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American Morning
Al Qaeda Computer Expert Remains Key Link In Latest Intelligence
Aired August 04, 2004 - 07:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. New reports on what caused the government to raise the terror threat level in three U.S. cities. What is the second stream of Intel?
A potential prosecution surprise in the Kobe Bryant matter, is another woman ready to testify of aggressive sexual behavior by the NBA superstar?
And Mary Kay Letourneau sent to prison for having sex with a 12- year-old boy -- she is now a free woman on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning. Wednesday morning here. Soledad is out; Heidi Collins is in.
Good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: Looking again at a lot of the stories we've been watching yesterday, following up again today in the terror warnings and some new reports on where that information is coming from.
Barbara Starr is standing by at the Pentagon. We'll talk to her in a moment.
We'll also talk with a former FBI agent about screening employees and whether or not terrorists actually could be working for the companies threatened. We'll get in to that issue in a moment here.
COLLINS: Also, a campaign oddity from Davenport, Iowa. George Bush and John Kerry will campaign within a quarter-mile of each other today. Is it coincidence, or is there something else in play here?
We're going to look into that.
HEMMER: On the grid in Davenport, it's literally two blocks this way...
COLLINS: Right.
HEMMER: ... and two blocks that way.
Also, worries about terrorism so pervasive they're showing up in "90-Second Pop." A bit later looking at the major film director reportedly stopping production, says he's afraid his set could be attacked. True story --we'll get to that today.
COLLINS: True story. We will talk about that. But in the meantime, Jack is here now. Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I don't know, terrorism comes to "90- Second Pop?"
COLLINS: Yes.
CAFFERTY: It's just everywhere, isn't it?
HEMMER: Throughout the world, baby.
CAFFERTY: When it comes to these terror warnings, it's often a lose-lose situation for the government. We're going to talk about how you like your terror warnings or if you even want them at all, coming up in a few minutes.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, thanks for that.
We are learning more today about the intelligence the government used to raise the terror threat level for financial institutions.
Law enforcement sources tell CNN that there are 20 potential targets, not just the five reported earlier. The targets are broken down into three categories, the order of priority depending on how much and how detailed that information is.
Officials here and in Pakistan say the suspected al Qaeda computer expert Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, captured last month, is the key link in this chain of intelligence. But additional sources corroborate his information. Those sources reportedly include recently captured al Qaeda members and detainees.
Barbara Starr following the angle from the Pentagon this morning for us.
Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.
Well question now on the table appears to be, how recent was the information that led the Bush administration to raise the terrorist morning level to orange? This is now the debate in Washington.
Those computer files on the computer of that man seized in Pakistan, there are, indeed indications, of course, that much of that information, the reconnaissance and surveillance of those financial targets in the United States, much of that information was, indeed, old -- some of it dating to before the 9/11 attacks.
But intelligence officials are now saying today that there was corroborating information. In the words of one official, multiple streams of corroborating information, much more recent information that underscored what they saw in those computer files and led them to believe there was a genuine risk of attack.
However, they also say at this point there is nothing, so far, that leads them to understand a date for an attack, in other words, a timeline. Putting all of these pieces of information together, they say that what they see is that al Qaeda possibly had the pieces in place to conduct an attack. But still they do not know when or if it might happen -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Barbara, something else to talk about this morning, too.
We are hearing reports that Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi actually tried to reach out and contact Osama bin Laden. What are you hearing on that?
STARR: Indeed, Heidi. Defense officials say that they have seen, in the words of one official, credible intelligence reports that within the last several weeks, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist operating inside Iraq, made some effort, or at least members of his network did, intermediaries perhaps, to contact Osama bin Laden and discuss the state of the insurgency inside Iraq.
Of course, there's no information at this point that they ever reached Osama bin Laden because nobody exactly has an address for him, but it's something that they are watching carefully.
COLLINS: Barbara Starr, a lot of information this morning. Thanks so much, from the Pentagon today -- Bill?
HEMMER: Heidi, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge defending the timing of new terror warnings in believing that al Qaeda cells are now operating here on U.S. soil. So then, what can companies do to screen out potential terrorist employees?
Former FBI agent, Bill Daly, senior vice president of control risk groups, helping large corporations deal with private security issues with us, now, here in New York.
Good morning to you.
BILL DALY, FORMER FBI AGENT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: You heard what Tom Ridge said. What is the likelihood of companies having already been infiltrated?
DALY: I think there's a fairly good likelihood. Some of the information we are hearing sounds very specific as if someone inside did gather the information, although there's no conclusive proof to that.
We do, however, Bill, know that some domestic terrorist organizations, those groups the FBI has deemed domestic terrorist organizations have put people in companies to gain lists of names, employees, where they live, et cetera. So it's not too far a field from the possibility.
HEMMER: But to be clear though, there's no evidence we have seen that this is happening?
DALY: Exactly, there's no empirical evidence to indicate that.
HEMMER: In the meantime, what are companies doing in terms of changing their own m.o.?
DALY: What we've actually seen since 9/11 is that a lot of companies have really increased their background screening of employees. They're doing a much more thorough job across the board, not just here in New York but around the country.
Now, a lot of this doesn't say that when you do a background check it's going to pop up and say, this person is a terrorist; but there may be some things in someone's background that are inconsistent.
Perhaps not being able to check employment, or maybe Social Security numbers don't lineup, which may be reason for someone not to be hired but, you know, employees may not know whether they were terrorists or not.
HEMMER: You have said, though, a lot of companies are already embarking on giving out gas masks and smoke masks. Where is this happening?
DALY: Yes, it's actually happening really just, you know, blocks around from here in New York and surrounding areas. Some companies, under direction from the CEOs are taking a very, very serious look at security and safety of their employees and have even given people, you know, kits under the desk.
They are velcroed. They have bottles of water, snack bars, space blankets, flashlights and some of them even have masks.
HEMMER: Hang on a second here. You're saying this is happening right now. How widespread is that in New York City?
DALY: It's actually probably within the past year or 18 months growing as far as a trend. And I think what we see is that after 9/11, companies did many, many things.
They put electronic security in place, increased guards. And they're looking to try to refine it, really come up with a smoother program and so, as a result, are looking for increasing ways to have better protection of employees.
HEMMER: How our employees reacting to this?
DALY: Surprisingly with some calm and actually peace of mind, saying that the companies are doing something to look out for my welfare. And a lot of this, Bill, even was tested here in New York in the northeast area in the blackout last year. People use these same kits with water, and blankets and flashlights to make their way down out of some of these buildings in New York.
HEMMER: At what point are we causing alarm where it's not necessary?
DALY: I think there is a middle ground. There is a -- you have to really be centric on this because some of it is kind of issues of the day; and we don't want to get too far a field, you know, put many things in place that really aren't long-term security measures. And so, you do have to take a very prudent approach to this.
HEMMER: Bill Daly, thanks, for being with us today.
DALY: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher who served seven years in prison for a sexual relationship with a sixth grader is now free.
The convicted child rapist was released just hours ago in Washington state. Kimberly Osias is his live from Gig Harbor, Washington now with more on this.
Kimberly, good morning to you.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Heidi. That's exactly right, about 1 a.m., in fact, in a very highly orchestrated move.
They called it love. Prosecutors, however, called it rape. But today, Mary Kay Letourneau is called an ex-convict, free again after seven years in jail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS (voice-over): Vili Fualaau was a sixth grader from a broken home. Mary Kay Letourneau was his teacher, a married mother of 4, a congressman's daughter, who by many accounts defied sensibilities and crossed what many considered sacred boundaries.
GREGG OLSEN, CRIME AUTHOR: So many people see this as a love story and they want to see them together.
I do want to remind people that he was 12 and 13 years old when this thing happened, and his life has been profoundly impacted by what she did.
OSIAS: Pregnant by Fualaau, Mary Kay Letourneau pleaded guilty in August of 1997 to two counts of child rape. She begged a judge to give her a second chance.
MARY KAY LETOURNEAU, IMPRISONED FOR CHILD RAPE: Your honor, I did something that I had no right to do morally or legally. OSIAS: Right after her release following five months in jail, she defied a court order by getting together with Fualaau. The pair were spotted having sex in a van with $6,000 in their possession.
Letourneau landed back in jail pregnant with their second child. Now after spending more than seven years in prison, Letourneau is getting out and starting again.
OLSEN: Beyond a book, beyond a movie, beyond anything like that, she's got to focus on what good she can do for the world, and maybe she'll try something like "Mothers Behind Bars."
OSIAS: Letourneau now has to register as a convicted sex offender. Although there is a restraining order keeping the two apart, Fualaau is 21 now and can go to court to ask a judge to rescind the ban.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS: While she's been incarcerated, Mary Kay Letourneau has been a model prisoner, cleaning the kitchens, working tutoring other inmates. But now that she's out, she can no longer work with children or teach children ever again -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Kimberly, any idea where she is right now?
OSIAS: Well, we were told she was actually brought to a bus station, and that's part of protocol. But we believe that she's going to be staying in the Capital Hill area with friends in Seattle.
COLLINS: All right. Kimberly Osias, thanks so much from Gig Harbor this morning -- Bill?
HEMMER: In political news today, Missouri has become the first state to approve a constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage.
Missouri, like 37 other states, already had a law against same- sex weddings; but a constitutional amendment would head off the kind of court challenge that allows gay marriage in the state of Massachusetts.
Also in yesterday's voting, Missouri became the first state in 10 years to dump its governor from the ticket. Democratic primary voters picked state auditor Claire McCaskill over the governor, Bob Holden, as what they consider now their best shot at holding on to the state House and delivering possibly that state for John Kerry in November.
11 minutes past the hour.
Now to Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center now watching the other news. Daryn, good morning to you.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bill, good morning to you.
Like so many mornings, we began our headlines in Iraq where four Jordanian hostages have been released today in Iraq. One of the hostage's brothers says that the workers are now in Jordan and appear to be in good health.
There are also reports that two Turkish hostages have been freed. That is according to the Arabic language network Al-Jazeera.
And in Mosul, military sources say that a roadside bomb struck a U.S. convoy. No American troops were injured there.
To London now, police arrested 13 people during anti-terror raids. The British won't say if the men captured in Tuesday's sweeps are somehow related to the recent terror alerts here in the states. Police say the investigation leading to the arrests had been under way for some time.
Back here in the U.S., a search for Lori Hacking's body resumes this morning in a landfill in Salt Lake City, Utah. A district attorney says Mark Hacking told a witness he killed his wife while she slept and then tossed her body in to a garbage dumpster. More on that story throughout today's show.
Damage assessment teams are starting work this morning on Hatteras Island after Hurricane Alex flew through North Carolina's Outer Banks on Tuesday. It cut power to thousands and it did flood Hatteras Island's only link to the mainland.
At times, winds around the hurricane's eye hit 100 miles an hour. But it spared the area a direct hit, and it is now heading out to see -- a lot of folks still cleaning up a lot of flooded cars and homes in that area.
Time to check the forecast to see what the Carolina coast gets today as well as the rest of the country. Rob Marciano in for Chad Myers, good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Daryn.
(WEATHER BREAK)
MARCIANO: Back up to you.
HEMMER: Indeed. All right, Rob, thanks for that.
MARCIANO: You bet.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, Halliburton resolves one of its issues with the FEC. What does it mean for its former CEO, Vice President Dick Cheney. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" on that.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, word of a big surprise from the prosecution in the Kobe Bryant matter -- experts say it could be very damaging for the defense.
We'll put that question to Jeff Toobin in a moment.
COLLINS: And a California woman gets a special delivery at her back door -- a look at that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: In the Kobe Bryant case, "Sports Illustrated" magazine is now reporting that prosecutors could subpoena a 22-year-old Florida woman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF BENEDICT, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": After Kobe Bryant was indicted last year, he held that historic press conference where he claimed he was innocent.
That press conference sparked a phone call from this woman in Florida, who notified the district attorney that she had a run in with Bryant months earlier at Shaquille O'Neal's house in Orlando Florida. And she alleged that she had been improperly groped by Bryant at that house.
Obviously, many months have gone by since that report was filed. But it is potentially powerful evidence as rebuttal evidence if the prosecution is able to admit it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: All right. So you have heard Jeff Benedict there, from "Sports Illustrated." If that woman's testimony is admissible in court, how damaging is it to Kobe Bryant's defense?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I heard the interview, and I read the story in "Sports Illustrated" online. It's not exactly clear whether this is really at all comparable to what is -- what he's charged with, rape. I mean, this is a...
COLLINS: We don't know what happened.
TOOBIN: Right. It's a -- she was a waitress at a party at Shaquille O'Neal's house. Something she says happened very briefly, I don't know if it's admissible at all because it may be simply so different from the incident at the heart of the trial that a judge might exclude it.
It might be admissible only as rebuttal evidence if Kobe Bryant takes the stand, or it might be admissible as similar conduct. But it's a long way from a rape even in its worst interpretation.
So, I wouldn't say it's going to turn the trial around by itself.
COLLINS: And also, this woman that we're talking about here isn't exactly willing to come forward. They're talking about a subpoena, so how will that look? How will that play in front of a jury?
TOOBIN: I'm not sure the jury would even know that. The jury doesn't know who is subpoenaed, doesn't know who testifies voluntarily. I do think she -- she did come forward when the press conference happened, so she recognized that this behavior, she thought at least, was consistent with the rape.
But it does sound like it's a long way from a rape.
COLLINS: Could it have any affect on whether or not Kobe Bryant would actually testify in this case, though?
TOOBIN: That's an interesting possibility because it really is the kind of thing that might scare him off the witness stand. It would only come in if he testified. His lawyers might think better to keep him off the stand, keep the whole subject away from the jury.
But, you know, the prosecution has so many problems in this case that we're a long way from deciding whether Kobe Bryant is going to take the witness stand. The real question is whether this trial is even going to start a little more than three weeks from today.
COLLINS: Right. But we do have two chunks of information now to consider. On Monday night, Judge Ruckriegle reluctantly released that 75-page transcript about the accuser's sexual history.
Now we've got this allegation from the 22-year-old woman. What does it means when you combine those two chunks?
TOOBIN: Well I think what's far more significant is the judges ruling a couple of weeks ago based on the transcript, which is admitting evidence of what is apparently, of sexual activity by the accuser in the immediate hours after the incident.
There's one more big ruling still to come, which is evidence of her mental health history. Is that admissible? The judge will decide that before the trial starts in about three weeks.
If he decides that is admissible, I mean this trial really may never happen.
COLLINS: Wow. Very quickly before we let you go, since it's possible that this allegation with the 22-year-old woman happened at Shaquille O'Neal's house, think he might have to testify?
TOOBIN: I mean talk about the Shaq, Kobe feud continuing. If he somehow were a witness and saw something, possibly he might testify.
I think prosecutors would want to avoid that. That would be such a sideshow that...
COLLINS: Yes, kind of...
TOOBIN: I don't think as much as all of us in the media would like to see Kobe -- Shaq -- testify at Kobe's trial, I somehow don't think it's going to wind up happening.
COLLINS: Yes, that would be a detractor.
All right, Jeff Toobin.
TOOBIN: OK. COLLINS: As always, thanks so much -- Bill?
HEMMER: All right, Heidi.
In a moment here on campaign '04, two campaigns, two candidates, one town of 100,000 people -- is it a big enough for both of them? Why a city in Iowa has become the focal point today for 2004 election.
Back in a moment after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. To Jack Cafferty and the "Question of the Day" this morning.
CAFFERTY: We have two. We were just sitting here trying to figure out what the quad cities, Davenport, Rockford, Moline, what's the fourth?
HEMMER: Is it Bettendorf?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's three.
CAFFERTY: No, but there's 4.
COLLINS: I don't know.
SERWER: I know, but you've got three. You said you had two.
CAFFERTY: Well, that's the first question of the day.
SERWER: Geography.
CAFFERTY: And nobody on the staff of AMERICAN MORNING knows the answer to the first one, so that tells you what kind of shape were in.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Despite older intelligence pre-dating September 11th, the government says more recent classified information contributed to the ramping up of security on Sunday.
The government finds itself in kind of a tough spot when it comes to terrorism warnings. If they raise the threat level and nothing happens, than everybody says, oh, they're crying wolf, or they're playing politics. It is an election year.
If they don't say anything, and God forbid something does happen, than they'd be criticized for not giving the public proper warning. So it's a kind of a lose-lose for the government.
The question is this, if you want to be informed about threats or do you trust the government to keep you save?
And you can e-mail us at am@cnn.com.
Do you want to be told or can you depend on those folks...
HEMMER: You know who knows that answer? The folks out in Davenport know.
CAFFERTY: That's one of the quad cities.
COLLINS: What other four cities...
CAFFERTY: Rockford, Davenport and...
COLLINS: Something else.
CAFFERTY: City to be named later.
SERWER: Someone is going to tell us very quickly.
CAFFERTY: We will get it.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, thanks for that.
A decision in the Halliburton accounting scandal now -- Andy Serwer is here with that and he is "Minding Your Business." So, the decision is --
SERWER: A fine. Halliburton, the oil services company, is paying a $7.5 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Heidi. This to settle a long-running investigation in to accounting practices back in 1998, 1999.
So what?
Well, let's remember who was CEO back then. That's right, vice president Dick Cheney.
He was not charged with any wrongdoing and cooperated. The CFO of the company and the controller were charged. Cheney's lawyer says he was not involved.
The overstatement amounts to about $120 million. And I think the vice president is actually a little bit lucky here that the Sarbanes- Oxley legislation did not exist back then because you're not able to say, today, that as a CEO you didn't really understand or know or were responsible for what was going on. So that's some interesting stuff.
Halliburton not completely in the clear though, Heidi. That's because there are other government investigations concerning charges about them over billing the government in Iraq, about them doing business in Iran and also about doing some business in Nigeria that involved bribes.
So this is a cloud that continues to hang over the vice president and that company.
COLLINS: All right, a lot more to learn on that. What about the markets, though? We know about oil prices.
SERWER: Yes.
COLLINS: Going to affect stocks?
SERWER: Yes, it did yesterday and probably will today.
Futures were lower yesterday. We can see a retreat after five days in a row. You can see the market was up very nicely here.
Not only higher oil prices but also consumer spending dropped sharply, we learned that in June, the biggest drop since 9/11. So not a good sign there, as well.
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks so much, I think.
SERWER: You're welcome.
CAFFERTY: We have the answer.
COLLINS: We have the answer? Oh, good.
CAFFERTY: It's Bettendorf.
HEMMER: I said that.
COLLINS: Bettendorf -- you did say that.
CAFFERTY: You did?
SERWER: He gets full credit because he did. The tape will show.
HEMMER: I want geography for $1,000 Alex.
SERWER: I guess so.
COLLINS: Still to come now this morning -- we are half way through the workweek thank goodness. So let's get you over the hump with some "90-Second Pop."
Don't hate her because she's beautiful. Halle Barry says being pretty is anything but easy.
Plus, "Sports Illustrated" goes looking for the girl next door, and you get to watch.
"90-Second Pop" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. 7:30 here in New York. Good morning, again.
How important are the differences between the White House plan to implement the recommendations from the 9/11 commission and what the commission actually asked for.
Ed Henry standing by to tell us about where that debate is headed in a moment. We'll get you down to Capitol Hill.
COLLINS: Also, the crossroads of Iowa are political crossroads today.
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Aired August 4, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. New reports on what caused the government to raise the terror threat level in three U.S. cities. What is the second stream of Intel?
A potential prosecution surprise in the Kobe Bryant matter, is another woman ready to testify of aggressive sexual behavior by the NBA superstar?
And Mary Kay Letourneau sent to prison for having sex with a 12- year-old boy -- she is now a free woman on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning. Wednesday morning here. Soledad is out; Heidi Collins is in.
Good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: Looking again at a lot of the stories we've been watching yesterday, following up again today in the terror warnings and some new reports on where that information is coming from.
Barbara Starr is standing by at the Pentagon. We'll talk to her in a moment.
We'll also talk with a former FBI agent about screening employees and whether or not terrorists actually could be working for the companies threatened. We'll get in to that issue in a moment here.
COLLINS: Also, a campaign oddity from Davenport, Iowa. George Bush and John Kerry will campaign within a quarter-mile of each other today. Is it coincidence, or is there something else in play here?
We're going to look into that.
HEMMER: On the grid in Davenport, it's literally two blocks this way...
COLLINS: Right.
HEMMER: ... and two blocks that way.
Also, worries about terrorism so pervasive they're showing up in "90-Second Pop." A bit later looking at the major film director reportedly stopping production, says he's afraid his set could be attacked. True story --we'll get to that today.
COLLINS: True story. We will talk about that. But in the meantime, Jack is here now. Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I don't know, terrorism comes to "90- Second Pop?"
COLLINS: Yes.
CAFFERTY: It's just everywhere, isn't it?
HEMMER: Throughout the world, baby.
CAFFERTY: When it comes to these terror warnings, it's often a lose-lose situation for the government. We're going to talk about how you like your terror warnings or if you even want them at all, coming up in a few minutes.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, thanks for that.
We are learning more today about the intelligence the government used to raise the terror threat level for financial institutions.
Law enforcement sources tell CNN that there are 20 potential targets, not just the five reported earlier. The targets are broken down into three categories, the order of priority depending on how much and how detailed that information is.
Officials here and in Pakistan say the suspected al Qaeda computer expert Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, captured last month, is the key link in this chain of intelligence. But additional sources corroborate his information. Those sources reportedly include recently captured al Qaeda members and detainees.
Barbara Starr following the angle from the Pentagon this morning for us.
Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.
Well question now on the table appears to be, how recent was the information that led the Bush administration to raise the terrorist morning level to orange? This is now the debate in Washington.
Those computer files on the computer of that man seized in Pakistan, there are, indeed indications, of course, that much of that information, the reconnaissance and surveillance of those financial targets in the United States, much of that information was, indeed, old -- some of it dating to before the 9/11 attacks.
But intelligence officials are now saying today that there was corroborating information. In the words of one official, multiple streams of corroborating information, much more recent information that underscored what they saw in those computer files and led them to believe there was a genuine risk of attack.
However, they also say at this point there is nothing, so far, that leads them to understand a date for an attack, in other words, a timeline. Putting all of these pieces of information together, they say that what they see is that al Qaeda possibly had the pieces in place to conduct an attack. But still they do not know when or if it might happen -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Barbara, something else to talk about this morning, too.
We are hearing reports that Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi actually tried to reach out and contact Osama bin Laden. What are you hearing on that?
STARR: Indeed, Heidi. Defense officials say that they have seen, in the words of one official, credible intelligence reports that within the last several weeks, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist operating inside Iraq, made some effort, or at least members of his network did, intermediaries perhaps, to contact Osama bin Laden and discuss the state of the insurgency inside Iraq.
Of course, there's no information at this point that they ever reached Osama bin Laden because nobody exactly has an address for him, but it's something that they are watching carefully.
COLLINS: Barbara Starr, a lot of information this morning. Thanks so much, from the Pentagon today -- Bill?
HEMMER: Heidi, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge defending the timing of new terror warnings in believing that al Qaeda cells are now operating here on U.S. soil. So then, what can companies do to screen out potential terrorist employees?
Former FBI agent, Bill Daly, senior vice president of control risk groups, helping large corporations deal with private security issues with us, now, here in New York.
Good morning to you.
BILL DALY, FORMER FBI AGENT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: You heard what Tom Ridge said. What is the likelihood of companies having already been infiltrated?
DALY: I think there's a fairly good likelihood. Some of the information we are hearing sounds very specific as if someone inside did gather the information, although there's no conclusive proof to that.
We do, however, Bill, know that some domestic terrorist organizations, those groups the FBI has deemed domestic terrorist organizations have put people in companies to gain lists of names, employees, where they live, et cetera. So it's not too far a field from the possibility.
HEMMER: But to be clear though, there's no evidence we have seen that this is happening?
DALY: Exactly, there's no empirical evidence to indicate that.
HEMMER: In the meantime, what are companies doing in terms of changing their own m.o.?
DALY: What we've actually seen since 9/11 is that a lot of companies have really increased their background screening of employees. They're doing a much more thorough job across the board, not just here in New York but around the country.
Now, a lot of this doesn't say that when you do a background check it's going to pop up and say, this person is a terrorist; but there may be some things in someone's background that are inconsistent.
Perhaps not being able to check employment, or maybe Social Security numbers don't lineup, which may be reason for someone not to be hired but, you know, employees may not know whether they were terrorists or not.
HEMMER: You have said, though, a lot of companies are already embarking on giving out gas masks and smoke masks. Where is this happening?
DALY: Yes, it's actually happening really just, you know, blocks around from here in New York and surrounding areas. Some companies, under direction from the CEOs are taking a very, very serious look at security and safety of their employees and have even given people, you know, kits under the desk.
They are velcroed. They have bottles of water, snack bars, space blankets, flashlights and some of them even have masks.
HEMMER: Hang on a second here. You're saying this is happening right now. How widespread is that in New York City?
DALY: It's actually probably within the past year or 18 months growing as far as a trend. And I think what we see is that after 9/11, companies did many, many things.
They put electronic security in place, increased guards. And they're looking to try to refine it, really come up with a smoother program and so, as a result, are looking for increasing ways to have better protection of employees.
HEMMER: How our employees reacting to this?
DALY: Surprisingly with some calm and actually peace of mind, saying that the companies are doing something to look out for my welfare. And a lot of this, Bill, even was tested here in New York in the northeast area in the blackout last year. People use these same kits with water, and blankets and flashlights to make their way down out of some of these buildings in New York.
HEMMER: At what point are we causing alarm where it's not necessary?
DALY: I think there is a middle ground. There is a -- you have to really be centric on this because some of it is kind of issues of the day; and we don't want to get too far a field, you know, put many things in place that really aren't long-term security measures. And so, you do have to take a very prudent approach to this.
HEMMER: Bill Daly, thanks, for being with us today.
DALY: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher who served seven years in prison for a sexual relationship with a sixth grader is now free.
The convicted child rapist was released just hours ago in Washington state. Kimberly Osias is his live from Gig Harbor, Washington now with more on this.
Kimberly, good morning to you.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Heidi. That's exactly right, about 1 a.m., in fact, in a very highly orchestrated move.
They called it love. Prosecutors, however, called it rape. But today, Mary Kay Letourneau is called an ex-convict, free again after seven years in jail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS (voice-over): Vili Fualaau was a sixth grader from a broken home. Mary Kay Letourneau was his teacher, a married mother of 4, a congressman's daughter, who by many accounts defied sensibilities and crossed what many considered sacred boundaries.
GREGG OLSEN, CRIME AUTHOR: So many people see this as a love story and they want to see them together.
I do want to remind people that he was 12 and 13 years old when this thing happened, and his life has been profoundly impacted by what she did.
OSIAS: Pregnant by Fualaau, Mary Kay Letourneau pleaded guilty in August of 1997 to two counts of child rape. She begged a judge to give her a second chance.
MARY KAY LETOURNEAU, IMPRISONED FOR CHILD RAPE: Your honor, I did something that I had no right to do morally or legally. OSIAS: Right after her release following five months in jail, she defied a court order by getting together with Fualaau. The pair were spotted having sex in a van with $6,000 in their possession.
Letourneau landed back in jail pregnant with their second child. Now after spending more than seven years in prison, Letourneau is getting out and starting again.
OLSEN: Beyond a book, beyond a movie, beyond anything like that, she's got to focus on what good she can do for the world, and maybe she'll try something like "Mothers Behind Bars."
OSIAS: Letourneau now has to register as a convicted sex offender. Although there is a restraining order keeping the two apart, Fualaau is 21 now and can go to court to ask a judge to rescind the ban.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS: While she's been incarcerated, Mary Kay Letourneau has been a model prisoner, cleaning the kitchens, working tutoring other inmates. But now that she's out, she can no longer work with children or teach children ever again -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Kimberly, any idea where she is right now?
OSIAS: Well, we were told she was actually brought to a bus station, and that's part of protocol. But we believe that she's going to be staying in the Capital Hill area with friends in Seattle.
COLLINS: All right. Kimberly Osias, thanks so much from Gig Harbor this morning -- Bill?
HEMMER: In political news today, Missouri has become the first state to approve a constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage.
Missouri, like 37 other states, already had a law against same- sex weddings; but a constitutional amendment would head off the kind of court challenge that allows gay marriage in the state of Massachusetts.
Also in yesterday's voting, Missouri became the first state in 10 years to dump its governor from the ticket. Democratic primary voters picked state auditor Claire McCaskill over the governor, Bob Holden, as what they consider now their best shot at holding on to the state House and delivering possibly that state for John Kerry in November.
11 minutes past the hour.
Now to Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center now watching the other news. Daryn, good morning to you.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bill, good morning to you.
Like so many mornings, we began our headlines in Iraq where four Jordanian hostages have been released today in Iraq. One of the hostage's brothers says that the workers are now in Jordan and appear to be in good health.
There are also reports that two Turkish hostages have been freed. That is according to the Arabic language network Al-Jazeera.
And in Mosul, military sources say that a roadside bomb struck a U.S. convoy. No American troops were injured there.
To London now, police arrested 13 people during anti-terror raids. The British won't say if the men captured in Tuesday's sweeps are somehow related to the recent terror alerts here in the states. Police say the investigation leading to the arrests had been under way for some time.
Back here in the U.S., a search for Lori Hacking's body resumes this morning in a landfill in Salt Lake City, Utah. A district attorney says Mark Hacking told a witness he killed his wife while she slept and then tossed her body in to a garbage dumpster. More on that story throughout today's show.
Damage assessment teams are starting work this morning on Hatteras Island after Hurricane Alex flew through North Carolina's Outer Banks on Tuesday. It cut power to thousands and it did flood Hatteras Island's only link to the mainland.
At times, winds around the hurricane's eye hit 100 miles an hour. But it spared the area a direct hit, and it is now heading out to see -- a lot of folks still cleaning up a lot of flooded cars and homes in that area.
Time to check the forecast to see what the Carolina coast gets today as well as the rest of the country. Rob Marciano in for Chad Myers, good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Daryn.
(WEATHER BREAK)
MARCIANO: Back up to you.
HEMMER: Indeed. All right, Rob, thanks for that.
MARCIANO: You bet.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, Halliburton resolves one of its issues with the FEC. What does it mean for its former CEO, Vice President Dick Cheney. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" on that.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, word of a big surprise from the prosecution in the Kobe Bryant matter -- experts say it could be very damaging for the defense.
We'll put that question to Jeff Toobin in a moment.
COLLINS: And a California woman gets a special delivery at her back door -- a look at that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: In the Kobe Bryant case, "Sports Illustrated" magazine is now reporting that prosecutors could subpoena a 22-year-old Florida woman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF BENEDICT, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": After Kobe Bryant was indicted last year, he held that historic press conference where he claimed he was innocent.
That press conference sparked a phone call from this woman in Florida, who notified the district attorney that she had a run in with Bryant months earlier at Shaquille O'Neal's house in Orlando Florida. And she alleged that she had been improperly groped by Bryant at that house.
Obviously, many months have gone by since that report was filed. But it is potentially powerful evidence as rebuttal evidence if the prosecution is able to admit it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: All right. So you have heard Jeff Benedict there, from "Sports Illustrated." If that woman's testimony is admissible in court, how damaging is it to Kobe Bryant's defense?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I heard the interview, and I read the story in "Sports Illustrated" online. It's not exactly clear whether this is really at all comparable to what is -- what he's charged with, rape. I mean, this is a...
COLLINS: We don't know what happened.
TOOBIN: Right. It's a -- she was a waitress at a party at Shaquille O'Neal's house. Something she says happened very briefly, I don't know if it's admissible at all because it may be simply so different from the incident at the heart of the trial that a judge might exclude it.
It might be admissible only as rebuttal evidence if Kobe Bryant takes the stand, or it might be admissible as similar conduct. But it's a long way from a rape even in its worst interpretation.
So, I wouldn't say it's going to turn the trial around by itself.
COLLINS: And also, this woman that we're talking about here isn't exactly willing to come forward. They're talking about a subpoena, so how will that look? How will that play in front of a jury?
TOOBIN: I'm not sure the jury would even know that. The jury doesn't know who is subpoenaed, doesn't know who testifies voluntarily. I do think she -- she did come forward when the press conference happened, so she recognized that this behavior, she thought at least, was consistent with the rape.
But it does sound like it's a long way from a rape.
COLLINS: Could it have any affect on whether or not Kobe Bryant would actually testify in this case, though?
TOOBIN: That's an interesting possibility because it really is the kind of thing that might scare him off the witness stand. It would only come in if he testified. His lawyers might think better to keep him off the stand, keep the whole subject away from the jury.
But, you know, the prosecution has so many problems in this case that we're a long way from deciding whether Kobe Bryant is going to take the witness stand. The real question is whether this trial is even going to start a little more than three weeks from today.
COLLINS: Right. But we do have two chunks of information now to consider. On Monday night, Judge Ruckriegle reluctantly released that 75-page transcript about the accuser's sexual history.
Now we've got this allegation from the 22-year-old woman. What does it means when you combine those two chunks?
TOOBIN: Well I think what's far more significant is the judges ruling a couple of weeks ago based on the transcript, which is admitting evidence of what is apparently, of sexual activity by the accuser in the immediate hours after the incident.
There's one more big ruling still to come, which is evidence of her mental health history. Is that admissible? The judge will decide that before the trial starts in about three weeks.
If he decides that is admissible, I mean this trial really may never happen.
COLLINS: Wow. Very quickly before we let you go, since it's possible that this allegation with the 22-year-old woman happened at Shaquille O'Neal's house, think he might have to testify?
TOOBIN: I mean talk about the Shaq, Kobe feud continuing. If he somehow were a witness and saw something, possibly he might testify.
I think prosecutors would want to avoid that. That would be such a sideshow that...
COLLINS: Yes, kind of...
TOOBIN: I don't think as much as all of us in the media would like to see Kobe -- Shaq -- testify at Kobe's trial, I somehow don't think it's going to wind up happening.
COLLINS: Yes, that would be a detractor.
All right, Jeff Toobin.
TOOBIN: OK. COLLINS: As always, thanks so much -- Bill?
HEMMER: All right, Heidi.
In a moment here on campaign '04, two campaigns, two candidates, one town of 100,000 people -- is it a big enough for both of them? Why a city in Iowa has become the focal point today for 2004 election.
Back in a moment after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. To Jack Cafferty and the "Question of the Day" this morning.
CAFFERTY: We have two. We were just sitting here trying to figure out what the quad cities, Davenport, Rockford, Moline, what's the fourth?
HEMMER: Is it Bettendorf?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's three.
CAFFERTY: No, but there's 4.
COLLINS: I don't know.
SERWER: I know, but you've got three. You said you had two.
CAFFERTY: Well, that's the first question of the day.
SERWER: Geography.
CAFFERTY: And nobody on the staff of AMERICAN MORNING knows the answer to the first one, so that tells you what kind of shape were in.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Despite older intelligence pre-dating September 11th, the government says more recent classified information contributed to the ramping up of security on Sunday.
The government finds itself in kind of a tough spot when it comes to terrorism warnings. If they raise the threat level and nothing happens, than everybody says, oh, they're crying wolf, or they're playing politics. It is an election year.
If they don't say anything, and God forbid something does happen, than they'd be criticized for not giving the public proper warning. So it's a kind of a lose-lose for the government.
The question is this, if you want to be informed about threats or do you trust the government to keep you save?
And you can e-mail us at am@cnn.com.
Do you want to be told or can you depend on those folks...
HEMMER: You know who knows that answer? The folks out in Davenport know.
CAFFERTY: That's one of the quad cities.
COLLINS: What other four cities...
CAFFERTY: Rockford, Davenport and...
COLLINS: Something else.
CAFFERTY: City to be named later.
SERWER: Someone is going to tell us very quickly.
CAFFERTY: We will get it.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, thanks for that.
A decision in the Halliburton accounting scandal now -- Andy Serwer is here with that and he is "Minding Your Business." So, the decision is --
SERWER: A fine. Halliburton, the oil services company, is paying a $7.5 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Heidi. This to settle a long-running investigation in to accounting practices back in 1998, 1999.
So what?
Well, let's remember who was CEO back then. That's right, vice president Dick Cheney.
He was not charged with any wrongdoing and cooperated. The CFO of the company and the controller were charged. Cheney's lawyer says he was not involved.
The overstatement amounts to about $120 million. And I think the vice president is actually a little bit lucky here that the Sarbanes- Oxley legislation did not exist back then because you're not able to say, today, that as a CEO you didn't really understand or know or were responsible for what was going on. So that's some interesting stuff.
Halliburton not completely in the clear though, Heidi. That's because there are other government investigations concerning charges about them over billing the government in Iraq, about them doing business in Iran and also about doing some business in Nigeria that involved bribes.
So this is a cloud that continues to hang over the vice president and that company.
COLLINS: All right, a lot more to learn on that. What about the markets, though? We know about oil prices.
SERWER: Yes.
COLLINS: Going to affect stocks?
SERWER: Yes, it did yesterday and probably will today.
Futures were lower yesterday. We can see a retreat after five days in a row. You can see the market was up very nicely here.
Not only higher oil prices but also consumer spending dropped sharply, we learned that in June, the biggest drop since 9/11. So not a good sign there, as well.
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks so much, I think.
SERWER: You're welcome.
CAFFERTY: We have the answer.
COLLINS: We have the answer? Oh, good.
CAFFERTY: It's Bettendorf.
HEMMER: I said that.
COLLINS: Bettendorf -- you did say that.
CAFFERTY: You did?
SERWER: He gets full credit because he did. The tape will show.
HEMMER: I want geography for $1,000 Alex.
SERWER: I guess so.
COLLINS: Still to come now this morning -- we are half way through the workweek thank goodness. So let's get you over the hump with some "90-Second Pop."
Don't hate her because she's beautiful. Halle Barry says being pretty is anything but easy.
Plus, "Sports Illustrated" goes looking for the girl next door, and you get to watch.
"90-Second Pop" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. 7:30 here in New York. Good morning, again.
How important are the differences between the White House plan to implement the recommendations from the 9/11 commission and what the commission actually asked for.
Ed Henry standing by to tell us about where that debate is headed in a moment. We'll get you down to Capitol Hill.
COLLINS: Also, the crossroads of Iowa are political crossroads today.
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