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President Obama Celebrates Earth Day; Warplane Plans Hijacked
Aired April 22, 2009 - 14:25 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much. Please, everybody, have a seat.
It is good to be back in Newton, and it's a privilege to be here at Trinity Structural Towers.
I've got a couple of special thank yous that I want to make, because I've got a lot of old -- old friends. Not -- not old in years, but been friends for -- for a long time now.
First of all, your outstanding governor, Chet Culver. Please give him a big round of applause.
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His wonderful wife, Mari, I see over here. She's not on the card, but...
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My outstanding secretary of agriculture, who I plucked from Iowa, Tom Vilsack, and his wonderful wife, Christie Vilsack.
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We've got the attorney general of Iowa, one of my cochairs when I ran in the Iowa caucus and nobody could pronounce my name, Tom Miller.
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My other cochair, Mike Fitzgerald, treasurer of Iowa.
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We got the Iowa secretary of state, Mike Mauro. There he is.
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We got your outstanding member of Congress, who's working hard for Newton all the time, Leonard Boswell.
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And your own pride of Newton, Mayor Chaz Allen.
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There he is, back there.
Good to see you again, sir.
It is terrific to be here. And, by the way, I've got a whole bunch of folks here who were active in the campaign and precinct captains and I just want to thank all of them for showing up.
And to all the great workers who are here at this plant, thank you.
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I just had a terrific tour of the facility led by several of the workers and managers who operate this plant.
You know, it wasn't too long ago, as Rich said, that Maytag closed its operations in Newton, and hundreds of jobs were lost. And these floors were dark and silent.
The only signs of a once-thriving enterprise were the cement markings where the equipment had been before they were boxed up and carted away.
And look at what we see here today. This facility is alive again with new industry. This community is still going through some tough times. If you talk to your neighbors and friends, I know -- the community still hasn't fully recovered from the loss of Maytag. Not everybody's been rehired. But more than 100 people will now be employed in this plant, maybe more if we keep on moving.
Many of the same folks who had lost their jobs when Maytag shut its doors now are finding once again their ability to make great products.
Now, obviously, things aren't exactly the same as they were wit Maytag because now you're using the materials behind me to build towers to support some of the most advanced wind turbines in the world.
When completed, these structures will hold up blades that can generate as much as 2.5 megawatts of electricity -- enough energy to power hundreds of homes.
At Trinity, you are helping to lead the next energy revolution. But you're also heirs to the last energy revolution.
Think about it: Roughly a century and a half ago, in the late 1950s, the Seneca Oil Company hired an unemployed train conductor named Edwin Drake to investigate the oil springs of Titusville, Pennsylvania. Around this time, oil was literally bubbling up from the ground -- but nobody knew what to do with it. It had limited economic value, and often all it did was ruin crops or pollute drinking water.
Now, people were starting to refine oil for use as fuel. Collecting oil remained time-consuming, though, and it was back- breaking, and it was costly. It wasn't efficient, as workers harvested what they could find in the shallow ground. They had to literally scoop it up.
But Edwin Drake had a plan. He purchased a steam engine and he built a derrick and he began to drill.
And months passed. And progress was slow. The team managed to drill into the bedrock just a few feet each day -- each day. And crowds gathered and they mocked Mr. Drake. They (ph) thought him and the other diggers were foolish.
The well that they were digging even earned the nickname, "Drake's Folly." But Drake wouldn't give up. And he had an advantage: total desperation. It had to work. And then, one day, it finally did.
One morning, the team returned to the creek to see crude oil rising up from beneath the surface. And soon, Drake's well was producing what was then an astonishing amount of oil, perhaps 10, 20 barrels every day.
And then speculators followed and they built similar rigs, as far as the eye could see. In the next decade, the area would produce tens of millions of barrels of oil.
And as the industry grew, so did the ingenuity of those who sought to profit from it, as competitors developed new techniques to drill and transport oil to drive down costs and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Now, our history is filled with such stories, stories of daring talent, of dedication to an idea even when the odds were great, of the unshakeable belief that, in America, all things are possible.
And this has been especially true in energy production. From the first commercially-viable steamboat developed by Robert Fulton to the first modern solar cell developed at Bell Labs; from the experiments of Benjamin Franklin to harness the energy of lightning to the experiments of Enrico Fermi to harness the power contained in the atom, America has led the world in producing and harnessing new forms of energy.
But just as we've led the global economy in developing new sources of energy, we've also led in consuming energy. While we make up less than five percent of the world's population, we produce roughly a quarter of the world's demand for oil. This appetite comes now at a tremendous cost to our economy.
It's the cost measured by our trade deficit. Twenty percent of what we spend on imports is the price of our oil imports. We send billions of dollars overseas to oil exporting nations and I think all of you know many of them are not our friends. It's the same cost attributable to our vulnerability to the volatility of oil markets. Every time the world oil market goes up, you're getting stuck at the pump. It's the cost we feel in shifting weather patterns that are already causing record-breaking droughts, unprecedented wildfires, more intense storms. It's the cost we've known every since the gas shortages of the 1970s.
And yet for more than 30 years, too little has been done about it. There's a lot of talk of action when oil prices skyrocket like they did last summer, and everybody says we've got to do something about energy independence. But then it slips from the radar when oil prices start falling like they have recently. So we shift from shock to indifference, time and again, year after year.
We can't afford that approach anymore, not when the costs for our economy, for our country and for our planet is so high.
So on this Earth Day, it is time for us to lay a new foundation for economic growth by beginning a new era of energy exploration in America .
That's why I'm here.
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Now, the choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy. The choice we face is between prosperity and decline. We can remain the world's leading importer of oil or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy.
We can allow climate change to wreak unnatural havoc across the landscape or we can create jobs working to prevent its worst effects.
We can hand over the jobs of the 21st century to our competitors or we can confront what countries in Europe and Asia have already recognized as both a challenge and an opportunity: The nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy.
America can be that nation. America must be that nation. And while we seek new forms of fuel to power our homes and cars and businesses, we will rely on the same ingenuity, the same American spirit that has always been a part of our American story.
Now, this will not be easy. There aren't any silver bullets. There's no magic energy source right now. Maybe some kid in a lab somewhere is figuring it out. Twenty years from now there may be an entirely new energy source that we don't yet know about. But right now there's no silver bullet.
It's going to take a variety of energy sources, pursued through a variety of policies, to drastically reduce our dependence on oil and fossil fuels.
As I've often said, in the short term, as we transition to renewable energy, we can and should increase our domestic production of oil and natural gas. We're not going to transform our economy overnight. We still need more oil; we still need more gas. If we've got some here in the United States that we can use, we should find it, and do so in a environmentally sustainable way.
We also need to find safer ways to use nuclear power and store nuclear waste.
But the bulk of our efforts must focus on unleashing a new, clean energy economy that will begin to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, will cut our carbon pollution by about 80 percent by 2050, and create millions of new jobs right here in America -- right here in Newton.
My administration has already taken unprecedented action toward this goal.
It's work that begins with the simplest, fastest, most effective way we have to make our economy cleaner, and that is to make our economy more energy efficient. California has shown that it can be done. While electricity consumption grew 50 percent in this country over the last three decades, in California, it remained flat.
Think about this. I want everybody to think about this. Over the last several decades, the rest of the country, we used 50 percent more energy. California remained flat; used the same amount, even though they were growing just as fast as the rest of the country, because they were more energy efficient. They put in some good policy early on that assured that they weren't wasting energy.
Now, if California can do it, then the whole country can do it. Iowa can do it.
Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we've begun to modernize 75 percent of all federal building space, which has the potential to reduce long-term energy costs, just in federal buildings, by billions of dollars on behalf of taxpayers.
So we're providing grants to states to help weatherize hundreds of thousands of homes, which will save the families that benefit about $350 each year. That's like a $350 tax cut.
Consumers are also eligible, as part of the Recovery Act, for up to $1,500 in tax credits to purchase more efficient cooling and heating systems, insulation, and windows in order to reduce their energy bills.
And I've issued a memorandum to the Department of Energy to implement more aggressive efficiency standards for common household appliances like dishwashers and refrigerators.
We actually have made so much progress just on something as simple as refrigerators that you have seen refrigerators today many times more efficient than they were back in 1974. We save huge amounts of energy if we upgrade those appliances.
Through these steps over the next three decades, we will save twice the amount of energy produced by all the coal-fired power plants in America in any given year. We are already seeing reports from across the country of how this is beginning to create jobs, because local governments and businesses rushed to hire folks to do the work of building and installing these energy-efficient products. And these steps will spur job creation innovation as more Americans make purchases that place a premium on reducing energy consumption.
Business across the country will join the competition in developing new products, seeking new consumers. In the end, the sum total of choices made by consumers and companies in response to our recovery plan will mean less pollution in our air and water. It will reduce costs for families and businesses -- money in your pocket -- and it will lower our overall reliance on fossil fuels which disrupt our environment and endanger our children's future.
So that's step number one -- energy efficiency. That's the low- hanging fruit. But energy efficiency can only take us part of the way. Even as we're conserving energy, we need to change the way we produce energy. Today, America produces less than 3 percent of our electricity through renewable sources like wind and solar -- less than 3 percent.
Now, in comparison, Denmark produces almost 20 percent of their electricity through wind power. We pioneered solar technology, but we've fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in generating, even though we've got more sun than either country.
I don't accept this is the way it has to be. When it comes to renewable energy, I don't think we should be followers; I think it's time for us to lead. And...
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... we are now poised to do exactly that. According to some estimates, last year, 40 percent of all new generating capacity in our country came from wind.
In Iowa, you know what this means. This state is second only to Texas in installed wind capacity, which more than doubled last year alone.
And the result? Once-shuttered factories are whirring back to life right here at Trinity. At TPI Composites, where more than 300 workers are manufacturing turbine blades, same thing; elsewhere in this state and across America .
In 2000, energy technology represented just one-half of 1 percent of all venture capital investments. Today it's more than 10 percent.
So the recovery plan seeks to build on this progress and encourage even faster growth.
We're providing incentives to double our nation's capacity to generate renewable energy over the next few years; extending the production tax credit, providing loan guarantees, offering grants to spur investment in new sources of renewable fuel and electricity.
My budget also invests $15 billion each year for 10 years to develop clean energy, including wind power and solar power, geothermal energy, and clean coal technology.
And today I'm announcing that my administration is taking another historic step. Through the Department of Interior, we are establishing a program to authorize -- for the very first time -- the leasing of federal waters for projects to generate electricity from wind, as well as from ocean currents and other renewable sources.
And this will open the door to major investments in offshore clean energy. For example, there is enormous interest in wind projects off the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware. And today's announcement will enable these projects to move forward.
Now, it's estimated that if we fully pursue our potential for wind energy on land and offshore, wind can generate as much as 20 percent of our electricity by 2030, and create a quarter million jobs in the process, 250,000 jobs in the process -- jobs that pay well and provide good benefits.
It's a win-win. It's good for the environment and it's great for the economy.
Now, even as we pursue renewable energy from the wind and the sun and other sources, we also need a smarter, stronger electricity grid -- some of you have been hearing about this, the smart grid -- a grid that can carry energy from one end of this country to the other.
So when you guys are building these amazing towers and the turbines are going up and they're producing energy, we've got to make sure that energy produced in Iowa can get to Chicago, energy produced in North Dakota can get to Milwaukee. That's why we're making an $11 billion investment through the recovery plan to modernize the way we distribute electricity.
And as we're taking unprecedented steps to save energy and generate new kinds of energy for our homes and businesses, we need to do the same for our cars and trucks.
Right now, two of America's iconic automakers are considering their future. They're facing difficult challenges. I'm talking about Chrysler and G.M.
But one thing we know is that for automakers to succeed in the future, these companies need to build the cars of the future. They can't build the cars of the past. Yet, for decades, fuel economy and fuel economy standards have stagnated, leaving American consumers vulnerable to the ebb and flow of gas prices.
When gas prices spike up like they did last summer, suddenly the market for American cars plummets -- because we build SUVs. That's it. It leaves the American economy ever more dependent on the supply of foreign oil.
We have to create the incentives for companies to develop the next generation of clean energy vehicles -- and for Americans to drive them, particularly as the U.S. auto industry moves forward on a historic restructuring that can position it for a more prosperous future. And that's why my administration has begun to put in place higher fuel economy standards for the first time since the mid-1980s; so our cars will get better mileage, saving drivers money, spurring companies to develop more innovative products.
The Recovery Act also includes $2 billion in competitive grants to develop the next generation of batteries for plug-in hybrids. We're planning to buy 17,600 American-made, fuel-efficient cars and trucks for the government fleet. And today, Vice President Biden is announcing a Clean Cities grant program through the Recovery Act to help state and local governments purchase clean energy vehicles, too.
We can clean up our environment and put people back to work in a strong U.S. auto industry, but we've got to have some imagination, we've got to be bold. We can't be looking backwards. We've got to look -- we've got to look forward.
My budgets also make -- making unprecedented investments in mass transit, high-speed rail, and in our highway system to reduce the congestion that wastes money and time and energy. We need to connect Des Moines to Chicago with high-speed rail, all across the Midwest.
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That way you don't have to take off your shoes when you want to go visit Chicago, going through the airport.
My budget also invests in advanced biofuels and ethanol, which, as I've said, is an important transitional fuel to help us end our dependence on foreign oil while moving towards clean, homegrown sources of energy.
And while we're creating the incentives for companies to develop these technologies, we're also creating incentives for consumers to adapt these -- to these new technologies. So the Recovery Act includes a new credit, new tax credit for up to $7,500 to encourage Americans to buy more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.
So if you guys are in the market to buy a car or truck, check out that tax credit.
In addition, innovation depends on innovators doing the research and testing the ideas that might not pay off in the short run -- some of them will be dead-ends, won't pay off at all -- but when taken together hold incredible potential over the long term.
And that's why my recovery plan includes the largest investment in basic research funding in American history. And my budget includes a 10-year commitment to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent.
That's a tax credit that returns $2.00 to the economy for every $1.00 we spend.
That young guy in the garage designing a new engine or a new battery, that computer scientist who's imagining a new way of thinking about energy, we need to fund them now, fund them early. Because that's what America has always been about -- technology and innovation.
And this is only the beginning.
My administration will be pursuing comprehensive legislation to move toward energy independence and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, while creating the incentives to make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America .
Now, there's been some debate about this whole climate change issue. But it's serious. It could be a problem. It could end up having an impact on farmers like Rich. If you're starting to see temperatures grow -- rise, 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent. Have a profound impact on our lives.
And the fact is, we place limits on pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide and other harmful emissions, but we haven't placed any limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. This is what's called the carbon loophole.
Now, last week, in response to a mandate from the United States Supreme Court, the Environmental Protection Agency determined that carbon dioxide and other tailpipe emissions are harmful to the health and wellbeing of our people. So there's no question that we have to regulate carbon pollution in some way. The only question is how we do it.
I believe the best way to do it is through legislation that places a market-based cap on these kinds of emissions. And today key members of my administration are testifying in Congress on a bill that seeks to enact exactly this kind of market-based approach.
My hope is that this will be the vehicle through which we put this policy in effect. And here's how a market-based cap would work. We'd set a cap, a ceiling on all the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that our economy is allowed to produce in total, combining the emissions from cars and trucks, coal-fired power plants, energy-intensive industries -- all sources.
And by setting an overall cap, carbon pollution becomes like a commodity. It places a value on a limited resource and that is the ability to pollute. To determine that value, just like any other traded commodity, we create a market where companies could buy and sell the right to produce a certain amount of carbon pollution, and in this way every company can determine for itself whether it makes sense to spend the money to become cleaner or more efficient, or to spend the money on a certain amount of allowable pollution.
Over time, as the cap on greenhouse gases is lowered, the commodity becomes scarcer and the price goes up, and year by year companies and consumers would have greater incentive to invest in clean energy and energy efficiency, as the price of the status quo becomes more expensive.
What this does is it makes wind power more economical, makes solar power more economical. Clean energy all becomes more economical. And by closing the carbon loophole through this kind of market-based cap, we can address in a systematic way all the facets of the energy crisis. We lower our dependence on foreign oil. We reduce our use of fossil fuels. We promote new industries right here in America. We set up the right incentives so that everybody is moving in the same direction towards energy independence.
And as we pursue solutions through the public and private sectors, we also need to remember that every American has a role to play. This is not just a job for government. You know, some of you may remember during the campaign when gas was real high, I suggested during the campaign that one small step Americans could take would be to keep their tires inflated.
Do you remember that?
And everybody teased me. They said, oh, look, look, that's Obama's energy policy. My opponents sent around tire gauges.
But I tell you what; it turns out that saves you an awful lot of gas, money in your pocket. It also made sense for our energy use as a whole. If everybody kept their tires inflated, that would have a big dent. It would produce as much oil savings as we might be pumping in some of these offshore sites, by drilling.
So we've got to everybody involved in this process. I don't accept the conventional wisdom that suggests that the American people are unable or unwilling to participate in a national effort to transform the way we use energy.
I don't believe that the only thing folks are capable of doing is just paying their taxes. I disagree. I think the American people are ready to be part of a mission.
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I believe that.
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It's not just keeping your tires inflated. If each one of us replaced just one ordinary incandescent light bulb with one of those compact fluorescent light bulbs -- you know, the squirrely (ph) ones -- that could save enough energy to light 3 million homes -- just one light bulb each, 3 million homes' worth of energy savings.
That's just one small step.
So all of us are going to have to be involved in this process. And like I said, if you make the investment up front, you, the individual consumer, will save money in the long term and all of us, collectively, will be better off.
Now, this is also a global problem, so it's going to require a global coalition to solve it. If we've got problems with climate change and the temperature rising all around the world, that knows no boundaries. And the decisions of any nation will affect every nation. So, next week, I will be gathering leaders of major economies from all around the world to talk about how we can work together to address this energy crisis and this climate crisis.
The truth is, the United States has been slow to participate in this kind of a process working with other nations. But those days are over now. We are ready to engage. And we're asking other nations to join us...
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... in tackling this challenge together...
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All of these steps -- all of these steps we've taken in just the first three months probably represents more progress than we've achieved in three decades, on the energy front.
We're beginning the difficult work of reducing our dependence on foreign oil. We're beginning to break the bonds, the grip that fossil fuels has on us. We're beginning to create a new, clean energy economy -- and the millions of jobs that will flow from it.
Now, there are those who still cling to the notion that we ought to just continue doing what we do, that we can't change. Americans like to use a lot of energy; that's just how we are. The government has neither the responsibility nor the reason to address our dependence on energy sources, even though they undermine our security and threaten our economy, and endanger our planet.
And then there's this even more dangerous idea: the idea that there's nothing we can do about it. Our politics is broken, our people are unwilling to make hard choices. So politicians decide, look, even though we know it's something that has to be done, we're just going to put it off. That's what's happened for the last three, four, five decades. Everybody's known that we had to do something but nobody wanted to actually go ahead and do it, because it's hard.
So the implication in this argument is that we've somehow lost something important; that perhaps because of the very prosperity we've built over the course of generations, that we've given up that fighting American spirit, that sense of optimism, that willingness to tackle tough challenges, that determination to see those challenges to the end -- the notion that we've gotten soft somehow.
I reject that argument. I reject it because of what you're doing right here at Trinity, what's happening right here in Newton after folks have gone through hard times.
I reject it because of what I've seen across this country, in all the eyes of the people that I've met, in the stories that I've heard, in the factories that I've visited, in the places where I've seen the future being pieced together, test by test, trial by trial.
So it will not be easy. There will be bumps along the road. There will be costs for our nation and for each of us as individuals.
As I said before, there's no magic bullet, there's no perfect answer to our energy needs. All of us are going to have to use energy more wisely. But I know that we are ready and able to meet these challenges.
All of us are beneficiaries of a daring and innovative past. Our parents, our grandparents, our great-grandparents adapted to much more difficult circumstances to deliver the prosperity that we enjoy today.
And I'm confident that we can be and will be the benefactors of a brighter future for our children and grandchildren.
That can be our legacy -- a legacy of vehicles powered by clean renewable energy traveling past newly opened factories; of industries employing millions of Americans in the work of protecting our planet; of an economy exporting the energy of the future instead of importing the energy of the past; of a nation once again leading the world to meet the challenges of our time.
That's our future. I hope you're willing to work with me to -- to get there.
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Thank you very much. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. Thank you.
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KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The president of the United States there celebrating Earth Day in Newton, Iowa, a town right there on the front lines of a wind power revolution. He's there plugging his plans for clean energy, talking about jobs.
As you know, his clean energy plan also includes a pretty controversial market for carbon emission permits. It's called cap and trade. It's already generating a lot of heat on Capitol Hill.
We're following that as well. We'll stay on top of this story throughout Earth Day.
We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
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PHILLIPS: So, is America's newest fighter jet a sitting duck for cyber-spies? Word is getting out about a wide-scale hacking now of computer files dealing with the F-35, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter.
We get more details now from CNN Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): America's newest, most advanced fighter aircraft compromised by computer hackers. Senior defense official say the hackers broke into thousands of confidential files over two years. They stole information on the F-35's performance, design and electronics system.
How did they get in? Officials say through the computers of Pentagon contractors who designed and built the jet. But the prime contractor says no classified data has been lost in a cyber attack.
BRUCE TANNER, CFO, LOCKHEED MARTIN: To our knowledge, there's never been any classified information breach. And like the government, these attacks on our systems are continuous, and we do have stringent measures in place to both detect and stop these attacks.
LAWRENCE: But it goes beyond one plane. Officials say the hackers also busted into the air traffic control system of the Air Force, where they could see the locations of military aircraft in flight.
Defense officials say the intruders were able to cover their tracks and make it look like the break-ins were coming from all over the world. And computer security experts say it's hard to determine if the hackers represent an actual government, a corporation, or they're just private citizens.
MICHAEL LIACKO, VICE PRESIDENT, INTEGRITY GLOBAL SECURITY: And so often the trail leads to China, to various parts within Russia, the Ukraine. And there's very little that can be done.
LAWRENCE (on camera): The most sensitive information is the F- 35's stealth capability and operating system. That was not compromised because it's stored on a computer that is not connected to the Internet. And the Pentagon has a relatively new rule where contractors have to prove that they're using the proper security before they're even awarded the contract.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So what can be done to beef up cyber security? And what's at stake if we don't?
Until last month, Rod Beckstrom was the director of the National Cybersecurity Center. He joins me now live from San Francisco.
Rod, thanks for being with us.
I guess a kind of broad question here, but why have we failed so miserably at keeping the Internet secure?
ROD BECKSTROM, FMR. DIR., NATL. CYBERSECURITY CTR.: Look, this is a very tough game. The internet itself is meant to be open, and meant to be shared by people all over the world. And it's inherently open to attack in that sense and the U.S. Air Force has some very sophisticated people in cyber security methods and even the best people are getting attacked these days. And what we need to do is actually fix the internet. We need to invest in tightening up the architecture and we haven't been putting enough money and resources into that yet.
PHILLIPS: Now, apparently these computer spies that broke into -- and I should set this up, the pentagon's $300 billion joint strike fighter project. And it's apparently the DOD's costliest weapons program ever. Now, officials coming forward saying they believe these attacks may have originated from China. First of all, do you think it could be China?
BECKSTROM: Well, certainly it could be. And they're known to be a very sophisticated player in this domain, just reading the material that's on the internet. When they witnessed the U.S. success in the first Gulf War, they decided strategically they needed to enhance their network warfare capabilities, so it certainly could be China. But it's always very difficult to figure out ultimately who has originated cyber attacks.
PHILLIPS: All right, so let's say it is China, because that's what some officials are saying now.
BECKSTROM: Right.
PHILLIPS: What's the threat? What's the threat to us if, in fact, they are doing this?
BECKSTROM: Well, you know, let's say that government got this information on -- on the F-35 lightning II, the joint strike fighter, they could use that information to improve their own defenses against that military capability, as mentioned in Shaban's(ph) excellent article in the "Wall Street Journal," so they could have better anti- missile technology or they could improve their radar, change their technology to try to detect the equipment. They could use it to design better military jets or equipment on their own. They might even use it in commercial applications in building commercial jets. There's a lot of different ways they could use such extremely valuable information and knowledge.
PHILLIPS: So, what do you think of this new military command? Another article that came out, that we were reading about today, to coordinate the defense of pentagon computer networks and improve U.S. offensive capabilities? Do you think we need an additional military command to do this?
BECKSTROM: You know, I have tremendous respect for our military leaders. They're really doing a strong job in this field, in a very tough environment. They're very smart. They've got some of the strongest efforts in the world in cyber security, and working with many of the best experts out in the world. And I think if the joint leadership of our military decides that they want to pull together a command, I think they've probably gone through very thoughtful analysis and debate.
PHILLIPS: I've got to ask you, too, Rod, why did you resign as the director of the National Cybersecurity Center?
BECKSTROM: Well, I sent a letter to my bosses in government, a number of members of cabinet, about why I resigned, and that ended up leaking out to the internet. Some of the things that I cited in that letter was that I was concerned about the dominant role of one organization, in the government, and I thought that the responsibility should be more widespread. And secondly, concerned about the resource, the lack of resources for my own group and the challenges that we had, part of which are the natural nature of creating a new organization in a complex, beautiful federated and decentralized bureaucracy. And part of it due to the important nature of working on cyber security. And I think we were working on something that was much desired and coveted by different groups in government. And I felt honored to be there and work on it.
PHILLIPS: But it's a huge concern that you resigned, said you didn't have the resources and now allegedly spies in China have been tapping into the costliest weapons program that we have here in the United States. I mean, that's frightening.
BECKSTROM: I'd like to came casualty. My departing caused such weaknesses that this could happen, but that's clearly not the case.
PHILLIPS: But I think that was always a problem, though.
BECKSTROM: Absolutely. It's been a problem for a decade. It's growing. And it continues more as it is continues evolving. The world of hackers and the world of -- even the nation-states involved, some people say there's 40 nations involved and some people say out there in the unit, there's another 100 nations trying to develop offensive cyber capabilities. So, it's a very complex environment, and we need to tighten up this network. We need to invest in the internet protocols themselves, in putting our money in developing them and employing them so that we tighten up the whole system for everybody concerned.
PHILLIPS: Well, we'll stay on top of this story. Rod Beckstrom, appreciate your time today, Rob.
BECKSTROM: Thank you Kyra.
PHILLIPS: A few minutes ago we saw President Barack Obama celebrating Earth Day in Newton, Iowa, a town on the front lines of a wind power revolution or what supporters hope is a revolution. The White House sees wind as a win/win proposition, generating power and jobs. President's other clean-energy plans include a controversial market, however, for carbon emission permits, its called cap and trade. And it's generating a lot of heat already on Capitol Hill. Poppy Harlow of cnnmoney.com has more from our energy fix desk from New York. Hi Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hi Kyra. Yeah, cap and trade very controversial. Some had been talking previously about a carbon tax. It seems the cap and trade is getting more attention especially from the administration essentially charging companies more the more they pollute. And praising those through -- they have to pay less, the less they pollute. There I got it out. But essentially the fear is that this cost is going to be passed down to the consumer.
So, today the head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, the secretaries of energy and transportation, all were on Capitol Hill testifying before a congressional committee about a bill that was put forth really just a few weeks ago, the American clean energy and security act of 2009. Some key components of that calling for a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and 80 percent cut in those emissions by the year 2050 through cap and trade. Take a listen to what the members of Obama's team had to say on the issue earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN CHU, ENERGY SECRETARY: We must get off the sidelines of the clean energy race and play to win. The administration believes that a gradual market-based cap on carbon pollution would also be a significant step for restoring America's leadership in the deployment of clean-energy technology.
LISA JACKSON: I believe this is a jobs bill, and it is a jobs bill that focuses our country's attention on the growth industry of the future, which is the clean-energy industry.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Of course, that was Lisa Jackson, the head of the EPA. Not everyone agrees with her. So far, Kyra, no republican support on this bill, and even some democrats on the sidelines not weighing in just yet. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: A big concern is that companies will pass increased costs to the consumer, right?
HARLOW: It's a big concern and it will happen if we do see a cap-and-trade system. The question is by how much? We could all be paying a lot more if this bill is signed into law. An EPA report just released yesterday shows us that the EPA thinks the average American household is going to have to pay an extra $98 to $140 a year. So not substantial. But those estimates assume that we'd all get these lump- sum government rebates through money raised in the cap-and-trade system which could cost businesses billions and billions of dollars. If we don't see that, the cost to us would be a lot more. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right, Poppy Harlow, thanks.
We're still pushing forward on the torture front, almost a week after the White House released those Bush-era memos justifying harsh interrogation of terror suspects, we're hearing more about who said what and when. CNN's Brian Todd joining me from Washington with the latest on that. What's the next level of this story now Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are -- seem to be levels popping up every day, Kyra. We've had considerable fallout in recent days from the White House release of those enhanced interrogation memos. Calls for investigations, calls for those who drafted the memos to be prosecuted, pushback on the other side from Dick Cheney and other former top White House officials. Now we're told of more debate that took place inside the Bush administration over this technique at the time that those memos were drafted.
Philip Zelikow, former top deputy to Condoleezza Rice at the state department, he was also former executive director of the 9/11 commission, he tells us that when he saw the interrogation memos, he thought they were in his words Orwellian. Zelikow says he sent around his own memo arguing that these methods likely wouldn't hold up in any court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILIP ZELIKOW, FMR. STATE DEPARTMENT AIDE: I thought that was an extreme view of American constitutional law, and I thought others in the government needed to just at least confront an alternative view saying that. Then they were entitled to disregard that view and they did. Not only did folks not agree, they thought the memo was way out of line and, in fact, I was told that the White House had asked that all the copies of the memo be collected and destroyed.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Now, Zelikow says he doesn't know who specifically tried to suppress his memos just that he was told by a colleague that someone inside the Bush White House was doing this. He says one or two copies of his memo are likely still around but he couldn't give us one because he says it's still classified. We've called the former president's office and Dick Cheney's office, tried to contact several top aides to the former president and vice president. So far we have gotten no response, Kyra. We are still casting our net.
PHILLIPS: And so bottom line, Brian, what do you think about this talk about possible prosecutions? Do you think that is even a reality of Bush administration officials?
TODD: It certainly could be. You're going to have a lot of weight behind it. But even now, even today, we're hearing talk that, look, it's going to be the justice department's call. They're the ones who have to sort out all the legal ramifications. There's going to be a lot of political pressure for prosecutions here from congress, from other people, and we're going to see how that sustains in Washington. The attorney general is said to be weighing this. The justice department is supposed to be an impartial arbiter of what was legal and what wasn't. But political pressure in this town may weigh on that very heavily.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll follow up with you. Brian Todd, thanks so much. You can see all of Brian's latest reporting on the torture memos and the fallout today in "THE SITUATION ROOM", that's at 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.
When it comes to the worldwide recession, we may not all be in the same boat, but we're surely in the same storm, so says Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to the Economic Club of Washington. He says the U.S. bears substantial responsibility for the global economic collapse, but it's time to push forward. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: Never before has so much of the world been simultaneously hit by a confluence of economic and financial turmoil. The national monetary fund now expects the world economy to decline this year for the first time in more than six decades. The 1.3 percentage decline forecast by the IMF represents a sharp deterioration from the roughly 4 percent annual growth rates which the fund estimates this trend growth for the world economy as a whole. And lost output in this context could be as high as $3 to $4 trillion this year alone.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Geithner says that the pace of the decline may be easing, but recovery will definitely take time.
Well, deficit spending isn't exclusive to Washington. Millions of American households depend on credit cards, and now they're facing hikes and fees in interest rates and cuts in balance limits as banks try to boost their profits and minimize risk. Tomorrow, President Obama meets with the leaders of top credit card issuers while lawmakers take up a credit card customers' bill of rights. Great time to call on Gerri Willis for some credit card survival tips. Gerri, what do you think we need to know?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: More and more folks out there are seeing their credit limits reduced, Kyra. Their interest rates increase and their minimum payments rise. Some credit card issuers are closing down accounts proactively if you haven't used them in a while. So, to find out what's changing with your card, here's what you should do. First, you have to read your mail carefully. You'll get updated terms and conditions, but it may just look like junk mail. Here are the words you really want to watch out for, say as of "x" date "x" is changing, modifying, dates going forward, altering, you get the picture here. That's the kind of language they tell you there could be bad things coming.
PHILLIPS: So if something has changed with our cards, what options do we have?
WILLIS: Generally if you don't accept the changes, you have to opt out and close the account. Now, keep in mind that if you close the account, that could hurt your credit score, because it makes the amount of debt you have compared to your credit look bigger by comparison. If you've been a loyal customer, it may be worth your while to plead your case, since credit card issuers want to keep you as a customer and they spend a lot of money to do it. But if the terms really are egregious, the fact is you may just have to part ways with that plastic. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right, Gerri, thanks.
Time for a new bumper sticker, think locally, spend locally. You can save plenty. We'll take you to a community that's found a way to mind its own business by printing its own money. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: How about this for keeping your community in business? Community cash that only works locally. Pittsboro, North Carolina has its own currency now. CNN's Brooke Baldwin shows us how it's giving the dollar a run for its money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the wake of the economic downturn, local communities have taken note, not this kind of note. Rather, their own note by printing local currency. In Pittsboro, North Carolina, they call it the plenty.
MELISSA FREY, PLENTY CURRENCY: We're all struggling, right? So, the idea is to build ourselves back up and the plenty allows to us do that.
BALDWIN: Melissa Frye is behind this new push in Pittsboro to relaunch the plenty, a once defunct local currency that come May 12th will be backed by this bank.
FREY: You can take nine federal dollars, go into Capital Bank and exchange it for 10 plenties. You're actually essentially getting a 10 percent discount on your local purchases by doing that.
BALDWIN: The point, spend locally. The perk, get a discount. Already a handful of businesses accept the plenty, including Chatham Marketplace.
(On camera): Bread, wine, meat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BALDWIN (on camera): You can buy it all with the plenty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Everything we sell in the store, you can buy with the plenty.
BALDWIN: Mary Demare says much of the motivation is psychological.
MARY DEMARE, GENERAL MANAGER, CHATHAM MARKETPLACE: You can spend locally, all you want, with U.S. currency. But once you turn them into plenties, you're saying, you know, I'm keeping this money right here.
BALDWIN (voice-over): That's a message reminiscent of the great depression. Banks were closing. Cash was short. So, local governments issued script to keep commerce flowing. Currently about a dozen communities use local currency. One of the oldest is Ithaca hours, which went into circulation in 1991. The largest system is in Massachusetts. Where about 350 businesses accept Berkshares, and in Detroit, three business owners are now accepting the Cheer.
(On camera): This concept of community currency is perfectly legal, according to the federal government just as long as this doesn't resemble this. Still pay taxes to Uncle Sam just the same, but one economist said this idea doesn't add up.
EDWARD VAN WESEP, ASST. PROFESSOR OF FINANCE, UNC CHAPEL HILL: If people want to stimulate the local economy by spending locally, they can do it with dollars just as well as anything else.
BALDWIN (voice-over): Edward Van Wesep is an assistant finance professor at the University of North Carolina.
VAN WESEP: The idea of keeping money in the community doesn't actually make a lot of sense. You don't want to keep money in the community. You want to trade with other communities. That's what makes everybody wealthy.
BALDWIN: Perhaps in Pittsboro and elsewhere it's less about getting rich and more about a commitment to the community.
DEMARE: It may look a little silly to people who come from outside of our area, but it's money.
BALDWIN: And it works?
DEMARE: And it works.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: That's not silly.
BALDWIN: No.
PHILLIPS: It's pretty cool.
BALDWIN: I brought you some.
PHILLIPS: Yeah, I notice that. And I like that it says, "In each other we trust." That's fantastic.
BALDWIN: And in Spanish as well.
PHILLIPS: And in Spanish which is great. Thank a lot. And a local artist I guess did the pictures on the back, did all of it. They've got the heron and the trout Lilly. That's pretty cool. But, tell me, how many businesses are using the money there? And what makes them so confident it's going to work this time around?
BALDWIN: Right. Because I said it was once defunct. They started doing it, got into it in the early 2000's. Six businesses so far, obviously come May 12th, that's when the bank, the Capital Bank branch there in Pittsboro will be backing this plenty. That of course is good news, because that means before you couldn't get plenty and then turn it back into real federal cash. This time around thanks to the bank, you can. They're hoping more businesses will get on board so more people spend locally. As ladies say, they're trying to reclaim their local economy. It's tough right now, we know that, right? PHILLIPS: Yes, that's true. We're all feeling it.
BALDWIN: Yeah.
PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about what's in it for the businesses. What's the pitch?
BALDWIN: The pitch, it's a good question. It's obviously there's great news in it for the consumer. Because essentially it's a 10 percent discount. For the businesses, they're hoping this will incentivize the customer to get out, to spend locally and not go to the big retail chain, instead go to the Chatham Marketplace that we just saw. They're hoping, then, that people will open their pocketbooks a little bit more, spend a little bit more, and in the end really it's just about keeping the money in the community.
PHILLIPS: Well, what can I get for six bucks in Pittsboro?
BALDWIN: Maybe a couple extra bananas than you normally could.
PHILLIPS: Fabulous, I'll hold on to it.
BALDWIN: And hopefully it will work.
PHILLIPS: All right, it's cool stuff.
BALDWIN: Sure.
PHILLIPS: After an incredibly freak accident, some hopeful news now. Doctors at a Texas hospital are seeing some improvement as they treat a woman who has been paralyzed after a turbulent plane flight. CNN's Ed Lavandera has the latest now from Dallas. Ed, what's the status?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're told by the surgeon that has been working on this unidentified woman, she's 47 and a mother of three. That's really all we know about her. She doesn't want to be identified and has denied all interview requests. But her surgeon who has been working on her the last few days says that she has started to move her toes, which he finds to be a hopeful sign. But it all started back last Friday night, this woman on a Continental flight from Houston to the south Texas town of McAllen hit turbulent skies just a short distance away from landing in McAllen. She was in the bathroom at the time. She went flying up to the ceiling. Her head crashed into the ceiling. The surgeon tells us that she broke her neck and her back and is partially paralyzed essentially from the chest down.
So, this happened last Friday night. We know that there was bad weather in the area. We're not exactly sure if that contributed to the turbulence at this point. Continental Airlines says that it is focusing on the needs of the family at this point, but they do also say that the seatbelt light was on at the time of the turbulence, but what's not clear, what we're still having trouble piecing together at this point, is whether or not this woman ignored the seatbelt light or was already in the bathroom when the light came on. We're having kind of trouble clarifying that critical point from all of the players involved in this story. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Well, and Ed, too, you know, that when we fly, a lot of times the captain says you can get up and move around if you want, but we appreciate it if you keep your seatbelts on, no matter what. So, there is definitely -- I mean, that would be great to get that answered, because, you know, it's very possible that -- well, I don't know. I guess it's kind of a gray area, because they really want you to have your seatbelt on at all times and, you know, we can't always do that, if you think you don't have rough air, you can get up and move around.
LAVANDERA: Right. And was this a sudden thing that happened? From one source we spoke with, said it was a sudden drop the plane experienced. There were two other people that were injured, a crew member and another passenger who also wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Those two people were treated and released. This 47-year-old woman is the one in the most serious condition.
PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, it's a lesson for all of us. Thanks, Ed.
LAVANDERA: Sure.
PHILLIPS: The Taliban advancing closer than ever before to Pakistan's capital. We're going to take you there live. And bring you secretary of state, Hillary Clinton's, blunt response.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, more serious trouble for a key U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism. For the first time, the Taliban now controls an area only 60 miles from Pakistan's capital of Islamabad. Armed Taliban militants are patrolling the streets of the Bunar district and warning people to follow the Taliban's strict brand of Islamic law. All this comes as the Taliban gain control of neighboring swat valley last week. Joining us on the phone now, more from CNN's Reza Sayah. Reza, what do you know? All right, I'm being told we just lost our connection with Reza there. We'll try to get him back up where we can have possibly some "q" and "a" with him.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration is expressing alarm over the latest Taliban advance we've been talking about there in Pakistan. And secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, told a house committee today that urgent action is needed to try and counter that Taliban threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think that we cannot underscore the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing advances now within hours of Islamabad that are being made by a loosely confederated group of terrorists and others who are seeking the overthrow of the Pakistani state. Which is, as we all know, a nuclear-armed state.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, Clinton says the Taliban threat doesn't stop in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but stretches all the way to the heart of the United States.
Much more on that story, still to come. Wolf Blitzer interviews Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S. in "The Sit Room." That's starting at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, you don't want to miss it. More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk more about that trouble we've been talking about for our key U.S. ally in that fight against terrorism. You know, the first time the Taliban now controls an area only 60 miles from Pakistan's capital of Islamabad. We're being told that armed Taliban militants are patrolling the street of the Bunar district, warning people to follow the Taliban's strict brand of Islamic law. All of this coming after the Taliban gained control of neighboring swat valley last week. Joining us on the phone with more, CNN's Reza Sayah. You know, this brings up a lot of questions to the freedom that al Qaeda has within this area, Reza. The influence of the Taliban moving in there closer to that country, and what this all means for the U.S. in the fight against terrorism.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Kyra, this is something Washington is not happy about. At a time when U.S. officials are really trying to publicly reenergize their partnership with Pakistan, really trying to start over by promoting the Obama administration's new strategy in the region, this is a development that, one, shows this is an uphill battle, but more importantly, shows that maybe Washington and Islamabad are still not on the same page. Here's why -- the Obama administration has come out and said, al Qaeda and Pakistani militant groups are thriving in Pakistan and pose a grave danger, not only to the U.S. but to Pakistan itself and what needs to happen is a crackdown on these extremist groups.
But at the same time you have Pakistan signing a very risky peace deal with the Taliban in Pakistan's swat region that establishes sharia law, a strict and often brutal interpretation of Islamic law in which the Taliban want, but it doesn't end there. We're seeing evidence that the Taliban is being emboldened by this deal, essentially saying we got what we wanted in this region, let's keep going. Let's move on to another region, which is what we're seeing with the Taliban's move into the Buner district of Pakistan, this is about an hour's drive from the federal capital of Islamabad. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: You made some interesting points. Just back in March, Osama bin Laden on an audiotape was talking about the swat region and the fact that this anti-American sentiment is growing there, and he's encouraging it to grow. Meanwhile, the United States is putting millions of dollars into Pakistan's military. So, the question is, what's in it for us? You know, here we are trying to support an ally, fund a lot of money into this country, and yet al Qaeda just seems to be growing and becoming stronger.
SAYAH: Kyra, the problem is this, Pakistan has not been able to enforce its own sovereignty. And at least in some regions they are letting militant groups thrive in its territory without being able to enforce its risk. Now it doesn't take much to understand if Pakistan is not able to enforce its own sovereignty, its own risk, you can forget about all this talk from the Obama administration about a new strategy in the region, about billions of nonmilitary aid and economic development. Because how are you going to bring economic development into a region where there's no security? How are you going to build girls' schools in a region where the Taliban have set up Sharia law that essentially says teenage girls can't go to school? It's a complex problem. And it doesn't seem like Islamabad and Washington are on the same page and there's a cohesive strategy where these two partners are working together to fight militancy. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Reza Sayah, thanks for calling in. Appreciate it. That does it for us. Rick Sanchez takes it from here.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A few bad apples. That's what we were told, but it wasn't. It was approved from the top. So says a new senate report. So, now ask yourself, why were soldiers punished? And we're not punishing top officials? Mr. President?
OBAMA: I don't want to prejudge that.
SANCHEZ: A test for promoting firefighters is thrown out because Hispanics and African-Americans didn't score well enough. Isn't that discrimination?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We undertook this action for firefighters across the country.
