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Looting in Haiti; Satellites Provide U.S. Election Security

Aired September 27, 2004 - 13:29   ET

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

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Taking a look at stories now in the news.
A big development in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. A former bishop in Springfield, Massachusetts, has been indicted on charges of molesting two boys in the 1970s. The bishop, Thomas Dupre, is the first to be indicted in the church scandal.

Overseas one person has been killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Palestinian security sources say an Israel -- Israeli missile struck a car killing a Palestinian militant and wounding four others. So far no comment from the IDF.

And the U.S. Army confirms Private First Class Lynndie England will be court-martialed in January. She's the woman who posed for pictures with prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. England faces 19 charges. She refused to enter a plea at an arraignment on Friday.

Chaos is the only way to describe the hurricane recovery in Gonaives, Haiti. Looters are stealing emergency aid. Thousands of homeless are still sleeping in the rain and then waiting for hours for food. Compounding the problems, growing fears of disease. CNN's Karl Penhaul is seeing it all right there in Gonaives.

Karl, give us the latest.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. The aid organizations have been very conscious of the fact that up until now the aid effort has been chaotic. And they've taken steps to try and relieve some of that chaos so that the food aid can get through to precisely the people it needs to get through to. I'm going to step out of the way of the camera for you just now and let you see what the scene is.

As I say, the aid organizations, the United Nations have been very keen to coordinate this and to stop some of this looting, to stop some of this rioting. So about an hour-and-a-half ago, United Nations troops from a stabilization force came down. They set up concertina wire here around the perimeter area here. We're now waiting for aid trucks to arrive. Local neighborhood organizers have also been active here making sure that people that aren't from this neighborhood go home. and that the aid work...

(AUDIO GAP)

PENHAUL: ... people in this neighborhood. And so that...

(AUDIO GAP)

PHILLIPS: We apologize for that. We lost audio there via our video phone with Karl Penhaul reporting from Gonaives, Haiti. As you know, we've been reporting about the hurricane that hit that area. A number of victims, hundreds of victims now, and thousands of them homeless. But a number of them trying to steal the emergency aid that's coming in. We'll continue to talk about the compounding problems out of Haiti. And try and get hooked up with Karl Penhaul once again.

Well, Jeanne has left plenty of misery in its path in Florida also. In Vero Beach, the flooding and damage is just adding to the devastation caused by Hurricane Frances. Many people hard hit by Jeanne were taken by surprise, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB EBELING, VERO BEACH RESIDENT: Well, I was stunned. I didn't think it would be that bad. Just seeing and looking all around us. The devastation and destruction is unimaginable. Especially, I think, from people like us who are from up north, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Our Gary Tuchman has more now from the beach.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She left on a 250 mile trip not knowing it would be impossible to find gasoline. And now Sharaya Smith finds herself at a Vero Beach, Florida, gas station, preparing to sleep in her car, frantic with worry about her 5-month-old son she's trying to get home to.

SHARAYA SMITH, HURRICANE VICTIM: My whole family has lived here for 12 years now and we want to leave. We might go back up north.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Because of these hurricanes.

SMITH: It has been that bad, it's just back-to-back. And you don't get a break from them.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The wrath of Hurricane Jeanne in utter darkness. The fright caused by Hurricane Ivan's one-time Category 5 status. Hurricane Frances hitting the same part of Florida as Jeanne. And Hurricane Charley strengthening to Category 4 as it approached land. These four storms have not only made many Floridians weary, they've created anxiety, excessive difficulty, and more fright than many have ever experienced with weather.

This 22-year-old walked to that same gas station with his infant son and dog after running out of gas on the side of the interstate. Motels and shelters are full, he is told. There is no one to tow his car.

(on camera): So you're saying you may sleep in your car on the highway?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's better than outside. He has to have some kind of shelter.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Then there's the man who was driving to surprise his girlfriend with a diamond ring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got a fist full of money and no gas.

TUCHMAN (on camera): So you want to propose to the woman you want to marry but you can't get there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't even get there.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): But Dominic Sprow's (ph) story is a happier one. His girlfriend drove 100 miles with jugs of gas and then got her surprise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. You're not going to do this right now? Oh, my God.

TUCHMAN: She said yes.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Vero Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, as the double murder trial of Scott Peterson enters its 18th week, prosecutors are still laying out their case. Today defense attorney Mark Geragos is expected to resume his cross- examination of the lead detective on the case. CNN's Rusty Dornin joins us now from Redwood City, California, where the question of the day seems to be did police zero in too quickly on Scott Peterson as their suspect, Rusty?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Mark Geragos is trying to say they did. This morning, not a lot of flamboyance on his part, no fireworks. He's just methodically trying to hammer away at the prosecution's case, trying to show that Scott Peterson was cooperative with police. And he was just a man who was very worried about his wife's disappearance.

The detective even admitted that Peterson did cry once when he asked him if he thought it was possible his wife had been kidnapped for the baby. And we can expect Mark Geragos to hammer away on the idea that there was never a murder weapon found, there was no crime scene uncovered and that they never really discovered how Laci Peterson died -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Rusty, what about the investigator's testimony? How is it sitting with the jury?

DORNIN: He has been very strong. All along in this case a lot of the complaints have been that prosecutors kept bringing out witnesses that were throwing details and stories and facts in the air. But there just didn't seem to be anything connecting. And this witness really was connecting the dots. He's the lead investigator. He was providing the framework and the perspective of the police on why they thought Scott Peterson was the prime suspect.

A couple of times I even saw -- they had audio tapes and videotapes last week, I saw one juror sort of when it was another one of Scott Peterson was telling a lie, he had his arms crossed and he was really rolling his eyes and shaking his head. So I think this witness is really coming across strong with this jury, it just depends on how much Mark Geragos can hammer holes in it.

DORNIN: We know he can hammer a lot of holes in things, too, that's for sure. All right, Rusty Dornin, following the Scott Peterson trial, thanks so much.

Other news across America now. In Oklahoma City, investigators are trying to figure out what caused a blaze that killed six people, including an 11-year-old. The fire chief says it appears that burglar bars trapped the victims inside that burning home.

In New Cady (ph), Texas, authorities want to find out who sparked this explosion when they moved a piece of construction equipment and pierced a gas pipeline. At least 250 people had to be evacuated from that area which is about 30 miles northeast of Houston. There are no reports of injuries right now.

Is Mount St. Helens getting ready to blow its top again? Smaller earthquakes began Thursday and continue at the rate of one every two minutes. Seismologists say that despite the repeated rumblings, they don't expect a rerun of the massive 1980 blast. Scientists are on the scene, but the mountain is off limits to hikers and climbers.

Still to come, voting and violence. A frightening combination some people fear for the November elections. Up next, how the government is beefing up security at the ballot box.

And later, do you need a spare grandpa? Come on. He's on loan. Wait until you hear how this Italian man, I guess, did find a new family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: News around the world now. Holding out hope. The brother of British hostage Kenneth Bigley says he has reason to believe his brother is still alive. Paul Bigley also says the Iraq war isn't worth the lives of hostages. And he tells the BBC British Prime Minister Tony Blair he should resign. Abductors killed two Americans kidnapped with Bigley, and an Islamic Web site reports that Bigley also is dead.

Saudi shoot out. Security forces clash with terror suspects in Riyadh. It began when a taxi ran a checkpoint and led police on a chase. At one point a gun battle broke out. Witnesses say one suspect was killed and Saudi authorities went house to house searching for three others.

One of Pakistan's most wanted militants is dead. Amjad Hussein Farooqi was killed Sunday morning in a raid in southern Pakistan. Farooqi had been linked to al Qaeda. He was wanted for the kidnapping and killing of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl and for attempts to assassinate Pakistan's president.

Now to fears of a terrorist attack here in the U.S. timed around the election. Well, government officials now tell CNN that the Homeland Security Department will give state guidelines today for security leading up to November 2. The bulletin will also cover security for polling places and ballot counting as well as election contingency plans. Let's talk about it more with CNN military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson. He's in Washington.

Hi, Ken.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Hi, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about -- I guess we started talking about this because we thought about Spain, and the elections that took place there, and the terrorist attacks and how it really affected the election process. Can we even compare our election process here in the U.S. to what happened there?

ROBINSON: I don't think so. I think the reaction of a European country to an event like that and their already clear division against the current policy in the United States was predictable. But I don't believe Americans and their behavior are predictable. I think that Americans are like a sleeping giant, and attacking them will cause unpredictability.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, obviously, this will be pretty unprecedented, the security probably will be like no other considering the time that we're in. A couple of stories coming out recently about imagery, satellite imagery and how that has worked overseas with regard to understanding the land, the area, tracking terrorists. The same type of imagery is being used in the U.S., is it being used to sort of map out areas of, I guess, polling and where the candidates are going to be and where they're holding their rallies, for the sake of tighter security?

ROBINSON: Yes. National systems, national geospace intelligence is utilized in the United States. I spoke with public affairs spokesman for the agency today, and also with the Department of Defense. There are special rules of engagement for when those intelligence satellite pictures can be taken. There is enormous oversight involved. And none of these agencies provide product down to local or state governments. They work through a lead federal agency.

And they've been doing this before 9/11. Much of this information is used to support exercises, like training that's used for the G-8 summit, for security for like the Republican National Conventions. It is used in an area to support the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know we've got some of this imagery on tape. As a matter of fact, we're looking at it right now, this sort of 3D imagery. And it's really interesting because you can get down. It is not so far away but you can really get up close and see the land. And you sort of think of that movie "Enemy of the State" when they were tracking Americans with satellite imagery. Can that happen now? Should it happen? Should the U.S. be able to do this in this time period?

ROBINSON: Well, the United States has a responsibility to protect its citizens. And in doing so it used national assets. But it also has systems in place. It has a foreign intelligence surveillance act that's in place. It has executive orders by the president. It has DOD regulations, all of which put fingerprints on any requests by a non-Department of Defense agency to utilize these space-based systems.

If you think about it the same way you think about a -- someone has to get a warrant to conduct a specific type of search. Those same rules apply at the national level. And oversight sometimes goes all the way up to the attorney general of the United States if there is a posse comitatus issue where any type of collection may go against a United States person, that being a citizen or someone with a green card or a suspected foreign terrorist that may be operating in the United States. They still have to dot the I and cross the T to get the proper permission and there is heavy oversight.

PHILLIPS: All right. Meanwhile, do you think that potential terrorists are sitting back, thinking, OK, it's going to be to our advantage if we do something during election time and maybe help take out these certain polls that favor George W. Bush or let's target this area that maybe voters will be coming out and voting for John Kerry. Do you think it gets that detailed where terrorists actually strategize that type of scenario?

ROBINSON: Well, if you're talking about an organization like al Qaeda or the Islamic Brotherhood, they are a very intelligent, forward-thinking organization. And there may be arguments at that level. You can make arguments that would say which candidate would be the better candidate for what their objectives are because they want the United States to continue to be unilateral. They want the United States to continue to do things that would enable their recruiting and retention. The activities of the current administration on the Arab street are perceived as unilateral. So George Bush would be the candidate of choice for them.

PHILLIPS: CNN military analyst, Ken Robinson, thanks so much.

Straight ahead, an adoption tale with a twist. We're going to tell you what happened to a widowed Italian man in search of a new family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: On paper the story of Giorgio Angelozzi touched people around the world. Now cameras have caught up with the lonely Italian grandfather who advertised for a family. CNN's Chandrika Narayan with a story that had the LIVE FROM crew here reaching for the Kleenex.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANDRIKA NARAYAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wanted, a new family. A lonely Italian grandfather put himself up for adoption last month. 80-year-old Giorgio Angelozzi has been living alone outside Rome with his seven cats since his wife died more than 10 years ago. He has a daughter, but she lives abroad.

Tired of being on his own, the retired school teacher called a national newspaper to place an ad in the wanted column. Moved by his story, the paper ran a front page article. Offers poured in from families across Italy and as far away from New Zealand, Brazil and the United States.

GIORGIO ANGELOZZI, RETIRED SCHOOL TEACHER (through translator): I thought that by announcing my loneliness, both emotionally and intellectually, I would receive a reply which would be something similar to a small shower of rain as if I was a dried up piece of grass. Instead I was hit by a torrential downpour.

NARAYAN: Angelozzi chose his new family, a Polish-born woman and her Italian husband, who live with their two teenage children in northern Italy.

ANGELOZZI (through translator): I chose by using the idea of a young writer going where your heart leads you. I chose the woman whose voice reminded me of my wife.

NARAYAN: His plea seems to have struck a cord in family-loving Italy. In the past up to four generations have traditionally lived under the same roof. Today one in five Italians is over the age of 65. Almost half of them live alone, partly because of the more mobile lifestyle of younger generations. Italy also has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe.

ANGELOZZI (through translator): I will become a grandfather. This was my plan. I will have the affection of this woman who is already calling me daddy, and the children who call me grandpa Giorgio.

NARAYAN: Grandpa Giorgio will soon travel to his new home about 600 kilometers away from his current. He'll pay his host about $600 per month for his expenses. But his new family says the wealth of sharing his lifetime of experiences will be priceless.

Chadrika Narayan, CNN Center.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: If you're wondering what happened to the seven cats, well, grandpa is reportedly leaving them with a friend while he and his new family get acquainted during a trial period.

(MARKET REPORT)

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Aired September 27, 2004 - 13:29   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Taking a look at stories now in the news.
A big development in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. A former bishop in Springfield, Massachusetts, has been indicted on charges of molesting two boys in the 1970s. The bishop, Thomas Dupre, is the first to be indicted in the church scandal.

Overseas one person has been killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Palestinian security sources say an Israel -- Israeli missile struck a car killing a Palestinian militant and wounding four others. So far no comment from the IDF.

And the U.S. Army confirms Private First Class Lynndie England will be court-martialed in January. She's the woman who posed for pictures with prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. England faces 19 charges. She refused to enter a plea at an arraignment on Friday.

Chaos is the only way to describe the hurricane recovery in Gonaives, Haiti. Looters are stealing emergency aid. Thousands of homeless are still sleeping in the rain and then waiting for hours for food. Compounding the problems, growing fears of disease. CNN's Karl Penhaul is seeing it all right there in Gonaives.

Karl, give us the latest.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. The aid organizations have been very conscious of the fact that up until now the aid effort has been chaotic. And they've taken steps to try and relieve some of that chaos so that the food aid can get through to precisely the people it needs to get through to. I'm going to step out of the way of the camera for you just now and let you see what the scene is.

As I say, the aid organizations, the United Nations have been very keen to coordinate this and to stop some of this looting, to stop some of this rioting. So about an hour-and-a-half ago, United Nations troops from a stabilization force came down. They set up concertina wire here around the perimeter area here. We're now waiting for aid trucks to arrive. Local neighborhood organizers have also been active here making sure that people that aren't from this neighborhood go home. and that the aid work...

(AUDIO GAP)

PENHAUL: ... people in this neighborhood. And so that...

(AUDIO GAP)

PHILLIPS: We apologize for that. We lost audio there via our video phone with Karl Penhaul reporting from Gonaives, Haiti. As you know, we've been reporting about the hurricane that hit that area. A number of victims, hundreds of victims now, and thousands of them homeless. But a number of them trying to steal the emergency aid that's coming in. We'll continue to talk about the compounding problems out of Haiti. And try and get hooked up with Karl Penhaul once again.

Well, Jeanne has left plenty of misery in its path in Florida also. In Vero Beach, the flooding and damage is just adding to the devastation caused by Hurricane Frances. Many people hard hit by Jeanne were taken by surprise, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB EBELING, VERO BEACH RESIDENT: Well, I was stunned. I didn't think it would be that bad. Just seeing and looking all around us. The devastation and destruction is unimaginable. Especially, I think, from people like us who are from up north, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Our Gary Tuchman has more now from the beach.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She left on a 250 mile trip not knowing it would be impossible to find gasoline. And now Sharaya Smith finds herself at a Vero Beach, Florida, gas station, preparing to sleep in her car, frantic with worry about her 5-month-old son she's trying to get home to.

SHARAYA SMITH, HURRICANE VICTIM: My whole family has lived here for 12 years now and we want to leave. We might go back up north.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Because of these hurricanes.

SMITH: It has been that bad, it's just back-to-back. And you don't get a break from them.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The wrath of Hurricane Jeanne in utter darkness. The fright caused by Hurricane Ivan's one-time Category 5 status. Hurricane Frances hitting the same part of Florida as Jeanne. And Hurricane Charley strengthening to Category 4 as it approached land. These four storms have not only made many Floridians weary, they've created anxiety, excessive difficulty, and more fright than many have ever experienced with weather.

This 22-year-old walked to that same gas station with his infant son and dog after running out of gas on the side of the interstate. Motels and shelters are full, he is told. There is no one to tow his car.

(on camera): So you're saying you may sleep in your car on the highway?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's better than outside. He has to have some kind of shelter.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Then there's the man who was driving to surprise his girlfriend with a diamond ring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got a fist full of money and no gas.

TUCHMAN (on camera): So you want to propose to the woman you want to marry but you can't get there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't even get there.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): But Dominic Sprow's (ph) story is a happier one. His girlfriend drove 100 miles with jugs of gas and then got her surprise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. You're not going to do this right now? Oh, my God.

TUCHMAN: She said yes.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Vero Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, as the double murder trial of Scott Peterson enters its 18th week, prosecutors are still laying out their case. Today defense attorney Mark Geragos is expected to resume his cross- examination of the lead detective on the case. CNN's Rusty Dornin joins us now from Redwood City, California, where the question of the day seems to be did police zero in too quickly on Scott Peterson as their suspect, Rusty?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Mark Geragos is trying to say they did. This morning, not a lot of flamboyance on his part, no fireworks. He's just methodically trying to hammer away at the prosecution's case, trying to show that Scott Peterson was cooperative with police. And he was just a man who was very worried about his wife's disappearance.

The detective even admitted that Peterson did cry once when he asked him if he thought it was possible his wife had been kidnapped for the baby. And we can expect Mark Geragos to hammer away on the idea that there was never a murder weapon found, there was no crime scene uncovered and that they never really discovered how Laci Peterson died -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Rusty, what about the investigator's testimony? How is it sitting with the jury?

DORNIN: He has been very strong. All along in this case a lot of the complaints have been that prosecutors kept bringing out witnesses that were throwing details and stories and facts in the air. But there just didn't seem to be anything connecting. And this witness really was connecting the dots. He's the lead investigator. He was providing the framework and the perspective of the police on why they thought Scott Peterson was the prime suspect.

A couple of times I even saw -- they had audio tapes and videotapes last week, I saw one juror sort of when it was another one of Scott Peterson was telling a lie, he had his arms crossed and he was really rolling his eyes and shaking his head. So I think this witness is really coming across strong with this jury, it just depends on how much Mark Geragos can hammer holes in it.

DORNIN: We know he can hammer a lot of holes in things, too, that's for sure. All right, Rusty Dornin, following the Scott Peterson trial, thanks so much.

Other news across America now. In Oklahoma City, investigators are trying to figure out what caused a blaze that killed six people, including an 11-year-old. The fire chief says it appears that burglar bars trapped the victims inside that burning home.

In New Cady (ph), Texas, authorities want to find out who sparked this explosion when they moved a piece of construction equipment and pierced a gas pipeline. At least 250 people had to be evacuated from that area which is about 30 miles northeast of Houston. There are no reports of injuries right now.

Is Mount St. Helens getting ready to blow its top again? Smaller earthquakes began Thursday and continue at the rate of one every two minutes. Seismologists say that despite the repeated rumblings, they don't expect a rerun of the massive 1980 blast. Scientists are on the scene, but the mountain is off limits to hikers and climbers.

Still to come, voting and violence. A frightening combination some people fear for the November elections. Up next, how the government is beefing up security at the ballot box.

And later, do you need a spare grandpa? Come on. He's on loan. Wait until you hear how this Italian man, I guess, did find a new family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: News around the world now. Holding out hope. The brother of British hostage Kenneth Bigley says he has reason to believe his brother is still alive. Paul Bigley also says the Iraq war isn't worth the lives of hostages. And he tells the BBC British Prime Minister Tony Blair he should resign. Abductors killed two Americans kidnapped with Bigley, and an Islamic Web site reports that Bigley also is dead.

Saudi shoot out. Security forces clash with terror suspects in Riyadh. It began when a taxi ran a checkpoint and led police on a chase. At one point a gun battle broke out. Witnesses say one suspect was killed and Saudi authorities went house to house searching for three others.

One of Pakistan's most wanted militants is dead. Amjad Hussein Farooqi was killed Sunday morning in a raid in southern Pakistan. Farooqi had been linked to al Qaeda. He was wanted for the kidnapping and killing of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl and for attempts to assassinate Pakistan's president.

Now to fears of a terrorist attack here in the U.S. timed around the election. Well, government officials now tell CNN that the Homeland Security Department will give state guidelines today for security leading up to November 2. The bulletin will also cover security for polling places and ballot counting as well as election contingency plans. Let's talk about it more with CNN military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson. He's in Washington.

Hi, Ken.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Hi, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about -- I guess we started talking about this because we thought about Spain, and the elections that took place there, and the terrorist attacks and how it really affected the election process. Can we even compare our election process here in the U.S. to what happened there?

ROBINSON: I don't think so. I think the reaction of a European country to an event like that and their already clear division against the current policy in the United States was predictable. But I don't believe Americans and their behavior are predictable. I think that Americans are like a sleeping giant, and attacking them will cause unpredictability.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, obviously, this will be pretty unprecedented, the security probably will be like no other considering the time that we're in. A couple of stories coming out recently about imagery, satellite imagery and how that has worked overseas with regard to understanding the land, the area, tracking terrorists. The same type of imagery is being used in the U.S., is it being used to sort of map out areas of, I guess, polling and where the candidates are going to be and where they're holding their rallies, for the sake of tighter security?

ROBINSON: Yes. National systems, national geospace intelligence is utilized in the United States. I spoke with public affairs spokesman for the agency today, and also with the Department of Defense. There are special rules of engagement for when those intelligence satellite pictures can be taken. There is enormous oversight involved. And none of these agencies provide product down to local or state governments. They work through a lead federal agency.

And they've been doing this before 9/11. Much of this information is used to support exercises, like training that's used for the G-8 summit, for security for like the Republican National Conventions. It is used in an area to support the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know we've got some of this imagery on tape. As a matter of fact, we're looking at it right now, this sort of 3D imagery. And it's really interesting because you can get down. It is not so far away but you can really get up close and see the land. And you sort of think of that movie "Enemy of the State" when they were tracking Americans with satellite imagery. Can that happen now? Should it happen? Should the U.S. be able to do this in this time period?

ROBINSON: Well, the United States has a responsibility to protect its citizens. And in doing so it used national assets. But it also has systems in place. It has a foreign intelligence surveillance act that's in place. It has executive orders by the president. It has DOD regulations, all of which put fingerprints on any requests by a non-Department of Defense agency to utilize these space-based systems.

If you think about it the same way you think about a -- someone has to get a warrant to conduct a specific type of search. Those same rules apply at the national level. And oversight sometimes goes all the way up to the attorney general of the United States if there is a posse comitatus issue where any type of collection may go against a United States person, that being a citizen or someone with a green card or a suspected foreign terrorist that may be operating in the United States. They still have to dot the I and cross the T to get the proper permission and there is heavy oversight.

PHILLIPS: All right. Meanwhile, do you think that potential terrorists are sitting back, thinking, OK, it's going to be to our advantage if we do something during election time and maybe help take out these certain polls that favor George W. Bush or let's target this area that maybe voters will be coming out and voting for John Kerry. Do you think it gets that detailed where terrorists actually strategize that type of scenario?

ROBINSON: Well, if you're talking about an organization like al Qaeda or the Islamic Brotherhood, they are a very intelligent, forward-thinking organization. And there may be arguments at that level. You can make arguments that would say which candidate would be the better candidate for what their objectives are because they want the United States to continue to be unilateral. They want the United States to continue to do things that would enable their recruiting and retention. The activities of the current administration on the Arab street are perceived as unilateral. So George Bush would be the candidate of choice for them.

PHILLIPS: CNN military analyst, Ken Robinson, thanks so much.

Straight ahead, an adoption tale with a twist. We're going to tell you what happened to a widowed Italian man in search of a new family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: On paper the story of Giorgio Angelozzi touched people around the world. Now cameras have caught up with the lonely Italian grandfather who advertised for a family. CNN's Chandrika Narayan with a story that had the LIVE FROM crew here reaching for the Kleenex.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANDRIKA NARAYAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wanted, a new family. A lonely Italian grandfather put himself up for adoption last month. 80-year-old Giorgio Angelozzi has been living alone outside Rome with his seven cats since his wife died more than 10 years ago. He has a daughter, but she lives abroad.

Tired of being on his own, the retired school teacher called a national newspaper to place an ad in the wanted column. Moved by his story, the paper ran a front page article. Offers poured in from families across Italy and as far away from New Zealand, Brazil and the United States.

GIORGIO ANGELOZZI, RETIRED SCHOOL TEACHER (through translator): I thought that by announcing my loneliness, both emotionally and intellectually, I would receive a reply which would be something similar to a small shower of rain as if I was a dried up piece of grass. Instead I was hit by a torrential downpour.

NARAYAN: Angelozzi chose his new family, a Polish-born woman and her Italian husband, who live with their two teenage children in northern Italy.

ANGELOZZI (through translator): I chose by using the idea of a young writer going where your heart leads you. I chose the woman whose voice reminded me of my wife.

NARAYAN: His plea seems to have struck a cord in family-loving Italy. In the past up to four generations have traditionally lived under the same roof. Today one in five Italians is over the age of 65. Almost half of them live alone, partly because of the more mobile lifestyle of younger generations. Italy also has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe.

ANGELOZZI (through translator): I will become a grandfather. This was my plan. I will have the affection of this woman who is already calling me daddy, and the children who call me grandpa Giorgio.

NARAYAN: Grandpa Giorgio will soon travel to his new home about 600 kilometers away from his current. He'll pay his host about $600 per month for his expenses. But his new family says the wealth of sharing his lifetime of experiences will be priceless.

Chadrika Narayan, CNN Center.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: If you're wondering what happened to the seven cats, well, grandpa is reportedly leaving them with a friend while he and his new family get acquainted during a trial period.

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