lot worse than we've been told. BP has been staying 5,000 barrels of crude are leaking every day, but one expert claims that's not even close. He believes it's 14 times worse.
ROBERTS: Wow. And the battle on the border. Wide-open land making it easy for illegal immigrants to bypass patrol officers and cross into the United States. So, what can be done? We'll take you to ground zero in the red hot debate over border security.
ROMANS: And the AMFix blog is up and running. We want to hear from you on any of the stories making news this morning. Just go to CNN.com/AMFix.
ROBERTS: We begin this morning with breaking news in a deadly face-off underway right now in Thailand.
ROMANS: Security forces and anti-government protesters clashing in Central Bangkok just steps away from the U.S. Embassy.
ROBERTS: And check out this exclusive video that comes to us from Thailand. It shows a Canadian journalist caught in the crossfire. He's one of 13 people injured in the unrest. Two people have also been killed.
ROMANS: Now the anti-government protests really took a turn for the worse after the opposition leader was shot in the head yesterday. Doctors say he's in critical condition. The gunfire coming just as the government was trying to seal off an area where the protesters have gathered. We're going to continue to monitor this story and give you the latest information as soon as we get it.
ROBERTS: Now an "A.M." security watch. In a follow-up to a story that we've been following overnight and another scare here in New York City.
Late last night the bomb squad blowing out another parked car's windows. This one is near New York's Union Square.
ROMANS: That's about 30 blocks south of Times Square. The NYPD blocked off several streets and evacuated an apartment building after someone called in a suspicious parked car with gas canisters in the back. It turns out the guy who owns the car does lawns.
The streets are open and everything back to normal this morning. New York City police say there's been a 30 percent jump in suspicious package calls in the past couple of weeks.
ROBERTS: Of course, the heightened sensitivity comes after the attempted Times Square bombing. The feds say they have been following the tentacles of that plot ever since.
They led to a number of new raids last night in cities in at least four states -- Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. And there were three new arrests, the alleged money men, all from Pakistan.
Susan Candiotti with the very latest. You've been following this. Where is the trail taking investigators?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All over the place, certainly to a number of states. And of course the Times Square bomb plot turned out to be a dud, but investigators do say and the U.S. attorney general says that the three arrests involve money transfer that's were made to Faisal Shahzad.
Now, maybe the people didn't know what was happening to the money, but nevertheless, they are piecing all of the pieces of this puzzle together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: Following the accused would-be bomber's money trail took police to Massachusetts where two Pakistani men were taken into custody near Boston while most people were sleeping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard a man said "FBI, hold your hands up. Get your hands up."
CANDIOTTI: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents say the men are charge with overstaying their visas. But do they know more about possibly funneling money from overseas to accused Times Square plotter Faisal Shahzad? A home was searched for clues that sources say may involve couriers called "Paolodearas." (ph) There's usually no paper trail and curriers seldom know what the money is for.
Following more leads, agents also hit a gas station outside Boston and searched a car there. Another team focused on two homes on Long Island, New York, but no arrests there. The tentacles also touched southern New Jersey where the FBI raided a shop in Camden and the home of a man who owns it in Cherry Hill. Two brothers were questioned but not taken into custody.
MUHAMMAD FIAEZ, CHERRY HILL RESIDENT: They just talked to us about me and my brother, that maybe some common name show up as something. But that's why they come and talk to me.
CANDIOTTI: A federal law enforcement source says agents are tracing who Shahzad talked to, met with, where he went. Every step he allegedly took to build a car bomb is being documented. Prosecutors say some of the information is provided by Shahzad himself. And the accused terrorist hasn't clammed up yet.
PREET BHARARA, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN NEW YORK: Faisal Shahzad is still cooperating. He's being interviewed and questioned by agents and has been since the day he was taken into custody.
CANDIOTTI: And one more bonus -- when President Obama met Thursday with New York police investigators an official photo was taken. If you zoom past the president, we get our first look at the suspect's presumed getaway car that he couldn't use. Here's the key sources say the forgetful suspect left behind in his smoking bomb SUV in Times Square, and the VIN number from the SUV that helped track him down in 53 hours.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: And Prosecutors tell us none of the raids indicate there's any additional threat that they are aware of.
ROBERTS: So do prosecutors say when Faisal Shahzad will finally show up in court? In most cases he would have shown up days ago.
CANDIOTTI: Sure, but in this case he's still talking and they are still listening. And they said when he stops talking or they feel he's given enough information, that's when he'll make his first court appearance.
ROBERTS: Susan Candiotti this morning. Susan, thanks so much.
More on the terror raids ahead. We'll talk with former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes and terror analyst Paul Cruickshank. How in the loop were these guys? How many more could there be out there plotting here on U.S. soil?
ROMANS: If one expert is right, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is already six times bigger than the Exxon Valdez disaster and growing. It's day 25 of this environmental nightmare. Here's the latest. After studying new video of the gusher at the bottom of the Gulf, an engineering professor from Purdue University says BP's numbers do not add up. The professor says judging from that 30 seconds of video it's closer to 70,000 barrels a day. That's like an "Exxon Valdez" disaster every four days. Here's what he told us last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: So the estimate of 5,000 gallons, a day, you have no doubt that is way, way low?
STEVE WERELEY, PROFESSOR, PURDUE UNIVERSITY: Right.
COOPER: And you're saying it could be as high as 70,000?
WERELEY: Well, if I calculate from the video, which is just a snapshot in time, so for that particular 30 seconds that the video is running, the flow out of the pipe was 70,000 gallons per day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The professor obviously misspoke last night. He meant barrels not gallons.
This is BP's response to the professor's claim, quoting now, "We have said all along that there was no way to measure the leak. We are focused on stopping the leak and not measuring it."
ROBERTS: And this report this morning from "The New York Times," BP was apparently given permission by the government to drill this well in the Gulf without the required environmental permits. That means the oil giant was able to proceed with no one assessing the potential threat to wildlife or the environment if something were to go wrong.
ROMANS: Meanwhile, BP has a new plan to plug the leak. Take a look. They are trying to stick a pipe in it. It won't be easy. They'll have to hit an opening 21 inches wide, 5,000 feet down on the ocean floor.
Let's bring in Reynolds Wolf live in Gulfport, Mississippi. Reynolds, we heard a lot about the top hat containment box as a possible way to plug the leak. Is that on the backburner now?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's still in play. The top hat container is still down there. What they've done is basically set that aside. They are going for the option you just mentioned, where they are going to try to get that hose, a six-inch pipe and try to put it into the crack, the leak, and try to siphon it to the surface.
But this is going to be a very tricky endeavor. It's like trying to put a drinking straw into a fire hose that is on full blast. It's going to be a difficult thing to do.
They way they're going to do it is with undersea robots. The robots will hopefully guiding the stem of that six inch pip in there and point it to the surface right to a containment vessel. And again, we're talking about something 5,000 feet down going to the top. When it gets there it will go to a giant oil tanker. Then they plan on taking that back to the coast.
Here's the thing. If that doesn't work, and there's a chance it might not, all this could be one failure at another, they'll try the top hat. If that doesn't work, the other option will be what they refer to as the "junk shot."
It's kind of self-explanatory, basically just a combination of tires, of rubber, of golf balls even. And the idea is to get that and actually fire that almost like a giant shotgun into the leak, plug it up. Then they put on a layer of mud, that's right mud, and then they're going to get a layer of concrete and actually put it on like a compress hoping to stop the leak.
When it comes to what you were talking about earlier, the amount of oil coming out, BP mentioned yesterday they don't care how much is coming out. The idea is to stop the leak. And those are three options and I'm sure there will be more if these fall aside.
ROMANS: Thanks, Reynolds.
A lot of developments in the Gulf this morning. In 15 minutes we'll ask the tough questions when we're joined live by Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer for exploration and production.
ROBERTS: The terrain is though, the sun is scorching, but every day illegal immigrants make their way across our border. So how do they pull it off? We'll take you inside the journey this morning.
It's nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. In our "A.M." security watch, more arrests in connection with the attempted Times Square bombing. Three Pakistani men captured yesterday are believed to be cash couriers that move money into the U.S. from overseas.
The series of FBI raids in at least four states targeted the network that funded Faisal Shahzad. What does that mean for the investigation and war on terror? Here to break it down, CNN contributor and former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes in Washington, and terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank with us here in New York.
Tom, let me talk to you. They are focusing on the cash courier system. What can that tell us about how he was funded?
TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Hi, Christine. They are trying to determine how the money came into the U.S. that was provided to him for this operation.
The Hawala system goes back to medieval times where European merchants developed a payment system with merchants in the Middle East and western Asia to have a payment, basically an IOU system where there's actually no formal notes or promissory agreements signed. They just agreed to send some money to each other.
So that system still carries on today and also includes the underground Chinese banking system. So we have these ancient financial systems.
And the advantage for them is that it eludes the electronic tracking we have with our own regular banking system. So you don't have electronic records created like with wire transfers and normal currency exchanges.
ROMANS: And Paul, that makes it difficult, because we don't know if these guys were part of an established Hawala network or they didn't know what they were funding money for or whether they were part of the conspiracy. We just don't know.
PAUL CRUICKSHANK, TERRORISM ANALYST: We know very little at this stage whether they knew that Shahzad was going to launch this attack. It's the very early stages in this investigation.
But if this is the Pakistani Taliban organization having a funding network here in the United States, that's very concerning. The U.S. officials today don't think these terrorists have had this sort of network in place in the United States.
ROMANS: And we also don't know how strong the tie, the Pakistani Taliban tie, to this plot is. We know there is a link, according to Eric Holder, the attorney general, but we just don't know what the link is or how complicated this plot was.
CRUICKSHANK: There does seem to be a link to the Pakistani Taliban. But this is a group that is intent on attacking the United States. They are training people in north Waziristan, a part of Pakistan, where Al Qaeda still has a safe haven. So I think that's where the investigation is going right now.
ROMANS: Tom, from your background at the FBI, would you think there are tentacles of this that are reaching out beyond the money couriers and that there's a big network of people they are looking for at this point? Or is this something that could be pulled in Times Square with relatively few people involved?
FUENTES: It could be pulled off with few people. But they are trying to determine if more people were involved.
And also the currier system doesn't mean that those individuals necessarily knew that this was going to be used for this type of purpose. So it's kind of the equivalent, someone withdraws money from a back and goes out and buys heroin doesn't mean the bank teller knew they were going to do that. ROMANS: That's an interesting analogy, too, because one of the things about Islamic banking, there are certain rules against interest and dealing with American-style banking. And so you do have this very big -- most people don't understand how big this network is. There are people sending money across borders all the time for a very cash IOU business. And it's happening sometimes for legitimate purpose.
CRUICKSHANK: It's a very big network and allows people to send cash without having any electronic signatures, Christine.
ROMANS: So that makes it difficult to track in a case like this.
CRUICKSHANK: It makes it very, very difficult to track, yes.
ROMANS: And we don't know if he was using the system to fund his plot, or do we think that this was part of the process for funding his plot? We also know that he withdrew. He got money out of his home and he took a home equity loan of $65,000, draining the money out of his house before this plot began as well.
CRUICKSHANK: It's not entirely fair, but this plot really was not expensive, just a few thousand dollars to put this whole (ph) operation. It didn't require many funds, Christine.
ROMANS: Tom, wrap it up for us. What do these arrests mean for this case going forward?
THOMAS FUENTES, FMR. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF FBI'S OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS: Well, it just means the case is expanding and, you know, wider network of people are being interviewed to determine what they knew about it and who else they may have included in this arrangement. So, you know, it's going to be a long-term investment -- investigation, I should say. It's very complicated in trying to determine who knew, who participated, who assisted him with the bomb plot or with the financing of the plot. So the investigation will continue and this is just one more phase of it.
ROMANS: And we know always the first thing to do is always follow the money. So, clearly, that is what authorities are doing.
Thomas Fuentes, former FBI assistant director from D.C., thank you so much. Also, Paul Cruickshank, thank you.
FUENTES: Thank you.
CRUICKSHANK: You're welcome.
ROMANS: All right. What do you think about homegrown terrorism? Are we doing enough? We want to hear it. We want to hear from you. Just go to our blog. That's CNN.com/amFIX -- John.
ROBERTS: How to quit Facebook and really disappear? People fed up with all of the fiddling they have to do with their privacy settings now have a how-to guide. Stephanie Elam joins us, coming up next for that. If you've been trying to get off Facebook, you want to see this. It's coming up on 17 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up now at 20 minutes after the hour. If you've ever tried to really close your Facebook account, you'll know how frustrating it is. You make it go dormant. You can put it to sleep, but getting off of Facebook is a real problem.
Stephanie Elam with us now. And she's got a how-to guide for how to do this.
ROMANS: She happens to be my Facebook friend, by the way.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are Facebook friends.
ROBERTS: Am I friends with you?
ELAM: I don't think we are, but we should rectify that if you don't delete yourself after this.
Yes, it's really quite interesting to see how hard it is to really truly remove yourself from Facebook. That's one of the interesting things that a lot of people are finding out because privacy concerns are rearing their heads again for Facebook and a lot of people out there just don't like it. So they're saying, you know what, I quit. I don't want to be on the site anymore because I don't want people knowing every little thing that I do.
So here are some changes that Facebook is making in order to sort of soothe the wounds, make people feel better. Let's take a look at them right now.
Basically they're saying that from now on, you will register your devices when you log in. So if you try to access your accounts from a device you've never accessed before, sort of like, stop, who are you? Give us -- maybe here are some pictures who are these friends, you should know that if this is really your account. You also have to verify if there's unusual activity. You'll be asked to do that as well.
Some of these changes are already in effect. Some of them are being tested. But the interesting thing here is you have opt in to these changes. It's not like just this is how it starts. So that's one interesting note there.
Also, this is important because people are concerned about their privacy and their safety online. And Facebook has really become a target of phishers.
Take a look at this graph that we have here for you, and it shows that they are the fourth most-targeted site for phishers. So they're coming in and looking for your personal data. Obviously, PayPal is taking up the bulk of it there. But Facebook with six percent. So it's jumping up there. So they have more than 400 million users. So obviously people quitting is probably just a drop in the bucket there. But this is one of the concerns that people have about this. Supposedly the Facebook execs called everyone to a meeting on Thursday to deal with this because they're getting a bit of a backlash about these privacy concerns.
ROMANS: I was talking to a jobs expert earlier this week who told me that the best thing to tell your teenager to do for the summer is to go around to all the local businesses in your town and say, I will set up your Facebook page. I will set up your Twitter account and help you get an identity online for a small business.
ROBERTS: Hey, that's a great idea.
ELAM: That's a good one, especially since people are having a hard time finding summer jobs.
ROBERTS: Charge them a couple 100 bucks.
ROMANS: Well, also because the kids know how to use the privacy settings.
ROBERTS: Yes.
ROMANS: You know, they know how to do the stuff.
ELAM: They know how to do it. That's true.
ROMANS: All right. Stephanie Elam, thanks.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Steph.
ELAM: Sure.
ROBERTS: Some powerful image, the video of that oil just spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. So far, BP has not been able to stop it. So what's their plan? We'll talk to the chief operating officer for exploration and production at BP coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The growing crisis in the gulf now entering its 25th day. And this morning, potentially chilling news. Experts predict that the leak which is estimated right now at 5,000 barrels a day could actually be far, far worse. It all comes as BP considers yet another fix. So when does the oil flow stop?
Doug Suttles is the chief operating officer for exploration and production in BP. He joins us now.
Mr. Suttles, this latest plan that we're hearing about now, putting another pipe inside the riser pipe. What's that all about?
DOUG SUTTLES, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, BP: Yes, John. You know, of course, what we're trying to do is ultimately we want to get it stopped. But we're also working on ways to contain it around the seabed so that we can get it to the surface and into a ship where it won't have impacts to the shoreline and other places. And the method we'll be trying over the next 24 hours is sticking what people refer to as an insertion tube, a pipe inside of this riser where the oil is coming out, which has a set of baffles around it. It would be to capture that oil, send it up to a large drill ship that's on location just now, and try to keep this oil from ending up on the sea.
ROBERTS: All right. So this is yet another attempt. Everything that you tried so far has failed. It prompted Congressman Ed Markey in congressional hearings the other day to say it looks like BP is just making it up as you go along. Are you?
SUTTLES: You know, I understand the frustration. I mean, you can imagine I'm just as frustrated as everyone that we haven't been successful yet at even stopping it or containing it. But you know, just earlier this week, Secretary Salazar and Secretary Chu visited our office in Houston where the efforts to contain and stop the flow under way. And they reference that, you know, this is the best scientific minds in the world working on this, the best engineers. So I think we're doing -- we're trying to find everything we can do here to apply the best technology and the best thinking possible.
ROBERTS: Your CEO, Tony Hayward, stated the obvious in that small meeting with some journalists on Wednesday night, that you didn't have the technology at the moment to stop the leak. But he also added that BP should have done a better job in preparing for such an emergency. So the question that raises is before you go sinking a well at that depth, should you not have a safety contingency plan in case something goes wrong?
SUTTLES: Well, you know, John, there are safety devices that were on this well and that are intended to actually stop the flow. And they didn't do that. And we don't know why they didn't do that. This investigation will find out. In fact, this blowout that we all talk about will ultimately cover that.
ROBERTS: The congressional hearings certainly had some ideas of why it didn't work. There was a dead battery in the fail-safe mechanism. Not all of the rams were in place. One of the hydraulic connections was loose.
SUTTLES: Well, John, I think that those investigations as far as I know aren't complete yet. I mean, I think since actually two hours after this began, my sole purpose has been about figuring out how do we stop this flow and how do we minimize the impact. I'm not directly involved in the investigation. I know they'll get to the bottom of it, and I'm sure the appropriate changes will be made.
ROBERTS: There were also reports of pressure anomalies in the drill hole prior to the accident, maybe a couple of three hours before. Do you have any idea why that well was not shut down the second that they discovered those pressure anomalies?
SUTTLES: You know, John, like I said, I really don't know what led up to this yet. I should say the Marine board is out there. There's lots of other investigations as well. You know, I think the people of the Gulf Coast here, what do they want from me? They want me to get this flow stop and they want me to make sure we minimize the impact. That's what they want me to do.
ROBERTS: All right, so let's talk about the rate of leakage then. You've been saying 5,000 -- about 5,000 barrels a day. A Florida State University oceanographer says it could be four to five times that estimate. And then there's this fellow from Purdue University who's an expert in particle velocimetry (ph), who took a look at the flow of the oil coming out of the riser pipe and said it could be as much as 70,000 barrels a day. Do you really have any kind of accurate idea of how much oil is spewing?
SUTTLES: You know, John, there's only two things we can actually know for certain. One is we can watch the flow coming out of that pipe, the stuff you've seen in the video. And we know that basically it's been pretty constant over this time period since the beginning. We watched it from the start. The other thing we know for certain is what we see on the surface of the sea. And we do when we have good weather, and we can apply all of our techniques, we can actually shrink the size of the spill.
ROBERTS: Yes.
SUTTLES: And I think based on those two things is why we think it's somewhere around that number but as we've said from the beginning, it's highly uncertain, the exact number.
ROBERTS: But you're sticking with approximately 5,000 barrels a day?
SUTTLES: I think that's a good range. I don't know the precise number but I think it's somewhere around that number. And that's been both our estimate and that of the unified command, the government agencies we're working with.
ROBERTS: You know, in the last couple of days that the government has sent some experts down there to work with you on this, but I think it's probably safe to say that while they may have some very good minds, they don't have expertise in doing what you're trying to do at this depth. Are they going to be of any help to you?
SUTTLES: Well, they already have, John. I mean, we've only had help from government experts, we've had from industry experts and even academia have helped us. I can give you an example, we're using some radiography, some x-ray type technology that (inaudible) labs has. Yes, they are helping us.
ROBERTS: All right. Doug Suttles, CEO of BP for Exploration. Thanks for being with us this morning. We sure wish you a lot of luck in getting this thing stopped. Thanks so much.
SUTTLES: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: And we want to hear from you on this story. The amfix blog up and running. Just go to cnn.com/amfix.
ROMANS: Checking this morning's top stories. The streets of Bangkok, Thailand are like a war zone again today. The military firing rubber bullets and tear gas at the so-called red shirt anti- government protesters. Today's riots happening near the American and Japanese embassies. So far, two people have been killed and at least 13 wounded, including a Canadian journalist.
ROBERTS: And the battle on the border, wide-open land making it easy for illegal immigrants to bypass patrol officers in crossing into the United States. So what can be done? We'll take you to ground zero in the red hot debate over border security.
ROMANS: A security scare late last night in New York City, the NYPD called in after a suspicious car with gas cans inside was spotted just a block from Union Square. A bomb squad blew out the windows but there was never any real danger, just another example of a city on edge after the failed Times Square bombing.
Our Allan Chernoff joins us live with your security watch. So Union Square, not Times Square, about 30 blocks south and those gas cans were what, Allan?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They were just sitting in the back of the vehicle. The guy said that he liked to do a lot of lawn mowing, so he had gasoline back there. Not much of an excuse these days. He actually was hanging out at the Philmore, watching a concert. And the vehicle was parked just a block away in front of the headquarters of Con Edison, the main utility here.
Christine, you know, these sorts of investigations, they're becoming almost routine for New York for a city that is definitely on edge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): This lunch sack and shopping bag closed Times Square for more than an hour last Friday, three blocks were shuttered as the NYPD bomb squad investigated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police want to be particularly cautious now.
CHERNOFF: And uncovered some water bottles inside a small cooler.
DEPUTY COMM. PAUL BROWNE, NEW YORK POLICE: When an abandoned property, turned out not to be a threat and we reopened the street.
CHERNOFF: It's been happening frequently. Tuesday night again Times Square was evacuated. Another suspicious package that turned out to be nothing. Separately an abandoned truck closed the closure of the RFK Triborough Bridge. And across town, police have been rushing to check out calls of suspicious items. Such alerts, the NYPD said are up as much as 40 percent since the attempted Times Square bombing. Running at about 130 a day.
BROWNE: We do see an increase in people just observing abandoned property. It's a good thing. CHERNOFF: In Times Square, at least a dozen bags are lost daily, like this one. Times Square Alliance Sanitation Workers say when they find one they contact the police.
(on camera): You're keeping the cops busy?
DARRYL TERRY, TIMES SQUARE ALLIANCE SANITATION DIRECTOR: Well, I mean, we try to stay alive as well. We work right here in the danger every day. So we got to be aware.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): The NYPD is ensuring business owners are aware of the potential terror threat. At police headquarters this week, business security executives received training on the radicalization of terrorists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last stage of jihadization, this is the stage where people turn to action.
CHERNOFF: It's part of a police business partnership called NYPD Shield. Police are reminding businesses, large and small, to share information about anything unusual in their neighborhood. It was a t- shirt vendor who first alerted police to the Times Square bombing attempt. Here vendors on the street truly are the eyes and ears of law enforcement.
JOHN GALANOPOULOS, TIMES SQUARE HOT DOG VENDOR: We study, you know, all of the hours and anything suspicious, we just have our eyes open.
CHERNOFF (on camera): But the attempted bombing and the subsequent evacuations of Times Square don't seem to have any impact on the tourists. They are still flocking here.
KEVIN RETTEW, TOURIST: I feel pretty comfortable here.
CHERNOFF: Because of the police?
RETTEW: Yes, you can see them standing on every corner. If anybody would try anything, I'm sure it will be seen.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): And what happens to those abandoned bags? Once they're determined to be safe, unless they have I.D. tags, they get tossed in the garbage. There is no lost and found in New York's constant alert against terrorism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: And only hours before last night's investigation here police were checking out another suspicious vehicle just a few blocks away from police headquarters while President Obama was visiting. Christine and John?
ROMANS: All right. Allan Chernoff. Thank you, Allan.
ROBERTS: The second amendment celebration, a record 70,000 people expected to attend the NRA'S annual meeting this weekend. Do they have Washington running scared. Our Carol Costello with that gut check this Friday morning. That's just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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ROBERTS: Thirty-eight-and-a-half minutes after the hour. Time now for an "A.M. Original," something that you will see only here on AMERICAN MORNING. The National Rifle Association is living large these days. Armed with key political victories. The group's annual meeting this weekend is more like a celebration, leaving some people to ask, is the NRA bullet proof?
Our Carol Costello has a gut check for us this morning and she is live in Washington. Hi, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some people say, John, that the NRA has politicians on the run. They are expecting a record crowd, as you say, 70,000 at the annual meeting. There, the NRA will outline the goals for the future. Up its membership to five million people, launched a get out to vote campaign and continue promoting second amendment rights.
The NRA is celebrating a very good year. There are some who say the gun rights lobby has never been stronger. But is it true?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): If you ask Ted Nugent, the National Rifle Association has anti-gunners on the run with President Obama leading the pack?
TED NUGENT, NRA BOARD MEMBER: We know that President Obama is against the NRA but he's not going to speak about that because of the political suicide for those who have stood up in the past.
COSTELLO: Nugent, famous rocker and NRA board member will likely say that at the NRA's annual meeting this weekend. And why not? President Obama isn't fighting hard for gun control. He signed bills that allow guns on national parks and on Amtrak trains, bills the NRA loves. So does the NRA have politicians on the run?
MICHAEL MASLANSKY, MARKETING STRATEGIST: Yes, the NRA or gun rights isn't a signature issue for them, then in many ways they are better off going with the NRA, getting their support or avoiding their opposition as opposed to raising their ire.
COSTELLO: That's not to say the NRA is all powerful. Senator Bob Bennett had a high NRA rating and lost Utah's primary. Dan Coates is opposed by the NRA but won the Indiana primary. But in politics, perception is often reality.
That's why pictures of politicians holding guns are as ubiquitous as politicians kissing babies.
MICHAEL BROWN, WASHINGTON, D.C. COUNCILMAN: I mean, we know what the NRA is capable of. COSTELLO: Michael Brown, a council man in Washington, D.C., is fighting a federal bill backed by the NRA, it would nullify D.C.'s ban on semi-automatic weapons.
NUGENT: It's really quite simple, Carol. Tell your friends in D.C. that gun free zones are murder capitals.
BROWN: That's the kind of idiotic logic that we don't need here in the District of Columbia. I know it's a political year, but the NRA shouldn't be able to run rough shot over members of Congress.
COSTELLO: This week, Brown's city hall intern Alante Sutton (ph) was shot to death, allegedly by an acquaintance because he refused to give the man's girlfriend a ride. He was 18. But it's unlikely that tragedy will resonate for gun control advocates.
Attempted terror attacks in Detroit and New York coupled with a high level of government distrust is exactly the climate in which the NRA'S message thrives.
NUGENT: Here's an alert from Uncle Ted. The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights is about Americans. It's about all of us being individual and having individual freedoms and liberties.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: On tap to speak this weekend, Sarah Palin, who is appearing free of charge. Also on tap, governors and lawmakers, both Republican and Democratic. We've been asking our viewers, John, what they think of this. Does the NRA have politicians on the run? Cnn.com/amfix if you want to weigh in. Mike already has. He says, the people don't like the constitution, then try to get it amended, just don't violate it. That's simple, isn't?
This is from Darrel. He says that the NRA is a threat to peace and civility. The second amendment protects the rights of 18th century patriots who possess (inaudible) and rifles, not semi- automatic machine guns. But as you have said, John, there's a lot of people upset. The NRA will be celebrating its victory this weekend and looking for more victories to come.
ROBERTS: Yes, and they have as you pointed out a number of them to celebrate as well. Carol Costello this Friday morning. Carol, thanks so much.
COSTELLO: Sure.
ROMANS: I knew the blog would get all fired up for that.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes. It's not a topic for timidity.
ROMANS: No. That's right.
It's 42 minutes past the hour. Reynolds Wolf will have the weekend weather forecast right after the break.
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ROBERTS: Good morning, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it's 47 degrees. Later on today, sunny and 70 degrees. That's a beautiful time in Minnesota.
ROMANS: This is the best time in Minnesota, or maybe early August. That's a nice time too.
ROBERTS: Or mid-January. Mid-January is very nice too.
ROMANS: All right. It's quite a chill right now. Let's get a quick check of the morning's weather headlines, Reynolds Wolf watching the forecast for us.
Good morning, Reynolds. It's nice and warm and sunshiny where you are.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good. It certainly is, and it should be a pretty day in places like Minneapolis.
And for all of our friends tuning in from across America, if you're heading out, going to the airport, you got to know what's going to be on the other side of that flight. Let's go right to check your delays, and we've got a few of them out there.
We could see all kinds of issues in parts of the Central Plains, no question, but also in New York Metro, Chicago, Minneapolis. The issue could be due to the strong winds, 30 to 60 minutes of what may be - you may be facing at the airport. Your D.C. Metros, including Philadelphia, low clouds and thunderstorms. Thunder going (ph) worse for Dallas, Fort Worth, maybe even as far south as Austin, Texas. And San Francisco, yes, that darn fog, less than 15 minutes, they should be. Orlando look pretty well.
Now, something you might not be able to handle is that drive from St. Louis down to Springfield, some heavy rainfall there along I-44. We've got flash flood watches and warnings there today. It could be very heavy rainfall. You could see some issues in places where you have low-lying areas and poor drainage.
There's the reason why. You see that frontal boundary that's straight across parts of the (INAUDIBLE) showing us some heavy rainfall. Also it's heading back into parts of Oklahoma City, Will Rodgers Airport and on parts of 35, southward into the Dallas Fort Worth area, the rain's going to be very heavy and possibly some heavy rain also from Dalhart back to Lubbock, maybe even to the - to Amarillo you might see some thunderstorms later on today.
Now, let's fast forward and show you again what we're going to be seeing in terms of those severe thunderstorm watches. You see the box there. That's going to be in effect through noon today. But later on we can also see more storms develop in parts of the northeast, south of the Ohio Valley, and of course we mentioned back in parts of - of Texas.
But in the southeast and parts of the Northern Plains, pure bliss, a mixture of sunshine and clouds. It should be picture perfect for you.
We'll have more in your forecast coming up in just a few moments. Let's send it back to you in New York. Watch out for those winds today. You could be waiting.
Let's send it back to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks very much, Reynolds. We'll see you again soon.
WOLF: See you later, guys (ph).
ROMANS: Time now for our check of what's new this morning.
Prosecutors in Haiti want an American missionary to get six months in prison. Laura Silsby has been in jail in Haiti now for nearly four months. She was arrested along with nine other American missionaries who were - they were later released.
They were accused of trying to illegally take 33 Haitian children out of the country after that earthquake in January.
ROBERTS: Looking for some new clothes of a certain size, perhaps? Anna Nicole Smith's dresses, paintings and Marilyn Monroe memorabilia will be auctioned off in Las Vegas next month. Smith's former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, says the money from the sale is going to go to charity and also to a trust fund for the couple's daughter, Dannielynn.
ROMANS: And a real life cliff hanger for the crime series "Law and Order". A new report says NBC may cancel the show after 20 seasons. That would be just shy of surpassing "Gunsmoke" as TV's longest running drama.
The network will announce its fall lineup on Monday.
ROBERTS: Love that theme song.
ROMANS: You do?
ROBERTS: Entering the United States. For millions of people, it's a dream, and many people are chasing it illegally. We'll show you how they're doing it, coming right up.
It's 11 minutes now to the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: Time now for an "A.M. Original", something that you will see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
For illegal immigrants, it's the last leg of a dangerous journey, actually crossing the border from Mexico into the United States. And as our Randi Kaye found out, it's not as tough as you may think for illegal immigrants to bypass the border patrol.
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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look at the town of Nogales, Arizona. It sits right on the border between Mexico and the United States, and we came here to show you why so many people in this state, especially ranchers, say they're angry because they don't think the border is being protected.
In march, rancher Rob Krentz was actually killed while working on his land. The sheriff says that it was illegal immigrants, drug smugglers who killed him. They followed fresh footprints about 20 miles all the way to the border, but they never caught anyone.
The sheriff says that the illegal immigrants coming in are very sophisticated. They're watching the border patrol and they know where the gaps are.
This is the border fence that separates Nogales, Arizona from Mexico, and the thing about this fence is is that it actually only runs the length of the city. It doesn't cover the whole border. So it's easy to see why illegal immigrants are able to slip in from Mexico to Arizona.
If you take a look at the fence here, they can actually either jump over, and even though it does seem pretty high, they might be able to do that. Or they look for gaps. They look for openings and they just slip right through one of those holes.
We're driving on Highway 19, making our way north of the border. And if an illegal immigrant or a drug smuggler had arranged for a car or a ride, they could be doing the same thing once they slip into the country.
Now, the border patrol says that it doesn't just rely on the fence. It actually has cameras set up which can track anyone who's illegally crossing into the country. But the ranchers hear say that that just doesn't work. They don't have enough cameras and that people are still illegally crossing into their land, which is why, one reason at least, the governor here has asked the federal government to send some National Guard troops here that she can put on the border and they would be able to catch anyone illegally crossing into the country right away.
We're coming up on a border patrol checkpoint, and ranchers say that illegal immigrants would have turned off this highway long ago into the land and into the ranches out there. This is the problem, the ranchers say. Instead of grabbing the illegal immigrants right away as they cross into the U.S., the check points are actually set up 20, 30, 40 miles deep into the United States, giving the illegal immigrants and the drug smugglers plenty of time to hide and get away.
This is farmer Stewart Loew, and we came here to talk to him about the border patrol and the job that it's doing. You can actually see the border crossing.
STEWART LOEW, AGUA LINDA RANCH: It's right in our backyard.
KAYE: Right in your backyard there. How do you feel about it being right there as opposed to being right on the border?
LOEW: I think it's wasting federal dollars.
This is another example of pedestrian foot traffic circumventing the checkpoint. They get a kilometer or three kilometers north and then they round back up towards the interstate, and there's pickup points that their - that the guides are familiar with.
KAYE: So does this concern you when you see this so close to your home?
LOEW: It does. We used to - we used to come down, bring the kids to the river, and now the last time my wife brought the kids down, there were 20 or 30 men, and, you know, that alarmed her.
KAYE: Come August, when the new immigration law goes into effect here in Arizona, residents and ranchers like Stewart Loew don't expect it to help them much. They say that's because it targets those illegal immigrants who are looking to make a life here, not the smugglers who are still hiding out on their land and posing a huge threat to Southern Arizona.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Amado, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, this morning's top stories just minutes away, including it's the Exxon Valdez every four days. The jarring new estimates of how much oil might actually be pouring into the gulf right now. We're live in Mississippi.
ROBERTS: And 12 minutes after the hours, Atlantis getting ready for liftoff, one of the last rides ever.
And we'll check in with an astronaut that we're following all the way to the Space Station later this year. It's another installment of our series, "Counting Down Cady".
ROMANS: And at 20 minutes past, sorry, Annie, there's not tomorrow. There's not always tomorrow, rather. The - the little orphan leaving newspapers after, believe it or not, 86 years.
Those stories and more at the top of the hour.
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