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Key Al Qaeda Suspect Arrested in Pakistan; Iraq Suicide Bombing; Identity Crisis

Aired May 04, 2005 - 11:00   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
President Bush trying to convince small business owners to back his plan to change Social Security. He's meeting with a Latino business group in Washington this hour to discuss the plan.

Private Lynndie England's ex-boyfriend is set to testify at her sentencing hearing today. Private Charles Graner is described as the ringleader of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. England pleaded guilty Monday to mistreating Iraqi detainees at the prison. Graner is also believed to be the father of England's baby.

Philadelphia police say there will be no cover-ups in the investigation of this videotape that appears to show an officer striking a handcuffed suspect. The incident was caught on tape by TV station WCAW. The officer has placed on desk duty during the investigation. The man was charged with traffic violations and released.

Checking the time, just past 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, just past 8:00 on the West. From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We're going to start this hour with the arrest of a major al Qaeda suspect in Pakistan and what it means in the war on terror. Abu Faraj al-Libbi is suspected in the -- suspected to be the mastermind between -- behind two assassination attempts on Pakistan's president. He's also said to be the number three al Qaeda operative in Pakistan.

For more on the details and the significance of this arrest, we have two live reports, national security correspondent David Ensor in Washington, and our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson in London.

David, we'll start with you.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, U.S. officials are calling this arrest highly significant. As you say, they believe he's the number three man in al Qaeda. And he's the operations chief. In a way, the key person for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement to get access to if they want to stop upcoming attacks.

This picture presented in a Pakistani news conference shows him a little worse for wear. He was captured after a shootout, along with others.

President Bush warmly praised the arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Al-Libbi was a top general for bin Laden. He was a major facilitator and a chief planner for the al Qaeda network. His arrest removes a dangerous enemy who is a direct threat to America and for those who loved freedom.

I applaud the Pakistani government for their strong cooperation in the war on terror. I applaud the Pakistani government and President Musharraf for acting on solid intelligence to bring this man to justice. The fight continues. We'll stay on the offensive until al Qaeda is defeated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: Al-Libbi took over from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, shown here after his arrest in March 2003 as the operations chief. U.S. officials believe, therefore, that he may have intelligence about what al Qaeda might be been plotting, including attacks that might have been plotted against the U.S. homeland. So they are really looking forward to asking some questions of this suspect.

Now, this is President Musharraf, who, of course, also -- his government wants to interrogate the man. And he very likely will be charged there. He's believed by Pakistani officials to be the mastermind of two attempted assassination attempts against the Pakistani president.

Now, the capture took place in the northwest territories of Pakistan, up near the Afghan border near Mardan, this town that you see here on this map. It's about 20 miles northeast of Peshawar. There was a shootout, and it lead to his arrest.

U.S. officials are saying that while they are warmly praising Pakistan for its important role in this capture, U.S. intelligence, human intelligence gathered by the United States, played an instrumental role, a key role in the capture of al-Libbi -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. David Ensor, thank you.

More now on the arrest from our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. Nic joining us live from London.

Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Well, we've been hearing since August last year from Pakistani intelligence officials that they believed al-Libbi had taken over from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. And they also believed that he had been sending coded messages to operatives inside the United States, and in Great Britain as well.

They also say that his capture comes at a time when there are divisions appearing within al Qaeda. It appears that Pakistani intelligence officials have been learning, while trying to track down al-Libbi, that al-Libbi, while playing a significant role for al Qaeda inside Pakistan, has not been able to control the Uzbek and Chechen element.

They say -- Pakistani intelligence officials say that there are now divisions inside Pakistan between the Arab elements of al Qaeda and the Uzbek and Chechen elements. But this arrest, Pakistani officials saying that they were -- that the information tip-off led them to -- to his capture.

They didn't announce the capture immediately. They waited several days, they planned, and took -- and perpetrated another raid, several -- several -- about 100 miles away, on the same sort of border area.

That raid capturing another seven individuals. We're told three of those were Afghans, three Pakistanis, and one, his nationality is still being -- is still being investigated.

But as far as Pakistani officials say, they are very proud of this capture, and that they do hope to generate information, more information about who was behind and how the attacks on President Musharraf were carried out.

KAGAN: Nic Robertson giving us some more context there from London. Thank you.

And now to Iraq and the deadliest attack there in more than two months. A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police recruitment center in the northern city of Erbil today. Dozens are dead, scores more wounded. The militant group the Army of Ansar al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility for that attack.

Our Ryan Chilcote joins us live from Baghdad with more on the latest violence.

Hello.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn.

Well, the group Ansar al-Sunnah, in that same Internet message where it claimed responsibility, said that this is effectively payback for the Kurds for their relationship with the U.S. military. This attack took place earlier this morning in the northern city of Erbil. It is a Kurdish city.

About 300 mostly young, mostly unemployed Iraqis had gathered in front of this police recruitment center. That's when this suicide bomber somehow made its way -- made his way through the layers of security, either got into the line where these would-be police recruits were standing, or next to it and blew himself up. The governor of the Erbil province is telling us that at least 47 people were killed in that attack, at least 100 wounded. Many of them very severely -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Ryan Chilcote. Thank you.

Iraqi security forces say they have captured a nephew of Saddam Hussein in a raid north of Tikrit. Aymen Sab'awi is described as an active supporter of the insurgency. Iraqi officials say he provided money, weapons and explosives to terrorist groups. Sab'awi is the son of Saddam Hussein's half brother.

Australia's foreign minister appeals for the release of an engineer taken hostage in Iraq. Alexander Downer made the appeal in an interview on the Arab language network Al-Jazeera. He says Douglas Woods suffers from a serious heart condition and wants to be able to see his family again.

Wood is an Australian citizen who is married to an American and lives in California. Australian authorities say they don't know where Wood is being held.

A report today said Army officials new within days that former NFL player Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Iraq. But they waited weeks before telling his family and the public.

"The Washington Post" says soldiers on the scene were immediately sure that Tillman's death was fratricide. The paper says initially officers reported he was killed by enemy fire. Tillman turned down a multimillion-dollar football contract to join the Army Rangers after the September 11 attacks.

On to Capitol Hill now. Congress is taking a look this morning at the growing threat of identity theft. The House Financial Services Committee is looking for solutions today from several witnesses from the financial sector.

The government estimates that 27 million Americans have been identity theft victims since the year 2000. Just this week, CNN's parent company, Time Warner, revealed that data on 600,000 current or former employees may have been compromised.

So what do you do if you're a victim? Well, first of all, don't panic. CNN's Chris Huntington joins us from New York with a few tips.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, the fact is, if any of you out there -- and that pretty much means all of us -- have any kind of electronic transactions in your life, credit cards, bank accounts, or anything, that means your information basically is out there in the electronosphere and is potentially, potentially vulnerable to being compromised.

Here are some things you can do unfortunately after the fact. These are not so much preventative measures, as they are at least measures to mitigate what damage could potentially happen. The most sort of alarming thing you can do is to put out what's called a fraud alert. And this is basically calling up the major credit monitoring services, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and you can find their 800 numbers online, or, frankly, just call up 800 directory.

Putting out a fraud alert, basically, is a huge red flag to anybody looking at your credit status that says there may have been a breach in security. The one big warning on this is, do not do this or really consider doing this -- consider not doing this, if you are about to get a mortgage or do some other major financial transaction, because what this will do is signal to any bank or credit agency that there's a problem with your account. So if you feel you've got yourself stable and you can handle having a red alert on your program for awhile, this is OK to go.

Now, an easier way to go for a longer term period, but does cost some money, is what's called credit monitoring. Now, for instance, here at Time Warner, with the recent compromise and the loss of some computer backup tapes, the company is going to make available one year credit monitoring for Time Warner -- current Time Warner employees and some of the other folks who have had their data lost.

So look into what your company could provide. Immediately, of course, tell any folks that are attached to your accounts, your dependents, your beneficiaries, anybody else who has numbers and addresses, and particularly Social Security numbers attached to your accounts.

You might want to consider going around and changing some of the pins and even account numbers of your various accounts and so forth. And also, what is becoming popular now is try to insist with any account that you open or your employer to use an identification number other than your Social Security number.

Your Social Security number now, as we know, is -- that's sort of the mother of all I.D. numbers. If you can take steps to keep that from getting out, you've gone a long way in probably foiling an identity thief -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, and it seems like almost every day we're hearing something about a company that loses something or a compromise. So what is the federal government looking at doing here?

HUNTINGTON: Right now, I mean, for instance, this -- this hearing that' going on, on Capitol Hill right now, essentially just trying to get a handle on the problem. And really what is frightening is that, because of the massive volume of electronic data that is flying all around there on all of us, the problem is huge. And it's really tricky in how to, in a sense, shut the barn door now that that all of this stuff is already out and running around.

Here's just a brief tally of some of the major data breaches in the last -- really just this year. The biggest one so far this year, Bank of America, and there's a representative from Bank of America at that hearing right now. The data on more than a million -- we're told 1.2 million credit card holders from Bank of America, and these happen to be federal employees. Again, a box of backup tapes lost on or about February 25.

The Time Warner situation, very similar, a box of backup data tapes lost on March 22.

Ameritrade, also, lost box of backup takes.

Now, you get down into ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, those customers there, that was the result of somebody hacking into the systems of ChoicePoint and LexisNexis. So the sense there is that that was actually thievery at work. The other cases may just have been human error and lost data -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Thank you. Chris Huntington in New York City.

A child star prepares to take the stand in the Michael Jackson trial. What he plans to stay trying to shadow the prosecution case. The report from Santa Maria, California, and a discussion straight ahead.

In New York, a close call at a gas station all because of an absentminded motorist. We'll explain.

And later, an amazing medical turn. An in-depth look at the Buffalo firefighter who suddenly started talking 10 years after suffering a severe brain injury.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: And this just into CNN. We're getting word that Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin has turned himself in to the FBI. He did that today. He's being charged with one count of illegally transmitting defense information to non-government persons.

Now, this stems from an investigation where government officials alleged that Franklin passed along classified information to the American-Israeli Public affairs Committee. He has been at the center of a lengthy FBI and Justice Department investigation into possible spying involving Israel and several officials of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee.

So, once again, Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin turning himself in to the FBI earlier today.

Other legal news now.

Michael Jackson's defense could open today. If it does, look for lawyers -- his lawyers to lead off with a blockbuster lineup. Among the first to testify, former child actor Macaulay Culkin. Now prosecutors are trying to close out their presentation.

Here now, correspondent Rusty Dornin from Santa Maria, California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Up on the witness stand again this morning, and expected to be the prosecution's final witness, Rudy Provencio. He was involved in a business venture with Michael Jackson and Jackson's close adviser, Mark Shaffle (ph).

Prosecutors laid the groundwork for his testimony yesterday, where Provencio said he overheard a number of phone calls between Jackson and Shaffle (ph) on a speaker phone in Shaffle's (ph) office. Now, it's likely that we could here from Provencio some kind of link where Jackson -- he hears Jackson directly linked to the conspiracy to hold the family hostage.

That is something that the prosecution has not been able to bring forward so far. And that would definitely be a bombshell in this case.

When the defense brings forward their case, a source tells CNN at least three young men who were boys in the early '90s that the prosecution claims were molested are expected to come forward and testify and debunk the prosecution's claim that they were molested. One of those, Macaulay Culkin, the actor who was a child during the early '90s, is expected to come forward and testify sometime next week.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Santa Maria, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And we're getting word that Michael Jackson just arriving at the courthouse now in Santa Maria, California. We'll show you those live pictures as they become available, which happens to be right now, and get some more context in this case.

Let's bring in Kendall Coffey in Miami, former U.S. attorney, and helps us from time to time looking at the Jackson trial and other legal matters.

Kendall, good morning.

KENDALL COFFEY, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: Hey. Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Do you think the prosecution proved its case?

COFFEY: I think they've got enough to convict. They have done plenty of stumbling and bumbling in this thing, with a cast of characters filled with (INAUDIBLE) and heavy baggage. But they've also scored some real points with respect to at least some past accusers claiming that molestation occurred by Michael Jackson, and they are witnesses without a motive to lie.

And that's been the big problem so far with a lot of the prosecution witnesses. All kinds of reasons to basically be gold- digging in one fashion or another at Michael Jackson's defense. The defense is going to need to put a case together, and it's got to be a good one to avoid prison time for Michael Jackson.

KAGAN: I want to get to the defense in just a minute. But it seems like listening in, there's two cases here. One's the conspiracy, which seems a little bit less strong, and the other is the child molestation charges.

COFFEY: And, you know, one of the big mistakes the prosecution has made is investing themselves so heavily in this conspiracy theory, Daryn. Because it is pretty dog-gone weak.

The basic idea that this family was held hostage in order to extract from them some kind of "Michael Jackson is wonderful" video, even though I think it's clear that the family had plenty of access to call for help if they wanted to -- in fact, the accuser's mom apparently even went to spas during that period to get some hair waxing done. So there are too many problems to make conspiracy theory, conviction theory for Michael Jackson.

Molestation case, different matter. Much closer call.

KAGAN: Hey, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. Don't put us on the stand for that, OK?

COFFEY: Never.

KAGAN: OK. Now let's get to the defense. What do they need to do stepping right up?

COFFEY: Well, I think they need to do two things. One is, if they've got Macaulay Culkin, talk about celebrity fire power. If those kind of witnesses are going to come forward and say it never happened, that's huge for the defense, because...

KAGAN: OK. But, Kendall, this is what I don't understand. You can get 10,000 people come and say "He didn't molest me." But what does that have to do with the people he's alleged to have molested? Just because he didn't molest one boy doesn't mean he didn't molest the other.

COFFEY: The giant C factor in every case is credibility. And the prosecution put a lot on past accusers.

So if they say Macaulay Culkin was a victim -- and it was done very, very dramatically. The chef, former chef who said he saw Macaulay Culkin being fondled, said he almost dropped his French fries. Well, Macaulay Culkin gets on and says, hey, there weren't any French fries to be dropping, it never happened. That's huge.

The big question remains, there were definitely some elements of credibility from the accuser himself. He was not totally dismantled and destroyed. And it remains to be seen whether or not at some point Michael Jackson or somebody has got to get on the stand to explain, if this wasn't child molestation, what on earth was going on with all this weird stuff at Neverland?

KAGAN: Well, you said earlier that you would put Michael Jackson on the stand if you were the defense attorney. Are you standing by that?

COFFEY: I -- it's a joke (ph) ball, because he is awfully strange, could be his own worst witness. But somebody has to put his story across.

And if you can get Macaulay Culkin to say this is the kind of person Michael Jackson was, really innocent, if he can do it through surrogates, he can avoid what he certainly doesn't want to do, which is taking the stand himself. If not, then Michael Jackson may be stepping up for the biggest performance of a lifetime.

KAGAN: All right. We'll be watching from Santa Maria. Kendall Coffey, thank you.

COFFEY: Hey, thanks, Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. An elephant is in the news just ahead. A little elephant falls into an abandoned well. That must have been a pretty big well. What villagers did to rescue the little girl.

Plus, another first lady gets the attention of the press. This time, it is no joking matter this time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: When CNN LIVE TODAY returns, an absent-minded motorist in New York causes a potentially explosive situation at a gas station. We'll tell you whose quick thinking saved the day.

And what an incredible story. A firefighter seriously injured on the job almost 10 years ago speaks again. We'll talk to an expert on traumatic brain injuries to find out how this could happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired May 4, 2005 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
President Bush trying to convince small business owners to back his plan to change Social Security. He's meeting with a Latino business group in Washington this hour to discuss the plan.

Private Lynndie England's ex-boyfriend is set to testify at her sentencing hearing today. Private Charles Graner is described as the ringleader of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. England pleaded guilty Monday to mistreating Iraqi detainees at the prison. Graner is also believed to be the father of England's baby.

Philadelphia police say there will be no cover-ups in the investigation of this videotape that appears to show an officer striking a handcuffed suspect. The incident was caught on tape by TV station WCAW. The officer has placed on desk duty during the investigation. The man was charged with traffic violations and released.

Checking the time, just past 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, just past 8:00 on the West. From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We're going to start this hour with the arrest of a major al Qaeda suspect in Pakistan and what it means in the war on terror. Abu Faraj al-Libbi is suspected in the -- suspected to be the mastermind between -- behind two assassination attempts on Pakistan's president. He's also said to be the number three al Qaeda operative in Pakistan.

For more on the details and the significance of this arrest, we have two live reports, national security correspondent David Ensor in Washington, and our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson in London.

David, we'll start with you.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, U.S. officials are calling this arrest highly significant. As you say, they believe he's the number three man in al Qaeda. And he's the operations chief. In a way, the key person for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement to get access to if they want to stop upcoming attacks.

This picture presented in a Pakistani news conference shows him a little worse for wear. He was captured after a shootout, along with others.

President Bush warmly praised the arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Al-Libbi was a top general for bin Laden. He was a major facilitator and a chief planner for the al Qaeda network. His arrest removes a dangerous enemy who is a direct threat to America and for those who loved freedom.

I applaud the Pakistani government for their strong cooperation in the war on terror. I applaud the Pakistani government and President Musharraf for acting on solid intelligence to bring this man to justice. The fight continues. We'll stay on the offensive until al Qaeda is defeated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: Al-Libbi took over from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, shown here after his arrest in March 2003 as the operations chief. U.S. officials believe, therefore, that he may have intelligence about what al Qaeda might be been plotting, including attacks that might have been plotted against the U.S. homeland. So they are really looking forward to asking some questions of this suspect.

Now, this is President Musharraf, who, of course, also -- his government wants to interrogate the man. And he very likely will be charged there. He's believed by Pakistani officials to be the mastermind of two attempted assassination attempts against the Pakistani president.

Now, the capture took place in the northwest territories of Pakistan, up near the Afghan border near Mardan, this town that you see here on this map. It's about 20 miles northeast of Peshawar. There was a shootout, and it lead to his arrest.

U.S. officials are saying that while they are warmly praising Pakistan for its important role in this capture, U.S. intelligence, human intelligence gathered by the United States, played an instrumental role, a key role in the capture of al-Libbi -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. David Ensor, thank you.

More now on the arrest from our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. Nic joining us live from London.

Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Well, we've been hearing since August last year from Pakistani intelligence officials that they believed al-Libbi had taken over from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. And they also believed that he had been sending coded messages to operatives inside the United States, and in Great Britain as well.

They also say that his capture comes at a time when there are divisions appearing within al Qaeda. It appears that Pakistani intelligence officials have been learning, while trying to track down al-Libbi, that al-Libbi, while playing a significant role for al Qaeda inside Pakistan, has not been able to control the Uzbek and Chechen element.

They say -- Pakistani intelligence officials say that there are now divisions inside Pakistan between the Arab elements of al Qaeda and the Uzbek and Chechen elements. But this arrest, Pakistani officials saying that they were -- that the information tip-off led them to -- to his capture.

They didn't announce the capture immediately. They waited several days, they planned, and took -- and perpetrated another raid, several -- several -- about 100 miles away, on the same sort of border area.

That raid capturing another seven individuals. We're told three of those were Afghans, three Pakistanis, and one, his nationality is still being -- is still being investigated.

But as far as Pakistani officials say, they are very proud of this capture, and that they do hope to generate information, more information about who was behind and how the attacks on President Musharraf were carried out.

KAGAN: Nic Robertson giving us some more context there from London. Thank you.

And now to Iraq and the deadliest attack there in more than two months. A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police recruitment center in the northern city of Erbil today. Dozens are dead, scores more wounded. The militant group the Army of Ansar al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility for that attack.

Our Ryan Chilcote joins us live from Baghdad with more on the latest violence.

Hello.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn.

Well, the group Ansar al-Sunnah, in that same Internet message where it claimed responsibility, said that this is effectively payback for the Kurds for their relationship with the U.S. military. This attack took place earlier this morning in the northern city of Erbil. It is a Kurdish city.

About 300 mostly young, mostly unemployed Iraqis had gathered in front of this police recruitment center. That's when this suicide bomber somehow made its way -- made his way through the layers of security, either got into the line where these would-be police recruits were standing, or next to it and blew himself up. The governor of the Erbil province is telling us that at least 47 people were killed in that attack, at least 100 wounded. Many of them very severely -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Ryan Chilcote. Thank you.

Iraqi security forces say they have captured a nephew of Saddam Hussein in a raid north of Tikrit. Aymen Sab'awi is described as an active supporter of the insurgency. Iraqi officials say he provided money, weapons and explosives to terrorist groups. Sab'awi is the son of Saddam Hussein's half brother.

Australia's foreign minister appeals for the release of an engineer taken hostage in Iraq. Alexander Downer made the appeal in an interview on the Arab language network Al-Jazeera. He says Douglas Woods suffers from a serious heart condition and wants to be able to see his family again.

Wood is an Australian citizen who is married to an American and lives in California. Australian authorities say they don't know where Wood is being held.

A report today said Army officials new within days that former NFL player Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Iraq. But they waited weeks before telling his family and the public.

"The Washington Post" says soldiers on the scene were immediately sure that Tillman's death was fratricide. The paper says initially officers reported he was killed by enemy fire. Tillman turned down a multimillion-dollar football contract to join the Army Rangers after the September 11 attacks.

On to Capitol Hill now. Congress is taking a look this morning at the growing threat of identity theft. The House Financial Services Committee is looking for solutions today from several witnesses from the financial sector.

The government estimates that 27 million Americans have been identity theft victims since the year 2000. Just this week, CNN's parent company, Time Warner, revealed that data on 600,000 current or former employees may have been compromised.

So what do you do if you're a victim? Well, first of all, don't panic. CNN's Chris Huntington joins us from New York with a few tips.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, the fact is, if any of you out there -- and that pretty much means all of us -- have any kind of electronic transactions in your life, credit cards, bank accounts, or anything, that means your information basically is out there in the electronosphere and is potentially, potentially vulnerable to being compromised.

Here are some things you can do unfortunately after the fact. These are not so much preventative measures, as they are at least measures to mitigate what damage could potentially happen. The most sort of alarming thing you can do is to put out what's called a fraud alert. And this is basically calling up the major credit monitoring services, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and you can find their 800 numbers online, or, frankly, just call up 800 directory.

Putting out a fraud alert, basically, is a huge red flag to anybody looking at your credit status that says there may have been a breach in security. The one big warning on this is, do not do this or really consider doing this -- consider not doing this, if you are about to get a mortgage or do some other major financial transaction, because what this will do is signal to any bank or credit agency that there's a problem with your account. So if you feel you've got yourself stable and you can handle having a red alert on your program for awhile, this is OK to go.

Now, an easier way to go for a longer term period, but does cost some money, is what's called credit monitoring. Now, for instance, here at Time Warner, with the recent compromise and the loss of some computer backup tapes, the company is going to make available one year credit monitoring for Time Warner -- current Time Warner employees and some of the other folks who have had their data lost.

So look into what your company could provide. Immediately, of course, tell any folks that are attached to your accounts, your dependents, your beneficiaries, anybody else who has numbers and addresses, and particularly Social Security numbers attached to your accounts.

You might want to consider going around and changing some of the pins and even account numbers of your various accounts and so forth. And also, what is becoming popular now is try to insist with any account that you open or your employer to use an identification number other than your Social Security number.

Your Social Security number now, as we know, is -- that's sort of the mother of all I.D. numbers. If you can take steps to keep that from getting out, you've gone a long way in probably foiling an identity thief -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, and it seems like almost every day we're hearing something about a company that loses something or a compromise. So what is the federal government looking at doing here?

HUNTINGTON: Right now, I mean, for instance, this -- this hearing that' going on, on Capitol Hill right now, essentially just trying to get a handle on the problem. And really what is frightening is that, because of the massive volume of electronic data that is flying all around there on all of us, the problem is huge. And it's really tricky in how to, in a sense, shut the barn door now that that all of this stuff is already out and running around.

Here's just a brief tally of some of the major data breaches in the last -- really just this year. The biggest one so far this year, Bank of America, and there's a representative from Bank of America at that hearing right now. The data on more than a million -- we're told 1.2 million credit card holders from Bank of America, and these happen to be federal employees. Again, a box of backup tapes lost on or about February 25.

The Time Warner situation, very similar, a box of backup data tapes lost on March 22.

Ameritrade, also, lost box of backup takes.

Now, you get down into ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, those customers there, that was the result of somebody hacking into the systems of ChoicePoint and LexisNexis. So the sense there is that that was actually thievery at work. The other cases may just have been human error and lost data -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Thank you. Chris Huntington in New York City.

A child star prepares to take the stand in the Michael Jackson trial. What he plans to stay trying to shadow the prosecution case. The report from Santa Maria, California, and a discussion straight ahead.

In New York, a close call at a gas station all because of an absentminded motorist. We'll explain.

And later, an amazing medical turn. An in-depth look at the Buffalo firefighter who suddenly started talking 10 years after suffering a severe brain injury.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: And this just into CNN. We're getting word that Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin has turned himself in to the FBI. He did that today. He's being charged with one count of illegally transmitting defense information to non-government persons.

Now, this stems from an investigation where government officials alleged that Franklin passed along classified information to the American-Israeli Public affairs Committee. He has been at the center of a lengthy FBI and Justice Department investigation into possible spying involving Israel and several officials of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee.

So, once again, Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin turning himself in to the FBI earlier today.

Other legal news now.

Michael Jackson's defense could open today. If it does, look for lawyers -- his lawyers to lead off with a blockbuster lineup. Among the first to testify, former child actor Macaulay Culkin. Now prosecutors are trying to close out their presentation.

Here now, correspondent Rusty Dornin from Santa Maria, California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Up on the witness stand again this morning, and expected to be the prosecution's final witness, Rudy Provencio. He was involved in a business venture with Michael Jackson and Jackson's close adviser, Mark Shaffle (ph).

Prosecutors laid the groundwork for his testimony yesterday, where Provencio said he overheard a number of phone calls between Jackson and Shaffle (ph) on a speaker phone in Shaffle's (ph) office. Now, it's likely that we could here from Provencio some kind of link where Jackson -- he hears Jackson directly linked to the conspiracy to hold the family hostage.

That is something that the prosecution has not been able to bring forward so far. And that would definitely be a bombshell in this case.

When the defense brings forward their case, a source tells CNN at least three young men who were boys in the early '90s that the prosecution claims were molested are expected to come forward and testify and debunk the prosecution's claim that they were molested. One of those, Macaulay Culkin, the actor who was a child during the early '90s, is expected to come forward and testify sometime next week.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Santa Maria, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And we're getting word that Michael Jackson just arriving at the courthouse now in Santa Maria, California. We'll show you those live pictures as they become available, which happens to be right now, and get some more context in this case.

Let's bring in Kendall Coffey in Miami, former U.S. attorney, and helps us from time to time looking at the Jackson trial and other legal matters.

Kendall, good morning.

KENDALL COFFEY, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: Hey. Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Do you think the prosecution proved its case?

COFFEY: I think they've got enough to convict. They have done plenty of stumbling and bumbling in this thing, with a cast of characters filled with (INAUDIBLE) and heavy baggage. But they've also scored some real points with respect to at least some past accusers claiming that molestation occurred by Michael Jackson, and they are witnesses without a motive to lie.

And that's been the big problem so far with a lot of the prosecution witnesses. All kinds of reasons to basically be gold- digging in one fashion or another at Michael Jackson's defense. The defense is going to need to put a case together, and it's got to be a good one to avoid prison time for Michael Jackson.

KAGAN: I want to get to the defense in just a minute. But it seems like listening in, there's two cases here. One's the conspiracy, which seems a little bit less strong, and the other is the child molestation charges.

COFFEY: And, you know, one of the big mistakes the prosecution has made is investing themselves so heavily in this conspiracy theory, Daryn. Because it is pretty dog-gone weak.

The basic idea that this family was held hostage in order to extract from them some kind of "Michael Jackson is wonderful" video, even though I think it's clear that the family had plenty of access to call for help if they wanted to -- in fact, the accuser's mom apparently even went to spas during that period to get some hair waxing done. So there are too many problems to make conspiracy theory, conviction theory for Michael Jackson.

Molestation case, different matter. Much closer call.

KAGAN: Hey, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. Don't put us on the stand for that, OK?

COFFEY: Never.

KAGAN: OK. Now let's get to the defense. What do they need to do stepping right up?

COFFEY: Well, I think they need to do two things. One is, if they've got Macaulay Culkin, talk about celebrity fire power. If those kind of witnesses are going to come forward and say it never happened, that's huge for the defense, because...

KAGAN: OK. But, Kendall, this is what I don't understand. You can get 10,000 people come and say "He didn't molest me." But what does that have to do with the people he's alleged to have molested? Just because he didn't molest one boy doesn't mean he didn't molest the other.

COFFEY: The giant C factor in every case is credibility. And the prosecution put a lot on past accusers.

So if they say Macaulay Culkin was a victim -- and it was done very, very dramatically. The chef, former chef who said he saw Macaulay Culkin being fondled, said he almost dropped his French fries. Well, Macaulay Culkin gets on and says, hey, there weren't any French fries to be dropping, it never happened. That's huge.

The big question remains, there were definitely some elements of credibility from the accuser himself. He was not totally dismantled and destroyed. And it remains to be seen whether or not at some point Michael Jackson or somebody has got to get on the stand to explain, if this wasn't child molestation, what on earth was going on with all this weird stuff at Neverland?

KAGAN: Well, you said earlier that you would put Michael Jackson on the stand if you were the defense attorney. Are you standing by that?

COFFEY: I -- it's a joke (ph) ball, because he is awfully strange, could be his own worst witness. But somebody has to put his story across.

And if you can get Macaulay Culkin to say this is the kind of person Michael Jackson was, really innocent, if he can do it through surrogates, he can avoid what he certainly doesn't want to do, which is taking the stand himself. If not, then Michael Jackson may be stepping up for the biggest performance of a lifetime.

KAGAN: All right. We'll be watching from Santa Maria. Kendall Coffey, thank you.

COFFEY: Hey, thanks, Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. An elephant is in the news just ahead. A little elephant falls into an abandoned well. That must have been a pretty big well. What villagers did to rescue the little girl.

Plus, another first lady gets the attention of the press. This time, it is no joking matter this time.

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KAGAN: When CNN LIVE TODAY returns, an absent-minded motorist in New York causes a potentially explosive situation at a gas station. We'll tell you whose quick thinking saved the day.

And what an incredible story. A firefighter seriously injured on the job almost 10 years ago speaks again. We'll talk to an expert on traumatic brain injuries to find out how this could happen.

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