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Al Qaeda Plot to Blow up New York's Busiest Subways; Nuclear Weapons Summit; Keeping Nuclear Weapons out of Terrorists' Hands

Aired April 12, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's get going with that next hour. Time for the top of the hour reset.

I'm Tony Harris in the CNN NEWSROOM. It is 12:00 in New York where CNN learns the time and place of a terror plot against New York landmarks.

In Washington, dozens of world leaders come together to keep nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists.

And in Greenville, South Carolina, a look at new blue-collar jobs. Today's workers don't only operate machines, they program them, too.

Let's do this. Let's get started.

New details emerging about al Qaeda's plot to blow up New York's busiest subways. We are now getting dates, locations and more.

Let's get straight to Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve at CNN's Security Desk in Washington.

And Jeanne, what are you learning?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, you know, we've been expecting additional arrests overseas in connection with this case. And a federal law enforcement source tells CNN's Susan Candiotti a fourth person has been detained for some time in Pakistan, in connection with the case. But it is not clear whether or when this individual will be extradited to the United States. We do not know this individual's nationality, but can say that he is not American.

Now, Najibullah Zazi -- he's the shuttle driver from Denver who's the central character in this case -- has been cooperating with authorities. And this federal law enforcement source says he was targeting two of New York's busiest transit hubs, the rail stations at Times Square and Grand Central, and also targeting the trains that ran through them, the 1, 2, 3 or 6 trains.

According to this source, Zazi told investigators that he and his coconspirators planned to detonate their homemade bombs in the middle of the subway cars. The placement, of course, intended to maximize the casualties. The chosen date for the multi-pronged attacks, September 14th, though Zazi has told investigators September 15th and 16th were also possibilities. Now, two high school classmates of Zazi have also been indicted in the plot and have pleaded not guilty. The three men allegedly attended training camps in Pakistan, where Zazi learned to make those bombs. Zazi's sentencing scheduled now for June -- Tony.

HARRIS: So, Jeanne, how did this all unfold for U.S. security officials, and against Zazi?

MESERVE: It's never been clear exactly how they got wise to Zazi, but he got wise to the fact they were watching him. When he was traveling to New York City, allegedly to carry out these detonations, and his car was stopped and searched by authorities, then he realized that he was under surveillance. He allegedly got rid of the explosives at that point, flew back to Denver, and Denver is where he was arrested -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right. Jeanne Meserve for us.

Jeanne, appreciate it. Thank you.

Young Pakistanis come to grips with what's at stake in the nuclear race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel (ph) like all this destruction in this movie. I think that nuclear weapons aren't that good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought that it could be used for defense. But after I saw the movie, I think it just wreaks havoc with the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody wins. It's a lose-lose situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So imagine for a moment if al Qaeda got hold of a nuclear weapon and launched an attack in the middle of your city, or any city around the world. Preventing that terror is the focus of a major summit under way right now in Washington, D.C. President Obama hosting dozens of world leaders.

Our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty, is at that summit.

And Jill, if you would, set the scene for us. What's going on there?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, number one, this is the nuclear summit. And it's really an incredible operation here.

We're at the convention center in Washington, D.C., and it is a gigantic collection. There are 50 -- 5-0 -- leaders of different countries, head of the IAEA, the U.N., et cetera, coming here.

Let me just kind of show you physically what's going on.

Behind me, you have places for 1,200 journalists from all over the world. Then, beyond that, kind of in the distance there, you can see the podium where President Obama and other leaders will be coming out to brief reporters and make statements. And then way beyond that, where we can't even see, is where these meetings are taking place, and discussing the issue of loose nukes and materials that they are trying to keep out of the hands of terrorists.

Now, President Obama, already, before this two-day summit began, over the weekend, he's been meeting with delegations. And I think we have some video showing one of those meetings.

The latest fresh video is President Obama meeting with the prime minister of Malaysia. He has met with the leaders of several other countries, discussing what specifically they can do.

And then, also, the delegations have been arriving. One of the biggest, of course, the Chinese. They arrived this morning, and there will be many, many others.

And Tony, as I said, the whole idea about this is actually very specific. It is what the president would say the gravest threat to the United States right now, and that is if nuclear materials or nuclear weapons were to fall into the hands of terrorists, and especially al Qaeda. So that is the one thing that he believes is the greatest threat, but he also has some convincing of other countries, to convince them that that is the biggest threat, and then, also, what they will do about it.

So he's looking for concrete suggestions and promises by these countries of what they can do -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Jill Dougherty for us.

Jill, appreciate it. Thank you.

And as Jill outlined, the goal is to keep nuclear weapons out of terrorists' hands. Is it possible?

We're going to continue this discussion just after the break.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, what can be done to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists? Forty-seven heads of state, including President Obama, are meeting right now in Washington to tackle that question.

Nuclear weapons analyst and president of Ploughshares Fund -- boy, we love having him back on the program -- that is a group dedicated to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Joe Cirincione joining me to talk about it.

Joe, good to see you. It's been a while, my friend.

JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, NUCLEAR WEAPONS ANALYST: Pleasure to be back, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, it's good to talk to you.

What are -- 47 or 50 leaders, whatever the number really is, a lot of leaders on hand in Washington, D.C., to talk about this. What are your expectations for the upcoming couple of days here?

CIRINCIONE: Well, we have 47 countries represented, plus the head of the United Nations, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. So 50 leaders all together.

And what you want coming out of this is not a communique that's a two- page press release. You want real commitment that, one, recognizes that nuclear terrorism is perhaps the greatest threat facing most of these nations today. And then commitments on locking up their nuclear material and eliminating them where possible. As you just heard from your correspondent, you also want individual nations to step up to the plate, to say here's specifically what we're going to do, and we've already had a couple of examples of that in the days leading up to the summit. And finally, you want to have an action plan that says we're going to do A, B and C, by dates X, Y and Z.

And I'm going to judge the success of this by how concrete that action plan is and whether the countries agree to come back in, say, two years and assess the process.

HARRIS: Boy, how concerned are you? You know these big gatherings of world leaders. I believe this is Italy's president arriving, Silvio Berlusconi arriving. How concerned are you that, you know, at these big gatherings what you get is a communique, and the communique has been worked out a couple of days before the event even starts. And there's nothing much that comes of it.

Is there something that leads you to believe that this will be more substantive?

CIRINCIONE: Yes. There's three things.

One, I've been talking to National Security Council staff who have been working on this since December. They started drafting the communique in December.

And second, you heard President Obama say in his interview with "The New York Times" last week that he didn't want some gauzy communique. He wants to get serious about this.

And third is his commitment to get this job done in four years.

Now, we've been working on securing nuclear materials for almost 20 years, where what you now have is a president that wants to accelerate it. He says we have to be as serious about locking these materials up as al Qaeda is about getting them.

I think all of that points to a real action plan and some real steps forward if it works. We'll know by the end of tomorrow.

HARRIS: Right.

Is preventing nuclear terrorism something that you can actually accomplish? And there's the Italian president right now. Something nations of this world can actually accomplish, in your estimation?

CIRINCIONE: Absolutely. It is by far the greatest threat to our country. A bomb in an American city would kill hundreds of thousands, cause trillions of dollars in damage, and throw the country in a panic. International trade would probably stop as countries refuse to accept cargo from ships or planes that might be carrying another nuclear weapon.

HARRIS: Yes.

CIRINCIONE: The good news is that you can prevent this. You can prevent terrorists from getting the one part of the bomb they cannot make, the stuff, the highly-enriched uranium and the plutonium. That takes a factory to produce.

We know where most of this. We can, with a concerted effort, lock it up. We haven't lost an ounce of gold from Fort Knox. We shouldn't lose an ounce of highly-enriched uranium.

HARRIS: That's well said.

Your thoughts on the new START agreement signed by the U.S. and Russian presidents? And why is this arms reduction significant, in your opinion?

CIRINCIONE: Well, what's so encouraging about what the president is doing now is you can see this comprehensive plan. So these days we're concentrating on stopping nuclear terrorism. But in order to get some of these countries to accept this as a serious threat, and to take on the expense and difficulty of securing their materials, of tightening trade, you've got to show them that you're serious about reducing your own stockpiles. The U.S. and Russia have 95 percent of the weapons in the world.

That START Treaty was an important step in its own right, but it was also the gate through which the president had to pass to get the international cooperation, that hopefully we'll get in these two days and we'll get next month at the United Nations when there's an international review conference on stopping new nuclear states. It's all part of a multilevel, multidimensional nuclear security agenda.

HARRIS: OK. I could talk to you for the hour. One more quick one here.

Did the president make the right move, the smart move, ,by ruling out using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are in compliance with the NPT? As you know, the language in the NPR has been called soft by some on the political right.

CIRINCIONE: Yes. I think this is a really political talking point more than a national security issue. We have said this for decades.

So, Republicans and Democratic presidents have said this. We just have modernized the language to take acknowledgement that the Soviet Union doesn't exist. And what we're telling a country is that you don't have a nuclear weapon, we're not going to attack you with our own nuclear weapons.

But it's also the reverse. If you do, or if you're seen as acquiring one, like Iran, then you add a greater risk. So it's against your own interests, you're at a greater risk, because then we will attack you with a nuclear weapon.

I think this is just a recognition of the military realities. We haven't needed to use a nuclear weapon for 65 years in any of the wars: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq I, Iraq II. We simply don't need to use these kinds of weapons now.

We have the most powerful conventional military in the world. We can make this kind of pledge without any consequence to U.S. national security.

HARRIS: Joe, it's good to see you. Thanks for your time.

CIRINCIONE: My pleasure, Tony.

HARRIS: Come on back any time.

(LAUGHTER)

CIRINCIONE: We'll do.

HARRIS: Joe Cirincione.

Just come on and hang out with us. Appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

You know, Pakistan is one of nine countries known to have nuclear weapons. The country fiercely guarding itself against its larger neighbor, India. Pakistan's leaders are taking part in the president's nuclear summit.

CNN International Security Correspondent Paula Newton visited a school in Pakistan to get the thoughts of young folks when it comes to nuclear ambition. And they really gave her an earful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Weapons at the ready, security is tight. A typical morning drop-off at Beacon House School in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

For many students here, getting to zero -- zero nuclear weapons, that is -- seems a bit far-fetched. More pressing, how not to become the next Ground Zero.

In fact, most of these middle school children are proud. Pakistan is one of nine in the nuclear club. It can defend itself.

And so I wondered, how would they react to an old, but influential film? We invited them to watch "The Day After," a 27-year-old thriller about a nuclear attack that helped frame the way an entire generation of Americans perceived the threat. Ronald Reagan said the movie depressed him and helped convince him to pursue nuclear peace, the path Barack Obama wants to pursue today.

Before we showed them the film, some students told us weapons do help keep the peace.

(on camera): What do you think? Do you think Pakistan should have nuclear weapons?

FATIMA AHMED, 13-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: In my opinion, yes. They should. It's, like, important for every country.

ZAKARIA AMJAD, 11-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: If some country declares war on us, they will not declare war because they know that we have nuclear weapons.

NEWTON (voice-over): Earnest and smart, these students attentively took in every minute, just as I and millions of students like me did in classrooms in the 1980s. And as doomsday loomed, the reaction was no different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE DAY AFTER")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They take about 30 minutes to reach their target.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So do theirs. Right?

(END VIDEO CLIP, "THE DAY AFTER")

NEWTON: So, what did they think?

(on camera): Did it change your mind about nuclear weapons at all?

LYBA KHAN, 13-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: Yes, it did. I used to think that it does have many advantages, but now, after watching all this destruction in this movie, I think that nuclear weapons aren't that good.

SULTANA BASSI, 13-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: I thought that it could be useful defense, but after I saw the movie, I think it just wreaks havoc with the country.

SAADULLAH ZIA, 13-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: Nobody wins. It's a lose-lose situation.

NEWTON: But do you think Pakistan then should keep its nuclear weapons?

ZIA: Only because all the countries right now have it. So if we give it up, nothing would happen. Instead, India would be, like, more powerful than us. NEWTON (voice-over): These students have grasped all too well the dilemma of the nuclear arms race. The Cold War might as well be the ice age to these Pakistani students. The nuclear equation has changed.

ANAM MINTO, 13-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: The effects of nuclear war, it's breaking us all up. It's telling us that we can all die in a glimpse of a second if one atomic bomb is thrown (ph) in our country.

NEWTON (on camera): Do you think Pakistan should have nuclear weapons?

MINTO: Yes, I do think Pakistan should have nuclear weapons.

FATIMA TAJ, 13-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: Ma'am, I don't think this movie changed my opinion. And it made me, like, think that we should have nuclear weapons.

NEWTON (voice-over): Barely teenagers, these students offer some remarkable insights.

Academics write about it, but here they're living it, the nuclear surge, a tipping point where, for all the best intentions of peacemakers or thought-provoking film, the balance of nuclear terror has changed. And Pakistan's future leaders are taking note.

Paula Newton, CNN, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Man, that was good stuff.

Afghan civilians gunned down on a bus. U.S. troops being blamed in a city that they need to win.

A live report from the war zone, next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: International troops opened fire on a bus carrying Afghan civilians today, killing four of them. The incident in Kandahar sparking outrage in the city which is the spiritual home and birthplace of the Taliban.

Our Chris Lawrence is in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

And Chris, if you would, tell us all what happened.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, I mean, we're just two months away from this big offensive in Kandahar, so any incident that sends protesters into the streets chanting "Death to America!" is not good for coalition troops.

Officials here are telling us that this happened just before sunrise. A route clearance team was moving through the area very slowly, sweeping for IEDs, where they say a large vehicle came up behind this vehicle. And the troops, because it was a fairly steep embankment, they couldn't move over to the side and let it through.

What we're hearing is that they tried to wave it off three times with flares, followed that up with hand signals. But again, they perceived it as a threat.

The vehicle kept coming at what they said was a high rate of speed. They opened fire on it. It turned out to be just a passenger bus. Four civilians were killed, another 13 were wounded.

President Karzai has come out and condemned this attack. ISAF has apologized. They've also sent a team of investigators just to figure out whether the rules of engagement were followed.

But, again, as you're trying to lead up to this offensive and win some of the people over before this mission kicks off, something like this obviously not going to help that effort -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Chris. I think as you mentioned, this incident could not have come at a worse time for U.S. troops hoping to gain public support in that coming offensive against the Taliban. And let's leave it there for now.

Our Chris Lawrence reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Chris, appreciate it. Thank you.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Today Poland begins a weeklong period of mourning after this weekend's devastating plane crash. Thousands of candles lit up the sky in Warsaw last night. Mourners gathered outside the presidential palace to remember their president, his wife, and 94 others who died in the crash this weekend.

Meanwhile, investigators say they have found the plane's flight data recorder and are piecing together what actually happened. The plane carrying Poland's president and first lady crashed in Russia, and that's where the investigation is taking place.

Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson with details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Slow, solemn and somber moments before President Lech Kaczynski's casket is loaded aboard a flight home to Poland. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is heading the investigation into the crash, standing side-by-side with Poland's ambassador to Moscow.

(on camera): This is beginning to close the first chapter in this very painful episode, standing together on the runway now. A lot is at stake over how the investigation develops in the coming days.

(voice-over): In the nearby woods, that investigation is still under way. Experts are searching through the wreckage; aircraft parts littering the ground that crashed in heavy fog 24 hours earlier.

(on camera): They're looking at the black box. They're looking and reexamining what the air traffic controllers talked about, the warning that they gave the aircraft, that it was low, moving too wide.

But clearly, this point where we're standing down here, where the plane came down, half a mile short of the runway that's down through the trees there.

(voice-over): Already, investigators say the black box data recorder shows the plane had no mechanical faults. Poland's ambassador cautions against jumping to judgment against the pilots.

JERZY BAHR, POLAND'S AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA: Many people think that this is, you know, some think these pilots did wrong, but it must be investigated.

ROBERTSON: He had come to say good-bye to his president but warns relatives of others killed in the crash. They may have to wait to get their loved ones back.

BAHR: Many people are in Moscow and maybe they expect that they will -- they could take corpses with them soon, but it depends on specialists.

ROBERTSON (on camera): On the investigation, it depends.

BAHR: Yes.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Polish and Russian investigators are working closely. According to officials of both countries, the tragedy, they say, has brought the two nations closer than they've been in years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Let's talk to Nic Robertson for a moment now.

Nic, what is the latest you're hearing on this crash investigation? The maker of the plane released a statement over the weekend, and there have been several suggestions -- I think we heard a couple in your piece -- of pilot error.

ROBERTSON: Well, that certainly seems to be the direction that Russian investigators are going.

We heard from the Russian prime minister today, and he said that they now have hard proof, what he called hard proof, that not only did the air traffic controller tell the pilots that they shouldn't be landing because the weather was too bad, but they know they had this hard proof that the pilots actually did receive this message. He hasn't detailed exactly why they're saying they know this, but this is more strong evidence on the Russian investigation side that the pilots really had clear information not to land -- Tony.

HARRIS: Oh boy. All right.

Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, for us.

Nic, good to see you, as always. Thank you.

The Tea Party Express rolls into Buffalo today. What are members driving to accomplish on this bus tour?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Let's see, just about three hours into the trading day. At this time we always like to get you to cnnmoney.com if you'd like the latest financial news and analysis. We love the big headline story there. What is it? Earth-shaking ways to tackle the U.S. deficit. We're going to be talking about that article with our Jeanne Sahadi, tomorrow, Wednesday. We're planning it on the fly even as we go here.

Let's get you to the big board. New York Stock Exchange. Three hours into the trading day. And as you can see, the Dow is up 16 points. We've been in positive territory for much of the day. The Nasdaq is up three. We'll follow these numbers for you throughout the day right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The Tea Party Express is driving home the activists' points. Smaller government, less taxation and regulation. The Tea Party Express bus stopped today in Buffalo, New York, for a rally this hour. Then it is on to Syracuse come Thursday. The Tea Partiers will be in Washington for a tax day protest. Last hour I asked a Tea Party supporter how the movement would have handled the financial crisis if it ran the government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM PHILLIPS, AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY: We would certainly not have had a bailout there. But we also would not have had Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank and their finance committees really dictating and pressuring banks for a long time to make the kind of loans that were way too risky. And that resulted, especially with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that resulted in a lot of the collapse that we saw a year and a half ago.

That's the biggest difference. We would not have had government pushing social policy, using the financial sector of our economy. And the government has a big stake, Tony. And they were using it then.

HARRIS: Didn't the Republicans in control of both houses have an opportunity for most of the Bush term?

PHILLIPS: You bet -- you bet they did.

HARRIS: Have an opportunity to stop that and didn't, right?

PHILLIPS: You bet they did. And they failed just as very much on this issue as Dodd and Barney Frank did. This is a bipartisan problem. And that's the other point about the Tea Party. It's not about blaming it all on one party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The political climate nowadays seems to be one of extremes. The far left and far right get headlines for incendiary language and name-calling, but where is the middle? I talked to CNN's chief national correspondent and anchor of "John King USA" about that. The context here is important, the retirement of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a big debate in our country right now --

HARRIS: Oh, John.

KING: Being dominated and pushed by what I'll call the left and the right extremes. And the question is, if you're in the middle, if you describe yourself as a moderate, as John Paul Stevens would, as some of these other political figures would, can you survive in today's age? And that will be the framing of the big political debate over once the president picks a nominee in the weeks ahead, that nominee is going to have a very interesting time before the Senate Judiciary Committee sometime later this fall.

HARRIS: Oh, John, you have tapped into the debate in this country right now so beautifully with that statement. I've often wondered just how wide and deep is the middle in this country right now. And I know that the extremes on either side get a lot of the attention. They rally. They jump up and down and they scream. But I felt that there is a wide and deep middle in this country. Those voices are being squeezed out a bit. I think you have tapped on it. And what is your sense of that middle right now as you talk about these issues every night on your program?

KING: We need to define where the middle is. And the middle shifts with our politics. It used to be a term, the radical middle, which is in an of itself an oxymoron, in the sense that if you're a moderate, you're not ideological. You don't get so passionate about things. You're trying to be a pragmatist. You're trying to figure out, let's get this done. We only agree on 50 percent of this. Well, let's get that part done and then we'll argue about the rest of it tomorrow.

But we saw it in the health care debate, we saw it throughout the Bush presidency. In fact, we saw it throughout the Clinton presidency before that, that it's very hard for the middle to solidify and be the dominant force in our politics.

HARRIS: Yes.

KING: And right now, Tony, and this is not to criticize anybody, don't get me wrong, because one of the great gifts we have in this country is our free speech. But you have the Tea Party movement, which is to the right, most part.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes. KING: Anti-establishment, less government, get Washington out of our way. And you have people on the left who say, well, the president gave up on the public option and the liberals aren't fighting to do enough for labor unions and things like that and they are the people who can raise the money, who have the dedicated foot soldiers in this midterm election year. And so as we watch the debate over Justice Stevens and all these primaries going on over the spring, summer, into the fall, that's what you want to watch. Who is motivated? Who's raising money? Who's speaking out? Who's coming out? Because those people out in America who are motivated will influence the positions senators take here in Washington when it comes to the president's next pick for the Supreme Court and just how contentious that fight will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Good, good stuff. We're talking about political conversation that is well-mannered and on point. Weeknights at 7:00 Eastern on "John King USA."

New details about al Qaeda's plot against New York's transportation hubs when we get to top stories next, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Let's get to Chad Myers now in the severe weather center. And we've got rain in the west.

Good to see you, doctor.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Let's get to top stories right now.

More details about an alleged plot last fall to blow up New York City subway trains. A federal law enforcement source says Najibullah Zazi admitted he and two others would wear homemade bombs and stand in the middle of subway cars to kill the most people.

The president is hosting King Abdullah II of Jordan and 45 other world leaders for a nuclear summit over the next two days. They will brainstorm ways to keep weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

And how about Phil Mickelson. Left (ph) -- he's taking home his third green jacket. He won The Masters yesterday with guile and ice water in his veins. Do we have the shot on 13 from yesterday? We don't have the shot from 13 from yesterday? This shot that won him the tournament? Coming out of the pine needles between two Georgia pines? Landing softly on the green like it was on a string? And then the birdie? It was good stuff.

OK. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, where are the jobs in this economy? Would it surprise you to hear back in the factory? But it's not what you think.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JESSIE SIMMONS, CNC PROGRAMMER: If I were only running the machine, it wouldn't be a very satisfying job. If I were only programming, it wouldn't be a very satisfying job. But when I get to do both, I couldn't make myself do anything different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The new hybrid job, part blue collar, part white collar. My special report on where the jobs are, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, the economy may be recovering, but the old type of manufacturing jobs are nearly gone. The demand for American innovation is turning blue collar jobs into some seriously highly skilled work. Here's a look at a South Carolina company that may change your opinion of what it means to be blue collar these days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS (voice-over): Snapshots in time of manufacturing's past in the deep south, when cotton was king. The textile industry employed hundreds of thousands of workers over the last century. Today, most of those textile jobs are gone. This is all that's left of that dying industry. Empty, decaying factories.

Jobs gone overseas where they can be done cheaper. Even jobs that stayed were fewer than before. Automation meant companies could do more with less labor. The recession saw South Carolina's unemployment rate more than double in just two years to 12.6 percent. The highest in two decades.

Now, South Carolina is fighting back, turning things around with a different approach to manufacturing. Welcome to the new high-tech factory operated by Adex Machining Company, owned by a couple of Georgia Tech grads, Sean Witty and Jason Premo. The shop makes parts for the aerospace and energy industries.

Employees spend as much time in the office as in the plant. They get their hands dirty, but their brains are stimulated. You might call these guys the new blue collar worker. They don't just operate machines, they program the machine, telling it where to drill.

RONNIE SADDLER, CNC PROGRAMMER: We actually draw a picture up ourselves. And these are actually location holes and dowel holes where we're actually going to bolt the fixture together.

HARRIS: Then they head to the factory floor and make it happen.

SADDLER: You get to see the finish work is what I really love about it. We take what's on paper and we bring it to life.

HARRIS: They make mathematical computations on the fly if adjustments are need.

STEVE MARKS, CNC PROGRAMER: C point 038. HARRIS: Each worker is a computer programmer, machinist and quality control engineer. What typically was three different jobs now wrapped up in one. It's called lean manufacturing. And the workers love it.

JESSIE SIMMONS, CNC PROGRAMMER: If I were only running the machine, it wouldn't be a very satisfying job. If I were only programming, it wouldn't be a very satisfying job. But when I get to do both, I couldn't make myself do anything different.

SEAN WITTY, CO-OWNER, ADEX MACHINING: In the assembly line method, you might just have a single person who does a single tasks all day long and that's all they do. It's repetitive. It doesn't tax the mind. It's simple work. And really what you're seeing is that the world has changed.

HARRIS: Adex received 100 resumes for every job it filled last year. Even so, Sean and Jason had a hard time finding qualified applicants.

JASON PREMO, CO-OWNER, ADEX MACHINING: It's almost like a little -- a mini NBA (ph) to be able to be the high-tech worker on today's factory floor.

HARRIS: And it pays like a white collar job does, from $50,000 to as much as $80,000 a year, depending on experience and job training. Unlike in an assembly line factory, the employees say they feel empowered.

STEVE MARKS, CNC PROGRAMER: It's hands-on. You get to actually make something. But you still have to think about what you're doing.

HARRIS: Sean is hoping to change the negative stereotype of manufacturing in hopes of drawing more young people into the industry and help American industry get back on top again.

WITTY: I think a lot of people associate manufacturing with 20 and 30 years ago, when Detroit was big. It was very dirty. It was very long hours. Your boss beat up on you all day. But that's changed. We work with our employees. It's not a boss-man mentality. Very much we're asking them, what are your ideas? How is the best way to produce this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Good stuff. And many thanks to the guys at Adex Machining in Greenville, South Carolina.

Got to tell you, in our next report on where the jobs are, we take a look at how the state is helping train out-of-work factory employees to do this job. That is next week right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Tina Fey returns to "SNL," or is it Sarah Palin making a comeback?

Plus, teens gone wild in California. And what did FaceBook have to do with it. It's what's hot on the Internet. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: OK. So how far can you make $10 last these days? Cnn.com solicited your I-Reports and here are some of our favorites.

An I-Reporter from Spokane, Washington, was able to buy all of the items you see on the screen here. We're talking about pasta, envelopes, hand soap, dog treats. Not bad, right, right?

This New Yorker says, everyone in the city should spend their $10 on a one-day unlimited metro card. He says it will take you from the Bronx Zoo down to Coney Island and everywhere in between.

And an I-Reporter from the Netherlands decided to spent his $10 on high-end chocolate. OK, maybe not the best use of the money. Pretty tasty, though.

Some reaffirmation that not everyone is out for the almighty dollar. Meet California's Betty Radcliff, who, for six months, searched unsuccessfully for a misplaced $240 in all of her usual hides places. And then a call from Oregon's Katherine Virgilio, who went online to buy a purse Betty had previously returned. Inside the purse, Betty's ID and that missing $240. And then the phone call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY RADCLIFF, LOST PURSE: I love the purse. And it wasn't cheap, was it? It was an expensive purse.

KATHERINE VIRGILIO, FOUND PURSE (voice-over): I have to tell you, though, I -- you're not going to be too happy. I got it on sale.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Not only honest, but a bargain hunter to boot.

Now, for a quick look at some of the stories generating buzz over the Internet.

This one's from YouTube and most other sites out there. Tina Fey back on "SNL" channeling her inner Palin, looking like she never left. Here's one of the skits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TINA FEY, "SNL": Do you hate gotcha journalism? Well, get ready for, "Hey, Journalist, I Gotcha!," where I re-edit my interviews with journalists to made them look like they were the ones who were woefully unprepared.

So, Katie, what newspapers do you read? It's an easy question, Katie. Well, better luck next time. Gotcha.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: All right. And check this one out from our own cnn.com, spring break gone wrong. The kids call it flutoppia (ph). I guess that's how you would pronounce that. It's usually on a much smaller scale until they promoted the event on FaceBook. More than 10,000 screaming, rowdy teens showed up, making it a real challenge for law enforcement on duty there. At least 33 kids were taken to the hospital. Property damage, as you would expect, may be everywhere.

Getting the wounded to safety no matter the risk or the cost. It is the life of an Army medic. We will talk to a few of them stationed in Afghanistan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, three months after -- actually to the day after Haiti's horrendous earthquake, survivors are now heading for higher ground. The first wave of Haitians made homeless by the quake began relocating this past weekend from tent cities that sprang up after the January 12th trembler. Officials want to get earthquake survivors out of low- lying areas and into settlement camps that are less prone to flood. The island's rainy season is about to ramp up, increasing chances of disease such as diarrhea, typhoid and malaria.

You know, they race up and down the battlefield picking up wounded soldiers and getting them to help in record time. Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence goes inside the Army's trauma unit and tells us the extraordinary lengths they go to, to keep our troops alive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): An armored emergency room doesn't have to wait for the wounded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Critically injured patient. Let's go.

LAWRENCE: It rolls right up to the front line.

ON SCREEN WORDS: Shock Trauma Team, Camp Cafferetta, Afghanistan.

LT. CATHERINE VISINTAINER, U.S. NAVY: This is the mobile trauma bay. It's the front line of medical defense for the Marine Corps. And we basically take a patient who would probably die without immediate life-giving care. We stop bleeding. We secure an airway. We keep them alive long enough to get them into the OR.

CPL. BRENT LARIMER, U.S. MARINE CORPS.: And they always talk about that golden hour. You have that hour. If you get help within that first hour, you're pretty much good to go.

VISINTAINER: Unfortunately, in theater, it's not always feasible to get a patient to a hospital within one hour.

ON SCREEN WORDS: A short journey over Afghanistan's rocky, hilly roads can take hours. Rescue helicopters can't always fly on time.

VISINTAINER: Especially if you're dealing with things like weather getting involved. If you can't get your air asset in, you need something that can hold those patients over until you can get that helicopter in. So our job is to keep them alive for longer than that golden hour and extend that golden hour to an hour and a half, two hours.

CPL. KYLE GREEN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: They are, you know, by far probably the greatest mental asset that keeps Marines, like myself and my buddies who go out on these convoys and, you know, if we end up getting hit, you know, knowing that, hey, it's going to be OK.

LAWRENCE (on camera): But all that means nothing if wounded troops can't, in a very short time frame, get to that next level of care, like the surgeons.

CAPT. ERIC KUNCIR, U.S. NAVY TRAUMA SURGEON: If we get somebody here alive, that 98 percent of them will leave here alive.

ON SCREEN WORDS: Wounded troops are often take to Kandahar Hospital.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): A collection of tents and trailers is being replaced by a new concrete hospital. And the doctors are already prepping for the big offensive against the Taliban come June.

KUNCIR: We don't know the exact date when that's going to occur, but we've already made changes in the way we receive casualties. We've increased the number of trauma teams that we have.

LAWRENCE (on camera): The doctors have been rehearsing what happens during a mass casualty, and they've also beefed up their recall system so they can get medical teams from their barracks or really anywhere on base quickly back to the hospital.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Kandahar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And, very quickly, before I leave here, Conan O'Brien, late of NBC, is headed to, drum roll please, TBS. One of our sister channels. TBS in the Turner family. TBS very funny. Let me read the rest of it here. Conan O'Brien is headed to TBS to host a late-night talk show expected to debut in November.

Let's see. Conan's show will air Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m. What's happening to George Lopez? OK, "Lopez Tonight" will move to midnight. So there you go. A little bit of breaking news on Conan O'Brien.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now, with Tom Foreman, in for Ali Velshi.