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CNN Live Today

Ford to Cut Up to 30,000 Jobs; Bush Hits the Road Defending NSA Wiretap Program

Aired January 23, 2006 - 10:32   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Ford workers are calling it "Black Monday. " A news conference getting under way now. Here is Bill Ford, Jr., in Detroit, Michigan.
BILL FORD, CHMN., CEO, FORD MOTOR COMPANY: We're reducing our officer ranks 12 percent by the end of the first quarter. By taking the actions we are today, in the long run, we will create far more stable and secure jobs. We all have to change and we all have to sacrifice. But I believe this is the path to winning.

"The Way Forward" contains some strong medicine for our North American business, but it also contains the vision and strategic focus to rebuild the business. With it, we will retake the American roadway. And Mark Fields will explain the details of the plan shortly, but the full story of what's happening at Ford can't be told by cuts. You can't cut your way to success. The full story is about what Ford stands for and what we will no longer stand for.

Ford Motor Company stands for a far-sighted commitment to growth. We stand for a renewed focus on the customer. We stand for boundless innovation in every aspect of our business, from design to safety to fuel efficiency to efficiency on the factory floor. We stand for the distinctive look, feel, quality, toughness, boldness and fun of automobiles that are unmistakably Ford. And we stand for the hardworking men and women of Ford Motor Company and their families. Business plans change as the world changes, but these principles will never change.

Here's what we will not stand for. Incremental change, avoiding risk, thinking short-term, blocking innovation, tying our people's hands, defending procedures that don't make sense and selling what we have instead of what the customer wants. In short, we will not stand for business as usual.

When I took over as CEO at the end of 2001, we were awash in red ink, losing more than 5 billion that year. In 2002, we launched a major effort to revitalize our company. We divested ourselves of several non-core businesses and created the biggest wave of new product launches in our history. Since 2003, we have made money each year. In fact, this morning we announced net income of $2 billion.

Outside of North America, we've made continuous progress. Our automotive operations in Europe, Asia, and South America were all profitable last year. Mazda is enjoying its best performance ever. Jaguar is bringing out fast, beautiful, groundbreaking cars. Aston Martin is expanding. Land Rover's largest ever introduction of new products is winning in the marketplace and Volvo is entering its most aggressive product period ever, with five new models in the next 18 months.

And in parts of the world where is car market is growing sharply, so are we. We're doing especially well in Russia, Turkey and Hungary. In India, we introduced the most -- our most important new product in many years and Ford sales in China, the fastest growing market in the world, were up 46 percent last year.

We're proud of our success around the world, but here on our home turf, we must do more. The plans we announced in 2002 were not wrong. They took us as far as we could go without making dramatic changes. But that's not nearly far enough, especially in light of how much the global marketplace has changed. Oil and steel prices are up. Competition from abroad has intensified.

KAGAN: We've been listening into Bill Ford, Jr., as he announces the plans -- huge cuts for Ford Motor Company. Basically saying that they will not stand for business as usual. He's not just looking to make thousands of job cuts and close many plants across North America. Looking to change the entire structure and culture of the Ford Motor Company.

With more of the specifics about the numbers of people losing their jobs and which plants will be closing, let's go to our Ali Velshi. He is outside there in Dearborn, Michigan, with the latest and with more specific information -- Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, Bill Ford's just inside this building behind me. These cuts are much more severe than were anticipated. We are now talking between 25 and 30,000 jobs between 2006 and 2012, and that is in addition to 4,000 salaried positions in the first quarter of this year. So we're looking at 25 to 30,000, plus 4,000. This is bigger than was expected.

There will be 14 plants shut between now and 2012. Seven of them have been announced today, five of them by name. They are the St. Louis assembly plant, where the Explorer and Mountaineer are built. The Atlanta assembly plant in Hapeville, Georgia, where the Taurus and Sable are built. The Wixom assembly plant in Michigan here, where the Town Car, the Lincoln LS and the Thunderbird are assembled. The Batavia transmission plant in Ohio and the Windsor casting plant, which is just across the river here in Windsor, Canada -- this was a plant that was scheduled to close and because of some contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers, it was kept open.

Two other plants will be closed. They will be determined later this year. Those will be assembly plants. So St. Louis; Atlanta; Wixom, Michigan; Batavia, Ohio; and Windsor, Canada. In addition, the St. Thomas assembly plant, also in Canada, will be reduced to one shift. These are the plants that are going to be closed immediately. There will be seven more plants closed between now and 2012. In totality, we're looking at 25 to 30,000 people.

Ford will be profitable in its automaking division, Bill Ford says by 2008. And they are announcing today a big increase in the number of hybrid cars, the number of models that will be introduced as hybrid cars between now and 2010. So this is the restructuring that Bill Ford has been talking about. They're calling it "The Way Forward." Ford making drastic, drastic moves.

Now, remember, this 30,000 -- add to that the 10,000 in 2005, add to that the 30,000 in 2002. We're talking about 70,000-plus workers that have been laid off by Ford and will be laid off by Ford in the coming few years. This is a last ditch effort to become competitive and make this company work again -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ali Velshi, live in Dearborn, Michigan. Ali, thank you.

(MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY, President Bush hits the road. He is defending his administration's support of the NSA eavesdropping program. You'll hear more about that with our Dana Bash just ahead.

Right now, a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we're taking a live picture right now. This is Washington D.C., Deputy National Intelligence director Mike Hayden. He's talking at the National Press Club right now about the wiretapping program that the NSA conducts and defending that. That's also what President Bush is expected to do later today as he restates his case for the use of wiretaps in the war on terror. The president right now traveling to Kansas State University. That's where he's scheduled to give a lunchtime address.

Our Dana Bash is live in Washington and she has more.

Dana, hello.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, that address that the president is going to give is part of, as you mentioned, the stepped-up campaign that the White House really had in place already to defend this NSA spying program. The talking points are very familiar. That it is limited, that it is legal, they say, and necessary to fight terrorism.

But Bush aides know it's one thing for the president and even his top aides here at the White House to make the argument. It's another thing to hear it if you're the American people, perhaps, from the man who ran the programs. That's why the White House encouraged Michael Hayden, a four-star general, who headed NSA at the time this executive order was put in place. Of course, as you mentioned now, he's the deputy director of national intelligence. The White House encouraged him to appear before the press. He is, as you mentioned, making his arguments as we speak.

But here's a taste of what he's saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MIKE HAYDEN, DEP. NATL. INTELLIGENCE DIR.: You see, NSA had -- NSA has an existential problem. In order to protect American lives and liberties, it has to be two things: powerful in its capabilities and secretive in its methods, and we exist in a political culture that distrusts two things most of all, power and secrecy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now the other thing that the General Hayden said was that it is not just about spying on people who talk to each other in America -- of course, we heard that time and time again --- or even necessarily Americans who are talking just generally to their friends and family abroad. It is, they said, specifically about talking, about or to members of al Qaeda. He said that these are American intelligence professionals the most trained to understand al Qaeda tactics.

Now, Daryn, we've heard Democrats say, well, that's kind of besides the point. Their point, many Democrats, even some Republicans, is there is a system in place, there is a legal system in place; it is called FISA. You have to get warrants through the FISA court. That question was just posed to General Hayden. Why don't you go through the FISA courts, and simply said, look, if FISA worked as well as this program that the president put in place, we would go through FISA. That could perhaps give those on the Hill more ammunition in some of their calls for new legislation to make it -- a piece of legislation to make it perhaps more legal through FISA to have this kind of program in place.

KAGAN: And then when we see some members of the administration pressed about, well, prove to us it is working, how it is working, they say they get kind of stuck in a catch-22, because they're saying it's such a level, it's classified information, and we can't tell you.

BASH: Exactly, and that's really the catch-22 that they've been in since day one, since this program became public, is that they do want to defend this politically, and that's what they're doing, even much more aggressively this week, but they're not going to talk about it in terms of substance, because they do say it's highly classified.

But on the politics side of it, they have made a conclusion here at the White House, and they hope for Republicans strategist going into the next election, that history show this White House that since 9/11, they believe that every argument, every political debate they've engaged in on terrorism, they've won. And that is part of the calculus in going this strong on this issue and really trying to define it, some aides say here, before their critics can for them.

KAGAN: All right, Dana Bash at the White House. Dana, thank you.

Now we will be carrying President Bush's speech live right here on CNN, set to begin at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, 9:30 a.m. Pacific.

White House officials are downplaying the significance of photos that show President Bush with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "Time" and "Washingtonian" magazines report that there are at least six photos of the two, apparently at White House events. A spokeswoman said the president has taken tens of thousands of such pictures.

Abramoff pleaded guilty to corruption charges this month. The president has said he doesn't recall meeting Abramoff.

These days, piracy on the high seas makes for a great movie, but it also makes for some real-life drama. Ahead, U.S. sailors have a run in with pirates off the coast of Africa. How that confrontation played out, when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: You might remember a few months ago, we told you about this cruise ship that pirates attacked off the coast of Somalia. Well, luckily that ship managed to get away. But over the weekend, in those same dangerous waters, the U.S. Navy captured a ship and crew suspected of piracy.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CAPT. MARTY ALLARD, CMDR., NASSAU STRIKE GROUP: I believe their intention, obviously, with piracy. And what we're seeing over here is that they want to take those vessels and then hold them for ransom. It's an international problem and it's going to require an international solution.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KAGAN: Allard suspects the captured crew was involved in a recent attack on a merchant vessel. There were nearly 30 recorded pirate attacks off of Somalia's coast line and that was just last year.

There is trouble on board the ultra luxury liner the Queen Mary II. Some passengers refusing to get off the ship when it docks in Rio De Janeiro on Wednesday. They're upset because the pricey liner developed a mechanical problem and was forced to bypass three Latin American ports of call. The cruise line is offering 50 percent refunds, but it's not enough for some disgruntled passengers. They say the 38-day holiday has been ruined. They want all of their money back. We'll see what happens. We'll be watching on Wednesday.

Let's take another look at other stories making news coast to coast here in the U.S.

Dozens of angry residents squaring off against developers and city officials in Camden, New Jersey, today, over the issue of eminent domain. "The Philadelphia Inquirer" reports that residents claim the city is abusing its powers in a plan to displace residents in the Cramer Hill neighborhood to make way for a new development. In the first phase of the trial, the judge has to determine if, in fact, the neighborhood is blighted.

Michael Schiavo is a married man once again. Family members say he wed his long-time girlfriend in a private ceremony on Saturday. Schiavo's former wife Terri was the brain-damaged Florida woman at the center of the end of life battle. She died in March after Schiavo's fight to remove her feeding tube made its way to the Supreme Court.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Not a happy ending for thousands of Ford Motor Company workers getting the word today that there will be tens of thousands of layoffs, both at the factory level and among the executives. We'll have more on that live from Dearborn, Michigan, in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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