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Major Cuts at General Motors; Verdict Watch; CIA Chief Sidelined? Iraqi City Unsafe

Aired June 07, 2005 - 14:00   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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bear hit the door, slammed me behind the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Wild home invasion. A woman attacked by a bear. She tells her story this hour.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Firing on an insurgent hotspot. It's a story you'll see only on CNN. Will this operation clean up a dangerous Iraqi city?

PHILLIPS: Guarding your secrets. How to keep the nine most sought-after digits out of the hands of identity thieves.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Philips.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

We begin this hour with major cuts at General Motors. Twenty- five thousand jobs, an unknown number of factories and a move to reclaim the driver's seat of an industry it used to dominate.

CNN's Chris Huntington looks at a GM that generally is too big for its own good.

And Chris, let's kick this around a little bit here. I guess the first question is, what has gone wrong here?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has been going wrong at General Motors for decades. GM used to have close to 50 percent market share in the United States. That's dwindled down to about 25 percent.

You'll recall Michael Moore chronicling the problems of GM more than a decade ago. The big problem for General Motors is that it sells cars that frankly people just don't want compared to others that are out there in the marketplace.

It had a good ride going for a while on big SUVs, but now that those are out of favor, GM is really exposed as having an undesirable product mix. And that's the main problem, along with very, very expensive healthcare for its workers. HARRIS: I was going to ask you about that in a second. And let's do that in a little more detail in just a moment. But what does this say about the Detroit auto industry overall, Chris?

HUNTINGTON: Well, it's been a vexing problem for the American automakers for a long time. The Japanese imports in particular have seemed to be able to come in and turn around product very quickly and have a much better sense of what the marketplace needs, and get it out there in the marketplace much faster than the big old fashioned Detroit lineups.

It's obvious that people now want fuel-efficient cars. Everybody's talking about hybrids. General Motors and Ford, frankly, very, very slow to the table to get those products ramped up and out in the marketplace. Even though they talk about it and they have plans to do it, the imports, particularly from Japan, are taking that market right away.

HARRIS: So Chris, 25,000 people, over how long a span of time? And what happens to these people?

HUNTINGTON: Well, GM saying that they want to cut 25,000 jobs by 2008. And it's very important, Tony, to realize that GM cannot simply send out 25,000 pink slips tomorrow.

HARRIS: Right.

HUNTINGTON: The United Auto Workers have a very, very strong contract that right now holds through September of 2007. So all GM can do between now and then is sort of ride attrition. In other words, the folks that would ordinarily retire, well, they just won't replace those jobs.

GM loses, we're told, about 4,000 to 5,000 jobs a year through attrition. So it can get some of the way there just by not replacing workers. When that UAW contract expires in 2007, in the fall of 2007, that's when GM will have to get tough and try and reduce the workforce even more and go after healthcare benefits.

HARRIS: That's it. OK. Chris Huntington, we appreciate it. Thanks, Chris.

HUNTINGTON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Well, frank talk on Capitol Hill today about terrorism and the situation in Iraq. The Kurd ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, is appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's President Bush's pick to be the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Khalilzad is facing tough questioning about how the war is going in Iraq and Afghanistan.

HARRIS: Putting the pedal to the metal in Iraq. U.S. troops, backed by Iraqi forces, are engaged in a major military operation in the town of Tal Afar. It is in northwest Iraq, near the Syrian border. One U.S. soldier has been killed, dozens of tanks, other armored vehicles and helicopters are being used in the offensive. Tal Afar is thought to be infested with insurgents. There have been many of them killed, 28 have been captured.

Iraqi army checkpoints in the northern part of the country scenes of three suicide car bombings today. Four Iraqi soldiers and 10 civilians were killed in attacks in Hawija. Thirty-nine people were wounded. Iraqi soldiers spotted and managed to diffuse a fourth car bomb, but the driver of the vehicle escaped.

PHILLIPS: Back here at home, the spotlight is back on the Santa Maria courthouse, where jurors are weighing the fate of Michael Jackson.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is on verdict watch.

Hey, Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. They have been at it for about two-and-a-half hours today, minus any breaks that they have elected to take. We haven't heard any updates from inside the jury room.

Jurors were brought in, in vans. They're meeting at an off-site location and coming in. They're not sequestered, but they're coming in, in these vans.

We do know who the -- the foreperson is. He's a 63-year-old retired male. He's a Latino, and he used to be a high school counselor.

His wife is an accountant, he has two children in his 30s. And he is also what he calls himself -- he calls himself a western artist. He does some iron work. And he is a guy that took a lot of notes during the trial.

He sat in the back row and seemed to really be diligent. Obviously, other jurors believe that he is the person to lead them.

Meanwhile, we're getting an update on Michael Jackson from Jesse Jackson, who made another return trip here to the courthouse.

He was here yesterday for a while. And he just left the courthouse here. And he talked a bit here with the media, and he said that Michael Jackson is waiting patiently for this jury's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JESSE JACKSON, JACKSON SPIRITUAL ADVISER: He exudes a great sense of confidence in the jury as being fair, tremendous praise for his lawyer, Tom Mesereau, having argued a great defense case for him. And so Michael anxiously awaits the jury's verdict, but anticipates acquittal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: According to a spokesperson, Jackson is awaiting that jury verdict at Neverland Ranch with family. And the judge has said, once a verdict is reached, they will have one hour to get here to the courthouse. They want to minimize the time that elapses in between the jury's decision and the announcement of that verdict to reduce the chaos outside the courthouse.

That said, there are dozens of fans that have been camped out here since this jury took the case, and they remain out here today. And that crowd is expected to grow once this jury comes up with a decision -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ted, did you ever find out why Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, was screaming outside the courthouse yesterday, wondering where his son was?

ROWLANDS: Well, according to Jesse Jackson, yesterday there was some miscommunication within the Jackson camp. And according to Jesse Jackson, Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson's father, saw the vans leaving, the characteristic black Suburbans, leaving Neverland, and he noticed that Michael was not in the vans. And for some reason he thought he was here.

So obviously a communication problem within the Jackson camp on that front. It's safe to say, tension very high with that family as they wait to see what this jury's going to decide.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. Ted Rowlands. Thank you so much.

HARRIS: And in news "Across America" now, a special delivery in Washington. Twenty-two thousand pounds of potatoes were delivered about an hour ago to mark National Hunger Awareness Day. The potatoes will be distributed to area agencies that feed the hungry.

More residents are returning to the soggy hills of Laguna Beach, California. Eighteen homes that were declared unlivable after last week's landslide have been deemed safe. Several homes were heavily damaged or destroyed in the slide.

PHILLIPS: Police in Missouri are searching for the culprits behind this smash-and-grab robbery. Four men in White Suburbans crashed into a Kansas City grocery store and stole an ATM early Sunday. No word on how much loot they got.

And a presidential honor for a former first lady. Betty Ford accepted the Gerald R. Ford Medal of Distinguished Public Service from her husband and former president last night in California. Ford was honored for her openness in fighting breast cancer and her dependency on alcohol and prescription drugs.

HARRIS: So imagine you're in your own backyard, you look up, and you see this -- yes, a wild bear barreling towards you. The Virginia woman who lived to tell about it tells us her story later on LIVE FROM.

A top spy, cold shoulder? The CIA chief loses a seat at meetings with President Bush. We'll talk about that. And do you know who has your number? What you can learn from one woman's struggle to get back her life after an identity thief stole it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: In today's CNN "Security Watch" -- oh, my.

Sorry, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Hey, we're going to move on to "Security Watch" in a minute. I guess you can say this is a bit of a security watch.

HARRIS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: This is video coming in to us from KABC. It was a car chase that has been taking place within the last 45 minutes. And you can see the California Highway Patrol just clipping that suspect in that minivan.

We're going to take you to live pictures now via our affiliate KCAL. What started as a chase had now turned into a standoff. All we know is that the chase began when Ventura County sheriff's deputies tried to stop the car, someone they believed was a kidnapping suspect, also armed.

Well, the chase began. You saw the video where they just clipped it as he was pulling over into another lane. Now it's turned into a standoff.

Don't know if anybody else is inside besides the suspect, but he is believed to be a kidnapping suspect, armed. And as you can see now, officers in a standoff, trying to establish communication with that suspect.

We're watching it for you. We'll keep you updated on what happens.

This is actually off of Robertson Boulevard. That's off the Santa Monica 10 Freeway, sort of mid-city area of Los Angeles.

We're following it for you. We'll bring you more as soon as we get it.

HARRIS: In today's CNN "Security Watch," research paper or roadmap for terrorists? The government wants to stop publication of a paper that details how terrorists could contaminate the nation's milk supply. A Health and Human Services official says the paper contains precise information on how much poison is needed to kill large numbers of people.

The paper also has safety recommendations. Officials from the HHS and the scientific community meet today to talk about it.

PHILLIPS: Well, CIA chief on the sidelines. According to "TIME" magazine, a quietly circulated White House memo indicates that the CIA director is no longer automatically invited to National Security Council meetings. It seems the nation's new intelligence czar has grabbed his spot.

So what does this mean for the CIA director, Porter Goss? Let's bring in our Washington insider, Bob Barr.

Bob, good to see you.

BOB BARR, FMR. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, what do you think about that? And here's the quote directly from "TIME" magazine.

It says, "After nearly 60 years at the pinnacle of American intelligence, and at the elbow of the presidents, the CIA director is no longer automatically welcome at the president's National Security Council meetings. John Negroponte, the new director of national intelligence, has taken his chair."

How are we supposed to read that?

BARR: Well, this -- this really comes as no surprise, Kyra. The handwriting was -- was on the wall, so to speak, in the legislation that set up the new director of national intelligence.

Washington has been abuzz for years, even before 9/11, with regard to what has happened to the CIA, why has it failed time after time after time, going back to failing to foresee the demise of the Soviet Union back in the 1980s, through the Iraq situation. So this is really simply the logical conclusion.

And if the CIA is smart -- and, of course, its new director, Porter Goss, is a pretty smart guy -- he will in fact take this time to focus on getting the CIA's house, its structure, back in order.

PHILLIPS: But how do you know how to do that and to get it back in order and be in touch with what's happening in the world and what the president needs when you're not even invited to the most important intelligence meetings in the country?

BARR: One has to remember, really, the core CIA mission that they sort have gotten way from in recent decades. And that core mission is not to be sitting around the White House, but to be out there in the real world gathering intelligence, analyzing that intelligence, and making sure it gets to the policymakers.

That's what the CIA used to do so very well. It has not done it in recent years. And they have an awful lot of very good analysts, very good operatives there. But they have not had the leadership infrastructure to translate that into a good product.

They have to redevelop, re-establish the credibility of their product. And then they'll get a seat back at the table.

PHILLIPS: Now, you were an analyst at the CIA. This was before you became a congressman. And the time that you were there you thought things were running pretty smoothly, right?

BARR: They really were. That was -- now, of course, you know, during the time I was there, it was also the period of time that's been in the news recently with the Watergate scandal and Deep Throat and so forth. But at least in terms of its core mission, the CIA back then knew what it was about, the analysts had tremendous leeway in terms of getting their product, analyzing it properly, without a lot of political influence.

That has all changed in recent years. And that's what the CIA director needs to focus on, re-establishing that credibility of their product.

PHILLIPS: So, Bob, let me ask you, if the CIA director is not in these NSC meetings, then it sounds like 9/11 all over again, where people weren't communicating and people weren't talking, and the FBI and the CIA and the president and everybody else didn't know what each intel agency had.

BARR: Well, you're absolutely correct, that was one of the main reasons why the terrorists succeed on 9/11. But it really -- the answer to your question, and it's a very, very good question, is, whether or not this new entity, think new director of national intelligence, which has the support and the direct involvement of the president himself, who is ultimately the consumer of the intelligence that these agencies prepare, whether or not that DNI, Mr. Negroponte, will be able to establish his primacy over the entire intelligence structure.

That's going take an awful lot of hard work over the next year, year and a half. So the jury's still out on that one. But I think he'll be able to do it.

PHILLIPS: Bob Barr, thank you so much.

And CNN is committed to providing you with the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN 24/7 for the latest information.

HARRIS: It is the story that had us all talking, uninvited house guest.

PHILLIPS: The guest as, I guess you could say, a bit wild and downright belligerent. The story of the bear that broke in later on LIVE FROM.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Do you feel like your boss is actually preventing you from doing your best work? If you said yes, you're not alone. I'll have the results of one workplace study next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So, do you like your job?

HARRIS: Is it a trick question?

PHILLIPS: But do you think that management hurts your performance? Well, if you answered yes, you're not alone.

HARRIS: Susan Lisovicz has the results of a new survey live from the New York Stock Exchange.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: U.S. and Iraqi forces are widening the net in their anti-insurgent offensive in Iraq. Earlier, we showed you some of Jane Arraf's exclusive photos of the joint operation under way in volatile Tal Afar. Now she shows us how the surge in violence has left the city a virtual ghost town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN SR. BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eight- year-old Ibrahim was hit by shrapnel a few hours ago. In this troubled city of Tal Afar, the police and his father were too afraid to take him to hospital. They took him to a neighborhood clinic instead.

This U.S. Army commander offers to take them in armored vehicle. But the father, Daoud Ibrahim Daoud (ph), is still worried they'll be in danger coming back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can take you to the hospital. And they will bring you back.

ARRAF: There are a lot of dangers in this area. In fact, police inside these castle walls consider it so dangerous they don't venture out. In Tal Afar, about 60 kilometers, 40 miles from the Syrian border, entire neighborhoods have come under the grip of insurgents.

"We have no bulletproof vests, we have no ammunition, we have no weapons. How can we go out?" this police officer asks.

What's left of the police force that mostly quit in the height of the violence last year has largely given up on protecting townspeople.

(on camera): There are about 200 police within these castle walls, but they don't go out. They're essentially trapped within the police station, afraid of the insurgents outside.

(voice-over): The U.S. Army considers the city so risky, they use only tanks and 30-ton Bradley fighting vehicles in these streets. Four thousand troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment have poured into this area in the past few weeks. Its commanders are fighting calls from local tribal leaders for a military solution that would use maximum force.

LT. COL. CHRISTOPHER HICKEY, U.S. ARMY: When they say "military solution," they refer to a Fallujah, where you take a very large military force in here, and, unfortunately, that could result in a lot of destruction of the -- of the city. And we want to solve this in a more precise way, where we don't end up destroying the city.

ARRAF: The city has become a ghost of what it was last year. Fear has driven a lot of people indoors. Col. Hickey and Iraqi general Mahksud Douschy (ph) visit a family across town to see how they're doing and give the boys soccer balls. They have a small shop, but they haven't opened it for the last three months.

Miriam Ilyez usually sends her children to school, but 10-year- old Abir (ph) has been afraid since one of her classmates was wounded. They had to take her to the hospital, she said. Miriam (ph) says four insurgents came recently in a car to attack Iraqi soldiers nearby. I shouted at them to leave, not to do attacks here, she says. They did leave. But the neighborhood is afraid they'll return another day.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Tal Afar, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

END

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Aired June 7, 2005 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bear hit the door, slammed me behind the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Wild home invasion. A woman attacked by a bear. She tells her story this hour.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Firing on an insurgent hotspot. It's a story you'll see only on CNN. Will this operation clean up a dangerous Iraqi city?

PHILLIPS: Guarding your secrets. How to keep the nine most sought-after digits out of the hands of identity thieves.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Philips.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

We begin this hour with major cuts at General Motors. Twenty- five thousand jobs, an unknown number of factories and a move to reclaim the driver's seat of an industry it used to dominate.

CNN's Chris Huntington looks at a GM that generally is too big for its own good.

And Chris, let's kick this around a little bit here. I guess the first question is, what has gone wrong here?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has been going wrong at General Motors for decades. GM used to have close to 50 percent market share in the United States. That's dwindled down to about 25 percent.

You'll recall Michael Moore chronicling the problems of GM more than a decade ago. The big problem for General Motors is that it sells cars that frankly people just don't want compared to others that are out there in the marketplace.

It had a good ride going for a while on big SUVs, but now that those are out of favor, GM is really exposed as having an undesirable product mix. And that's the main problem, along with very, very expensive healthcare for its workers. HARRIS: I was going to ask you about that in a second. And let's do that in a little more detail in just a moment. But what does this say about the Detroit auto industry overall, Chris?

HUNTINGTON: Well, it's been a vexing problem for the American automakers for a long time. The Japanese imports in particular have seemed to be able to come in and turn around product very quickly and have a much better sense of what the marketplace needs, and get it out there in the marketplace much faster than the big old fashioned Detroit lineups.

It's obvious that people now want fuel-efficient cars. Everybody's talking about hybrids. General Motors and Ford, frankly, very, very slow to the table to get those products ramped up and out in the marketplace. Even though they talk about it and they have plans to do it, the imports, particularly from Japan, are taking that market right away.

HARRIS: So Chris, 25,000 people, over how long a span of time? And what happens to these people?

HUNTINGTON: Well, GM saying that they want to cut 25,000 jobs by 2008. And it's very important, Tony, to realize that GM cannot simply send out 25,000 pink slips tomorrow.

HARRIS: Right.

HUNTINGTON: The United Auto Workers have a very, very strong contract that right now holds through September of 2007. So all GM can do between now and then is sort of ride attrition. In other words, the folks that would ordinarily retire, well, they just won't replace those jobs.

GM loses, we're told, about 4,000 to 5,000 jobs a year through attrition. So it can get some of the way there just by not replacing workers. When that UAW contract expires in 2007, in the fall of 2007, that's when GM will have to get tough and try and reduce the workforce even more and go after healthcare benefits.

HARRIS: That's it. OK. Chris Huntington, we appreciate it. Thanks, Chris.

HUNTINGTON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Well, frank talk on Capitol Hill today about terrorism and the situation in Iraq. The Kurd ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, is appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's President Bush's pick to be the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Khalilzad is facing tough questioning about how the war is going in Iraq and Afghanistan.

HARRIS: Putting the pedal to the metal in Iraq. U.S. troops, backed by Iraqi forces, are engaged in a major military operation in the town of Tal Afar. It is in northwest Iraq, near the Syrian border. One U.S. soldier has been killed, dozens of tanks, other armored vehicles and helicopters are being used in the offensive. Tal Afar is thought to be infested with insurgents. There have been many of them killed, 28 have been captured.

Iraqi army checkpoints in the northern part of the country scenes of three suicide car bombings today. Four Iraqi soldiers and 10 civilians were killed in attacks in Hawija. Thirty-nine people were wounded. Iraqi soldiers spotted and managed to diffuse a fourth car bomb, but the driver of the vehicle escaped.

PHILLIPS: Back here at home, the spotlight is back on the Santa Maria courthouse, where jurors are weighing the fate of Michael Jackson.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is on verdict watch.

Hey, Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. They have been at it for about two-and-a-half hours today, minus any breaks that they have elected to take. We haven't heard any updates from inside the jury room.

Jurors were brought in, in vans. They're meeting at an off-site location and coming in. They're not sequestered, but they're coming in, in these vans.

We do know who the -- the foreperson is. He's a 63-year-old retired male. He's a Latino, and he used to be a high school counselor.

His wife is an accountant, he has two children in his 30s. And he is also what he calls himself -- he calls himself a western artist. He does some iron work. And he is a guy that took a lot of notes during the trial.

He sat in the back row and seemed to really be diligent. Obviously, other jurors believe that he is the person to lead them.

Meanwhile, we're getting an update on Michael Jackson from Jesse Jackson, who made another return trip here to the courthouse.

He was here yesterday for a while. And he just left the courthouse here. And he talked a bit here with the media, and he said that Michael Jackson is waiting patiently for this jury's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JESSE JACKSON, JACKSON SPIRITUAL ADVISER: He exudes a great sense of confidence in the jury as being fair, tremendous praise for his lawyer, Tom Mesereau, having argued a great defense case for him. And so Michael anxiously awaits the jury's verdict, but anticipates acquittal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: According to a spokesperson, Jackson is awaiting that jury verdict at Neverland Ranch with family. And the judge has said, once a verdict is reached, they will have one hour to get here to the courthouse. They want to minimize the time that elapses in between the jury's decision and the announcement of that verdict to reduce the chaos outside the courthouse.

That said, there are dozens of fans that have been camped out here since this jury took the case, and they remain out here today. And that crowd is expected to grow once this jury comes up with a decision -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ted, did you ever find out why Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, was screaming outside the courthouse yesterday, wondering where his son was?

ROWLANDS: Well, according to Jesse Jackson, yesterday there was some miscommunication within the Jackson camp. And according to Jesse Jackson, Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson's father, saw the vans leaving, the characteristic black Suburbans, leaving Neverland, and he noticed that Michael was not in the vans. And for some reason he thought he was here.

So obviously a communication problem within the Jackson camp on that front. It's safe to say, tension very high with that family as they wait to see what this jury's going to decide.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. Ted Rowlands. Thank you so much.

HARRIS: And in news "Across America" now, a special delivery in Washington. Twenty-two thousand pounds of potatoes were delivered about an hour ago to mark National Hunger Awareness Day. The potatoes will be distributed to area agencies that feed the hungry.

More residents are returning to the soggy hills of Laguna Beach, California. Eighteen homes that were declared unlivable after last week's landslide have been deemed safe. Several homes were heavily damaged or destroyed in the slide.

PHILLIPS: Police in Missouri are searching for the culprits behind this smash-and-grab robbery. Four men in White Suburbans crashed into a Kansas City grocery store and stole an ATM early Sunday. No word on how much loot they got.

And a presidential honor for a former first lady. Betty Ford accepted the Gerald R. Ford Medal of Distinguished Public Service from her husband and former president last night in California. Ford was honored for her openness in fighting breast cancer and her dependency on alcohol and prescription drugs.

HARRIS: So imagine you're in your own backyard, you look up, and you see this -- yes, a wild bear barreling towards you. The Virginia woman who lived to tell about it tells us her story later on LIVE FROM.

A top spy, cold shoulder? The CIA chief loses a seat at meetings with President Bush. We'll talk about that. And do you know who has your number? What you can learn from one woman's struggle to get back her life after an identity thief stole it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: In today's CNN "Security Watch" -- oh, my.

Sorry, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Hey, we're going to move on to "Security Watch" in a minute. I guess you can say this is a bit of a security watch.

HARRIS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: This is video coming in to us from KABC. It was a car chase that has been taking place within the last 45 minutes. And you can see the California Highway Patrol just clipping that suspect in that minivan.

We're going to take you to live pictures now via our affiliate KCAL. What started as a chase had now turned into a standoff. All we know is that the chase began when Ventura County sheriff's deputies tried to stop the car, someone they believed was a kidnapping suspect, also armed.

Well, the chase began. You saw the video where they just clipped it as he was pulling over into another lane. Now it's turned into a standoff.

Don't know if anybody else is inside besides the suspect, but he is believed to be a kidnapping suspect, armed. And as you can see now, officers in a standoff, trying to establish communication with that suspect.

We're watching it for you. We'll keep you updated on what happens.

This is actually off of Robertson Boulevard. That's off the Santa Monica 10 Freeway, sort of mid-city area of Los Angeles.

We're following it for you. We'll bring you more as soon as we get it.

HARRIS: In today's CNN "Security Watch," research paper or roadmap for terrorists? The government wants to stop publication of a paper that details how terrorists could contaminate the nation's milk supply. A Health and Human Services official says the paper contains precise information on how much poison is needed to kill large numbers of people.

The paper also has safety recommendations. Officials from the HHS and the scientific community meet today to talk about it.

PHILLIPS: Well, CIA chief on the sidelines. According to "TIME" magazine, a quietly circulated White House memo indicates that the CIA director is no longer automatically invited to National Security Council meetings. It seems the nation's new intelligence czar has grabbed his spot.

So what does this mean for the CIA director, Porter Goss? Let's bring in our Washington insider, Bob Barr.

Bob, good to see you.

BOB BARR, FMR. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, what do you think about that? And here's the quote directly from "TIME" magazine.

It says, "After nearly 60 years at the pinnacle of American intelligence, and at the elbow of the presidents, the CIA director is no longer automatically welcome at the president's National Security Council meetings. John Negroponte, the new director of national intelligence, has taken his chair."

How are we supposed to read that?

BARR: Well, this -- this really comes as no surprise, Kyra. The handwriting was -- was on the wall, so to speak, in the legislation that set up the new director of national intelligence.

Washington has been abuzz for years, even before 9/11, with regard to what has happened to the CIA, why has it failed time after time after time, going back to failing to foresee the demise of the Soviet Union back in the 1980s, through the Iraq situation. So this is really simply the logical conclusion.

And if the CIA is smart -- and, of course, its new director, Porter Goss, is a pretty smart guy -- he will in fact take this time to focus on getting the CIA's house, its structure, back in order.

PHILLIPS: But how do you know how to do that and to get it back in order and be in touch with what's happening in the world and what the president needs when you're not even invited to the most important intelligence meetings in the country?

BARR: One has to remember, really, the core CIA mission that they sort have gotten way from in recent decades. And that core mission is not to be sitting around the White House, but to be out there in the real world gathering intelligence, analyzing that intelligence, and making sure it gets to the policymakers.

That's what the CIA used to do so very well. It has not done it in recent years. And they have an awful lot of very good analysts, very good operatives there. But they have not had the leadership infrastructure to translate that into a good product.

They have to redevelop, re-establish the credibility of their product. And then they'll get a seat back at the table.

PHILLIPS: Now, you were an analyst at the CIA. This was before you became a congressman. And the time that you were there you thought things were running pretty smoothly, right?

BARR: They really were. That was -- now, of course, you know, during the time I was there, it was also the period of time that's been in the news recently with the Watergate scandal and Deep Throat and so forth. But at least in terms of its core mission, the CIA back then knew what it was about, the analysts had tremendous leeway in terms of getting their product, analyzing it properly, without a lot of political influence.

That has all changed in recent years. And that's what the CIA director needs to focus on, re-establishing that credibility of their product.

PHILLIPS: So, Bob, let me ask you, if the CIA director is not in these NSC meetings, then it sounds like 9/11 all over again, where people weren't communicating and people weren't talking, and the FBI and the CIA and the president and everybody else didn't know what each intel agency had.

BARR: Well, you're absolutely correct, that was one of the main reasons why the terrorists succeed on 9/11. But it really -- the answer to your question, and it's a very, very good question, is, whether or not this new entity, think new director of national intelligence, which has the support and the direct involvement of the president himself, who is ultimately the consumer of the intelligence that these agencies prepare, whether or not that DNI, Mr. Negroponte, will be able to establish his primacy over the entire intelligence structure.

That's going take an awful lot of hard work over the next year, year and a half. So the jury's still out on that one. But I think he'll be able to do it.

PHILLIPS: Bob Barr, thank you so much.

And CNN is committed to providing you with the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN 24/7 for the latest information.

HARRIS: It is the story that had us all talking, uninvited house guest.

PHILLIPS: The guest as, I guess you could say, a bit wild and downright belligerent. The story of the bear that broke in later on LIVE FROM.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Do you feel like your boss is actually preventing you from doing your best work? If you said yes, you're not alone. I'll have the results of one workplace study next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So, do you like your job?

HARRIS: Is it a trick question?

PHILLIPS: But do you think that management hurts your performance? Well, if you answered yes, you're not alone.

HARRIS: Susan Lisovicz has the results of a new survey live from the New York Stock Exchange.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: U.S. and Iraqi forces are widening the net in their anti-insurgent offensive in Iraq. Earlier, we showed you some of Jane Arraf's exclusive photos of the joint operation under way in volatile Tal Afar. Now she shows us how the surge in violence has left the city a virtual ghost town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN SR. BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eight- year-old Ibrahim was hit by shrapnel a few hours ago. In this troubled city of Tal Afar, the police and his father were too afraid to take him to hospital. They took him to a neighborhood clinic instead.

This U.S. Army commander offers to take them in armored vehicle. But the father, Daoud Ibrahim Daoud (ph), is still worried they'll be in danger coming back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can take you to the hospital. And they will bring you back.

ARRAF: There are a lot of dangers in this area. In fact, police inside these castle walls consider it so dangerous they don't venture out. In Tal Afar, about 60 kilometers, 40 miles from the Syrian border, entire neighborhoods have come under the grip of insurgents.

"We have no bulletproof vests, we have no ammunition, we have no weapons. How can we go out?" this police officer asks.

What's left of the police force that mostly quit in the height of the violence last year has largely given up on protecting townspeople.

(on camera): There are about 200 police within these castle walls, but they don't go out. They're essentially trapped within the police station, afraid of the insurgents outside.

(voice-over): The U.S. Army considers the city so risky, they use only tanks and 30-ton Bradley fighting vehicles in these streets. Four thousand troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment have poured into this area in the past few weeks. Its commanders are fighting calls from local tribal leaders for a military solution that would use maximum force.

LT. COL. CHRISTOPHER HICKEY, U.S. ARMY: When they say "military solution," they refer to a Fallujah, where you take a very large military force in here, and, unfortunately, that could result in a lot of destruction of the -- of the city. And we want to solve this in a more precise way, where we don't end up destroying the city.

ARRAF: The city has become a ghost of what it was last year. Fear has driven a lot of people indoors. Col. Hickey and Iraqi general Mahksud Douschy (ph) visit a family across town to see how they're doing and give the boys soccer balls. They have a small shop, but they haven't opened it for the last three months.

Miriam Ilyez usually sends her children to school, but 10-year- old Abir (ph) has been afraid since one of her classmates was wounded. They had to take her to the hospital, she said. Miriam (ph) says four insurgents came recently in a car to attack Iraqi soldiers nearby. I shouted at them to leave, not to do attacks here, she says. They did leave. But the neighborhood is afraid they'll return another day.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Tal Afar, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

END

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