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BP Continues Efforts to Contain Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico; President Obama Nominates a New National Intelligence Director; Expert Dispenses Advice on Finding a Career

Aired June 05, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: Is it time to change careers? We'll have tips on that this hour. And his perfect game was spoiled by an imperfect call. At 3:00 p.m. eastern, in about an hour, we'll talk with Armando Galarraga. And in about two hours, why visiting an indoor tanning salon once in your life is a bad idea.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM where the news unfolds live on this Saturday June 5th. I'm Richard Lui sitting in for Fredricka Whitfield.

First off for you, Sotomayor said the Tomkins ruling turns Miranda upside down. That was one of the issues that we'll cover a little bit later.

First we take you to these live pictures a mile underneath the sea. BP said they had a little bit of progress, but we are still seeing hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil pouring into the sea. We'll be looking into what that means. Oil giant BP is set to begin a live briefing on the oil spill in Orange Beach, Alabama, at any moment. We will take you live as soon as it begins.

Let's begin with Ed Lavendera in Louisiana. Hey, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Richard. BP officials and the U.S. coast guard saying in the first 24 hours that containment cap was dropped on top of the blowout preventer, they've been able to collect about 250,000 gallons of oil, only about 30 percent of what is believed to be leaking at this point.

They say they have still not been able to lower the vents on that containment cap to be able to collect more oil. They are trying to stabilize the pressure. They don't want water to get inside of that because that would throw the entire process up in the air, that could freeze up and clog the escape route that the oil has going.

This is still in a very delicate situation right now, but officials here are saying they hope in the next, throughout the weekend, to be able to start collecting more oil.

This is not the solution to this problem. This is just a way of containing or trying to contain as much oil as possible that is spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. As BP is doing that, the environmental impact is still being assessed all over the Gulf coast region. Richard, as we wake up every day, we seem to be waking up to the news that a lot of this oil disaster and oil spill is continuing to creep eastward from Mississippi to Alabama. Now we're seeing tar balls, sticky, gooey substances on the beaches in Pensacola, Florida. And Admiral Thad Allen says he expects this eastward trend to continue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: The form of tar balls, small oil patties, if you will. The impact is western Mississippi over towards Pensacola. The oil will move north and slightly east. There we are concerned about Mississippi-Louisiana line to port St. Joe in Florida.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: When you start talking about the port St. Joe area and east of there, there is a town called Apalachicola that is critical in the oyster development here in the country as well. That is a huge part of the economy there. Those people clearly feeling very threatened by what's going on, as well.

And of course, the long-term solution, Richard, to this oil disaster is killing this well for good. That is those relief wells that are being dug into the ground. They still have to go some 16,000 to 18,000 feet in total.

And the latest numbers we had from Admiral Thad Allen is that first relief well has gone 7,000 feet. They are clearly not even halfway there with the first of the relief wells. That's why they are saying it will be at least August by the time the relief wells are dug and they'll be able to kill off this well for good.

LUI: You've been watching the stories from the very beginning. We are moving into a different phase as residents all across the coast and starting to come face-to-face with that oil. Thanks for the latest on that, Ed Lavendara.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LUI: President Obama has made his choice for national intelligence director. Just a few hours ago the president nominated retired Air Force Lieutenant General James Clapper. He would replace recently-departed Dennis Blair.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The intelligence community needs to work as one integrated team that produces timely and accurate intelligence. Let's be honest, this is a tough task. This will be Jim's core mission. He is eminently qualified and he has my complete confidence and support.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LUI: Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve joins us live from Washington. There are special challenges. There are so many moving parts.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there are some real problems. The best indicator of that may be the number of people who held this job during its short history, four people in five years. The DNI was created after the 9/11 attacks to coordinate the nation's 16 intelligence agencies. The idea was to break down stove pipes and improve information sharing in hopes of preventing another attack.

Most experts will tell you that things have improved since the creation of the DNI, but not enough. In fact, a recent report by the Senate intelligence committee on the attempt to bring down a Northwest airliner on Christmas day said that the government still was not integrating intelligence the way it needs to.

Some members pointed the finger specifically at the National Counterterrorism Center, which falls under the DNI, saying the NCTC didn't do its job or understand what its job was, Richard.

LUI: When we look at this, 16 organizations, you now get that job as CEO of what are 16 businesses, how can they make this operate more smoothly, it's being said right now, Jeanne?

MESERVE: There are a lot of different opinions. Some say legislation is needed to give the position more strength and clout. Others say the person in the job won't ever have the power he or she needs unless the president is four square behind them.

But another critical factor is probably the person in the job. Dennis Blair who was recently forced out as DNI didn't have the juice. He lost important power struggles to CIA director Leon Panetta and John Brennan, the president top counterterrorism adviser. He reportedly didn't click with President Obama either. Some say all those things made him less effective than someone else might have been in the job.

LUI: We got the issue of confirmation. How does that look for Clapper?

MESERVE: It's not a sure thing. The chairman of the Senate intelligence committee Dianne Feinstein has raised concerns about Clapper's close ties to the military side of the intelligence community.

Senator Kit Bond says clapper hasn't been forthcoming with Congress and has actually blocked recent efforts to empower the DNI. And Congressman Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, is raising concerns and says he is opposing this nomination.

LUI: Jeanne, as you said, a very important job heading up the DNI, 16 agencies underneath that title. Thank you so much, Jeanne Meserve. For the second time this week, Israeli commandos seized aide supplies headed to Gaza. Today's confrontation between the Israel's Navy and an Irish-owned aid ship ended peacefully. That was not the case Monday when fights broke out between commandos and activists on another aide flotilla, leaving nine of the activists dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the same procedures were followed on both of the seizures, but activists dispute that account here, saying Israel initiated Monday's violence. We'll have a live report later this hour.

It's Saturday, and no one wants to think about work. You want to relax. How about three simple steps for you that you can start taking right now to put you on the path to the job of your dreams?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Have you seen the numbers that came out last week? They're right behind me. More than 430,000 folks across the country found jobs in May. That helped the unemployment rate dip to 9.7 percent, which was before 9.9 percent.

While that's good news on the surface, the majority of those jobs, unfortunately, were temporary census positions. Of the 431,000 new jobs that were created in May, only 41,000 were created by private businesses, which indicates a longer-term recovery, if you will. That's the fewest number since January and that's why the markets were dipping yesterday.

In spite of a not-too-ripe jobs report, many of you may be ready for a job change. It is OK to talk about that right now. How about three simple steps to make your career dreams a reality?

CNNmoney.com broke that out for us. And as our next guest tells us, look for what will make you happy. Paula Caliguiri teaches human resource management and wrote the book, "Get a life, not a job."

Paula, let me start with tip number one. It says use your time to determine whether and where you'd be happy most. What do you have to say about that?

PAULA CALIGUIRI, AUTHOR, "GET A LIFE, NOT A JOB": Right. I think it's most critical now that people get a really healthy self- awareness about how they like to work. You'd be amazed at how many people can't describe how they like to work, whether they like to work in a creative environment or in a team or work alone.

The second piece of that is understand what are your marketable skills, what are your talents, what are your abilities? What are you great at and how do you compare to others in that same area?

The other piece is around exploration. So many folks stop too early and don't think about what the possible career prospects could be.

LUI: I think you make a really good point saying to use your time to see how you would be happy long term. Use that process to understand what would make you happy career-wise, not when you hit those specific intersections.

Point number two is, I've got the idea in my mind. The second tip is, well, try it out. Find a way to do the job before you actually dive over the end of that pool.

CALIGUIRI: Right. And that's an important, another very important step. We want to be sure that before we invest, especially if we are going to invest in an opportunity for education or paying tuition dollars, we absolutely want to know this is where we are interested in seeing our career go.

So a best idea is really to talk to a lot of people who are in that career job, in that dream job, especially people who don't know you, because they'll be able to give you some advice about the career but not interpret it relative to your life.

The second real piece of that is try to volunteer in the industry that you're interested in, maybe an unpaid internship. There's lots of possibilities to actually try out the job before you're in it.

LUI: Do practical work -- how are you going to know whether it actually works for you or not? Don't worry about necessarily getting paid. There's a lot of opportunities to practice your new path, if you will, to test it out in other venues, right?

CALIGUIRI: Right, absolutely.

LUI: OK, so tip number three is hone your marketable skills right now. This is really talking about how some skills work in a lot of different places.

CALIGUIRI: Absolutely. I would add on to skills and almost just as important as skills, your network. Just like you're spending a lot of time building those great marketable skills, build your network.

And network in this case isn't just adding more friends to Facebook. Network in this case is really thinking about say a Linked- in discussion group dedicated to the area you're interested in, jumping in on the discussion and getting involved in the career you want to eventually see yourself in.

LUI: Paula, gave me some ideas what some of those marketable skills are that we might invest time in that we could use in many different places? What are some of those things that you have seen in your work as well as the book you wrote?

CALIGUIRI: Sure -- an investment in our ability to use technology. So if you think about any profession you might be interested in, if you have be a additional set of skills around technology, that's always beneficial.

If you have an additional set of skills in communications, both in your ability to write and ability to communicate verbally, that's also a tremendous help. I'd also recommend that whatever, if you're working for an organization that you really like, try to invest in getting a better understanding of the industry that you're in so some deep industry- specific knowledge is helpful.

LUI: My producer and I were talking about this segment yesterday and saying, is there a trend out there right now of folks moving away from full time commitments, typical, historic, stereotypical job descriptions, 9:00 to 5:00, what have you, and moving into more flexible part time positions for some reason. Is that something you're seeing at all?

CALIGUIRI: Richard, absolutely. We are seeing it in the unemployment statistics. Companies are desperately needing to compete. One of the largest items on their operating budgets are their wage bills, their human talent costs.

So what we are seeing are companies becoming surgical in the types of positions that they are keeping, the types of positions they are investing in. And they are using the contingent work force in a much broader way so that they bring in skills as necessary.

So what that means for us practically is that we really do need to think about ourselves as free agents. We need to think about ourselves as independent contractors, as people who can do multiple or have multiple income streams at any given time. I strongly believe that's the future of our employment reality.

LUI: Yes, because even as jobs may pay $75,000, the company, the cost to them may be $150,000 or more because of all the benefits, et cetera.

CALIGUIRI: Right.

LUI: Paula Caliguiri, you're going to stay with us because we have some viewer questions coming up for you in a little bit.

And if you have a question for us about your job search, is now the time? You can send them into Fredericka's blog. We will get those answers right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Accused killer Joran Van Der Sloot is in custody and facing murder charges in Peru. The Dutch citizen is accused of killing a Peruvian woman in her hotel room earlier this week. He was also the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway five years ago. The Alabama teen disappeared in Aruba back then. Van Der Sloot was arrested twice in that case and released both times.

For the second time this week Israeli naval commandos have seized an aid ship bound for Gaza. But unlike Monday's deadly incident, today's seizure was peaceful. Nine Turkish citizens were killed in Monday's incident. Israeli says its naval blockade is to stop weapons reaching militants in Gaza. To Arizona, another round of demonstrations over the state's new law cracking down on illegal immigration. Supporters of the law are rallying today in Phoenix. That measure was signed into law back in April requiring police conducting traffic stops or questioning people about other possible legal violations to then ask about their immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion they are in the U.S. illegally.

All right, we are back with Paula Caliguiri, author of "Get a life, not a job" as well as Josh Levs. You've got questions from viewers going to Fredericka's blog.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We got the blog, Facebook, twitter. We've got people asking questions. And Paula, I'm going to get right to this, OK?

CALIGUIRI: Sounds great.

LEVS: This is from a student. I want to bring you this one. She's only ever had one job in retail for around three years. She says "I'm trying to find a more sturdy job. I'm willing to start at bottom and work hard but no one will look at me without the experience."

So many people have similar questions. So many people say, hey, how am I supposed to get experience if I can't get the job in the first place? What do you say to that?

CALIGUIRI: You're not alone. Keep in mind there are two things you need to have in order to have a great career. One is a marketable set of skills. The second is a really highly motivated network in the area that you're interested in.

So what I would say is while you're working that retail job, think about gathering more marketable skills in an area you're interested in moving into. And at the same time build your network, start going to professional conferences, start attending networking meeting.

LEVS: Those are key, internships, volunteering, these are the kinds of things we hear.

This is about overworking. People talk about these days if you have a job you're forced to do too much. "Most big corporations are forcing fewer to do more. How do we find an employer who isn't doing this? Do you agree a jobs bill needs to be introduced to protect current employees?" I love this question.

CALIGUIRI: Right. And actually, and it's not surprising that job dissatisfaction is at an all-time high for that exact reason. Frankly, I don't know we can legislate it. That's just my opinion.

I think what we'll need to do, companies need to realize at some point they are going to lose their most critical, most valuable employees. When that starts to happen, they'll take notice and ease up a bit. For right now, that is the reality. LUI: Paula, isn't this all about cross-training, having more experiences when you're in your job that you have more marketable over time?

CALIGUIRI: It is, Richard. I'm a strong advocate having multiple sources of income. I know that sounds odd right now when people are trying to find one job or one job they really like. But I strongly believe the more secure, the job security of the future will be on the income sources you create for yourself as opposed to the opportunities you have with any given company.

LEVS: Paula, thank you so much. Let's keep the questions coming. You've got Facebook, twitter. Usually at this time we have a terrific financial guest like Paula today to help answer some of them. We'll get more of them next week.

LUI: She did a good job.

LEVS: I hope she is coming back.

LUI: I'm a lover of Paula. We have to think about keeping ourselves marketable.

LEVS: You've got it.

LUI: Josh levs, thank you.

What is BP doing a mile under water? A practical demonstration of what that is when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: We are at day 47 of the nation's worst oil disaster. You can see the live pictures here of what's going on with that ruptured undersea well.

This week BP managed to lower a containment cap on top of what they had cut off. It now is funneling about 250,000 gallons from the well on to a ship on the surface so far.

But as you can see right here, the cap is far from secure in terms of taking all of the oil that's coming out of that so-called BOP. Oil is still spewing into the ocean.

Plugging up will seem almost impossible. Josh Levs joins us on that. It's nearly a mile underneath the sea level. That is one dynamic. We've seen a lot of these pictures, a lot of close-ups. We thought Josh and I would break it down in a simplistic way.

LEVS: This is a great role reversal for me. What you have here, we are doing the $5 version, which in some ways makes it even clearer. Richard spent five years working in oil spill ministry before he was a journalist. You have a background in this.

LUI: About 15 years ago. Some things have changed.

The demonstration I think may work best, let's pretend this is the bottom of the sea.

LEVS: This is 5,000 feet.

LUI: This is 5,000 feet underneath the sea surface. This is the hole in the ground. This is that BOP, a giant faucet lever.

LEVS: This is where the whole problem occurred in the first place. The idea was, how do you start guiding the oil from here up to the surface to a ship instead of out into the water?

LUI: That is the large faucet valve. Before this they had a riser that went to the surface. Then there was that explosion 47 days ago, got disconnected, fell to the bottom of the ocean.

LEVS: And in the process got kinked.

LUI: Right. We had 15 percent of the oil leaking coming out of that kink here, we had 85 percent coming out of where the drill bit meets that riser. Then you had the top of the drill bit which they were able to seal.

LEVS: At one point -- it took a while. There were several tries along the way. They kept dropping down various devices. There was going to be a top hat that was going to go over here. The other day they managed to get a containment device to fit.

LUI: What they did, they cut off this riser. So it got removed all together. And then they put on what they're calling the containment cap.

LEVS: And they wanted a smooth top like this. That's why they sent down a diamond wire cutter. It got stuck. They had to get rid of that and use something rougher. This is pretty smooth, but the actual edge they created is rougher than that. This goes on top, as well as it can fit.

LUI: The problem is getting a good seal. Right now what they've got on this containment cap, which also has a tube going to the surface, is it's got four vents on the top of it. These four vents were put in there for a purpose. Number one, so you wouldn't have any freezing which will clog up what this cap was designed to do. Second, to relieve some of the pressure as it's being lowered on.

We've been debating which analogy to use. I say it's like a Mentos being dropped into a coke bottle and trying to put the cap back on.

LEVS: Let's look at the live underwater pictures. What you're seeing right now, they got that containment device down there. The way it was designed, it had vents open. There is so much pressure from that oil pushing up, you can't get that containment device on unless there are openings.

They have the vents open, and the problem now is how are they going to close those vents in order to keep more of that oil inside? LUI: So they are going to try to close each one of those four events. We heard they would start that yesterday. They have been able to gather some oil. Admiral Thad Allen gave a number yesterday. Then we heard about 1,800 barrels at the moment. We are waiting for that press conference to start any moment right now.

LEVS: And 6,000 barrels over 24 hours, which is good news. But the basic idea is it's still a fraction of the oil pushing out into the water.

LUI: The question probably out there for some, we have seen a start of the hurricane season. So what they have in tap right now, if this doesn't work is something called a long-term containment plan which is creating another riser that floats instead of being hard wired.

So it will sit about 300 feet from the surface of the ocean so when a hurricane comes by, they will disconnect the surface equipment, move it away. Hurricane will pass by and this will still survive, floating underneath the ocean. That's one of the things they are putting together for the hurricane season coming around.

And one other solution they are looking at outside those wells is what they are calling the Q-4000. If you remember before they were trying to pump in junk to clog this faucet. What they are going to do is use the very same connections those little robots put in. They are going to try to suck out oil through the sides.

LEVS: Before they were pumping in that junk. We heard about the junk shot. Now they are going to try to pull it out using this but the reverse.

LUI: Right. All of these are mitigating steps. None are absolute solutions except the ultimate relief wells.

LEVS: And due in August are basically two more of these upside down white things we are using. Two wells over here to push the oil out.

LUI: Those relief wells so important.

We hope we provided some practical demonstration. We were debating how to go about it. I think it worked out well,

Josh Levs, thanks a lot. More on this later.

Israel now seizing another aid ship headed for Gaza. We'll tell you how this confrontation ended.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Our top stories this hour. BP's attempt to control the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico appears to be making some progress. Officials say it's currently funneling about 30 percent of the oil to a drilling ship on the surface. That is an updated and larger number than what we thought just yesterday. They hope to increase that gradually to about 80 percent of the oil that's coming out.

President Obama announced today he is nominate retired Air Force General James Clapper to be the new director of national intelligence. If confirmed, Clapper will replace Dennis Blair who resigned last month. Representative Pete Hoekstra says Clapper has not been forthcoming, open, or transparent in previous dealings with Congress.

Joran Van Der Sloot has arrived at police headquarters in Peru to face murder charges. A 21-year-old woman was found dead in his hotel room in Lima this week. He's long been a suspect in the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of a different person, an Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway.

An aid ship bound for Gaza is now under Israeli control. Commandos seized the Rachel Corrie this morning. Today's seizure had a dramatically different ending than a raid on another aid ship that happened earlier this week.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us live from Jerusalem. You were there earlier at that location. What is the latest you have for us, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Richard, thankfully we didn't see the bloody ends to this confrontation we saw last Monday when nine activists were killed by Israeli forces. This time, according to Israeli authorities, it was a peaceful takeover of the boat.

Just before 1:00 in the afternoon local time Israelis boarded the vote and took it to the port of Ashrob (ph). This is just what we are hearing from the Israeli side. So those people are now being processed. They are now being deported, probably not tonight because they can't get on planes this late, but by tomorrow, most of them should have left.

And as for the goods onboard, they are going to be carefully screened by the Israelis. Israel claims it will allow all humanitarian goods into Gaza. But activists say that what Israel considers humanitarian goods is different from what they consider humanitarian goods.

The have 550 tons of cement which Gaza needs to rebuild. Israeli is worried it could be used by militants while building rockets and weapons to use against Israel. It will be interesting to see how much of it does get to where it's need.

LUI: Paula, I guess the debate is not only what defines these aid items, but did the IDF offer to take in these eight items for the activists and how did they respond?

HANCOCKS: They did, yes, as with the previous flotilla, they said if they came to the Israeli Port of Ashrob (ph), they would take in what they consider Israeli goods. But the activists wanted everything to be allowed in, even things the Israelis considered could be used by militants. The fact is it's very difficult to know what exactly Israel allows onto Gaza and what is banned. Even the United Nations is not allowed to see the list that Israel has. Just to show a random example, cinnamon is allowed in, but coriander is banned. So obviously some of these bans are not for security reasons.

LUI: Very interesting details on that list. Paula Hancocks is in Jerusalem on that story for us, thank you.

The earth opens up in Guatemala. That story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: You might not believe your eye or your ears when you see and hear this one. In our "Edge of Discovery" we meet a jazz musician who controls a robotic backup band with his own guitar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAT METHENY, MUSICIAN: My name is Pat Metheny, and welcome to the Orchestrian Project. This whole thing hatched from my brain when I was a 9-year-old. My grandfather had a grand player piano. I wondered why hasn't anybody looked at that potential? That's this idea.

The guitar is the control device for everything. The process works I play a note and that tells something what to do. I can add in drums. I can add in a bass. What I play it plays. It's all acoustic instruments, so that gives a more complex musical sound.

It's kind of alive. It's not just like something sitting there. It's smacking around and beating and hitting things. The audience reaction to this has been unlike anything I've ever experienced because this is so off the beaten path.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: So I'm hearing that Tony Stark, "Ironman" to you guys, may have a new hobby. This video is from YouTube. No babysitter required for this little girl evidently, got the machine moving. They are calling her the "Iron-baby."

This is a spoof trailer of the hit movie "Ironman." It features this little girl as a bib wearing Tony Stark, and it's already blasted past three million hits on YouTube.

And what we see right here is a huge hole in Guatemala. This can't be real. That's what many of us thought when we first saw this giant sinkhole in Guatemala City after Central America was drenched by tropical storm Agatha. It's huge. No injuries, just a city full of scared people. They had to stand seven feet back.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LUI: Gulf coast fishermen cleaning up oily waters and getting sick along the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KINDRA ARNESEN, HUSBAND WORKS ON GULF OIL SPILL CLEANUP: This one's hanging over the boat throwing up. This one says he's dizzy and feeling faint. That's abnormal for our guys. These are a bunch of tough, hardcore fishermen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: Fishermen themselves, some of them are scared to talk about the health risks. But we've got one wife who opens up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: And 47 days after an explosion brought down the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, some of the survivors are starting to talk about that day and the catastrophe that killed 11 of their friends and co-workers. A few of the survivors shared their story with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Where were you with the first explosion?

MATTHEW JACOBS, SURVIVED OIL RIG EXPLOSION: Out in the hallway. A lot of people were screaming and hollering. It's like the movie "Titanic" right before the ship sinks. Everybody is just -- I mean, I can feel the heat from the flames as soon as I come out on to the smoke deck.

But when I got up on the lifeboat, I stopped and I looked up. I was like, this can't be happening. There is no way we could put that fire out.

COOPER: What did it look like?

JACOBS: It looks like you're looking at the face of death. You could hear it, see it, smell it.

COOPER: When you hear BP's CEO Tony Hayward say he wants his life back, what do you think?

DANIEL BARRON III, SURVIVED OIL RIG EXPLOSION: You want your life back, sure. There are 11 men whose wives want them back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: President Obama has invited the families of those 11 men killed in the explosion to meet with him on Thursday at the White House. A previous BP gag order prevented cleanup workers from speaking out, but CNN's Elizabeth Cogen got one fed up wife to finally open up about this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Late one night at the end of April, Kindra Arnesen's husband David was out shrimping on his boat, seven other shrimping boats around him.

KINDRA ARNESEN, HUSBAND WORKS ON GULF OIL SPILL CLEANUP: I received several phone calls from him. This one's hanging over the boat throwing up. This one says he's dizzy and he's feeling faint. That's abnormal for our guys. This is a bunch of tough, hardcore fishermen.

COHEN (on camera): How did he say he was feeling?

ARNESEN: Nauseous and a really bad headache.

COHEN (voice-over): Men sick on eight boats, she says not a coincidence.

COHEN (on camera): He told you he could smell the oil?

ARNESEN: It was really strong. He said it was so strong that they could almost taste it.

COHEN: But BP and EPA have been monitoring this air and they say it's safe, don't worry.

ARNESEN: If the air's just fine and all of a sudden everybody's sick, come on.

COHEN: You don't believe it.

ARNESEN: I don't believe them.

COHEN (voice-over): She says until this day, her husband was completely healthy. But he's been sick ever since.

ARNESEN: It's a nasty cough. I literally woke him up over and over again.

COHEN (on camera): Had you ever seen him like that, short of breath?

ARNESEN: Never.

COHEN: He doesn't have asthma, nothing like that?

ARNESEN: No breathing problems, ever, nothing.

COHEN (voice-over): BP's top executive has suggested spoiled food could have made the fishermen ill. But a public health official contacted by CNN considered that highly unlikely in light of their symptoms.

COHEN (on camera): Now, Kindra, I got to tell you, you're talking about this. You're the only one I found who is. People are mighty quiet around here.

ARNESEN: They're terrified.

COHEN: Why are they terrified?

ARNESEN: BP. You're messing with the king. That's what I've been told. Kindra, you're not scared? You're messing with the king.

COHEN: So, why aren't you scared?

ARNESEN: I am.

COHEN (voice-over): The shrimping waters have since been closed down because of the oil and Kindra's husband has signed a contract to work with BP. It includes a provision that prohibits him from talking publicly about his work.

COHEN (on camera): So, your husband signed a gag order back in April. And then --

ARNESEN: May 24th.

COHEN: May 24th, right. They revoked the gag order. So why won't he talk?

ARNESEN: He's still scared.

COHEN: But what's he scared of?

ARNESEN: Losing his job.

COHEN: Are you scared of BP?

ARNESEN: Am I scared of BP? Our financial situation lays in the palm of their hands.

COHEN (voice-over): So, why is she talking when so many others have been silent?

ARNESEN: It starts with one. Anything, anything ever starts with one. And if I have to be the one, then I have to be the one.

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Venice, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)