Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

BP Set for the "Static Kill"; New Report Accusing BP of Using Excessive Amounts of Dispersants; Two Senior House Democrats Fighting Ethics Charges; Recent MIT Graduate Accused of Leaking Military Secrets; International Space Station's Cooling System Malfunctioning; NASA Discovered 700 Possible Solar Systems

Aired August 02, 2010 - 08:00   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning. It's August 2nd, start of a brand new week and a brand new month. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us.

A lot to talk about this morning, we'll get right to it.

Talking about the "static kill" operation -- it is said to begin as early as tonight in the Gulf. BP is hoping to pump enough mud and then cement down its runaway well to finally kill it.

Meanwhile, there is a new report accusing the oil giant of using excessive amounts of chemical dispersants during the height of the spill. And, once again, the numbers being provided by BP are being called into question.

ROBERTS: Two senior House Democrats fighting back against ethics charges this morning, but the prospect of two public trials just before the midterm elections has many people in the Democratic Party worried. We're live in Washington -- just ahead.

CHETRY: Did he have help? A recent MIT grad is now admitting that he e-mailed back and forth with Army Private Bradley Manning. He is accused of leaking Military secrets to the WikiLeaks Web site. We're live at the Pentagon with new fallout this morning.

ROBERTS: And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation going on right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.

CHETRY: Well, when night falls on the Gulf of Mexico in just about 12 hours, it could mark the beginning of the end of a very dark chapter.

ROBERTS: Final preparations are underway to begin what's called the "static kill" operation. Engineers preparing to choke BP's ruptured oil well by pumping heavy mud directly down its throat.

Jim Acosta is live in New Orleans for us this morning.

Is there any specific timetable for the start of the static kill? Do things, operations out there in the Gulf of Mexico look like they could get it underway tonight?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's the last that we heard. Some time overnight -- either late tonight or early tomorrow morning, they're going to start the static kill operation.

And, you know, we've heard all these references for, you know, these attempts to kill the well. Well, you have the static kill happening over the next 24 hours. We have the bottom kill that's potentially happening in the next couple of weeks. All that may sound like overkill, but you know what downhill -- down here in the Gulf of Mexico, overkill sounds like a pretty good idea. They're tired of this.

And essentially, what's going to happen as we've been saying all morning, is that this is an attempt to choke off this ruptured well. What they're going to do is they're going to start pumping that heavy mud and fluid and possibly some cement right into the area above the blowout preventer, right into the ruptured well. And they think, this time around, that this could be successful because they have the cap on top of the ruptured well.

So, in the last 24 hours, Thad Allen, the national incident commander, BP's COO, Doug Suttles, they've been saying that engineers have been keeping an eye on this ruptured well, watching those pressure readings, making sure that everything seems sound inside that ruptured well. So, they feel reasonably confident that once they start this operation, start pumping those fluids, that mud, that cement down in there, that this is going to start sealing this off.

In the words of Doug Suttles, he says he is highly confident that this is going to work.

CHETRY: Yes. They've been more and more confident about the static kill maneuver. But will you clear something up. Is this -- does this mean it's done or are they still going to complete the relief wells and then kill the well from below as well?

ACOSTA: You know, they think that this could work. You know, they've been saying over the last 24 hours that static kill has a very good chance of working. Obviously, you know, the mantra in the last several weeks has been to, you know, under-anticipate and over- deliver. And so, they are going to go forward with the "bottom kill" operation in five to seven days after the end of static kill operation.

And -- so, sometime around mid-August, they are going to use the relief well they have been drilling continuously since the start of this. And they're going to use that relief well. They hope it's going to intercept with the ruptured well at some point in the next -- you know, in the next week or so, and then they're going to pump that heavy fluid, that mud and cement, down into the reservoir. And they hope that with this one-two punch, this double whammy, that this will seal off the well once and for all.

You know, when you talk to people down here, it's almost -- they almost don't think it's going to happen. You know, people have had their expectations built up for so long, but Thad Allen has been saying at several press briefings in the last week or so that this has been done before to kill other runaway wells at other disasters, and they feel this is going to work.

So, you know, it sounds like famous last words, but in the next week or so, we're going to have some pretty good indications that this is successful or not.

CHETRY: All right. So, this is part one. And then, of course, part two will come later after they determine whether or not this is successful.

Jim Acosta for us this morning -- thanks so much.

And coming up in just eight minutes, we're going to be joined by Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts. The chairman of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee, he is accusing BP of carpet- bombing the Gulf with chemical dispersants at the blessing of the Coast Guard. He has a lot of questions for why this was allowed to happen.

ROBERTS: A manhunt continues this morning for two of the three convicted murderers who broke out of an Arizona prison. The third, Daniel Renwick, was captured yesterday after a shoot-out with police in Colorado. Police believe the two inmates still at large are traveling with a female accomplice who helped them escape.

CHETRY: Also, the city of East St. Louis forced to slash nearly a third of its police force. The mayor says he just can't afford to pay them anymore. East St. Louis has been crippled by crime and poverty for decades. The economic downturn is also forcing the city to also lay off 11 firefighters.

ROBERTS: The Republican National Committee canceled a fundraiser with conservative blogger and activist Andrew Breitbart. Breitbart was set to appear with party chairman, Michael Steele, later this month in Beverly Hills. An RNC spokesperson says the event was canceled to, quote, "better capitalize on fundraising this fall."

Breitbart, you remember, posted edited video online of former USDA official Shirley Sherrod, falsely portraying her as a racist -- that video ultimately forcing her resignation.

CHETRY: Well, Sarah Palin coming to the defense of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer after a federal judge blocked part of the state's controversial new immigration law. Appearing on "FOX News Sunday," the former Alaska governor used a masculine metaphor, I guess you could say, to slam President Obama for failing to adequately protect America's borders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FMR. GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: Jan Brewer has the cojones that our president does not have to look out for all Americans, not just Arizonans but all Americans, in this desire of ours to secure or borders and allow legal immigration to help build this country as was the purpose of immigration laws. If our own president will not enforce a federal law, more power to Jan Brewer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, on Friday, Governor Brewer lost her bid to get a speedy appeal hearing. And now, it looks like that won't happen until November.

ROBERTS: Is it OK to say that in Spanish?

CHETRY: She did.

ROBERTS: There's a lot of things you can say in a different language that sound OK but -- well, she could other words, I guess.

Rob Marciano is tracking the weather forecast across the country for us this morning -- Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, those in the south maybe sweating their -- anyway, the heat indices are 105 to 115 today. It's going to be another scorcher.

Good morning, guys.

The heat advisories and/or warnings are in effect for a good 16 states. There you see in the map highlighted behind me.

So, same old story for St. Louis, all the way down to New Orleans, and even places, like Dallas, with the high temperature is 106. They're actually out of the heat advisory. My goodness.

One hundred five in Monroe, Louisiana, Gulfport, Mississippi, 102; Mobile, 101; New Orleans, 100, and 100 degrees yesterday in Slidell. So, records abound. And we'll probably see similar numbers today.

There will be showers and thunderstorms in spots, but mostly in the afternoon. Out west, it looks relatively cool. Definitely relatively cool across the northeast after a scorching heat last week. Today's high temperature will be 82 degrees. So, relative to folks in Dallas and New York, they will be sweating less and enjoying things a little bit more.

We'll have more details about that and talk Tropics again in about a half an hour -- John and Kiran.

ROBERTS: OK. Rob, thanks so much.

MARCIANO: OK.

CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.

Well, it was the weather. It was wonderful in New York for Chelsea Clinton's big day. That worked out for her. The former first daughter and her longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky tied the knot in Rhinebeck, New York, on Saturday. The ceremony was held at Astor Courts, which is a 50-acre French-inspired estate. That's actually for sale.

The bride wore a Vera Wang gown. Her mother, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wore Oscar de la Renta.

And some famous faces on the guest list, not many actually. But actor Ted Danson and his wife Mary Steenburgen, along with former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright.

ROBERTS: And another famous face walked down the aisle over the weekend. Grammy Award-winning singer Alicia Keys married rapper- producer Swizz Beats on the French island of Corsica. She also wore a dress by Vera Wang. It had to be cut a little bit differently though because Keys is five months pregnant with the couple's first child.

Well, NASA discovered 700 possible solar systems. Many of the planets might be earth-like, sparking hopes that maybe there is someone else out there. NASA's principal investigator coming up.

Also, the Gulf oil spill, did the Coast Guard allow excessive amounts of toxic chemical dispersants? We're going to be speaking with Congressman Ed Markey about it -- coming up.

Ten minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, BP and the Coast Guard are coming under fire this morning after a congressional committee released a stunning report on the use of chemical dispersants in the Gulf. The Coast Guard apparently approved 74 exemptions, allowing BP to use the chemicals during a seven-week span, and that was after the EPA said that the chemicals had to be used sparingly.

BP admits pouring 1.8 million gallons of dispersant into the ocean. That's the number that's being disputed by our next guest, Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who said that what BP has done amounts to a carpet-bombing of the Gulf.

Thanks for joining us this morning, Congressman.

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Thanks. Thank you for having me on.

CHETRY: You know, and even when we were down there back on day 37, all of us were raising questions about just what exactly -- how much they knew about the effect and impact of these dispersants. Now, we are 1.8 million gallons. That's what they're saying at this point -- it could be far more. And you likened it to carpet bombing.

But the stuff was approved by the EPA, they said it was OK to use. What are your biggest concerns about it?

MARKEY: Well, the EPA actually said that dispersants, these chemicals, should be used when spraying the surface of the ocean only in rare instances. What it turns out happened is that BP, for all intents and purposes, sprayed just about every single day. And on some days, they did so in quantities which were far in excess of anything that reports that they were giving to the Coast Guard indicated that they were using.

CHETRY: Right. I mean, I understand what you're saying, that there are concerns, and there were concerns at the time. A lot of people were asking, do we know the impact of using all the dispersants. It's never been used in this quantity before. We've never -- you know, we have no real testing on the long-term impact.

But it was deemed by the EPA, as well as others, that this was the best thing going. I mean, there were many other, right, lists and lists of possible dispersants. They determined that Corexit worked the best with the least amount of harm, and they knew they were using it in huge quantities because they've never seen oil spilled in these types of quantities.

MARKEY: Well -- you know, the EPA, in fact, was concerned about the impact that this could have upon workers. They were concerned about the impact that these chemicals could have upon marine life in the Gulf of Mexico.

But the EPA ultimately was not the agency that decided whether or not these chemicals were sent into the ocean or onto the ocean's surface. That was a decision made by the Coast Guard. And so, even though there was an agreement in late May that the EPA led, that it would be used only rarely as the weeks and months went by, it turned out that it was used on an almost daily basis, and that's why we have to insure that the internal bleeding on the inside of this ocean floor is monitored very closely to make sure that we understand what the ramifications are of having this unprecedented scientific experiment be conducted.

CHETRY: All right. Retired admiral Thad Allen who oversaw the federal response and is still overseeing the federal response to the oil spill said yesterday, that he was quote, "he was satisfied with the amounts of dispersant used to clean up the disaster. He still maintains that crews used them only when needed and he is standing by the quantity of the dispersants used.

Your thoughts?

MARKEY: Again, they were used on an almost daily basis. They were used even though the EPA said they should be used rarely, not on a daily basis, and my concern is that they were used in greater quantities than even the government indicated that BP should be permitted to use them. So all of this just creates a warning sign that we should be monitoring very carefully this now under water toxic stew that was created by shooting these chemicals into an already toxic material, the oil, which was in the Gulf of Mexico.

CHETRY: And an EPA spokesman, just to get their comment in here as well, they said, "The agency believes it has been an essential tool in mitigating the spill's impact, preventing millions of gallons of oil from doing even more damage to sensitive marshes, wetlands and beaches and the economy of the Gulf Coast. So I'm just wondering could you deal with the crude in its cohesive form making its way to the wetlands, marshes and other areas of the Gulf?

MARKEY: Well, the EPA said the use of the chemicals under water that is shooting at the oil is coming right out of the well was five times more effective than spraying it onto the ocean's surface, which is why in terms of using dispersants on the ocean surface, the EPA said that there should be a much more conservative use of these chemicals.

You have to divide the question between dispersants under the water and dispersants on the surface of the water. The surface use of them sets up worker exposure and it also creates risks that were greater than that which were being created by using them under the water. So it is two different questions. And on the question of surface use, the EPA said that it should be used only rarely. I'm using the words of the EPA.

CHETRY: No, I understand your concerns. And I know that many other people have them as well. You know, now we are seeing some of the waters open up to commercial fishing, as well as, recreational fishing, we have seen some of these beaches open, do you feel confident we know just how safe it is, not only to eat the wildlife seafood out of those waters, but also just to be in them?

MARKEY: Well again, one of the concerns of the EPA was that because these are toxic material that is were sent into the ocean, that there has to be very careful inspection of all of the marine life if it is going to be consumed by human beings. So the FDA and the EPA, NOAA, they have constructed a very strong monitoring system. And as they clear each area, I think we should have some confidence. But at the same time, we should understand that vast areas are still suffering from this internal bleeding of the toxic chemicals and oil that have been put into the ocean by BP.

CHETRY: Well, hopefully we'll get more answers about that and we'll be working with scientists to try to figure out exactly what the long-term impact is because it still is, as you said, pretty much unknown at this point. Congressman Ed Markey from Massachusetts, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

MARKEY: Thank you for having me.

ROBERTS: More trouble for the Democratic party. Congresswoman Maxine Waters has chosen to go through an ethics trial like the one lined up for Charlie Rangel for her accused role or alleged role in helping to steer federal funds to a bank that might have constituted a conflict of interest. The charges and what they might mean for November's elections coming right up, 20 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Bring it on, that was the message from California, Congresswoman Maxine Waters who wants her day in court to fight ethics charges. ROBERTS: Just last week fellow house Democrat Charlie Rangel was accused of violating 13 House ethics rules.

Congressional correspondent Brianna Keiler is following developments for us this morning.

What do we know so far about the investigation into Congresswoman Waters?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well John and Kiran we've known that she has been under investigation for some time now, since last fall and this has to do with allegations that she set up a meeting between a bank called One United and the Treasury Department, and this all happened in September of 2008. This was the height of the financial crisis.

As you know, many financial institutions were on the brink of failure then. Some of them or a lot of them worried they would get caught in the wake of the crisis, but the thing here is this. Her husband sat on the board of this bank. It is one of the largest minority-owned banks of the U.S., and Waters, herself, had at least one point stock in the bank. And ultimately the bank got $12 billion in federal funds.

Well, Maxine Waters has decided that she would rather go through the process of an ethics trial, it is a very public spectacle, but she would rather do that than accept a judgment against her by the ethics committee saying that she violated House rules. So she wants her day in court, as you said it. All this coming to us from a source familiar with the ethics process.

But what really makes the controversy kind of jump out at you all that much more is that Maxine Waters is a prominent Democrat. She's been in congress for about 20 years. She is a senior member of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, that is the committee that wrote much of the Wall Street reform bill that just passed Congress, and she's also a prominent member of the Congressional Black caucus.

So this is, as you said, a very defiant Maxine Waters saying, no, I will not accept this punishment that's being handed out to me. I'm going through the trial process, John and Kiran.

CHETRY: So it comes at a very bad time to say the least for House Democrat. There's already an ethics hearing underway into Congressman Charlie Rangel. That's dominated many, many weeks in the news right now, and he also has, of course, charges looming over his head. What is the feeling among the leadership, the Democratic leadership, about what they do about this?

KEILAR: Well we had already been talking last week about how you rarely see these ethics trials. The last one that we had seen was in 2002, so it has been years, and that process that Rangel is going to go through perhaps as soon as September, that's the same process that Maxine Waters is opting to go through. Very public, quite a spectacle, and it is already an extremely tough election year for Democrats. They didn't want that sort of ethics poll cast over the election with Charlie Rangel, and now they have it with two Democrats. This is certainly not what Democratic leaders want and what those rank-in Democrats where in really vulnerable situations want. John and Kiran.

ROBERTS: All right, Brianna Keiler for us this morning, Brianna thanks so much.

The investigation into those leak reports from Afghanistan. Does the trail now lead to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology? Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon coming up next. It is 25 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back, your "Top Stories" just a couple of minutes away. First though, an "A.M Original," something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING. For U.S. Officials are tracking terror threats overseas, there is one name that keeps popping up case after case. It is Anwar Al-Awlaki.

ROBERTS: The Feds think that the fugitive American born cleric is hiding out in Yemen. He's made plenty of threats against America. And he's been both blacklisted and designated a terrorist by the Obama administration and the United Nations. Our Deb Feyerick is here to kick start our new series, "The New Bin Laden." So what do we know about Al-Awlaki?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you know there are a lot of people who want this guy dead basically. What makes him so dangerous is that young men who are predisposed to violence are looking to this self-taught cleric to legitimize acts of terror against the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain. His knowledge of the West comes not simply because he was born here, though that is important. He has a U.S. passport. But he studied here for more than a decade. Even studying for a Ph.D. what he learned, who he met, that's what authorities fear him so dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No that's not what they are doing today, they are noting plotting to kill this religion.

FEYERICK (voice-over): From the safety of his hideout in Yemen, American Anwar Al-Awlaki poses a threat to the United States unlike any other.

LT. COL. ANTHONY SHAFFER, CENTER FOR ADVANCED DEFENSE STUDIES: I believe Anwar Al-Awlaki represents the heir apparent to the overall Al Qaeda global effort.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- matis -

FEYERICK: Al-Awlaki, not yet 40, has vowed to bring America to its knees, one terrorist at a time. An army of lone wolf insurgents. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is the individual that's continuing the doctrine of that people like Osama Bin Ladin and Al-Saminhiire (ph) started.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Atta hu -

FEYERICK: His credentials as an American citizen, fluent in English and Arabic give him a unique authority among social media savvy want-to-be Jihadists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I eventually came to the conclusion that Jihan against America is binding upon myself just as it is binding on every other able Muslim.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just as it is binding on every other able Muslim.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He unlike others has been able to recruit --

FEYERICK: Counterterrorism expert Sajjan Gohel.

SAJJAN GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: Al-Awlaki through his Internet sermons is preying on these young people and encouraging them to go off to far away land which they have no real relationship with to link up with terrorist operatives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The simple answer is America cannot and will not win.

FEYERICK: As a spiritual guide, ideologically condoning violent acts, this jihadist has inspired dozens of young men. In the last few years alleged plotters include the Time Square bomber, the young Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a U.S. jet bomber over Detroit, the alleged Fort Hood shooter, and others, all following a man born 39 years ago in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Awlaki spent his teen years in Yemen before returning to study in the United States.

FEYERICK (on camera): Anwar al-Awlaki was 19 years old when he came here to Colorado State University to study engineering. He received a $20,000 federal grant courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, applied for a student visa to come here, he lied and told authorities he was born in Yemen and not here in the United States.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Years later that lie almost got him arrested of. He was investigated for passport fraud following 9/11, but the arrest warrant was rescinded and Al-Awlaki left America in 2002 never to return.

Yusef Siddqui and Awlaki were good friends, taking the same classes and sharing a love for Islam.

YUSUF SIDDQUI, FORMER AL-AWLAKI CLASSMATE: We were both passionate about being part of the Student Muslim Association and just combating stereotypes and misunderstanding and ignorance.

FEYERICK: But there was another side to the young al-Awlaki. SIDDQUI: I think he was proud of the fact that he has been to Afghanistan and learned something about the mujahedeen and trained a little bit.

FEYERICK: Trained to fight Soviets in a guerilla war bankrolled by the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: It is unclear whether the training sparked Awlaki's radical path or whether it was while he was in prison, which is what many people feel. However, his studies in leadership and human nature are of this are giving him the tools to develop a very powerful weapon, the message of global jihad online. This guy even has a Facebook page. So he knows exactly how to target the young people he's looking for.

ROBERTS: This ideology, is it his and his alone, is it unique?

FEYERICK: When you hear him and listen to what he's saying, no. Most clerics who studied at legitimate seminaries all around the world say this has nothing to do with the nature of what Islam is, that he's looking -- his own interpretation has basically morphed into this legitimization of terror.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: But this is what moderate Muslims are fighting all the time, this ideology and the fact that it is so attractive to a small portion, but a portion of young people.

FEYERICK: That's right, the extremists, the violent extremists. People will look and rationalize and say, oh, well, bad things were going on in these people's lives. But a lot of people have bad things going on in their lives. They don't fill a car with explosives and bring it to Times Square. They don't try to bring down a plane.

So whatever is going on with them, even if Awlaki was to be killed or martyred, or even if he was candid and said, you know what, I was wrong, these young men would still be doing what they are doing. They would just look for another voice to say it is OK.

ROBERTS: A great look for us this morning, Deb. Thanks so much.

Tomorrow Deb is back with us. She continues to follow the steps al-Awlaki took to find his voice. That's part two of our "A.M." original series, "The New Bin Ladin" right here on the Most News in the Morning.

CHETRY: Meantime, time for a look at our other top stories this morning.

It looks like a go for the static kill operation. BP engineers will begin pumping heavy mud into the ruptured well into the Gulf possibly as early as tonight. The procedure could take up to 48 hours if it works. And in conjunction with the bottom kill operation, it would permanently plug the well. ROBERTS: The cooling system onboard in International Space Station is malfunctioning. Crew members may be forced to conduct unscheduled space walks this week to fix the problem. NASA says the astronauts are not in any immediate danger.

Alarms woke up the crew on Saturday night after a circuit breaker tripped and shut off a pump feeding ammonia to the cooling system.

CHETRY: The Florida Everglades now considered endangered. The United Nations has added Everglades National Park to a list of world heritage sites in danger. It says the Everglades are threatened by high pollution levels killing off marine life. This is the second time the area has been included on the list. The first time was between 1993 and 1997 because of hurricane Andrew.

ROBERTS: Another developing story this morning, the investigation expanding into the leak of thousands of secret files on the war in Afghanistan.

CHETRY: The hacker, who says that he tipped off the army to WikiLeaks' suspect Bradley Manning, now says at least two MIT students may also be involved. Barbara Starr is live for us at the Pentagon with new details this morning. Hey, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran, good morning, John. The FBI, the Justice Department, and now we are told by a source the Department of Homeland Security is involved.

Adrian Lama, the man, the former computer hacker who tipped off federal authorities to private first class Bradley Manning now says that were two students who attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Boston area who helped Manning, one of them allegedly teaching Manning encryption software, so federal investigators are looking at all of this now.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates continuing to be furious about it all, concerned about the damage it's inflicting on the troops in Afghanistan in the fight. He talked at length about how he thinks this might have happened, about how one soldier could have downloaded tens of thousands of classified documents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Had he tried to do this or had whoever did this tried to do it at a rear headquarters overseas or pretty much anywhere here in the U.S., we have controls in place that would have allowed us to detect it.

But one of the changes that has happened as we have fought these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been an effort to put as much information in intelligence as far forward to the soldiers as we possibly can so that in a forward operating base they know what the security risks are to them and they also have information to help them accomplish their mission. So --

(END VIDEO CLIP) STARR: Now, this is the ultimate problem for the Pentagon right now. The bottom line separate from the investigation, how do you control and keep information secure, but how do you get everything out to the troops that they need to know the risks they are facing on the front line?

ROBERTS: So, Barbara, the Pentagon is going after Manning. And since the investigation is expanding, what are the chances the authorities could go after the man who posted all the stuff online, Julian Assange of WikiLeaks?

STARR: The Pentagon is making clear they are going to leave that to civilian law enforcement authorities, the FBI, the Justice Department. They are looking into, if you will, the civilian non- military side of this. That's what they are going to take on.

The army criminal investigation division will take on the military side of it, but both sides working very closely together to find out who all is involved and develop that legal strategy, that prosecution strategy in the months and weeks ahead.

ROBERTS: Barbara Starr for us from the Pentagon. Barbara, thanks.

CHETRY: This is exciting. NASA discovering 700 possible planets, many of them they say earth-sized, and it is sparking hopes of perhaps the alien life? We'll speak to NASA's principal investigator on this from the Kepler Mission Research Center. This is very exciting stuff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: A new discovery way out the galaxy causing a real buzz here on the third rock from the sun. NASA's deep space eye in the sky found several planets that are similar in size to earth. But just because they are earth-sized doesn't mean they are earth-like.

CHETRY: Yes, scientists don't think the new planets can support life as we know it, but this new find could be the tip of the iceberg. Here to tell us more is William Borucki, principal investigator with NASA's Kepler Mission. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

WILLIAM BORUCKI, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, NASA KEPLER MISSION: You're welcome. I'm glad to be here.

CHETRY: This is exciting, the deep-space probe discovering some 700 bodies, some could be new planets. Describe what they found and what it could mean.

BORUCKI: Well, Kepler mission is basically a spacecraft that orbits the sun, it measures the brightness of stars, and it has found 700 candidates. And candidates are systems that show dips in the brightness of the stars as a planet where the object crosses them.

But on the other hand we know 50 percent of the time they are really false positives. That's to say one small star is crossing another star, two stars in the background. And so we need to look to the candidates with ground-based telescopes and find out which are really planets and which aren't.

And so right now we have some 700 candidates, but we don't have 700 planets. What we have in the past -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

ROBERTS: I was just going to say, Bill, you have actually confirmed five planets all of them sort of being described relatively to the size of Jupiter, anything from half the size of Jupiter to twice as big. It is pretty generally held that planets of that size are gas giants and wouldn't be capable to sustain life.

But have you found anything the same size and orbit as earth, something that could potentially sustain life?

BORUCKI: No, we haven't. It takes about three years of observation before you see enough transits. Orbits of a planet like the earth in an inhabitable star like the sun, we have not seen anything like that. The mission has only been operating for one year. And so if we are going to find anything, we have to wait three years. We have to wait two more years.

But we find a lot of candidates that are three times the size of the earth, twice the size of the earth. We actually have one candidate that's 1.6 times the size of the earth. But these are in very short period orbits, so they are very hot. It's only after we --

Yes, go ahead.

CHETRY: There are just so many factor that is go into it. One is the size, and a lot of them are too close to the sun so they probably wouldn't be able to sustain life as we know it. But what are some of the other positives you found out of this that could yield information and discoveries that we have not seen before?

BORUCKI: I think the biggest thing is the fact that we find so many candidates. We have over 700. We believe about half of those will probably turn out to be planets, and that is dramatic.

The other aspect is that many of these were much smaller than Neptune. Neptune is about four times the size of the earth. So that means we are talking about candidates, possible planets, that would mean much closer to the size of earth than we've ever seen before.

And that's -- that's the dramatic (ph) -- a lot of them and they're smaller than Neptune.

ROBERTS: Right, you know Bill, even if we found something that was the same sort of relative size of earth and the same sort of orbit that might be capable of sustaining life, the distances we're talking about here are so great, that we'd never be to go there and actually check it out.

So -- so what is the net effect of all of this research here on earth? Does it -- does it increase, let's say, the maybe factor when we are talking about life on other world? BORUCKI: It's certainly the first step in doing that. We'd like to understand the extent of life on our galaxy. And if it turns out there are a lot of planets that are inhabitable zones (ph) of stars, and we think there may well be, then there's probably a lot of life in our galaxy.

And they are just waiting for us to call up and say hello, we'd like to participate. If we find nothing, that means we might be alone. So it gives us a feeling of the extent of life -- of possible life in our galaxy. When we get the numbers, are there many earths or not?

CHETRY: Right. And that's what continues to fascinate all of us. William Borucki for us, the principal investigator with NASA's Kepler Mission; thanks for joining us this morning.

BORUCKI: You're welcome.

ROBERTS: You know too, when you talk about contacting life on other planets, every time you look out into the heavens you're looking back in time as much as tens of thousands of years.

So even if there was somebody out there, would they be in a position to be broadcasting to us because you're looking at things coming from ten thousand years ago. It's all very fascinating, though.

Severe storms soaking the Midwest; 100 degree-plus heat across the south. Rob Marciano has got the travel forecast coming right up for you.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's a Manic Monday for sure, 49 minutes past the hour. As we take a look at Atlanta, Georgia where it's cloudy and 75 degrees; partly cloudy and 91 for a high later today. They have the best weather there.

ROBERTS: They had some weather last evening as well.

Rob Marciano is checking out the forecast across the country. And they are going to dry out a little bit there in Atlanta today Rob, but what about the rest of the country?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hot and 60 states right now are under heat advisories or warnings again, the same old story today that we have seen. It will be a little bit cooler across the northeast as compared to what you've seen in the past couple of weeks of July.

These cities are seeing these temperatures on average. Well, 6.8 degrees above average for the high in Baltimore and New York. So if it felt like it was rather warm this month, it was.

Tropical action -- this little wave cruising across the Atlantic, it is not a depression yet but could be by the end of today. If it's a tropical storm, it will be named Collin and it will likely not be a bother to us, at least in the near term as it gets closer to the weekend it may become more of a threat.

Again, the biggest threat is going to be the heat today. Temperatures in the up and over 100 degrees, actually these were yesterday's highs. They were records and then some heavy duty rainfall across parts of eastern Virginia.

The only rainfall we are seeing today across right now in Wisconsin back through parts of Iowa. And then pop-up thunderstorms potentially across much of the south and that will help cool things off.

Typically a southern thing, it was in the Poconos this weekend. Check out this crash on Nascar, lap 35 at Pocono race way. Kurt Busch got a little sideways, gets to wall, But Elliott Sideler (ph) the 90 -- and goes 90-degrees into an inside retaining wall there. The engine comes flying out. He got the wind knocked out and he got his clock cleaned.

You see him there just kind of crawling out of the -- out of the car. Surprisingly, he's all right. These cars are so safe nowadays, guys, if you are looking for a horrific crash is that where most people walk away, that's one sport to do it.

CHETRY: Yes, he doesn't look --

MARCIANO: Out there in Poconos --

CHETRY: -- he doesn't look like he feels too great, but man, it could have been way worse.

MARCIANO: You know a lot of people go out to the Poconos this time of the year for a romantic getaway, and in Nascar the go out there to make love to the retaining wall. Enjoy.

ROBERTS: What's -- what's really amazing about that is he hit that infield wall and then bounced back onto the apron of the track. That's amazing.

MARCIANO: Yes. The engine came flying out. And what's amazing to me is that the guy walked away.

ROBERTS: Wow.

MARCIANO: And that's it.

CHETRY: Yes, they have the harnesses now. They -- they -- I mean, they've made a lot of improvements in safety, but when you're going that fast, I mean, you know accidents still happen. But wow.

MARCIANO: Ba-boom. All right, congratulations to all. And number 16, beautiful.

CHETRY: They've some rebuilding to do with that car. MARCIANO: Yes.

CHETRY: All right, thanks so much, Rob.

MARCIANO: All right guys, see you.

CHETRY: Well, we're going to take a quick break. Fifty-two minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's coming up on five minutes now to the top of the hour.

The mind-bending thriller, "Inception", earning the top spot at the box office for a third straight week now; "Inception" took in $27.5 million this weekend -- $22 of those were from me. The film has made nearly $200 million in just three weeks' time.

CHETRY: And you're just going to end it there? What did you think? A lot of hype?

ROBERTS: Well, as they said two hours ago, I thought that the hype outstripped the actual delivery of the movie. That -- I mean, there were some interesting concepts in it, lots of special effects, but I didn't really enjoy it that much.

CHETRY: Boy did you like "Memento"?

ROBERTS: I love "Memento". I love "Memento"; I also love the "The Matrix". But "The Matrix" went a lot further than this movie does in explaining the concept of what's going on. You know, like when -- when Neo was brought into the "Matrix" and down the rabbit hole and all of that. He went into the room with Morpheus and that's how you learn what's going on. And it had a much bit, much greater story line than this one did.

CHETRY: You said you fell asleep during "Inception". I did fell asleep during "Matrix".

ROBERTS: No, I'm not going to get angry at you for doing that. Unlike some people who have contacting you, calling me an idiot for not liking "Inception" --

CHETRY: Some Twitter feeds in that --

ROBERTS: I didn't really dig the movie, you know. You dug it, fine. All right? You are not an idiot for digging it.

CHETRY: Well, there are some who say you have to see it more than once to really --

ROBERTS: I already doffed $32 out of it. They said on Friday the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome.

CHETRY: You did, and you got a different outcome.

ROBERTS: Eat (INAUDIBLE) is my next --

CHETRY: You did eat the curry the second time and you did get a different outcome so it worked for you.

ROBERTS: Only because the curry was cold; only because it was cold. If you like "Inception" good on you -- that's great.

CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. It is three minutes --

ROBERTS: There's so much hatred in America --

CHETRY: -- to the top of the hour.

(CROSSTALK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Still talking about the movies. Don't give away "Inception" though. Just go see it.

ROBERTS: I won't give it away. But go see it and see how you like it.

CHETRY: All right. If I don't like it, don't hate me.

ROBERTS: It's just like, I went to see "Avatar" fully willing to hate it and loved it.

CHETRY: And you liked it.

ROBERTS: Yes, so -- there you go.

CHETRY: Two and a half hours though with the 3D glasses on -- that was about all I could take.

ROBERTS: You can get used to it after --

CHETRY: I did like it though but I love the (INAUDIBLE) grabbing at things (ph).

Well, that's going to be it for us. We'll see you right back here tomorrow though. Go to our blog for all of our -- to weigh-in on all of our stories.

Don't hate John because he didn't like "Inception", ok; cnn.com/amfix.

ROBERTS: Go ahead and hate me. I don't care, all right?

"CNN NEWSROOM" with Drew Griffin starts right now. Hi Drew.