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Top Secret Files Leaked; Smart Holiday Shopping; 10 Tips to Boost Your Productivity; Mighty Marketing
Aired November 28, 2010 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Threatening to strain diplomatic relations between the U.S. and its allies around the world, tens of thousands of sensitive U.S. State Department documents have been leaked. Today, the whistle-blowing web site WikiLeaks provided the documents to several news organizations, some of which have been published.
Among other things, the cables reportedly reveal considerable anxiety among Arab states about Iran's regional ambitions. One cable describes a meeting between Saudi King Abdullah and White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan back in 2009. The king is quoted as telling Brennan, quote, "Iran's goal is to cause problems. There is no doubt something unstable about them," end quote.
The king was also highly critical of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki. According to these cables, the monarch is reported to have told U.S. officials, quote, "I don't trust this man. He Is an Iranian agent," end quote.
So let's turn now to our foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty in Washington with a little bit more on this. I know CNN is continuing to comb through these documents. Some of these documents were directly handed over to some news organizations around the world, some used a kind of go-between, an intermediary, to get these documents or the WikiLeaks leaked information to news organizations.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Fred, you know, I think it's really important what you were reading about King Abdullah, because it shows not only are these embarrassing - potentially embarrassing to the United States government, but in those they contain information about other countries and other leaders who may be commenting on third countries.
So it reveals, really, how diplomacy and how the United States government's diplomacy is carried out. And it's raw, unfiltered, and that's where the nervousness comes in. It is not necessarily, you know, cover yourself and provide protection. It's really the information that these embassies around the world for the United States are scooping up, almost like journalists, and sending back to Washington and then Washington giving information and direction to the people in the field at the embassies around the world.
And one of the problems is diplomats tell us, you know, if you want to have a - a workable foreign policy, you have to have the unvarnished truth. And that's where it gets embarrassing. They don't expect, of course, to see it, you know, on web sites and in newspapers and - and on television.
WHITFIELD: And - and how would you best describe these cables?
DOUGHERTY: Well, these cables work both ways. Number one, it's really the lifeblood of how the U.S. government conducts its - its business. There are directives that come from Washington, telling embassies and consulates and missions what to do, what to say, who to go and meet, how does U.S. foreign policy stand on a particular issue. It sometimes gives highly sensitive information on how to negotiate.
And then, from the field back, it could give information on what do you - what's the information about this leader? Is he or she stable or unstable? What are they talking about? What are the dangers that the government that is in the country that you're working in might collapse? I mean, they're all sorts of information. And, as you can see, it's 251,000 cables.
Listen to this statement by the - the Press Secretary for the White House and see the vehemence and the worry that's included in that. They - he was saying, President Obama supports responsible, accountable, open government at home and around the world, but this reckless and dangerous action runs counter to that goal. By releasing stolen and classified documents, WikiLeaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and works of these individuals. We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.
That, Fred, would be the worst-case scenario, that there would be national security information that could be compromised. Anything on terrorism, the war in Afghanistan, things about Iraq, et cetera, those could be highly sensitive.
WHITFIELD: Jill Dougherty, thanks so much, from Washington. Appreciate that.
All right. Let's bring in former Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs, Mark Kimmitt. Oh, it looks like we lost our signal with him. We'll try to resume that a little bit later.
Meantime, what is WikiLeaks, and who is this editor in chief, Julian Assange, anyway? So let's check in our - with our Josh Levs. He has been trying to delve into this and dig a little deeper on what WikiLeaks is all about.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've got some brand-new stuff for you, Fred. You know, we've been following their web site, we've been following their Twitter as well to see when something posted. Earlier in the day, for those of you following this story, WikiLeaks was saying they were under some sort of cyber-attack, and it was basically impossible to pull up the web site for a while.
Now, they've got this up. They just sent out a tweet minutes ago, at this point, and they send you over to this, which is Cablegate. They're calling it cablegate.wikileaks.org, and it's a lot of words on your screen. So what I'm going to do is talk to you about what's in this statement that has just come out, just little bits of it.
They talk about the fact that they're posting this now, and they're calling this the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain. They say it will give people around the world an unprecedented insight into U.S. government foreign activities. They talk about how far these date back, going all the way back to 1966, in some cases, across decades. They say it shows the extent of U.S. spying on allies and the U.N.
By the way, I want all of you to know, I'm just reading to you from the statement now from WikiLeaks itself, the statement they've put out, and talk about their philosophy. You were just talking with Jill Dougherty about their philosophy, where is the - where they're coming from, what the government says.
I want you to hear this. This is where they're coming from on this. Listen to this. Every American school child is taught that George Washington could not tell a lie. If the administrations of his successors lived up to the same principle, today's document flood would be a mere embarrassment. They go on to say instead the U.S. government has been warning governments even the most corrupt around the world about the coming leaks and is bracing itself for the exposure.
So this is the kind of thing that their philosophy is laying out as they go ahead and start posting these things. And what they say in the statement is they're only posting more and more of these documents for weeks and months to come. They say that's the only way to do justice vis-a-vis to the extent of what they have.
Let me show you a few things to check out while you're looking at this. Start at CNN.com as well. We talk you through some of the highlights and some of the stories behind it and ones we get them good, (INAUDIBLE). They talk about what's in it, also talk about some of the issues involved in foreign policy there and we talk to you about the site problem that was happening earlier in the day, what WikiLeaks said was happening, what the challenges were even getting this posted as well.
We're going to continue to follow this. We're also following up what's up on the WikiLeaks web site itself and WikiLeaks Twitter. And, again, their statement that is now out about where they're coming from and trying to put out all these documents, these classified documents and what various news agencies are doing about them.
Fred, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to follow this and everything they post from here on out.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Josh. Appreciate that.
All right. We're trying bringing in a Former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Mark Kimmitt one more time. So, Mark, I don't know how much of that you were able to hear, but at least according to the WikiLeaks web site, they're claiming that these documents date as far back as 1966, involving a number of U.S. state department cables and that it covers some 270-plus nations.
When the president said in a written statement that this is reckless and dangerous, to what extent do you see this being reckless and then dangerous - and dangerous, especially that it reaches back to the '60s?
MARK KIMMITT, FMR. ASST. SECY. OF STATE FOR POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS (via telephone): Well, on the military side, anytime that you reveal sensitive intelligence, you're essentially letting the enemy know your tactics, your techniques and your procedures.
On the diplomatic side, it could well be that there were sensitive negotiation positions, sensitive instructions given to embassies around the world and quite frankly reporting cables that were thought to be opportunities for candid assessments of foreign leaders, which will now be made public well before they would have been made public in any declassification environment.
WHITFIELD: At the same time might it be that any of these countries perhaps conduct the same sort of procedures as maybe the U.S. State Department, that these revelations may not be that surprising to some of these countries?
KIMMITT: Well, I would expect that every country in the world operates with their diplomats providing candid assessments of the people and the countries they're operating within when they're operating in foreign countries. Nonetheless, that doesn't make it any simpler, any easier, or any more excusable when this comes into the public venue.
WHITFIELD: So do you see that this second round of leaks by WikiLeaks might this in any way provoke any, I guess, new challenges for this administration or perhaps even encourage the State Department to find different ways in which to communicate with one another, particularly with their, you know, field folks when abroad and trying to relay information from other countries back to stateside?
KIMMITT: Well, again, what we don't want is to discourage our diplomats abroad from reporting honestly, candidly and providing their best judgment to the policymakers in Washington, D.C., nor do we want the policymakers in Washington, D.C. worried about sending out instructions to their diplomats in the field for fear of compromise. Just as we didn't want the intelligence known to the world, we don't want our diplomatic secrets known to the rest of world. Otherwise, it's going to endanger our foreign policy objectives and quite frankly endangers some of our diplomats as well.
WHITFIELD: Former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, Mark Kimmitt, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate that for joining in.
KIMMITT: Thank you. WHITFIELD: On that to overseas and the U.S. and South Korea and those military exercises which are now under way in the Yellow Sea. This, six days after that deadly attack by North Korea killing four on a South Korean island.
Well, right now, China is proposing emergency talks between the six nations involved in previous nuclear talks with North Korea. That's China, the U.S., Japan, Russia and, of course, South and North Korea.
We'll have much from the NEWSROOM after this.
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WHITFIELD: Nobody wants to be a cheapskate during the holiday season, but CNN's Christine Romans shows us being a smart shopper can give you more while you actually spend less.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's never been a better time to be a cheapskate, the economy gives you cover to pinch your pennies.
ROMANS (on camera): Let's be serious. There's some people who need to be a cheapskate and need to prioritize, because there's not - the same amount of money isn't coming in for a lot of families.
JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Oh, I totally agree. And these days, being a cheapskate is really a moniker for being a smart shopper.
ROMANS: Yes.
GARDERE: And there's nothing wrong with it.
ROMANS (voice-over): But don't tell that to the retailers. There's pressure to spend and spend often everywhere.
LISA CAVANAUGH, USC MARSHALL SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: As a kind of gift recipient, most people are - are very mindful of the state of the economy and how that might be affecting people's ability or propensity to give.
ROMANS: So when you choose to spend, choose wisely.
By one economist's count, $13 billion is wasted on unwanted gifts each year in the U.S., 25 billion worldwide.
JOEL WADFOGEL, AUTHOR, "SCROOGENOMICS": I'm certainly not advocating taking Santa Claus way from children, but I think being aware that this spending often results in things that people don't want could give people pause to think of, well, do I really want to really buy that?
ROMANS: If you have small children and you know exactly what they want, then go for that great gift. If you want to make the gift for your spouse a stunner, go for it, but don't spend yourself into the poorhouse everywhere else.
ROMANS (on camera): How do you make sure that you have psyched yourself up to avoid the guilt of maybe not giving as much this year as you usually do?
GARDERE: I think the answer is actually in the question, psyching yourself. In other words, looking at what your mindset is. A lot of us have a lot of values around if we don't give the way that we feel that we should that we do feel that guilt. A lot of that guilt is self-imposed guilt, because whatever you're giving, most people will appreciate it.
ROMANS (voice-over): Christine Romans, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Sharpening your competitive edge at work by boosting your productivity. We'll show you how to do that, after this.
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WHITFIELD: All right. In a moment, some important tips to impress your boss. But first, a check on the top stories.
In Brazil, 2,600 military police rolled into the northern slums of Rio de Janeiro in tanks. They're trying to take control of the slums and crackdown on drug gangs battling in the streets. At least 35 people are dead after days of fighting. A government crackdown against drug trafficking set off the violence.
And China is proposing six-party talks in an attempt to diffuse worsening tensions between North and South Korea. North Korea has been threatening further attacks in response to joint U.S./South Korean military drills going on right now in the Yellow Sea.
And tomorrow is Cyber Monday, when lots of retail stores have their online after Thanksgiving sales. Seventy million people are expected to shop online, and many of them from work.
So let's talk about work now and impressing your bosses. Maybe you don't want them to see you shopping online at work, but, of course, though it's a very smart thing to do to try to let your bosses know how valuable you are.
So a key way to do that is to boost your productivity. Valorie Burton is the author of "How Did I Get So Busy?" She joins me right now here in the studio.
So, Valorie, first off, you say you need to stop so that you can catch up.
VALORIE BURTON, LIFE COACH: Yes.
WHITFIELD: What do you mean?
BURTON: Yes. WHITFIELD: Don't try to do everything?
BURTON: Well, we're already trying to do everything.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BURTON: That's what the problem is. And when you get really overwhelmed, sometimes the best thing you can do is to stop. Because when you try to keep working on a project and you've got a bunch of half-finished projects in the back of your mind it's really -
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BURTON: -- really important to stop. Take care of those so you can then focus without feeling anxious about the things that you haven't finished yet.
WHITFIELD: OK. So when you have this overwhelming pile of things to do, you say tackle the hard stuff first.
BURTON: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Why?
BURTON: Yes. It's really, really important. It takes a lot of discipline, because actually there's research that shows we like to tackle the things that give us instant gratification. That's why we're always on the e-mail or doing the, you know, the little things that really don't make us necessarily productive, but we feel like we're accomplishing something.
WHITFIELD: Right.
BURTON: So you've got to have the discipline to be able to do the hard stuff first and just - just practice that, just tackle it, I say five minutes at a time.
WHITFIELD: And so working in chunks, is that something different?
BURTON: Yes. Well, working in chunks is one of the ways that you can tackle the hard stuff first. So what you want to do is to actually say, OK, I'm going to have this block of time. For example, when I'm writing, I'll do an hour and a half at a time and then I'll take a 30- minute break. And so I know I have done 45 minutes, just 45 more to go.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BURTON: So you want to make sure that you're doing it in chunks that work for you so that you have little breaks in between that makes you more productive.
WHITFIELD: OK. And then shorten your to-do list. Can you do this? Sometimes that seems so impossible.
BURTON: Yes. You can do it. WHITFIELD: Yes.
BURTON: Sometimes we make a habit out of our to-do list. It's almost like we're addicted. We keep adding stuff. Look at the list and say, is this essential because there are absolutely some things on your list either that you can delegate or you could just drop altogether, and that feels so good.
WHITFIELD: OK. And work less, not more. That doesn't seem like it's going to impress your boss.
BURTON: Well, you know what? A lot of times that people are working until 9:00 and 10:00 at night aren't as productive as people who might leave at 5:00 or 6:00.
WHITFIELD: So they're pooped (ph)?
BURTON: Well, because they're - a lot of times maybe they're just kind of toying around with things. They aren't necessarily doing the things that need to be done. First, they aren't tackling the hard stuff first. They're procrastinating all day long. And then at the end of the day, they finally realized I haven't done what I have to get done.
So you want to practice working less and not more.
WHITFIELD: And shut out the distractions like - what? Talking to your co-workers, y, catching up on fun water cooler stuff or taking calls from home? What?
BURTON: The solitaire game you play on your computer all the time.
WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh.
BURTON: All these distraction. But, you know what? There's actually research that also shows that chatting with co-workers for a few minutes can make you more productive. So you want to make sure that you've got little things that are -
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BURTON: -- going on that boost your positive emotion that helps you deal with a lot of the stress and the overwhelm that you might be feeling.
WHITFIELD: OK. And then you almost want to announce to everybody what you're getting ready to go. That - that will help in terms on impress your boss that, oh, word is out she's tackling all these things.
BURTON: It's about accountability.
WHITFIELD: OK.
BURTON: So I wouldn't say announce it to everybody.
WHITFIELD: Right.
BURTON: But you might have a co-worker, someone that you really get along with.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BURTON: Both of you are trying to be more productive. Just kind of check in with them and say, you know what, by the end of the - the day, this is what I'm going to have accomplished. Check in with me, and I'll check in with you on the things that you - you said you were going to accomplish as well.
WHITFIELD: And then promise little if anything.
BURTON: Yes. Sometimes we get ourselves into a lot of trouble -
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BURTON: -- because we promise things. So someone may come with a last-minute project and say can you finish this by tomorrow morning. If you can't, say, you know what, I can finish it in the next two day, I can finish it in three days.
WHITFIELD: Be honest.
BURTON: When you get it there tomorrow morning, you're a star.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BURTON: But if you promise something and you're late delivering it, even if you do a good job, what's remembered is you didn't do what you promised.
WHITFIELD: And then have something to look forward to. What do you mean?
BURTON: It's really important, especially when you're working really, really hard to have something to look forward to. If you're going to work hard, make sure that you play hard as well. So have something that you're going to look forward to, whether it's at the end of the day or at the end of a long period of having to really put your nose to the grind stone, whether it's a vacation -
WHITFIELD: Give yourself a little payoff.
BURTON: -- give yourself some little treat.
WHITFIELD: Yes. OK. Work hard and play hard.
BURTON: We are.
WHITFIELD: We're always like that.
BURTON: That's right.
WHITFIELD: Valorie Burton, thanks so much. BURTON: Thank you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Good to see you. Appreciate that.
All right. Lame Ducks heading back to Washington. So what's on tap for the last days of the current Congress? Your CNN Political Update, next.
And today's "Turnaround" features a small business with a mix of innovative products and successful viral marketing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TERRENCE KELLEMAN, FOUNDER, DYNOMIGHTY DESIGN: Hi. Welcome to Dynomighty.
Dynomighty is actually my company I started eight years ago. It was - the whole concept for Dynomighty evolved out of a product essentially that I had found while rummaging through the garbage, of all things.
But what I was doing was working at the Museum of Modern Art at the time. And I stumbled upon - literally stumbled upon the idea for this magnetic bracelet. So, it took me a year to invent this product and then I started selling it at the Museum of Modern Art, and eight years later, here we are.
Based on the success of the jewelry, I did other organizers in magnets. This is actually - it's called a desktop desk organizer. It's all magnetic beads that hold your business cards together or you can use it for your pictures or whatever.
Then we had our YouTube success, which really changed and redefined the business entirely. And I did all these tricks and put them on a video on YouTube that lasted about a minute. And within a month, we were a featured video on YouTube and we had just an enormous response. And within the space of three months, we had sold $130,000 worth of jewelry.
Now, we have almost 140 videos online and YouTube is our number one referrer beyond all other referrers.
To have a dream from, you know, the point at which I was working at my day job 9:00 to 5:00, to have an idea for a product and to bring that to fruition, and now eight years later, have a company that our biggest problem is our rapid success. I mean, that's the - the thing I'm most proud of.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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WHITFIELD: Thousands of sensitive U.S. State Department documents are now available for anyone to see, possibly damaging diplomatic relations between governments around the world. They were leaked by the whistle-blowing web site WikiLeaks and provided to several news organizations around the world, some of which have published them. For more now on this story, let's turn to CNN's Atika Shubert in London. We know that the U.K.'s "The Guardian" is among those that has published these documents.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. There's actually five media partners. "The Guardian," "The New York Times" are just some of them. "El Pais" the Spanish newspaper, "Le Monde" the French newspaper and "Der Spiegel" in Germany. But WikiLeaks itself has now just released some of those diplomatic cables on its site as well.
Interesting, WikiLeaks says that this time around they're not going to release all of them at once, but they're going to release them in batches over the next few months.
So today they've just released about 200 of those cables, and they said basically the reason that they did this is because there's -- these cables really are so widespread all over -- from embassies all over the world. And the subject matter is so broad that it really couldn't do it justice to just release them all at once. So it really needs more time to go through them.
So what's in these cables? Well according to WikiLeaks, the cables show the quote "extensive U.S. spying on its allies and the U.N., turning a blind eye to corruption, human rights abuses and client states backroom deals with supposedly neutral countries and lobbying for U.S. corporations and the measures U.S. diplomats take to advance those who have access to them."
Now these cables cover a span of several years, but most of them from the Bush administration but also some from the Obama administration. In fact, there's one cable as early as February of this year, and also one as historic as December 1966.
So this is a huge range of information, most of it unclassified but quite a bit of it is labeled secret. In fact, 15,000 documents are labeled secret and this is from embassies all over the world on all different topics from how to neutral the Iranian nuclear threat to the allegations that the government of China was behind a hacking into Google, for example. So really, it covers a huge span of topics that covers all of the U.S. embassies around the word. And it's a huge diplomatic blow.
WHITFIELD: So I wonder, of those newspapers in those various countries, France, Germany, there in the U.K. where this has been published -- any reaction from any of those governments about what is be publicized?
SHUBERT: Well the foreign office here in Britain has already condemned the release of this information saying it essentially that it is dangerous and it undermines national security. That's what we've heard here in Britain. We're probably likely to get more reaction across Europe tomorrow. It has to be said, some of this information inside these cables is very embarrassing to the United States such as some very frank discussions and very unflattering discussions of state leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to "Der Spiegel" is described as avoiding risk and not being very creative. So it's that kind of a saying that now embassies around the world are going to have to try to soothe ruffled feathers, try and find some way to patch over what is a diplomatic crisis.
WHITFIELD: Atika Shubert in London, thanks so much.
So let's stay in the U.K. now. "The Guardian" newspaper, as Atika mentioned, has printed some of the leaked files. Well earlier I spoke with "The Guardian's" investigations executive editor David Leigh and asked him if they overstepped their bounds by publishing them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LEIGH, INVESTIGATIONS EXECUTIVE EDITOR, THE GUARDIAN: We didn't do anything illegal. We didn't leak the stuff. We didn't receive this stuff. We didn't incite anybody to leak this stuff. This was other people who decided to do this, soldiers charged with leaking it. He had a view about -- he didn't like the things that were going on apparently. WikiLeaks, they've got an ideology of their own, that all information ought to be made public. We're a news organization. People come to us with this kind of material. We didn't urge anybody to break the law. When we've got it, we look at it and we say, what's in the public interest to make more? And those are the things which we published.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So Leigh also told me that "The Guardian" is just printing a small portion of the leaked information and has actually blacked out names of people that they thought could be a compromise. The same goes for an American newspaper, "The New York Times." They took a very similar approach, redacting certain names.
Reporter Scott Shane is back with us on the phone from Baltimore. So Scott, I wonder, you also reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other American diplomats worked very hard to reach out to a number of these countries that would find out that their information in these cables would be released via WikiLeaks. To what extent did they reach out to these countries?
SCOTT SHANE, NEW YORK TIMES: Well our understanding is that a number of people in our State Department, beginning with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reached out to both foreign leaders and to lower level government officials in many countries to give them essentially a heads-up about the fact that these cables were going to be published. We don't know exactly how much detail they tried to give, whether they actually tried to, you know, guess what cables were coming out and inform particular governments of particular revelations so that they could prepare and maybe be a little less shocked.
But they clearly took this very seriously, and I think this was part of the government's attempt to mitigate the sort of surprise factor, the shock factor that these ordinarily secret diplomatic exchanges were becoming public.
WHITFIELD: Did any of your sources at the State Department talk about whether the release of this information and it being even published in the "New York Times" will in any way undermine diplomatic relations? SHANE: Yes. Well, in general State Department officials and White House officials have said publicly that they deplore the publication of these cables and that they do think they will, you know, strain relationships with some countries and undermine U.S. interest in some places.
I should say, though, that for several days now we have been meeting with State Department officials and other government officials after providing the 100 cables that we intend to publish to the government and giving the government the chance to say, hey, this is the stuff that we really care about and is dangerous to release.
And we have redacted. We have edited out of -- some of the cables we're posting a lot of materials, the names of individuals who we think might be in danger from having spoken openly to U.S. diplomats in other countries. In some cases we've withheld entire cables that were -- that we judged to be after consulting the government, you know, potentially in danger of compromising ongoing U.S. intelligence activities.
WHITFIELD: So as "The New York Times" was assessing what to include, what to redact, was it also a consideration or concern about whether "The New York Times" is being roped into being a participant in whatever agenda WikiLeaks has?
SHANE: Well, I mean -- I can't really speak to WikiLeaks' agenda, but this is a very large sampling of all the diplomatic exchanges that the United States has had in recent years. We don't know what proportion of all, you know, cables this is, but it's a large proportion.
So they don't really support any particular agenda politically speaking. Sometimes they expose certain foreign leaders as duplicitous, you know, in other cases they show certain foreign leaders are helping the U.S. It's very hard to sort this out in a simple right wing/left wing agenda sort of way. This is information about what the government is doing with the taxpayers' money and in the name of all Americans. And we thought that much of it is very, very interesting and useful for Americans to know about.
WHITFIELD: Scott Shane of the "New York Times," thanks so much for your time.
SHANE: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, meantime something else that is front and center with a lot of folks, getting home from the Thanksgiving holiday. Anyone traveling today can expect packed highways and busy airports. According to AAA, more than 42 million Americans are traveling this holiday, and almost all of them actually are driving. Jacqui Jeras is in the Weather Center. So that means they're really concerned about what's taking place weather-wise because all of that impacts you're driving, your commute.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It really does. It's like 91 percent of people drive.
WHITFIELD: That's extraordinary.
JERAS: It's the large, large majority by leaps and bounds. Some of the interstates have had some troubles. In fact, you know what, I'm watching Chicago right now. Traffic.com showing us some major congestion here -- oh actually, this is D.C. I'm sorry. Well anyway, we had some problems with the beltway on southward on I-95 in D.C. But also the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago by the way. We're looking at some major congestion there.
And so these are just some volume issues and of course things like accidents. Now what is the weather doing? Well it's causing problems mostly across the Intermountain West and into the Rocky Mountain States. And this is where we're seeing our frontal system which is kind of dying -- it's weakened quite a bit actually. We're focusing in on I-70 and I-80. These are probably the two worst east to west travel roadways right now as well as I-15 because of some of the snow that's been coming down in some of these areas.
Now ahead of it we've got the really gusty winds. We have seen gusts today around 45 miles per hour, Oklahoma City on up towards Omaha, Nebraska. And so that's kind of white knuckling it if you're still up there driving at this hour.
What about the airports? Overall it's been a very smooth day. Biggest troubles, Teterboro, you've got a grounds stop which means people aren't taking off to get there. Reagan National, Washington D.C., departure delays trying to leave, 30 minute delays. And White Plains having some delays around two hours or so. Tomorrow, the focus will be in the nation's midsection if you're in one extra day to that weekend travel. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Jacqui, appreciate that.
We've gone from Thanksgiving straight into Black Friday, and the holiday shopping season, all of that in one weekend. Well for George Wallace, Mr. Comedian, it's all the stuff of comedy. His take on the week's news next. There he is in New York today.
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WHITFIELD: Comedian George Wallace's take on the news, but first a look at the top stories.
In Oregon, a suspicious fire early this morning at a mosque attended by the suspected Christmas tree bomber. Police in Corvallis, Oregon, are calling the fire arson. The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information. This all follows Friday's arrest of Somali-born Mohamed Osman Mohamud in Portland. The FBI says the 19-year-old plotted to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony Friday night. Undercover FBI agents say they managed to slip him a fake bomb so that no one was ever in danger.
And in Haiti, today's voting had been anything but smooth. Voters are complaining, and 11 of the 18 candidates running for president allege widespread fraud at the polls. The front-runner for president even says the vote should be annulled. Thousands of confidential U.S. State Department documents spanning several years as far back as 1966 have been published after being leaked by the whistle blowing site WikiLeaks. "The New York Times" and four European news outlets posted the material. Part of the sensitive information published by "The New York Times" includes records suggesting Saudi donors remain chief financiers of militant groups like al Qaeda and concerns that the Chinese government was involved in global computer hacking.
All right, Thanksgiving as we're wrapping up the holiday weekend, time for food fighting and don't forget all the holiday presents. Hopefully there was no food fighting. But holiday presents maybe from that Black Friday, and Oprah Winfrey giving away per usual in her last year on the air. Comedian George Wallace in New York giving us his take on the news. Happy Thanksgiving Day weekend, what's left it, right?
GEORGE WALLACE, COMEDIAN: Fredricka, how are you today? It's so good. I wish you were in New York. I know you're in beautiful Atlanta but in New York City, the holiday, we are still celebrating Thanksgiving. And I wish you had a shot out front of this CNN Center here. Millions of people still shopping, we're spending money like you won't believe. It's just a wonderful time of the year.
WHITFIELD: Oh that's so good. I know and I love New York City this time of year because I love all the lights and decorations everywhere. So wait a minute, tell me you did not get into any food fights this Thanksgiving. Who do you know who is getting into food fights?
WALLACE: We don't do that anymore. We're grown people now. We don't fight over the table, we just fight. We don't fight over the food. We just fight.
WHITFIELD: That happens when families get together.
WALLACE: It's great when families get together, and you can just sit back and reminisce and just recount your blessings and thoughts about what happened in your life. And it's just good. It's your thoughts, and it's a happy time to be able to share your love with your family. I like the wishbone. You remember the wishbone?
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
WALLACE: Nobody does that anymore.
WHITFIELD: Make a wish. I know, I don't think people do that anymore.
WALLACE: We did, we broke the wishbone, and the person that gets the larger side, their wish comes true. But mine didn't come true because mine didn't come true because I was thinking, I wish you people were not here so I could have this turkey by myself.
WHITFIELD: That's terrible.
WALLACE: It's a great time. WHITFIELD: You say even the chickens are celebrating.
WALLACE: Yes.
WHITFIELD: This is their day off?
WALLACE: This is the only day of the year the chickens get off. Did you know that, Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: I didn't think about it until you mentioned it.
WALLACE: Even the chickens were eating turkey. That's the only day of the year that they get off and they're just having a party. I drove by Chick-Fil-A. The chickens were in the back, the stores was closed, but they were in the back eating chicken and beef and just celebrating, having a party like it's 1999. They don't know we moved on, it's 2010, but the chickens don't know, they were partying and having fun.
WHITFIELD: OK. Did you take advantage of Black Friday?
WALLACE: No, I don't do that. I can't get up at 5:00 in the morning. Tell me you didn't do that?
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WHITFIELD: No, I was working at 5:00 in the morning.
WALLACE: These people are crazy. There was two ladies down in Florida at a Wal-Mart store set out last Friday, last Friday in front of the store for the Black Friday sale. One week in advance, and the store gave them two iPods for sitting out front. Can you believe that? I wouldn't do it. I don't care.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Well speaking of great giveaways, Oprah Winfrey wants one more time in her final year is being so generous again. And you're inspired.
WALLACE: You know, Oprah Winfrey is a great lady. I just admire her so much. I love her so much. Every year she's always giving, and that's what Thanksgiving is about. She always gives, and it always comes back to her, you know? She gives away millions of dollars every year. And then you always hear about good things happening to her. OWN, that's the Oprah Winfrey Network, says good things go back to you. And Oprah -- I want to be like her so badly, so I want to be a rich, black lady. That's what I want.
WHITFIELD: But not just any lady, it would be Oprah, because she's the only one, only one in that category.
WALLACE: This holiday, Thanksgiving weekend is just great, I just tell you and President Obama got his lip busted. Isn't it ironic that president got his lip busted one year after Tiger Woods got his lip busted on the same day?
WHITFIELD: Oh, that's interesting. Only you would put those two together. But very different circumstances.
WALLACE: Because I'll be thinking, and that's the way I see it, Fredricka. That's the way it ought to be.
WHITFIELD: All right, fantastic. George Wallace, always good to see you. Happy Thanksgiving weekend and as we embark upon the other holidays now, take care. Enjoy New York.
WALLACE: Happy holidays. I love you, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.
WHITFIELD: I like it. All right, thanks so much, George.
All right, weighing in on WikiLeaks, we're going to do some more of that. We'll hear about what you're saying about the leak of sensitive U.S. State Department files.
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WHITFIELD: All right, time now for a CNN Equals Politics update. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joins me with a look at what to expect this week. Paul?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: A very busy week ahead, Fred, you got it. The holiday is over and back to business right here in D.C. and across the country. It will start with Congress, the lame duck session resumes this week. And Congress lawmakers have a lot, Fred, on their mind, a lot to do on that to-do list, including extending those Bush-era tax cuts. Remember, they expire at the end of the year.
Also, unemployment benefits could expire for hundreds of thousands of Americans later this week if nothing is done and a couple of other issues. Will Congress pass or repeal "don't ask, don't tell?" That's that 1990s era law that prevents openly gay people from serving in the military.
And finally, will the Senate approve a START treaty which is a weapons reduction treaty with Russia or not. So a lot for lawmakers to handle. Some of that will be on the agenda on Tuesday when the president meets with bipartisan congressional leaders including top Republicans. Remember that meeting was delayed from earlier this month. They couldn't get the scheduling together I guess.
And finally, Fred, let's talk about Sarah Palin. She was in Iowa yesterday on her book tour for her brand-new book, "America by Heart." She returns to Iowa for that same book tour, a second stop, that comes on Thursday and Friday. That book tour takes Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor, to South Carolina. Now why does all this matter? Because Palin's talked about maybe, maybe running for the presidency and both those states, Iowa and South Carolina, play a pretty prominent role in the race for the White House. Fred?
WHITFIELD: And Paul, what's interesting, too, some prominent Republicans are talking about Sarah Palin a little bit more freely, from Barbara Bush saying, I hope she stays in Alaska to now her former running mate, John McCain, saying she's really bringing something to the Republican Party.
STEINHAUSER: Yes and McCain today of course making those comments on "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley and he even equated Sarah Palin in a way to Ronald Reagan, the former president who of course is a huge hero to conservatives. Fred?
WHITFIELD: All right, Paul Steinhauser, thanks so much, appreciate that from the political desk. For the latest political news, go to CNNPolitics.com.
OK so we've been talking this hour about WikiLeaks releasing more sensitive U.S. documents. Several newspapers including "The New York Times" have printed some of the details and our Josh Levs has been keeping an eye on the reaction because, apparently, a lot of you viewers have some strong thoughts about all this.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're not holding back at all, Fred. And let me just do this, talk to you about what we've got going on. We have a lot of coverage of this at CNN.com. You should check it out here. It breaks down what's inside these documents. It also talks to you about the story behind them. And we're going to continue to cover that right here. I have just about a minute here so let me just tell you a few of the reactions that's going on. This is by far the top topic on Twitter right now ahead of all the pop culture stuff that usually takes over Twitter.
You can't see it on your screen. I'm just going to tell you about it. One of the top ones I got here. "Why can't the government stop them?" This is someone saying, "They suppress stuff all the time. Why are they not able to suppress this?" On Facebook, I got one from Franky Goodman who says, "Hi Josh, what I have to say about this is if the American government was not doing anything wrong, they shouldn't be concerned over the leak of these documents."
Now I'm going to show you one more over here. This one says, "Sorry to all who disagree, but to me, Cablegate represents why the Internet was invented and what it should stand for -- freedom of information."
You're hearing people on both sides. You're hearing people out there saying, this shouldn't exist. This should be kept -- why can't they do something to prevent it from coming out? You're also seeing people on the other side saying, this is about freedom of information. This kind of battle, Fred, is what's been generating from this release of these documents and based on what WikiLeaks is now saying is going to be coming in days and weeks and months, we're going to expect a lot more of this battle to come.
WHITFIELD: Yes, lots of dribbles on this. All right, Josh Levs, thanks so much, appreciate that.
All right, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, thanks for being with me this afternoon. Joe Johns is coming up next with much more on the WikiLeaks story in the NEWSROOM. I'll see you back here next weekend.
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