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Bush Signs Intelligence Reform Bill; Study Finds Celebrex Problem

Aired December 17, 2004 - 10:00   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.


RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR: There you see the senator signing the legislation. Interesting, Senator Lieberman is among those there. Senator Lieberman is one of the co-sponsors of the idea to actually have 9/11 reforms as well as Homeland Security. And he also, that the particular point in time one of the people who is being suggested as a possible DNI, as the president refers to it.
That is the person who would be in charge of the agency. The official name is the director of National Intelligence. That person has not yet been named. We can't underscore that enough and there are certainly plenty of names on the list.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Porter Goss, who you saw up there onstage, is also a name being floated around as a person on a short list for this new National Intelligence director. Of course, we will see how it all shakes out as to who will end up being the person named as new National Intelligence director.

SANCHEZ: We should probably mention that Lieberman had said on a couple of occasions that if given the position he would not accept it. He's not interested in being the DNI in this case.

Let's go over to Suzanne Malveaux. She's been following the story and joins us now live.

Suzanne, pretty much what we expected.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely, Rick. And really this is an important moment for the White House because the president likes to talk about political capital. Well, today he really cashed in on that capital. This was a real tough test for the presidency and it's a very important test after the elections. Whether or not he could actually convince members of his own party to support him in this legislation, to support his second-term agenda, it did not come easy.

This involved the president and the vice president picking up the phone, making phone calls to those who were blocking this legislation. Also talking to the Republican leadership, very interesting as well. You should know it's fair to say the White House has really evolved in its position on approving this legislation.

In a rare move back in September, you may recall President Bush introduced his own legislation, which really assured that the Pentagon would control, have budget control of much of the intelligence community -- that $40 billion figure. Well, the White House has since changed its position on that.

Also very significant was that it was Vice President Cheney's legal council itself that drafted the legislation that would assure members that look, this was power sharing. That the director of National Intelligence would not have too much power, that the Pentagon would still be able to weigh in specifically on giving real time intelligence to those military commanders on the ground at the time that they actually need that. was a big concern that several of those Congressmen had about this particular legislation.

The White House was able to push forward, to push through and this is really seeing the White House portraying this as a big success for the president. The first big post-election success for the White House -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: There was actually a report I was reading. I'm sure you read it yourself being in Washington. It's in "The Washington Post," that seems to indicate that this new administrator really will have a top job in terms of what has been done in Washington in the past. In fact, he's going to be writing the PDB. that report that the president gets every morning, right? How significant is that Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: That's very significant. And one thing that the president initially and has maintained that he wanted to do here was to make sure that this was a position where this individual would report directly to the president, but it would not be a White House position.

The White House wants to make it very clear that they are keeping it separate. The information gathering of intelligence separate from the policymaking, that is something they do not want people to turn to the administration, to this White House, and say that somehow it has influenced the type of information that is going directly to the president.

And that is something that the 9/11 Commission, as you know said it was a big concern; the fact that the administration was not getting the intelligence that it needed. The fact that these intelligence agencies were not really communicating with one another. And if they had been communicating with one another they could have possibly seen the signs, connected the dots and perhaps prevented the 9/11 attacks.

SANCHEZ: Suzanne Malveaux is going to be following things there for us at the White House throughout the day.

We thank you, Suzanne, once again for joining us.

NGUYEN: Now, before passage, the new legislation faced some tough opposition in Congress, especially from key Republicans.

CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry is in our Washington studio.

And Ed, what about some of the issues the opponents of the bill still want to see addressed? ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As Suzanne pointed out, there clearly was a lot of give and take between the president and members of his own party on Capitol Hill over this legislation. It took a Herculean effort by the president in the final days to actually get this through Congress.

And that give and take is not over yet. In fact, there are a lot of conservatives on Capitol Hill who are saying that while we're witnessing a celebration by the White House and the president today and some people in Congress, that this is not necessarily real reform in the eyes of some conservatives.

They feel the job has not been completed. For example Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner, as you know, is still very upset that his tough immigration provision were left out of the final bill. Also, this morning on CNN, former Democratic 9/11 Commission member Tim Roemer pointed out that this is a first step and a lot more needs to be done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM ROEMER (D-IN), MEMBER, 9/11 COMMISSION: I think there are still challenges a get head. We have to go over loose nukes. We have to be sure that Congress does the oversight better. And we have to make sure we spend money in the future based on a risk assessment and intelligence threats, not on pork barrel spending in Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: In fact, Republican Senator John McCain, who supported this final bill, has complained that basically Congress ignored a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, by not reforming congressional oversight of the intelligence community. Instead, this final bill just focuses on restructuring the executive branch.

So you're going to hear a lot more about that next year. And you'll also hear Congressman Sensenbrenner bringing back his immigration provisions in January when the new Congress convenes -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Ed, I wanted to ask you about that. Because are those going to be amendments if they're passed to the bill? Or is it going to be a new bill entirely on its own?

HENRY: It's going to be an entirely new piece of legislation. This has already gone through, now been signed into law by the president. There has been talk by Republican leaders on the Hill that they will attach the Sensenbrenner provisions to the first must pass, if you must pass legislation.

One scenario being float side if there's a supplemental emergency appropriations bill for more money to go to the war in Iraq, those immigration provisions could be attached since it all falls under the umbrella of the war on terror. But that could be opposed by some people in Congress, but that's one scenario being floated right now, that it will be attached to the Iraq supplemental funding bill -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. CNN's congressional correspondent Ed Henry, thank you for that.

SANCHEZ: So what is this? It's an umbrella organization to make sure that what happened to this country on 9/11 doesn't happen again. But there's certainly a lot more to it.

Let us turn now to Dave Ensor. He's our CNN national security correspondent. And he's joining us to, I suppose, give us an insight on where this goes now, David, because really what we have with all the ceremony and everything we saw this morning, is still an idea that's now become an official piece of paper signed by the president. How does it move into policy that affects American citizens?

DAVID ENSOR, NAT'L. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Perhaps the best we can do is layout what the bill does, what the law does. This new law is designed to implement the 9/11 Commission's recommendations to make the nation safer by reorganizing U.S. intelligence. Now whether it will achieve that goal is a matter of some debate here in Washington. Here is what the bill that just became law does.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), HOUSE SPEAKER: The conference report is adopted.

ENSOR (voice-over): The intelligence reform bill promises major change, creating what could be a powerful new director of National Intelligence. But experts say it raises more questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The real issue is what is the relationship with all the 15 intelligence agencies? Who actually works for him? Where is the National Intelligence Council going to be? Who's going to brief the president every day. and what's the basis for that? These are things that actually have to be worked out.

ENSOR: As it stands now, one man, Porter Goss, wears two hats. He's the CIA director and also the director of Central Intelligence, nominally in charge of all 14 other U.S. intelligence agencies, as well as the National Counter-Terrorism Center, which began operations Monday.

Under the bill, a director of National Intelligence replaces the DCI and is put over the top of a separate CIA director, the Counter- Terrorism Center and the 14 other intelligence agencies.

But the most important change has to do with these two key agencies. The national security agency, the big ear of the U.S. government, the eavesdroppers and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the big eye of the U.S. government that analyzes imagery from spy satellites.

Right now, though the intelligence director has nominal authority, the Pentagon largely controls the budgets and personnel of these two crucial spy agencies. Under the bill, a new intelligence director gains considerably more control, potentially shifting the balance of power in Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not the culmination. It's the beginning and it gives a hopefully entrepreneurial first director of National Intelligence some tools that he might use to try and achieve real reform.

ENSOR: In the bill, Congress failed to reform itself. To address the overlapping web of more than 20 committees overseeing parts of U.S. intelligence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing in this bill that addresses fiefdoms on the Hill. And that is going to be an issue that Congress has to return on?

ENSOR (on camera): You think they punted on it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think avoid -- punt, at least you have contact when you punt. I think they ran away from it.

ENSOR: Senior U.S. intelligence officials and outside analysts all say the key will be who the president picks for intelligence chief. He or she must have credibility, communication skills, plenty of discretion, a thick skin, and of course, the absolute trust of the man in the White House and that is a pretty tall order -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: David, you have a pretty good feel for what these people are thinking, who are going to be affected by this. Would it be safe to say that this will be something welcomed by those in the intelligence community?

ENSOR: I think it would be safe to say that the intelligence community is quite nervous today watching this bill being passed into law. There are so many questions the bill, although it's 600 pages long, doesn't answer about who's really in charge of what.

The question really is going to be who is going to be this new director of National Intelligence? Who are going to get the other key jobs in the intelligence community? Because the law itself doesn't really clearly delineate who's in charge of what. It tries to, but there are just so many issues it doesn't answer that it's really going to be up to the individuals.

If you get a strong NDI that will set the tone, that will mean a strong intelligence service. If there's someone who's not so strong, this may not go well at all.

SANCHEZ: Yes. This is really new ground for a lot of these officials and we'll just have to see how it plays out. And right now, if we were to sit here and try to figure out who this person would be, there are simply too many names on the list, right?

ENSOR: That's right. That's right. I'm afraid so. It's up to the president.

SANCHEZ: David Ensor following these things for us there. We do thank you, David. And certainly we'll be getting back to you -- Betty.

NGUYEN: And as David mentioned, there are just still so many questions still to come on this new intelligence reform bill. And we're going to try to answer some of those with two 9/11 Commissioners. That's coming up.

SANCHEZ: We're also bringing you the very latest on a story that we got just moments ago. It's about the drug Celebrex and the possible that it could lead to heart problems. We're breaking this one down for you. In fact, Elizabeth Cohen is already out here on the set and she's going to be sharing some information on this, as well as what the market is doing as a result of this news.

This is big economic news as well as news on the medical front. We'll break them both down for you right here. Stay with us. We have got a lot more coming your way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: I do want to let you know that trading on Pfizer's stock has been halted today on the heels of a new study that finds there's an increased risk of heart problems with taking the painkiller Celebrex. Our Elizabeth Cohen is on the story and she will join us in just a little bit to talk more about that -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: And back to the top story now. That massive overhaul of the nation's intelligence system is signed into law a short time ago, as you saw, in an elaborate ceremony with the president there, with many members of his cabinet around him. This has come about as a result of a recommendation by the 9/11 Commission.

Does the reform now go far enough? It will actually make any changes? Let's talk to people who know about this. Why? Because we're joined now by two people who served on that commission; former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson and Jamie Gorelick, she's an official with the Justice Department during the Clinton administration.

Jaime, let me begin with you because you saw all of the material that all of us did not see. Share with our audience what you saw that alarmed you. and tell us if you now believe that this new legislation will go a long way toward making sure it doesn't happen again?

JAIME GORELICK, MEMBER, 9/11 COMMISSION: We saw intelligence that really was not adequate to do the job. We think and all of us agree on this, that there needs to be a broad-base of intelligence brought together in a cohesive way that all of the different agencies can use.

SANCHEZ: Give us an example. I mean in fact, here, I was looking through some of my notes. Fourteen people had contact with six of the hijackers and they came to the FBI's attention. Apparently nothing or not enough was done about that. Four of those 14 were the focus of active FBI investigations. I guess we could delude at this point that enough wasn't done about that. How do we make sure these specific cases don't happen again? and how does the new DNI, as we're calling him, the director of National Intelligence, do that?

GORELICK: There are two separate issues. One is the degree of urgency that is brought to bear within an agency, like the FBI. and we saw a great deal of progress in that regard. The other issue, though, is communication among agency. There are 15 different intelligence agencies and this gives them one boss, one person to hold accountable.

SANCHEZ: Governor Thompson, thanks so much for being with us, sir.

JAMES THOMPSON, FMR. ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: Mm-hmm. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Tell us what you think would be the ideal person for this job. And you don't have to give us a name but if you'd like to we'd certainly take it. What kind of person are you looking for? Who should the president be looking for?

THOMPSON: Well, I rarely give unsolicited advice to the president. But as a matter of fact, there were a number of good candidates here today with us. The chairman of our commission, Tom Kean would make an excellent National Intelligence director. As would our Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton or former secretary of the Navy John layman, or Bob Mueller of the FBI. I was looking at Mueller or the stage thinking he could be a DNI director.

There are plenty of talented people who could take this post. Ideally it ought to be someone who's got law enforcement experience, intelligence experience, knows how to work with bureaucracies. Knows to get rival agencies to come together. And is tough enough to go to the president and say these folks aren't doing it right. We need to change.

SANCHEZ: How independent does this person need to be?

THOMPSON: The person obviously reports to the president and is a member of the president's administration. But I think we've got a number of people who fit the bill that can go to the president and be tough. And at the same time make sure that things are working well among the intelligence agencies. It takes a skilled person to balance these things.

But having destroyed the silos that have grown up around the intelligence agencies and having encouraged the share of the intelligence information among agency, someone's got to make sure it doesn't go back to the way it always was.

SANCHEZ: How can we make sure that with this new law what didn't happen in the past will happen now? You know, a lot of Americans were really upset when they heard there was an agent in Phoenix who had given information and somehow it didn't get to Washington. Another agent that had given some information in Minnesota that somehow wasn't filtered through the system. How can you tell the American people, who are watching us right now and watch the president sign this, that this new person in charge or this new administration will do that when we weren't able to do it in the past?

THOMPSON: I can't tell them that because when you have agencies staffed by human beings, human beings can make mistakes. Human beings can overlook things. That's always been true since the beginning of recorded history. It will always be true.

All we can tell the American people is that we've now created a framework. The president signing this legislation, we've now created a framework to lower the odds of it happening again.

GORELICK: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Jamie, go ahead.

GORELICK: This framework has to be filled out by people and practices and policies. So there's yet quite a bit of work to be done. The fact is the structure should bring people together. If you have a National Counter-Terrorism Center where everyone is working together, and you build up trust and they understand what each other's capabilities are, that should help dramatically.

SANCHEZ: Nine-eleven Commissioners Jamie Gorelick and former Governor James Thompson, my thanks to you both for being with us. We appreciate it.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

GORELICK: Our pleasure.

SANCHEZ: All right.

NGUYEN: We also have some big medical news to tell you about today coming up right after this break. It concerns Celebrex and the possible that it can increase your risk of heart problems. Stay with us for that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: His out of the box thinking has captured Wall Street's attention. Even before the recent corporate scandals unfolded, Balaji Krishnamurthy had instituted a compensation program, holding managers accountable to Planar Systems, a world leader in flat panel displays.

After taking over the reins in 1999, he crafted the plan where bonuses are awarded from the bottom up, creating incentives for lower- level employees. Krishnamurthy's management style, combined with the increasing popularity of FTDs, has put Planar on the map.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired December 17, 2004 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR: There you see the senator signing the legislation. Interesting, Senator Lieberman is among those there. Senator Lieberman is one of the co-sponsors of the idea to actually have 9/11 reforms as well as Homeland Security. And he also, that the particular point in time one of the people who is being suggested as a possible DNI, as the president refers to it.
That is the person who would be in charge of the agency. The official name is the director of National Intelligence. That person has not yet been named. We can't underscore that enough and there are certainly plenty of names on the list.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Porter Goss, who you saw up there onstage, is also a name being floated around as a person on a short list for this new National Intelligence director. Of course, we will see how it all shakes out as to who will end up being the person named as new National Intelligence director.

SANCHEZ: We should probably mention that Lieberman had said on a couple of occasions that if given the position he would not accept it. He's not interested in being the DNI in this case.

Let's go over to Suzanne Malveaux. She's been following the story and joins us now live.

Suzanne, pretty much what we expected.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely, Rick. And really this is an important moment for the White House because the president likes to talk about political capital. Well, today he really cashed in on that capital. This was a real tough test for the presidency and it's a very important test after the elections. Whether or not he could actually convince members of his own party to support him in this legislation, to support his second-term agenda, it did not come easy.

This involved the president and the vice president picking up the phone, making phone calls to those who were blocking this legislation. Also talking to the Republican leadership, very interesting as well. You should know it's fair to say the White House has really evolved in its position on approving this legislation.

In a rare move back in September, you may recall President Bush introduced his own legislation, which really assured that the Pentagon would control, have budget control of much of the intelligence community -- that $40 billion figure. Well, the White House has since changed its position on that.

Also very significant was that it was Vice President Cheney's legal council itself that drafted the legislation that would assure members that look, this was power sharing. That the director of National Intelligence would not have too much power, that the Pentagon would still be able to weigh in specifically on giving real time intelligence to those military commanders on the ground at the time that they actually need that. was a big concern that several of those Congressmen had about this particular legislation.

The White House was able to push forward, to push through and this is really seeing the White House portraying this as a big success for the president. The first big post-election success for the White House -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: There was actually a report I was reading. I'm sure you read it yourself being in Washington. It's in "The Washington Post," that seems to indicate that this new administrator really will have a top job in terms of what has been done in Washington in the past. In fact, he's going to be writing the PDB. that report that the president gets every morning, right? How significant is that Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: That's very significant. And one thing that the president initially and has maintained that he wanted to do here was to make sure that this was a position where this individual would report directly to the president, but it would not be a White House position.

The White House wants to make it very clear that they are keeping it separate. The information gathering of intelligence separate from the policymaking, that is something they do not want people to turn to the administration, to this White House, and say that somehow it has influenced the type of information that is going directly to the president.

And that is something that the 9/11 Commission, as you know said it was a big concern; the fact that the administration was not getting the intelligence that it needed. The fact that these intelligence agencies were not really communicating with one another. And if they had been communicating with one another they could have possibly seen the signs, connected the dots and perhaps prevented the 9/11 attacks.

SANCHEZ: Suzanne Malveaux is going to be following things there for us at the White House throughout the day.

We thank you, Suzanne, once again for joining us.

NGUYEN: Now, before passage, the new legislation faced some tough opposition in Congress, especially from key Republicans.

CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry is in our Washington studio.

And Ed, what about some of the issues the opponents of the bill still want to see addressed? ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As Suzanne pointed out, there clearly was a lot of give and take between the president and members of his own party on Capitol Hill over this legislation. It took a Herculean effort by the president in the final days to actually get this through Congress.

And that give and take is not over yet. In fact, there are a lot of conservatives on Capitol Hill who are saying that while we're witnessing a celebration by the White House and the president today and some people in Congress, that this is not necessarily real reform in the eyes of some conservatives.

They feel the job has not been completed. For example Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner, as you know, is still very upset that his tough immigration provision were left out of the final bill. Also, this morning on CNN, former Democratic 9/11 Commission member Tim Roemer pointed out that this is a first step and a lot more needs to be done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM ROEMER (D-IN), MEMBER, 9/11 COMMISSION: I think there are still challenges a get head. We have to go over loose nukes. We have to be sure that Congress does the oversight better. And we have to make sure we spend money in the future based on a risk assessment and intelligence threats, not on pork barrel spending in Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: In fact, Republican Senator John McCain, who supported this final bill, has complained that basically Congress ignored a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, by not reforming congressional oversight of the intelligence community. Instead, this final bill just focuses on restructuring the executive branch.

So you're going to hear a lot more about that next year. And you'll also hear Congressman Sensenbrenner bringing back his immigration provisions in January when the new Congress convenes -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Ed, I wanted to ask you about that. Because are those going to be amendments if they're passed to the bill? Or is it going to be a new bill entirely on its own?

HENRY: It's going to be an entirely new piece of legislation. This has already gone through, now been signed into law by the president. There has been talk by Republican leaders on the Hill that they will attach the Sensenbrenner provisions to the first must pass, if you must pass legislation.

One scenario being float side if there's a supplemental emergency appropriations bill for more money to go to the war in Iraq, those immigration provisions could be attached since it all falls under the umbrella of the war on terror. But that could be opposed by some people in Congress, but that's one scenario being floated right now, that it will be attached to the Iraq supplemental funding bill -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. CNN's congressional correspondent Ed Henry, thank you for that.

SANCHEZ: So what is this? It's an umbrella organization to make sure that what happened to this country on 9/11 doesn't happen again. But there's certainly a lot more to it.

Let us turn now to Dave Ensor. He's our CNN national security correspondent. And he's joining us to, I suppose, give us an insight on where this goes now, David, because really what we have with all the ceremony and everything we saw this morning, is still an idea that's now become an official piece of paper signed by the president. How does it move into policy that affects American citizens?

DAVID ENSOR, NAT'L. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Perhaps the best we can do is layout what the bill does, what the law does. This new law is designed to implement the 9/11 Commission's recommendations to make the nation safer by reorganizing U.S. intelligence. Now whether it will achieve that goal is a matter of some debate here in Washington. Here is what the bill that just became law does.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), HOUSE SPEAKER: The conference report is adopted.

ENSOR (voice-over): The intelligence reform bill promises major change, creating what could be a powerful new director of National Intelligence. But experts say it raises more questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The real issue is what is the relationship with all the 15 intelligence agencies? Who actually works for him? Where is the National Intelligence Council going to be? Who's going to brief the president every day. and what's the basis for that? These are things that actually have to be worked out.

ENSOR: As it stands now, one man, Porter Goss, wears two hats. He's the CIA director and also the director of Central Intelligence, nominally in charge of all 14 other U.S. intelligence agencies, as well as the National Counter-Terrorism Center, which began operations Monday.

Under the bill, a director of National Intelligence replaces the DCI and is put over the top of a separate CIA director, the Counter- Terrorism Center and the 14 other intelligence agencies.

But the most important change has to do with these two key agencies. The national security agency, the big ear of the U.S. government, the eavesdroppers and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the big eye of the U.S. government that analyzes imagery from spy satellites.

Right now, though the intelligence director has nominal authority, the Pentagon largely controls the budgets and personnel of these two crucial spy agencies. Under the bill, a new intelligence director gains considerably more control, potentially shifting the balance of power in Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not the culmination. It's the beginning and it gives a hopefully entrepreneurial first director of National Intelligence some tools that he might use to try and achieve real reform.

ENSOR: In the bill, Congress failed to reform itself. To address the overlapping web of more than 20 committees overseeing parts of U.S. intelligence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing in this bill that addresses fiefdoms on the Hill. And that is going to be an issue that Congress has to return on?

ENSOR (on camera): You think they punted on it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think avoid -- punt, at least you have contact when you punt. I think they ran away from it.

ENSOR: Senior U.S. intelligence officials and outside analysts all say the key will be who the president picks for intelligence chief. He or she must have credibility, communication skills, plenty of discretion, a thick skin, and of course, the absolute trust of the man in the White House and that is a pretty tall order -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: David, you have a pretty good feel for what these people are thinking, who are going to be affected by this. Would it be safe to say that this will be something welcomed by those in the intelligence community?

ENSOR: I think it would be safe to say that the intelligence community is quite nervous today watching this bill being passed into law. There are so many questions the bill, although it's 600 pages long, doesn't answer about who's really in charge of what.

The question really is going to be who is going to be this new director of National Intelligence? Who are going to get the other key jobs in the intelligence community? Because the law itself doesn't really clearly delineate who's in charge of what. It tries to, but there are just so many issues it doesn't answer that it's really going to be up to the individuals.

If you get a strong NDI that will set the tone, that will mean a strong intelligence service. If there's someone who's not so strong, this may not go well at all.

SANCHEZ: Yes. This is really new ground for a lot of these officials and we'll just have to see how it plays out. And right now, if we were to sit here and try to figure out who this person would be, there are simply too many names on the list, right?

ENSOR: That's right. That's right. I'm afraid so. It's up to the president.

SANCHEZ: David Ensor following these things for us there. We do thank you, David. And certainly we'll be getting back to you -- Betty.

NGUYEN: And as David mentioned, there are just still so many questions still to come on this new intelligence reform bill. And we're going to try to answer some of those with two 9/11 Commissioners. That's coming up.

SANCHEZ: We're also bringing you the very latest on a story that we got just moments ago. It's about the drug Celebrex and the possible that it could lead to heart problems. We're breaking this one down for you. In fact, Elizabeth Cohen is already out here on the set and she's going to be sharing some information on this, as well as what the market is doing as a result of this news.

This is big economic news as well as news on the medical front. We'll break them both down for you right here. Stay with us. We have got a lot more coming your way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: I do want to let you know that trading on Pfizer's stock has been halted today on the heels of a new study that finds there's an increased risk of heart problems with taking the painkiller Celebrex. Our Elizabeth Cohen is on the story and she will join us in just a little bit to talk more about that -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: And back to the top story now. That massive overhaul of the nation's intelligence system is signed into law a short time ago, as you saw, in an elaborate ceremony with the president there, with many members of his cabinet around him. This has come about as a result of a recommendation by the 9/11 Commission.

Does the reform now go far enough? It will actually make any changes? Let's talk to people who know about this. Why? Because we're joined now by two people who served on that commission; former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson and Jamie Gorelick, she's an official with the Justice Department during the Clinton administration.

Jaime, let me begin with you because you saw all of the material that all of us did not see. Share with our audience what you saw that alarmed you. and tell us if you now believe that this new legislation will go a long way toward making sure it doesn't happen again?

JAIME GORELICK, MEMBER, 9/11 COMMISSION: We saw intelligence that really was not adequate to do the job. We think and all of us agree on this, that there needs to be a broad-base of intelligence brought together in a cohesive way that all of the different agencies can use.

SANCHEZ: Give us an example. I mean in fact, here, I was looking through some of my notes. Fourteen people had contact with six of the hijackers and they came to the FBI's attention. Apparently nothing or not enough was done about that. Four of those 14 were the focus of active FBI investigations. I guess we could delude at this point that enough wasn't done about that. How do we make sure these specific cases don't happen again? and how does the new DNI, as we're calling him, the director of National Intelligence, do that?

GORELICK: There are two separate issues. One is the degree of urgency that is brought to bear within an agency, like the FBI. and we saw a great deal of progress in that regard. The other issue, though, is communication among agency. There are 15 different intelligence agencies and this gives them one boss, one person to hold accountable.

SANCHEZ: Governor Thompson, thanks so much for being with us, sir.

JAMES THOMPSON, FMR. ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: Mm-hmm. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Tell us what you think would be the ideal person for this job. And you don't have to give us a name but if you'd like to we'd certainly take it. What kind of person are you looking for? Who should the president be looking for?

THOMPSON: Well, I rarely give unsolicited advice to the president. But as a matter of fact, there were a number of good candidates here today with us. The chairman of our commission, Tom Kean would make an excellent National Intelligence director. As would our Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton or former secretary of the Navy John layman, or Bob Mueller of the FBI. I was looking at Mueller or the stage thinking he could be a DNI director.

There are plenty of talented people who could take this post. Ideally it ought to be someone who's got law enforcement experience, intelligence experience, knows how to work with bureaucracies. Knows to get rival agencies to come together. And is tough enough to go to the president and say these folks aren't doing it right. We need to change.

SANCHEZ: How independent does this person need to be?

THOMPSON: The person obviously reports to the president and is a member of the president's administration. But I think we've got a number of people who fit the bill that can go to the president and be tough. And at the same time make sure that things are working well among the intelligence agencies. It takes a skilled person to balance these things.

But having destroyed the silos that have grown up around the intelligence agencies and having encouraged the share of the intelligence information among agency, someone's got to make sure it doesn't go back to the way it always was.

SANCHEZ: How can we make sure that with this new law what didn't happen in the past will happen now? You know, a lot of Americans were really upset when they heard there was an agent in Phoenix who had given information and somehow it didn't get to Washington. Another agent that had given some information in Minnesota that somehow wasn't filtered through the system. How can you tell the American people, who are watching us right now and watch the president sign this, that this new person in charge or this new administration will do that when we weren't able to do it in the past?

THOMPSON: I can't tell them that because when you have agencies staffed by human beings, human beings can make mistakes. Human beings can overlook things. That's always been true since the beginning of recorded history. It will always be true.

All we can tell the American people is that we've now created a framework. The president signing this legislation, we've now created a framework to lower the odds of it happening again.

GORELICK: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Jamie, go ahead.

GORELICK: This framework has to be filled out by people and practices and policies. So there's yet quite a bit of work to be done. The fact is the structure should bring people together. If you have a National Counter-Terrorism Center where everyone is working together, and you build up trust and they understand what each other's capabilities are, that should help dramatically.

SANCHEZ: Nine-eleven Commissioners Jamie Gorelick and former Governor James Thompson, my thanks to you both for being with us. We appreciate it.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

GORELICK: Our pleasure.

SANCHEZ: All right.

NGUYEN: We also have some big medical news to tell you about today coming up right after this break. It concerns Celebrex and the possible that it can increase your risk of heart problems. Stay with us for that.

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