Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hurricane Warnings for Western Gulf; Moscow Suspicious Over Timing of Spy Arrests; The Side of Air Travel You Don't See

Aired June 29, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It's a new hour, we've got a new rundown. We're keeping a close eye on tropical storm Alex and so is everyone along the Gulf Coast. It's heading away from the oil disaster. But it's still hampering the clean-up.

Plus, would you believe there's a virtual army of people who make sure your flight goes smoothly? Our Ali Velshi visits with that virtual army. A frequent flier himself certainly gets an exclusive behind-the-scenes look. You'll never look at flying the same way again.

Also, think you've got the final solution to the oil disaster? You could make a ton of money if you are right with your solution. It's a mission that we want to make possible for you.

OK. Our top story, of course, is tropical storm Alex. And as it's moving through the Yucatan Peninsula, now in through the Gulf -- let's visit with Chad Myers.

You know, Chad, as we watch this, you know, it's not necessarily moving very quickly, right?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, no. Probably 10 miles per hour.

LUI: Yes.

MYERS: And that's -- that's fast enough that it keeps moving over warmer water. If you get a storm that just sits there, it can actually use up its water. It can sit there and spin and churn so much --

LUI: So it stalls?

MYERS: -- it cools the water down below it, and when you cool the water, then you lose the heat engine, you lose -- so you want -- if you want them bigger, you want them to move 10 to 15 miles per hour so they're always churning up new water.

LUI: You're saying that's just right?

MYERS: So, it's -- we're right on the money.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: Here's Belize where it moved over. There's Cancun, the Yucatan Peninsula. I'll draw it all the way back for Brownsville and New Orleans and Pensacola, and so on, back along toward Florida.

And we do expect it to make landfall somewhere south of Brownsville. It could make as far north -- it's really on the outer edge of the cone -- all the way to Corpus Christi as a hurricane, as an 80 to 90-mile per hurricane. That's the forecast still.

And although it's nowhere near the oil slick, it's still going to have strong winds here. Now, obviously, the winds will be strong here. They'll be a little bit less here. They'll be less and less. But they're still going to be here. There will still be winds at 25 miles per hour for three days.

You do the math, how long that blow and blow and blow -- that will move. That will move this oil slick onshore into the Louisiana bayou, Mississippi and Alabama, but away from Florida.

LUI: Do you worry about as Alex moves through here, wave action at all affecting the oil spill here?

MYERS: Certainly.

LUI: And how much?

MYERS: And you know what? This could be -- this could take days for the waves to get here. Just because the wind is blowing, waves are about five feet right now and that's rocking the boats, so to speak a little bit, also making it hard to skim. When you have skimmers back there and their booms are only a foot high and you have five-foot waves going over those one-foot booms, you're not skimming anything anymore. You're losing that.

But the bigger waves that are being generated right now, they could take a dozen days to actually get out there all the way into this oil slick, so this could be a long-term slowdown.

LUI: All right. Help us understand this -- because right in this area here, we have that surface equipment that we're hearing they're having to slow down just a little bit because of Alex. It seems far away and based on the wave action, a question there at least. What's your thinking?

MYERS: Well, you know, have you been on a boat that's doing five miles an hour up and down, people get sick?

LUI: Yes.

MYERS: You know, operators don't want to be out there. You have to exchange crews a little bit harder. It's a lot worse for these guys at it. Have you seen "Deadliest Catch," my favorite show on TV?

LUI: I have. Those are big waves. Yes.

MYERS: OK. That's way up here and they'll be 20 to 30 footers.

LUI: Right.

MYERS: But if you're pounded for 24 hours straight with a five or six or 10-foot wave, it's working on all the equipment, it's working on the people, and it's tough.

LUI: And we have to remember, I mean, these risers are not small and they do have issues about the connection points in this area. So, that's I guess something they're taking into consideration.

MYERS: They're semi-hard pipe, but they do flex.

LUI: Yes.

MYERS: You don't want them to flex very much because the more they flex, the more they do this, the more they have a chance of doing this and all of a sudden, all that oil is back in the water again.

LUI: And from your opinion, there's no -- out of this cone of uncertainty, there's way of this turning around and coming back towards this part, New Orleans area, Panama City area, you don't see that happening?

MYERS: The irony would be, Richard, if it did take a big right-hand turn and kind of move through the Florida straits, that the wind would actually be in the correct direction and blow the oil away. And so, that would be the best case, but that was not likely.

LUI: It's counterclockwise moving it that way.

MYERS: Correct.

LUI: And blowing it away from shore, into the middle of the Gulf where they could clean it up later.

All right. Chad Myers, thank you so much. The latest on Alex as we watch that steam towards here in Mexico as well as Texas area. Appreciate that.

You know, Alex could wreck a lot of July 4th vacation plans as we've been talking about today here today with Chad. People along south Texas beaches are starting to worry right now about sandbags and boarding up the windows in their vacation homes and their homes instead of barbecue and fireworks. And there's already talk of evacuations as well.

Courtney Zubowski is on South Padre Island with more on that for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COURTNEY ZUBOWSKI, KHOU (TV): Tourists here are still taking advantage of the beach and the sun. But many of them are going to have to cut their vacations short. The mayor of South Padre Island has declared a local state of disaster and has called for a voluntary evacuation. But so far, no mandatory evacuation.

(voice-over): At Island Baptist Church on South Padre Island, they're doing what they always do to prepare for Alex --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, of course, we're praying.

ZUBOWSKI: They're also boarding up windows and doors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, we're just preparing, doing the sandbags, you know, making sure everything is safe inside, and then we're going to, you know, go our separate ways and fix our own houses.

ZUBOWSKI: This is one of the busiest weekends of the year for the island, the July 4th holiday. Some tourists here have asked for their money back. Others aren't showing up, canceling their trips altogether. Even if the island doesn't take a direct hit, people here say the damage has been done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seasonal here. If we lose big weekends like this, it's tough. We've done it before.

ZUBOWSKI: Homeowners here went through a hurricane two years ago, Dolly -- lessons were learned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last time, we didn't board up when Dolly came through. We got away with it. The Exxon sign landed on our front porch, missed our windows by about eight inches. So, this year, we're going to board up.

ZUBOWSKI: The next several hours will be critical for some. They'll make the decision whether to stay or to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: All right. So much for that reset. Any warm and fuzzy feeling from the Russian leaders' White House visit is chilling right up now as news of an FBI spy bust. Moscow and Washington both ticked off at the timing. More on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: All right. Time for some "Globe Trekking" for you. And we'll start with this bizarre FBI spy bust that you may have heard about today. The news first broke yesterday in federal district court. We're talking about what happened there in New York.

And what we understood at that time was that 10 people rounded up in raids from northern Virginia to Metro New York to New England. We're talking about 10 arrests over the space of four states across the United States -- four states in the United States.

OK. Let me move you now over to Cyprus, bring you up to date on that. What we understand at this moment, an 11th person was arrested here today in Larnaca. All accused -- all 11 now -- of being Russian plants in the United States here to blend in and soak up sensitive information. That's where the suspects were found.

Now, let's take you to Moscow where the investigation a decade or so in the making of all of this comes to a head just days after President Obama and Russia's leader here boasting of resetting their country's ties. Moscow is now mega-suspicious, describing the FBI bombshell as in the spirit of the Cold War.

More now from Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE0

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Well, the Russian foreign ministry has reacted sharply to allegations that Moscow ran a spy ring in the United States, saying the arrests are unfounded and have what it calls unseemly goals. Statement by a foreign ministry official in the Russian capital described the incident as regrettable and said that things like this have happened in the past when relations between Russia and the United States are improving.

The clear implication of that being that for Russia, the timing of these arrests so soon after a very friendly, very successful summit between the U.S. and Russian presidents was intended to derail the reset and often strained relations between the two countries. It's a clear signal -- in the words of one political analyst in Moscow -- that for some in Washington, the reset has gone too far and that the United States should still be cautious of Russia.

There's also speculation among political observers in Russia that the FBI, which, of course, revealed the alleged spy ring, may be trying to deflect attention from its own shortcomings in detecting sooner the failed Times Square bomber in May. Russian blogs and chat rooms are filled with discussion about the arrests and about the incidents.

The question now, though, is: what will be the response of Moscow in terms of action? Already, the country's foreign minister is demanding an explanation from U.S. authorities. But the real fear is this kind of damaging episode could seriously set back the diplomatic progress that's been made between these two former Cold War foes.

Matthew Chance, CNN, in Minsk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: OK. Matthew Chance in Minsk.

We now take you to Afghanistan on our map here as we continue our "Globe Trekking" to Afghanistan. Key U.S. goal there is to put Afghans in charge of their own security in this area. The United States has now spent about $27 billion to train and equip Afghan security forces. According to a new report by the special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction, the results are discouraging.

And I'll show you just a couple of numbers with you. Only 23 percent of Afghan soldiers and 12 percent of police can work unsupervised. Report -- this report also cites multiple incidents of security forces pilfering supplies, including weapons, demanding money from truck drivers and travelers at checkpoints, siphoning and selling fuel. Some police chiefs deciding to use the limited amount of fuel they had left there to run generators instead of conducting patrols.

And in February, 17 percent of Afghan police tested for drugs, tested positive. The U.S. military eyewitnesses reported that police at one unit used marijuana openly and refused to conduct operations or even leave their compound. And as of this past March, 12 percent of the Afghan army and 17 percent of Afghan police were absent without leave.

These are the issues that were debated during the confirmation hearing of General David Petraeus earlier today which just ended hours ago -- Afghanistan at the top of the mind of senators today.

All right. Airline travel, get your ticket, board the plane and you're off. But hang on a second, not so fast. There's a lot going on that you don't get to see until now. Our own frequent flier, Ali Velshi, takes us on a behind-the-scenes look -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: All right. Top stories begin with an update on the oil disaster. Vice President Biden is on the Gulf Coast at this hour, getting an up-close look at the clean-up. BP is saying that nearly 500,000 barrels of oil have been collected so far. Later today, Biden plans to visit the Florida Panhandle.

And, you know, this is day two of confirmation hearings that we've been watching for you here for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Among other things, she defended her controversial decision to bar military recruiters from the career services office when she was dean of Harvard's law school. She says military recruiters had other opportunities to meet students.

Also today, we're hearing about a mind-boggling number: U.S. airlines collecting $769 million just in baggage fees during the first three months of this year. That is a 33 percent increase. Airlines say that by charging for services like checked baggage, they can keep basic air fares lower.

All right. Talking about airline, aside from those nagging fees, air travel seems so simple sometimes. You buy a ticket, you show up on time if you can, and you fly to your destination. But there's a lot going on behind the scenes to keep your flight as smooth as possible along the way.

Our own frequent flier, Ali Velshi, got some exclusive access right here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So, for most of us, traveling by plane means buying a ticket, getting to the airport, getting on board, sitting down, relaxing and enjoying the flight. But there are actually hundreds of people involved behind the scenes that make sure all of this goes smoothly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, everyone. This is Sergio with you from the OCC. Before we get into a review of yesterday's operation, let's get into safety -- J.J.

VELSHI (voice-over): Nine a.m. Central Time, senior operational managers in charge of planes, crews, schedules and other critical responsibilities meet in a room near United's home airport, Chicago O'Hare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At six-seven (ph), we will have one in Chicago later this afternoon.

VELSHI: It's a quick meeting. Yesterday's performance --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday, we did make our shared DZ0 goals for mainline.

VELSHI: Today's potential problems --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Into parts of western Illinois into the afternoon, that would be our next opportunity to see some thunderstorms into Chicago.

VELSHI: Then it's off to work in the heart of United's world operation.

(on camera): This is the other side of the curtain -- the side that we mere mortal travelers never get to see. People in this room here at United operations control center outside of Chicago are making decisions about everything to do with your travel, including the crew that's on your plane, making sure there are spare parts if anything goes wrong on that plane. In fact, in this room is where they give final approval for takeoff.

JOE KOLSHAK, SENIOR V.P. OF OPERATIONS, UNITED AIRLINES: To dispatch a flight, two people are legally responsible, the dispatcher and the captain of the flight.

VELSHI: So, they've both got to sign off?

KOLSHAK: They both have to sign off.

VELSHI (voice-over): Joe Kolshak is a 20-year veteran of the airlines, like many here, a former pilot. United's operations control center or OCC isn't customer service. It's not the room where your ticket price is set. Nor is it where they track your lost luggage.

But it is pretty much everything else. From this room, senior staff in virtually every department oversee United's operations at five U.S. hubs: Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington Dulles, and thousands of domestic and international flights.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the most part, it all comes through this immediate area.

VELSHI: Typical decisions taken in this room: shifting a plane's route ever so slightly to make up for a late departure, preparing a flight crew for a possible holding pattern, or diversion to another airport because of weather. And things seemingly not so critical: scheduling crew shifts and hotels and making sure passengers aren't boarding sweltering hot planes in the summer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we pull aircraft over from the hangar, you know, with these hot temperatures, make sure that we're pre- cooling them.

VELSHI: Every single flight is assigned a dispatcher, who determines and signs off on the flight plan and tracks its performance and problems until it lands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's actually a straight line to go on an arc.

KOLSHAK: You see it all through here with 1,200 flights a day. We've got, you know, obviously, a lot of people, a couple hundred dispatchers.

VELSHI: The goal? Keeping everyone safe and moving hopefully on schedule.

(on camera): You know, the fun in traveling is actually traveling, actually going somewhere. There's nothing more frustrating than being stuck on the ground. And there are new rules that say if an airline keeps you on the tarmac in the plane for more than three hours, they get fined a lot of money. So, you can be assured that you don't want to be sitting around and they don't want you sitting around.

KOLSHAK: I understand the customer's frustration. To be in that confined tube, to be out of control, you know, because somebody else is basically controlling where that airplane goes and when it goes.

VELSHI (voice-over): So far, United hasn't faced the severe fines imposed by the Department of Transportation. But that's meant turning some delayed planes back to the gate and canceling the flight.

KOLSHAK: We're making it work doesn't mean it's not painful to the passengers who don't understand that we're operating under this law that will fine us $27,500 per passenger on that flight. Small airplane is $4 million.

VELSHI (on camera): Wow.

KOLSHAK: Large airplane doubles.

VELSHI (voice-over): And when it comes to delays, there's the uncontrollable causes like weather and the controllable causes like an air traffic control system that needs a serious upgrade.

KOLSHAK: And it does slow us down. It does impact us.

VELSHI: Ali Velshi, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: All right. Hurricane warnings are now posted in the Gulf. Chad Myers is tracking Alex. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: All right. Of course, we are watching what is happening in the Gulf. It's not just the oil spill. There is tropical storm Alex. Chad Myers has been watching that for us.

And I was just scratching my head, Chad, as you were counting all of these off before we got back from the break. You say there's something like 30 models?

MYERS: Well, there's more weathermen than that.

(LAUGHTER)

LUI: That's for sure. But they all -- they all have a different model is what you're telling me?

MYERS: They all use different parameters.

LUI: Got you.

MYERS: Somebody might use -- these are all meteorological models, garbage in, garbage out, you know? If they're junk, they're junk. If they're great, they're awesome.

Somebody may use a wind that's 2,000 feet in the sky and it will be going that way. Somebody else may use the surface wind. It may be going this way a little bit more.

How much you factor in every different piece of the pie is what's going to happen.

Now, here's the problem. How many people -- Richard, live right there -- how many people live there?

LUI: I would guess none.

MYERS: Zero.

LUI: Yes.

MYERS: How many weather balloons do you think go up right there?

LUI: None.

MYERS: Same number.

LUI: Yes.

MYERS: What about there, about there, there, there, there? This is the issue when trying to predict a storm in the Pacific that comes onshore in California, Washington, Oregon, or try to predict a hurricane in the middle of the Atlantic when no one is there to put up the weather balloons, right?

LUI: A lot of guessing, you were saying.

MYERS: A lot of guessing goes on.

Now, the hurricane center does sometimes fly a plane back and forth, back and forth for hours on end, like a dozen hours and they drop little weather balloons, although they had parachutes. Still they same, they don't go, they go down.

But they get a better feel for what's going on on every different level. Is the wind going that way? Is the level going that way? Is it really -- is it cold? Is it warm?

So, that's where all these different models come from. And that's why they're scattered all the way from way down here in Tampico, all the way back up here Lake Charles. But there are a couple up toward, you know (INAUDIBLE) so on and so on.

LUI: Great background.

MYERS: That's where it's going.

LUI: You're doing this to tell us in all those models, nothing is headed towards the oil spill.

MYERS: Correct. Not one thing -- there's not one indication that this thing could turn to the right and then hit over the oil spill and then take this storm surge and push all of this water, you know, miles onshore. That's the real concern.

Yes, there's a lot of moving around of the oil and the boats will be -- I'm worried about if we take a lot of oil and we push it miles onshore. We're not only polluting the beaches, we're polluting the barrier isles, we're polluting the sand and all the --

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: -- where people live.

LUI: Yes.

MYERS: We don't want to kill everything by -- and this oil is very, very toxic to every plant that it touches.

LUI: We've been telling the story of all the fishermen that are down there. In these situations where you have soon-to-be hurricane, is what you're saying, that also is affecting them because there are few places they might be able to go to, at least in the Gulf, now they're being pushed away.

MYERS: I saw a story about a guy that I go to his restaurant all the time. His name is A.J.

LUI: Yes.

MYERS: He sells Louisiana food if you're in Atlanta. He says his prices have doubled. Well, his business hasn't doubled.

LUI: Yes.

MYERS: And now -- so he's losing money but BP's not going to pay him. So the people that are actually not buying the product from him and the people that aren't buying these Styrofoam containers that he would be selling them to, they're hurting as well. This is a chain of events, tertiary and all the way down. How would we ever be able to pay all of these people back?

LUI: The domino effect.

MYERS: Got to go.

LUI: And we want this to go away soon --

MYERS: Yes.

LUI: -- to help those fishermen and all those people that are helping to supply seafood across the country.

Thank you, Chad, for that. Great background.

Straight ahead for you, we go live to Washington, and the best political team on television. Twin hearings today for General David Petraeus -- it ended, we'll tell you how that goes -- and Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. We're covering them from every angle. She's back in the room right now, just sitting down, getting a glass of water.

Plus, you can catch even more of the back and forth on CNN.com.

Stick with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back CNN's continuing coverage of a couple of very important hearings on Capitol Hill. You are looking right now at live pictures of the judiciary committee. That of course is Elena Kagan.

She has been nominated to be the next justice on the U.S. Supreme Court and she is being talked to and in some cases talked at by members of the U.S. Senate. No one is following this more closely than our Dana Bash is, our Senior Congressional Correspondent. Who even as we went back and forth between these hearings and the Petraeus hearings, was there listening to Kagan from start to finish. Seems to me Dana that we started out with the idea that this, by her very words, Kagan would be a different kind of witness because she had criticized these Supreme Court hearings as kind of hallow charades. So has she been any different?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not really. Not really at all, Candy. And you know what was interesting is pretty much off the bat in talking to the chairman, Patrick Leahy, she backed off of that. She said that she's had the balance a little bit off when she wrote that back in 1995 and she said she skewed it too much towards saying the answering is appropriate even when you provide some kind of hints about past Supreme Court decisions and future Supreme Court decisions.

And throughout the morning, as she's had exchanges with members of the Senate panel, as they've tried to press her on some of those issues, she's lived up to the new Kagan standard, I think it's fair to say, and not really answering the questions. I want to play you one example of that with Dianne Feinstein about an hour ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Does the president, in your view, have the authority to detain American citizens without criminal trial if they are suspected of conspiring to aid terrorists or participating in acts of terrorism? Now, does your answer depend on whether the individual is arrested in the United States or abroad?

ELENA KAGAN, SOLICITOR GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES AND SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: Well, Senator Feinstein, this will, I think, very much be a case that very much may come before the court, is the question of how detention authority, whether detention authority exists with respect to people who are apprehended in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So that's one example. Another example is when another senator asked her about Bush v. Gore saying, you can surely answer about that because that's the past that's not going to happen again. And she said, no, no, you never know it might happen again. God forbid for us all

But that's sort of an example of what's been going on here. And she sounds like she hasn't been talking. She doesn't say, I'm sorry, Senator, I don't recall, which is kind of the joke response that we all have up here for any given witness. She is talking a lot but in kind of a law professor way and expanding on some issues of the day without really giving specific answers and protecting herself in that way.

CROWLEY: CNN's Senior Congressional Correspondent, Dana Bash. Thank you so much. Ed Rollins, Roland Martin, Gloria Borger, Victoria Toensing, Jeffrey Toobin and my co-anchor, John King, let's just talk about this. Roland, welcome. What's been your main impression here. What, actually makes me laugh is that they know she's not going to answer questions they insist on asking.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well first of all I'm thoroughly enjoying the confirmation hearings of Thurgood Marshall. Very interesting in terms of watching the replay of that. But you're absolutely right. I mean at the end of the day, since Robert Bork everybody's figured this game out, Republicans and Democrats.

And that is, you answer nothing. You give all of these nice lawyerly answers that actually as Dana just laid out, you don't know what the heck they're even talking about because at the end of the day, no one wants a significant slip-up.

So to watch senators throw all these hypotheticals out knowing full well she's not going to answer the questions, and so it's a nice game, OK we'll play over the next two or three days. Then we all get to go home and then watch the next ball game.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: The peculiar thing about this rule that you can't talk about something if it might come before the court. No one ever explains why. Why?

(CROSSTALK)

Well but no but I'm talking about what's the justification for not answering? OK, an issue might come before the court. And so a lawyer is going to say, well in your confirmation hearing you said x. But in my confirmation hearings, I hadn't read the briefs I hadn't talked to my colleagues I'm not as-I may think differently now. What is the harm of answering the question? I don't get it. But she is the state-of-the-art premier Supreme Court nominee. This is how they handle it. It's politically safe.

VICTORIA TOENSING, LEGAL EXPERT: Let's go back to something here. These Senators don't care, really, that she doesn't answer. Because if they really cared, they'd ask a two-second question and just pause and wait for her to answer. How long do they go on? Four and five minutes. They are getting out their message.

TOOBIN: The Biden record is safe. Because when Joe Biden first asked questions of John Roberts, he spoke for 24 of the 30 minutes that he had. I think that record may never be broken.

TOENSING: But they're all-- it's the scenario for all of them.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But here's what happened and this to me (ph). It's interesting to watch Senator Sessions who came on in an interview with you guys and was you know questioning her intellectual honesty. So if you-if you're can't get her on the law because she's going to be pragmatic, not answer the questions, then what you're go-what they seem to be tending towards is her character.

And essentially saying that her time line in this Harvard question of, don't ask, don't tell, and allowing the military recruiters on campus is a matter of character and how she behaved and whether the time line she is giving is the same time line he is giving.

And so it's going to a deeper question, almost, which is a question of integrity, as you put it, John, in your question to her.

JOHN KING, HOST "JOHN KING, USA:: Well and Senator Sessions clearly wanted to be tough on that one. The question is, if she doesn't lose any Democratic votes in that committee, Ed, and I've seen nothing to suggest she has, she's fine. So it's a tactical request for the Republicans when it comes up.

ED ROLLINS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think going to her past when she was the dean and the actions she took as a very legitimate place may clearly have a conflict on what the view of the facts are. And I think by throwing out the request to hear intellectual honesty basically may take a few Republicans away or least give Sessions the argument to be able to go back in the caucus and say, not only did she follow the Kagan rule of the past or whatever the not Kagan rule, we found some things where there was a little misleading of facts where she didn't have to.

She could have basically stated whatever she believed to be true. And it may be difference (ph) of opinion. But I think this is something that they'll push a little bit harder this afternoon.

KING: And we will continue the conversation as we go forward. And this is one of those days. You might often think at home what happens in Washington doesn't matter to me.

This is a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, issues that do matter to you. Your everyday life now and in the future worth watching. Also worth when we come back, General David Petraeus is no longer in the chair. Elena Kagan will be questioned throughout the afternoon. General Petraeus is done but his confirmation hearing also huge stakes.

The U.S. mission in Afghanistan, is there a path to victory or is it, as many worry, right now in Washington, off the tracks? We'll continue that conversation when we return. -

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: When you drop a bomb on a house if you're not sure who's in it. You can kill a lot of innocent civilians in a hurry. Having said that, as I mentioned in my opening statement, we have to be absolutely certain that the implementation of the tactical directive and the rules of engagement is even throughout the force, that there are not leaders at certain levels that are perhaps making this more bureaucratic or more restrictive than necessary.

When our troopers and our Afghan partners are in a tough spot. And when they are in a tough spot, it's a moral imperative that we use everything we have to ensure that they get out of it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: General David Petraeus there. He soon will be on his way to Afghanistan as the new U.S. and NATO commander there. Discussing in that testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the delicate balance. Yes they want to reduce civilian casualties because those civilian casualties often turn the Afghan people against the U.S. military and yet many of the troops are complaining at this difficult moment with casualties on the rise that the rules of engagement require them to be too tame, perhaps restrict them from taking action that is they believe were down the line reduce the risk.

Let's continue our conversation, this the second of the important confirmation hearings in Washington on this day. And Gloria Borger for General Petraeus, there's no question he will win the votes of this committee.

But he's not telling himself he's trying to sell a policy at a time when even those who adamantly support the goals in Afghanistan do worry a bit about the strategy.

BORGER: Right. And he wanted to make it clear that there's absolutely no sunlight between what he believes and what President Obama believes. He did say that in terms of the way we conduct this war, the counterinsurgency strategy, something he is going to take a look at, the rules of engagement, as we were talking about earlier.

But he had to walk a really fine political line here. Because, you have the Speaker Of The House talking about what she calls a serious draw down come July a year from now. And John McCain and others on the Republican side talking about a condition-based-only draw down.

So what he came up with was a responsible draw down.

KING: And Candy, this weekend, you had Senators on the program including Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat. And my question I guess is the leverage this general has.

In that testimony right there he was asked, what about the ambassador? What about Special Envoy Mr. Holbrooke? The civilians who were involved? General Petraeus said, that's not my department, a sense and it's not my purview.

But we know General Mcchrystal was in rivalries and sometimes head-butting with the civilians involved. Where does that go if this team cannot get along it's hard enough to do to being with.

CROWLEY: Well to a certain extent the tensions between the military and the civilian is pretty much standard fare. This seems to be at a different level because, in fact, the civilian element to this strategy, this counterinsurgency, really is vital because it's not enough just to go in and clear the place you've go to build.

That's the third leg of that. And so it's interesting Dianne Feinstein saying we now have all of our eggs in the Petraeus basket. That's where we go. And she's in fact said if he doesn't like the ambassador, our ambassador to Iraq, well, then, he should go. And if he doesn't like Envoy Holbrooke, he should go.

KING: We'll see if he gets that sway over the president. I'm sorry Roland right now we need to take a quick break. But we'll see if he gets that sway over the president more to talk about on this issue throughout the day. Also the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings.

At the moment though, other important developments, Richard Lui tracking those from the "CNN NEWSROOM" in Atlanta. [

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: All right. Let's check our top stories right now. Day 71 of the Gulf oil disaster and all eyes are on tropical storm Alex. Forecasts showing it could make landfall tomorrow near the Texas/Mexico border as a hurricane.

And even though it's hundreds of miles from the spill zone, the storm still affecting clean-up there. BP is delaying bringing a third containment ship out to its wellhead because of potential rough seas there.

And then as we speak, Tampa, Florida, police there are questioning 1 of 2 persons of interest there in the slaying of two officers overnight. They were shot during a traffic stop. Officer Dave Curtis was the father of four boys. Officer Jeffrey Cocab due to become a first time dad himself. The suspected shooter remains at large. And according to Tampa's police chief, should be very scared.

And plans are in motion to honor the late Senator Robert Byrd. The longest serving member of Congress in history. He died yesterday at 92 and aides saying the Senator's body will lie in repose in the Senate chamber Thursday before funeral services Friday in his home state of West Virginia.

OK. SO our top story that we're telling you about, of course, is what's happening in the Gulf as we look at the oil recovery efforts. With the issue of Alex now coming close, but not close enough to that spill on day 71. How will it affect what they're doing right now?

Well I was just mentioning there is the issue of the third ship there, unable to bring to this location. Let me show you first off. That is on the left side there called the Helix producer. Now that is a riser that floats. It sits 300 feet underneath the sea surface, can easily disconnect when a hurricane surge comes through.

Now, hurricane or rather tropical storm Alex is not expected to come close. But it is still slowing down the movement of a boat that would be going close to that. Also you have what is on the right-hand side, the Q4000 that's also been equipped to handle a hurricane surge.

It has some flexible tubing. It would only take 50 hours to remove and then move the equipment on the surface. If it were to be hard-piped, that would take up to 100 hours or more. And then all the way on the right-hand side, let me finish off with that, that is the long-term solution. That white line you see there is now very close.

We are hearing it only is about 20 feet horizontally away from getting close to the well that is leaking right now. They expect, of course, to be coming in an intersection there within a matter of weeks.

OK let me jump to date in terms of the number of barrels that we understand. 23, 395 barrels, this is a live picture right now underneath the sea, coming out yesterday. That brings us up to date in total of 483, 500 barrels since 71 days ago.

And the reactions still come in because when you look at these figures, many officials around the world say, how can this be stopped in former president Bill Clinton who was at the CNN Global Forum in South Africa said this about trying to stop what is happening in the Gulf. He says the Navy has to go down deep to blow up the well and cover the leak with piles of rock and debris.

Those are his words. He said it would not require nuclear weapons there. And then also Vice President Joe Biden also down in New Orleans. We have live pictures of him right now, I believe, as he is speaking. Vice president Joe Biden on the Gulf touring the incident command center in NOLA not too long ago.

So with all this talk about the latest in the Gulf and the oil, the vice president being there, the former president also speaking, that has to do with what our "Mission Possible" is today. And we have that segment each and every day. It's all about, today, about people coming up with solutions to a seemingly impossible situation.

Maybe it is blowing something up underneath the sea. This oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is definitely a seemingly impossible situation. The residents are absolutely flustered. But now there's a multimillion-dollar prize on the table for solutions to getting the oil cleaned up and stopped.

This week, the X PRIZE Foundation announced their clean-up challenge. They are still working out the details here but we've learned that the prize will likely be around $3 million to try to help solve that problem there.

The X PRIZE Foundation was going to focus on solutions to get the oil leak capped but was then unable to obtain enough data to design such a challenge. So they're focusing specifically on the clean-up. All that oil that you see in the sand as well as on the ocean surface. Now Francis Bealnd of X PRIZE told CNN yesterday, " Every time we have a challenge. You know who wins? It's not someone from the industry, it's a maverick, a free thinker." So they're looking for you free thinkers out there they're looking for you mavericks.

The X PRIZE foundation by the way getting public attention for its X PRIZE of $10 million that was awarded for the development of a private spacecraft. You probably remember that. And the nonprofit foundation created other prize challenges thereafter. Now to get in touch with the X PRIZE foundation. All you have to do, is go to their website xprize.org. Let those creative juices flow, all of you mavericks out there.

OK, today's "Wordplay" is kind of a slippery term, a noble calling or a dirty word, depending on who you ask about that. We are actively working on a breakdown. Stick around. .

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: We just learned here at CNN some breaking news for you. We're hearing from the Senate Armed Services Committee that they have approved in a discussion after they ended that hearing a little bit earlier today, they have approved General David Petraeus as the commander. This is the issue of Afghanistan that we were talking about.

This after President Obama had asked him to take that on after General McChrystal had handed in his resignation. We are just learning that here at CNN. Again the Senate Armed Services Committee now pushing this decision on to the full Senate for a decision here on General David Petraeus as commander of the armed forces in Afghanistan. We are just learning in that right here at CNN. When we get more details about what just came in to us, we'll have that for you so stick around.

Time now for "Wordplay" because the news has a way of giving old words some new twists. Case in point today, activism. Your doctor tells you activity will help you live longer. If you ever took a writing course, your teacher told you to use the active voice.

But if you ever get nominated to the Supreme Court, being called an activist, that will kill you. The classic definition of judicial activism comes from a quote from a former law clerk. Attributed to the late Justice Thurgood Marshall. Asked his philosophy of judging, Marshall supposedly said, "You do what you think is right and you let the law catch up.". And sure Elena Kagan Supreme Court nominee, and herself a former clerk of Justice Marshall.

And as you may have seen live in her confirmation hearings, Republicans are seeking guarantees that Kagan will not put her views above the existing law. Democrats demand the same of nominees from Republican presidents, knowing full well that once a nominee is confirmed, he or she can be as active or passive -- or passive aggressive, as the case may be, as he or she pleases. That is our "Wordplay".

OK. Lance Armstrong says he's getting ready to put away his bicycle, --bicycle rather. But guess what? I don't believe you, Lance. I don't mean to insult you here. I'm complimenting you. We'll find out, in my "XYZ" .

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: All right. Time now for the "XYZ" of it. When it comes to sports stars, it's always hard for me to accept when they want to basically hang up their cleats. Sure it's you know their right but between the many victories and stories of overcoming adversity, many athletes find their way into our lives.

Somehow they feel like family, or personal friends sometimes. You can't help but take it that they're leaving personally.

Jimmy Connors, we got Jerry Rice, and Brett Favre -- all right, with Favre, maybe it is and was time for Brett to go. But I won't get into that right now.

Today we learned that the cycling world's most admired though, Lance Armstrong, is announcing that this Tour De France will be his very last. He says he will retire from the Premier Cycling Tourney after this year's race.

Mind you now, struggle this will be the second time in hiss career, the first happened after winning seven straight. The first final race in '05 was the only time he let his teammates for instance have a go at the lead instead of coming out on top each stage.

And this second departure from the race, we could see more of this team play, meaning it's anybody's race, perhaps behind this is a bit of Lance admitting he's not as strong as some of his younger teammates. That's OK. Because in the end, as we watch Lance race, we still root for him. And how could you not? He's battled stage 3 cancer and survived. He's raced against the best cyclists in the world and won. And he's fought allegations of drug use in past (ph). So retirement for Lance Armstrong,. I'm not convinced. I think he'll be back. I think there's a chance we'll see him give all he can to pedal his way to another yellow jersey in the heart of Paris.

He's all of 38 and surely lives strong. Race on friend. That's my "XYZ" time now for Rick Sanchez, and "RICK'S LIST"