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American Morning

Senate Budget Woes; Foreclosure Relief: Help for Military Personnel; A Father's Promise to Bullied Son; Muslim Radicalization Hearing; Dangerous New Diet Fad Involving Pregnancy Hormones and 500 Calories a Day

Aired March 10, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. We have a state of emergency. We have severe weather slamming the east coast from Florida to Maine, and the Mississippi River expected to pass flood stage on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you all, on this Thursday, March 10th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. To begin the hour in Wisconsin's state capital, as more protests are expected today as the state assembly takes up a bill that would strip union workers of their collective bargaining rights. They Republican led state senate used some legislative sleight of hand to get the Bill passed without Democrats, Democrats who have been out of the state for three lone weeks to prevent a vote. One lone Democrat was there to try to stop the maneuver. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, this is a violation of law. This is not just the rule. This is the law. No, Mr. Chairman, this is a violation of the meetings law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: CNN's Ed Lavandera is following the developments live in Madison. We had a chance to speak to one of the Democrats' state senators Jon Erpenbach. He said they were not surprised this is how they went about it.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it really had been discussed or talked about a few weeks earlier, so they kind of knew this option was on the back burner and a possibility.

What is fascinating about last night, Kiran, that display of that showdown going on inside there in the committee room, you could hear the chanting from the several thousand protesters that descended on the capitol building chanting "You lie, shame on you!" There were only room for 20 people of the public to sit on that committee hearing room. So there were thousands more that couldn't get in. Officers had to blocked offices to the Senate chambers into that committee room area because you could sense the anger that was brewing inside the capitol grounds. There's still many more that couldn't get inside the capitol building after they closed it down. Those protesters are vowing to come back today as we wait and see what the democratic senators are going to do. Jon Erpenbach that you mentioned talked to us a while ago and said they don't know if they're going to come back today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON ERPENBACH, (D) WISCONSIN STATE SENATOR: If we were to go back to madison this morning without discussing our options they could always basically do a call of the house, lock us in the Senate chambers, bring up the budget repair Bill and force a vote on it right away. So we're going to getting to and see what our options are. We'll take it from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: So that what the senator weighing their options on what to do next. Remember, portions of this Bill, it wasn't all of the bill it was just of the nonfinancial aspects, they say, of the bill that was voted on. So if those senators do come back, everything else that was stripped out of that bill could essentially be voted on. That's one of the things they're weighing in on strategically on how to handle this and what to do next.

CHETRY: The fighting continues for sure. Ed Lavandera there live in Madison, thanks.

HOLMES: And we are keeping a close eye on what could be a destructive storm. It's bearing its way down the northeast right now, moving very slowly but ready to dump a lot of rain, after causing widespread flooding in parts of the deep south. The same system spawn three tornadoes east of New Orleans. You see some of the damage here. There were several homes and cars destroyed.

Also another apparent tornado hit in suburban Alabama, roofs rimmed off. And we have reports of four people that had to be treated for minor injuries. And meanwhile parts of New Jersey under a state of emergency, people recovering from rain that fell three days ago.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Just hours away from the first in a series of highly publicized and strongly criticized congressional hearings into Muslim extremism in America. Dana Bash is live on Capitol Hill where the emotionally charged hearings are set to start later this morning. Hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.

We're here in the committee room where the hearings are going to happen in just a couple of hours. I'm standing here in front of where the chairman that met, the controversial chairman, is going to be sitting.

And we actually got some testimony, we obtained testimony that he is going to give, opening statement, I guess is the best way to say it to back down would be a craven to surrender to political incorrectness and for the committee to protect America from a terrorist attack.

He's also going to say, Kiran, from his perspective, nothing in his room is going to sort of live up to some of the fears that you have seen from the Muslim community, especially in some of the national security community as well, that because he is singling out the Muslim community, talking about radicalization, that that is going to backfire, potentially, and actually maybe stir up some of what he's talking about.

I want to bring you over to the witness table here. First, we'll see three members of Congress who are going to give statements, including the only member of Congress who is the first, shy say, who is Muslim. They're going to give statements.

But the real meat of this, the heart of this is with Muslim Americans that the chairman has called to testify. One is going to be Mr. Marvin Bledsoe. We also got testimony which we just began to read, Kiran from what he is going to say. He is somebody who is not Muslim but his son born Carlos converted and he became Abdul Hakim Muhammad. He was involved in a deadly shooting in Arkansas. He is going to say that his son was manipulated and lied to. That's some of the tone and tenor of the things we'll hear from the witness that Congressman King has called in this very controversial hearing, Kiran.

CHETRY: It's interesting you hear a ratcheting up of his security detail. Has he received death threats because of this?

BASH: He hasn't said specifically. I talked to him yesterday, he said that the threat assessment has been such that he now has personal security here in the capital. And he's also going to have heightened security here in this committee room, as can you imagine.

The reality is in a lot of these hearing rooms, whether or not it's controversial or not, it's very public, you do see stepped up security. So we're going to check and see if it really is more than what we've seen at high-profile hearings. For him personally, he has said, actually he just revealed to us over the past two or three months that he's had personal security back home in his district of New York.

CHETRY: Dana Bash inside of the hearing room where this will take place, thanks so much.

Just a programming note in 20 minutes, one set to testify, Democrat Keith Ellison. He is the first Muslim American elected to Congress. He wants to participate in this, even though he doesn't agree with the premise, because he says it's important to get other points of views out.

HOLMES: And the CEO of National Public Radio stepping down because of controversy. Vivian Schiller announced her resignation yesterday. This comes after a video showing a former NPR executive calling the Tea Party quote "racist" and also "scary." He also says NPR would be better off without federal funding. That is something its leadership strongly denounced but has also been debated on Capitol Hill.

CHETRY: Lindsay Lohan is reportedly rejecting a plea deal in her felony theft case. She's accused of stealing a $2,500 necklace from a California jewelry store. The store owner says they plan to auction the necklace once the case is solved. They will give the proceeds to charity. Some say they weakened the case by reportedly shopping around that surveillance video.

HOLMES: She's taking a chance here, you either go with a plea or a lot longer if convicted by a jury.

You've been hearing about it for a while now, the government could shut down. Could it really? It could next week it lawmakers don't reach a budget agreement. Coming up by the Senate reject two spending bills and what that will mean as lawmakers can't come to terms in kind.

CHETRY: Also, you may be familiar with drones, they're used in Afghanistan and pack can. But the military is working with spy planes. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Unmanned drones, the size of a small bird. It's science fact, not fiction. I'm Chris Lawrence in southern California, and I'll have that story coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 13 minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. The Senate yesterday failed to pass two separate spending bills. One was backed by Republicans, one backed by Democrats. They both failed. But some are saying this means progress now. Budget negotiations are starting up again.

This morning, on Capitol Hill our Jim Acosta is keeping an eye on all things in Washington with more details. Jim, good morning. We keep hearing if they don't come to an agreement, this could lead to a government shutdown. Really?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, possibly, anything can happen on Capitol Hill, T.J. One week from tomorrow, the government is facing another potential government shutdown, but you wouldn't know that from watching the budget mess on Capitol Hill this week. As expected, as you mentioned, T.J., the Senate rejected both Republican and Democrats plans to pass a budget.

Despite being in the minority, the Republicans got more vote than the Democratic alternative, 44-56 for the GOP budget, and 42-58 for the Democratic proposal. There was bipartisan acknowledgement of the farce of the exercise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. RAND PAUL, (R) KENTUCKY: The president's plan will add $13 trillion to the debt. Republicans say, well, ours is a lot better. Theirs there add $12 trillion to the debt. I think it's out of control and neither plan will do anything to significantly alter things.

SEN. BEN NELSON, (D) NEBRASKA: I'm here to deliver a eulogy. Both bills are dead and they deserve to be dead. One bill cuts too little. The other Bill has too much hate. Neither one is serious. Most important, neither will pass, and they shouldn't pass because they're unfair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And both budgets were dead on arrival. Now, House Republicans are pointing fingers at the White House noting that the administration's designated point man on budget negotiations, Vice President Joe Biden is traveling overseas. With the clock ticking toward a government shutdown, Mr. Biden is in the middle of a five-day trip to Finland, Russia and Moldova, and the Republicans don't like that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R), MAJORITY WHIP: The vice president is the main negotiator. The vice president is not even in the country today. So we have less than a week and a half to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now the White House was quick to point out that the vice president did make phone calls to Republican leaders from Moscow yesterday. So they did accept the charges, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Jim Acosta keeping an eye on things for us. It could get interesting. It's always interesting, but certainly next week a big week. Jim, thank you. We'll talk to you soon here.

Also coming up this morning, we're going to be speaking to someone who has such an important role in all this budget debate. He is the chairman of the House Budget Committee, Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin. He'll be holding congressional hearings as well to talk budget. But he'll talk to us this morning -- Kiran.

CHETRY: T.J., thanks.

Well, more and more banks are offering relief to military families facing foreclosure. Christine Romans has more on that story after the break.

And also coming up, a father heads to the White House today to deliver on a promise he made to his son who took his own life because of bullying.

Sixteen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty minutes past the hour. Active duty military personnel behind on their mortgages facing foreclosure. This is a story we've covered before, but Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" right now. Are there changes in the way that banks are dealing with military personnel and these deployments?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Because it's been determined that banks have not been treating military -- military folks very fairly. You know, recently, JPMorgan admitted that thousands of active duty service members against the wall were charged higher interest rates than they can and were actually foreclosed on.

Now, new this morning. Bank of America is saying that it is launching a new mortgage modification program to make sure that mortgage holders through Bank of America who are military folks have special considerations even after they retire from active duty. And that's something new and it shows kind of a new initiative into this arena. An arena that's gotten attention of the president, the White House, and also Holly Petraeus, who is now point person on things like this at the new consumer finance place.

You know, there's something called the SERA. It's a service member law that means that if you're an active duty military, you cannot have an interest rate on your mortgage more than six percent. Bank of America says it's going to make its interest rate for active duty military folks four percent. So below that legal level and even extend that for another year.

What we know is that the housing crisis, you guys, has slammed military families. It has slammed them because there are these laws that are supposed to protect them that we know that some banks have not been following. We know that many of the banks are scrubbing their books to make sure that they have not erroneously charged active duty military folks more than they can, more than that six percent interest. You can't foreclose on somebody who's active duty in the military. There are people who've lost their homes. So this is new attention on this and hopefully, it's going to help military families that have been slammed. Reservists lose their civilian income. Transfer somebody, can't sell the house. It's been a very, very difficult process there. So --

CHETRY: Can they get the back money, too?

ROMANS: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. They're going to get -- I mean, if they have found outside of the Bank of America program, if they have found -- if you found that somebody has been overcharged, yes. And JPMorgan has been giving that money back.

I want to do a quick market check for you because yesterday the Dow was down one point. It was a very uneventful day yesterday. And I'll tell you why. They're just tracking oil prices. Today, though, futures are lower, watching China, a trade deficit in China. Also watching some concerns again about Spanish debt and Europe again.

CHETRY: No doubt their credit rating got downgraded, right, because of concerns?

ROMANS: Yes, yes, so we're going to watch and see. European markets and Asian markets are lower this morning, so we'll see if that follows through into the U.S. markets. So there you go.

HOLMES: Thank you.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

HOLMES: Good to see you.

ROMANS: I know. He's like, wow, she talks fast.

HOLMES: I'm always amazed. I'm just staring the whole time.

ROMANS: Sorry, I'll try and slow it down.

HOLMES: I'm sorry. No.

CHETRY: What was the micro machines back in the day, the guy that could talk so fast with the micro machines commercial? She gives him a run for his money.

ROMANS: Oh.

CHETRY: It is a good thing. You're very --

Well, he is the first Muslim elected to Congress. And coming up next, we're going to ask Minnesota's Keith Ellison what he plans to say when he testifies at today's controversial radicalization of Muslims in America hearing.

HOLMES: Also coming up this morning, a father's story that he wants every parent to hear. His fight against bullies after his son committed suicide after being bullied. His fight now taking him to the White House.

It's 22 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty-five minutes past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Parents, listen up, because I'm about to talk to a parent. And he wants you to hear this story. He is going to be participating today at the White House in a summit they're having on bullying. Bullying at school, bullying at the neighborhood, bullying online. This happens more often than people realize, it seems. And it seems like it doesn't get enough attention until something like this happened.

A young boy who was just 11 years old last year committed suicide. You see his picture there. It's 11-year-old Ty, killed himself after his father believes he was bullied and bullied repeatedly.

Kirk Smalley is with us this morning. He will be meeting with the president later today. He is the father of TY and he joins us.

Sir, we appreciate you spending some time with us this morning. Tell our viewers, Sir, what has your life been like since your son's death?

KIRK SMALLEY, SON COMMITTED SUICIDE AFTER BEING BULLIED: A nightmare. My wife and I, we miss our boy. He's in our minds and in our hearts for every second of every day. It's my life's become a nightmare.

HOLMES: Sir, you have dedicated yourself, it seems now, to this cause, of making sure the word gets out about bullying. Has that been helpful for you or just constantly painful for you to be talking about your son, seemingly, on a day in, day out basis? SMALLEY: It's been helpful. But there again, it's something that keeps it from ever really healing. Now, we've been around the schools. We've been to over 50 schools in the state of Oklahoma and told them Ty's story. Kids in Oklahoma City, from OSU-OKC Upward Bound started a group in Ty's honor called "Stand for the Silent." We go around and talk to any group that will listen to us.

I tell Ty's story sometimes three and four times a day to these groups of kids. And it's something that doesn't allow it to ever be far from my mind. That reliving that day. But at the same time it helps because I get messages and e-mails and text messages from all these children telling us how we've changed their lives and bullies and victims alike. And they take this message home to their parents and their grandparents and their family members. And they get messages from them. And it's kind of a -- HOLMES: Sir, what is your promise to your son?

SMALLEY: A month and seven days after my son took his own life, I made him a promise. It was Father's Day. And I promised Ty that I will stop bullying in our world. And to this day, I haven't broken the promise to that boy. And I don't intend to start now.

HOLMES: Sir, how much headway have you made in making good on that promise? You talked about some young people you talked to and changes you've made in their lives. But how long of a fight will this be for you to try to, as you say, eliminate bullying? SMALLEY: I think it will be a life-long fight. I plan on fighting bullying for the rest of my life. I plan on fighting bullying forever. Ty's going to be 11 years old forever.

We've made a lot of headway. We've talked over 30,000 kids in the state of Oklahoma, like I say. Been invited to 12 other states. Right now, we haven't been able to attend those other states. I'm headed to Nebraska the middle of April, I think the 14th, for six or seven schools there.

I'm a construction worker. I'm missing work. I'm doing everything I can to get the message out, so we're trying real hard to schedule as many ears as we can get to because every pair is a pair of lips to help spread our message.

HOLMES: In your opinion, Sir, are the kids maybe the real key to stopping bullying. I'm not talking about the bullies themselves but the peers out there who can step up and tell these bullies to stop doing it. Are they the key or is it the adults, the parents, the teachers to get on to the kids and to recognize these bullies and put a stop to it?

SMALLEY: Well, I think it's got to be a hand in hand situation, T.J.. The kids are the ones that can stop the bullying. And that's what we teach them in our programs that we go to. They are the only ones that can stop it. But we adults have to support them. Our lawmakers have to give the schools the backing. Give our kids the backing that they're reaching out for and they're screaming for and that they're needing so desperately. Our world's ready for a change.

And our babies are dying for it. Mine and Laura's is dead. You know. We've got to help them. We're pushing for legislation in the state of Oklahoma right now for some changes for the laws to give them the backing that they need, the schools. We're hopefully, we've got a new meeting coming up on the 23rd of March at the state capitol from 9:00 to 11:00, I've been told I can have school kids come from anywhere and speak out against bullying and what they're willing to do. I've got them coming from all over the state of Oklahoma by the thousands. So we're excited about that.

HOLMES: Well, Mr. Smalley, I appreciate you taking the time with us this morning. It's good to talk to you. I'm sorry that these are the circumstances that brought us together this morning. But I know you're going to be at the White House, talking to the president and bringing more attention to this cause, sir. Again, thank you so much. Good luck down the road. We'll continue to follow your progress and your promise.

But again, once again, so sorry for your loss, sir.

SMALLEY: Thank you, T.J..

CHETRY: Well, making a difficult turn here, we're going to be talking right now about the controversial House committee hearing that will examine the alleged radicalization of people in the Muslim community. At least that's what the hearing is called. A lot of Americans, Muslim say that the hearing are basically an attack on them. That they've been loyal citizens and this is not fair.

But Congressman Peter King is saying that the committee is trying to find out how far Al Qaeda has gone to influence American Muslim. Now this has certainly sparked a firestorm of debate across the country. Some even comparing it to McCarthyism. Our next guest is the first elected Muslim to Congress and he'll be testifying at today's hearing. Joining me this morning is Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison from Capitol Hill. Thanks so much for being with us this morning, Congressman Ellison.

STATE REP. KEITH ELLISON (R), MINNESOTA: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

CHETRY: So you could have chosen not to participate and I'm not going to be part of this because I think it's widely unfair but you're choosing instead to get there and have your voice heard. Why did you want to be a part of it today? ELLISON: Because I believe in engaging the process and I want to model the things I believe. I believe that people across our country, of all faiths, all colors, all cultures will engage the process. I think that we can take this, what I think is a faulty premise in this hearing and perhaps convert it into something good, if we get involved and try to give testimony that will shed light, as opposed to just polarize Americans.

CHETRY: What do you plan to say at today's hearing?

ELLISON: Basically three things, one is that violent extremism is a serious problem. There are people who are Muslim who have done it. People who are not. People who are Christian, Jewish, Hindu. It's been a problem across our society. Important second point is that the way to solve the problem is to engage all communities, including the Muslim community, and my old community of Minneapolis, on January 22nd, we had a whole group of law enforcement officials come together with young people and leaders, building trust, building a better way forward so that we can improve communication and protect our community.

And then finally, this hearing actually could set us back. Because, one, it reinforces the Al Qaeda narrative, which is that America is at war with Islam. America is not at war with Islam. America is not at war with any religion. But this hearing seems kind of like a targeted persecution. And also in that same vein, that look, Muslim-Americans have died with fellow Americans in tragedies like 9/11 and have been part of the solution and are part of every aspect of our society. And we need to include and pull people in, not alienate them.

CHETRY: You bring up a lot of good points. A couple of things that I want to ask you about, is that one, you mentioned Al Qaeda. And we have, through our improved efforts, made it much more difficult for Al Qaeda to strike in our country, I think most national security analysts would say that. And some of the analysts have said that Al Qaeda has been forced to change its tactics because of that. And that one area that they view as potentially ripe for continuing to launch attacks on America is to be able to radicalize within our country. Is that something that does not warrant further exploration?

ELLISON: It does warrant further exploration, in fact, I've given speeches on this very topic myself. I think it is an important thing to study. That's why I voted for a bill that would study this using expert testimony, using expert investigation and analysis.

Today's hearings, however, doesn't one single law enforcement official accept for the one that the minority Democrats called. Everybody else is sharing anecdotes which is not bad in and of itself. But if you really want to get to the bottom of this and understand it, you're going to need some people who really do know what they're talking about on a systemic level. That's one of the failings of this hearing. I think it was done poorly. So that's one of the other critiques. But absolutely, Al Qaeda, we do need to study their ideology and counter their ideology. But that takes real wisdom, not just anecdotal emotional stories. CHETRY: Now do you think that majority of Americans do not hold a disparaging view of Muslims? I mean, do you think that for the most part we are a (INAUDIBLE) that accepts all religions and cultures?

ELLISON: Absolutely. No question about it.

CHETRY: The reason I asked you that is I just want to get your take on this. The Gallup poll just released today, this "USA Today" Gallup poll when they asked people and it's a margin of error, plus or minus four percent, but they said do you think hearings on the radicalization of Muslim Americans are appropriate, and 52 percent said yes, that number actually surprised me. What is your take on why more than a majority have to say that it is appropriate to at least ask some of these questions?

ELLISON: Because they don't really know what the hearing is all about. They don't know that they're not calling FBI agents. They're not calling CIA agents. They're not calling people who have studied this in a systemic way. They don't know that we're not getting to the very heart of how to counter jihadist ideology. They think that we're having a legitimate hearing based on real investigation but what we're actually doing is having a sort of a theatrical performance not really designed to get to the heart of the matter. So I think people are under the misimpression that we're actually trying to learn something, we're actually not.

CHETRY: All right. I just want to ask you quickly, some have asked in the interest of political correctness and not just singling out Islam or a particular religion, but as a nation of people who don't want to offend any group or any religion, do we risk taking our focus off of certain potential threats?

ELLISON: That is among the most absurd things that I've heard out of this whole thing. My experience is that Americans engage in very candid, robust debate and discussion all the time. And that people are not particularly sensitive about not offending. I mean, all you got to do is read some of the e-mails I get, and some of them would be pretty offensive. So, look, the bottom line is that's not a real consideration. That's just something people who want to engage in stereotyping say in order to stereotype and get away with it.

CHETRY: Well, we're going to be listening to your testimony for sure today. And I want to thank you for joining us this morning to talk a little bit about this issue. Representative Keith Ellison from Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress. Thanks your time this morning.

ELLISON: Thank you.

HOLMES: Well, could it be a spy plane of the future? The hummingbird size and shaped spy plane. We'll show you how this thing work and see if it's going to be put to good use anytime soon.

CHETRY: Also coming up, counting down to William and Kate's wedding. We're going to go inside the venue that's steeped in royal history. 38 minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, about 20 minutes to the top of the hour. Welcome back to this "American Morning."

Turning to Libya right now where troops loyal to the Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi don't appear to be showing much mercy today. Bombs, rockets falling in the rebel-held city of Ras Lanuf. You see it there in the central north-central part of the country there. This comes just a day after the oil refinery was hit there. Take a look at that picture.

Our Ben Wedeman is on the ground there today reporting that Libyan ships in the Mediterranean sea are bombing homes through the city's eastern edge, and supplying mortar rounds to a hospital parking lot.

CHETRY: Also, the U.S. military is working on a new version of unmanned drones. These are not what you expect them to be actually. It's a prototype. It looks more like a little bird actually than a plane.

HOLMES: Yes, you see it there, Chris Lawrence is doing the story for us in L.A.. Chris, is it fair to call this thing a drone?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It is a drone, T.J.. But, you know, this is a drone that moves like an actual living thing. And it weighs less, less than a "AA " battery. So say it was perched on a telephone wire, imagine how hard it would be to tell if this drone was even watching you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Imagine a drone as small as a hummingbird, same shape. Same sound. Wait, don't imagine, it's here, in this California lab.

MATT KEENNON, AEROVIRONMENT PROJECT MANAGER: It looks more or less like an indigenous small bird and can fly through small clearings and through trees and see inside.

LAWRENCE: Aerovironment Matt Keennon says this is how the bird sees us from above.

(on camera): Right now, the hummingbird can only fly a little bit longer than 10 minutes. But at that size, imagine what it could do in 10 hours.

(voice-over): The Defense Department has spent $4 million with that dream in mind. American troops armed with an unmanned vehicle that blends into the other birds or insects in a given country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They operate hovers an aircraft around until it finds an opening.

LAWRENCE: Perhaps even buzzing into a room, drop a payload and leave. But most unmanned vehicles, the hummingbird included still depend on man to control their cameras or movements.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that's a vulnerability. That can be interrupted. That can be hacked.

LAWRENCE: Retired General David Artullo (ph) says future enemies will cut the operator's connection unless drones become more autonomous. He says sure drones have worked in Iraq and Afghanistan because there's very few missiles to shoot them down.

(on camera): But if you fly these same vehicles where there is an air defense -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those MQ-1 predators and MQ-9 reapers would be falling from the sky like a (INAUDIBLE).

LAWRENCE: Compared to other drones, the hummingbird has a six-inch wing span and weighs less than a "AA" battery. But the designer needs to add intelligence to its small size.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be much more useful if the aircraft could keep itself safe.

LAWRENCE: If so, the military has designs beyond battle, it envisions the bird helping to find victims, weaving through crevices created by an earthquake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Well, right now the Defense Department has got to decide whether it wants to sink more money into the project to sort of push the technology along. But you can imagine, say down the road, a police department were to use something like this, there would be a lot of ethical, legal, privacy issues that would have to be worked out with something so small, so hard to detect. Kiran, T.J..

HOLMES: All right. Chris, interesting stuff this morning. Good to see you this morning from L.A.. Thanks.

LAWRENCE: You too.

CHETRY: You know, people do just about anything to lose weight. There's a controversial new diet out there that involves daily injections of a pregnancy hormone. And on top of that, cutting your intake of food to just 500 calories a day. Does it work and is it dangerous? We're going to talk to a doctor about it.

HOLMES: Also, this morning, we've seen severe weather for the past couple of days. Get ready for more. Rob Marciano keeping a close eye on an important travel forecast for a lot of you. It's a quarter of the top of the hour here on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, about 12 minutes to the top of the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Fifty-two minutes past the hour. It's your AM House Call right now. You don't usually associate pregnancy with weight loss, right? Well, an increasingly popular diet involves injection of a pregnancy hormone called HCG, while eat than really an inadequate diet, just 500 calories a day is allowed.

This diet has critics, of course, including our next guest, Dr. Louis Arrone -- he is the director of the comprehensive weight control program at New York Presbyterian Weill-Cornell Hospital.

Doctor, great to have you with us this morning.

DR. LOUIS ARRONE, NY PRESBYTERIAN WEILL-CORNELL CENTER: Thanks, Kiran.

CHETRY: So, taking these hormones -- first explain how it is supposed to work, at least according to its claims.

ARRONE: Well, what is supposed to happen is that HCG is supposed to do something to your body to help you to lose weight while you're on the 500 calorie a day diet. But the fact is that there's no credible medical evidence that HCG does anything to weight loss. And a 500 calorie a day diet is a completely inadequate diet.

CHETRY: For most people that are trying to lose weight.

So what, in reality, how does this hormone work, HCG? And, what exactly is it?

ARRONE: HCG is a hormone that is produced when women are pregnant. It also helps the body to produce more sperm, if you're a man, and that has value, of course, in fertility treatments. And so it's used -- there is an appropriate use for this hormone -- and we see it used all the time. In fact, this week I saw two men who are taking it and they're not losing weight.

CHETRY: So the interesting thing is, how are people being tricked, as you say, into believing that how connecting this hormone with the 500 calorie a day diet gives a better weight loss? That somehow it's a superior thing than just trying to take in less calories.

ARRONE: Well, whenever you give someone a shot, it has a tremendous placebo effect. In other words, people think that it's going to do something. But it's really the 500 calorie a day diet which doesn't have enough protein that is the thing that works and makes you lose weight. And when you go on an inadequate diet, your body responds. It produces adrenaline, it produces other hormones that make you feel invigorated.

Now this may initially seem very good but the problem is your body takes the extra protein is needs from your own muscle and so you wind up losing muscle. You have a lot of risk when you do this type of a diet. CHETRY: So you basically say that this makes no sense and that people should stay away from it if somebody -- I mean, are doctors actually prescribing this for weight loss?

ARRONE: Doctors are prescribing this, but the problem is that there are more than a dozen studies that show that it doesn't work. So it's not that this hasn't been studied, this was studied more than 20 years ago, again and again. The studies show that it doesn't work. Why it's being used is beyond me.

CHETRY: You also say that the dollar amount is a little bit alarming, as well, because doctors could charge anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 a month to get this hormone. You say if you're undergoing in vitro fertilization, that those shots would normally cost you $120 to $200 a month.

ARRONE: Well, it is interesting that for patients who are undergoing in vitro fertilization, who go to the pharmacy and get this hormone, it only costs them $120 to $250 a month. But the patients who we've seen who are taking this and it's being sold to them at a doctor's office are paying many times that. I'm not sure why that actually is.

CHETRY: It is interesting. So for people -- so you're saying to stay away from this HCG for trying to lose weight.

What is the best method? what do you tell people that say I need to lose weight? What is the best way to do?

ARRONE: Well, there are many ways for people to lose weight. There are many different ways that work. You've got to cut down on calories but I don't want to say that there's any one way that's best. If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, there are things like surgery, for example. But the reason we have surgery is because it's very hard to lose weight.

So I think that this underscores how difficult it is, that people will jump to anything. They're desperate for solutions. We need more treatments for obesity. We need more. But when it comes to a treatment like this, what we're seeing is that people who are just a few pounds overweight are jumping on this type of treatment. Those are the worst people to treat with this because if they go on an inadequate diet, they're going to lose muscle mass. This is a very bad treatment to lose the last five pounds.

CHETRY: Got you. Dr. Louis Aronne, great to get your take this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

ARRONE: Thank you, Kiran.

CHETRY: Top stories coming your way after a quick break. We'll be right back.

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