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American Morning

Leak Response; Iran's Nuclear Threat; Cyber Safety; DNA Dilemma; Shuttle: 25 Years Later

Aired April 12, 2006 - 07:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Here's a look at our top stories.

Prosecutors in the trial of Zacarias Moussauoi will play the cockpit voice recorder from United Airlines Flight 93 today.

The district attorney in Durham County, North Carolina, says it is still not over. He is still investigating the case of a woman who says she was raped by Duke University lacrosse players.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he's aiming to streamline disaster planning, announcing the department will assign federal emergency responders to 13 states just in time for hurricane season.

Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

We're going to hear more about that CIA leak case today. Scooter Libby, of course, who has suggested that the leaks, which ultimately outed CIA operative Valerie Plame, were ultimately initiated by no less than the president of the United States. Will there be a response to the prosecutor's filings on that as these filings go back and forth? AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is in the midst of a flurry of legal documents, trying to interpret the to and fro and the give and take.

Bob, what do we know?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Well, we don't. Bob Franken, CNN.

MILES O'BRIEN: In a word, we don't. All right. Thank you, Bob. Drive safely.

FRANKEN: No, here's what's happening. They're still writing the motion. They being the Scooter Libby lawyers. They have until 5:00 today to file their response to the motion you just talked about, which was a response by the prosecutor from a motion from Scooter Libby's lawyers. It does go back and forth over and over.

Of course, the reason for all this is Libby is trying to compel the government to give up thousands of pages of highly classified material to help his defense. MILES O'BRIEN: All right, so let's get this straight then. Scooter Libby goes in court and suggests that no less than the president told him to engage in this leak campaign or it filtered down. The prosecutor responds and says what?

FRANKEN: Well, the prosecutor says that Scooter Libby, who has claimed that the reason that he didn't testify -- remember, he's being charged with lying to investigators about whether he had given leaks to people like Judy Miller of "The New York Times," that he had forgotten, says Scooter Libby. And what the prosecutor was trying to say is, how could he forget? His orders came from the president of the United States and the vice president.

MILES O'BRIEN: OK. And so now he responds and -- so this is -- how long does this go on and what does this lead to?

FRANKEN: For the rest of time. It's going to lead to possibly, and all probability, a trial, which is scheduled for next year. It could also lead to perhaps more embarrassing revelations, revelations about the role in all this of the vice president and the president.

MILES O'BRIEN: And do you think at any point there will be some sort of paper trail that will come out through all of this that will be, you know, fairly damage damning-type evidence?

FRANKEN: Well, that is what a lot of people are expecting. I mean, this is something that could be a huge, at the very least, political embarrassment to the president in particular who has been the person who has so long said there should not be leaks and now his opponents are teeing off on him, saying that this is nothing more than presidential hypocrisy

MILES O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Washington, thank you.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: There's reaction from around the world today to Iran's announcement that its taken another step on a path to a nuclear weapon. Many countries are concerned, but they don't have a common response. We begin in London this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Robin Oakley reporting from London.

Europeans are alarmed, though not surprised, by the new that Iran has successfully enriched uranium. European Union countries share U.S. suspicions that Iran plans a nuclear weapons capability. They're ready to bank sanctions if President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn't suspend the enrichment program as ordered to by the U.N. Security Council. They're planning visa restrictions on regime leaders, a block on the transfer of civil nuclear technology and an arms embargo. They're also drawing up plans to fund propaganda broadcasts into Iran

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Vause reporting from Jerusalem. The Israeli government says the world should not look to Israel for a military solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff, but warn that Iran could have nuclear weapons within the next three years. While not ruling out military action, Israeli officials say a nuclear armed Iran is a problem for the entire international community. Nonetheless, Israel has said in the past it has the capability of striking Iran's nuclear facility's.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Ben Wedeman in Cairo. The headline of this Arab newspaper says it all, "Iran has done it. The hard line Islamic nation has joined the nuclear club." Earlier today I spoke with a senior Egyptian official who described the Iranian announcement as a worrying development. Cairo's position is that Iran and all countries in the Middle East should abide by the nuclear non- proliferation treaty. But Arab leaders are worried that the Iranian nuclear crisis is fast coming to a head. Saudi Arabia has called upon Russia to intervene with the United States to prevent a U.S. strike against a nuclear facilities in Iran. A strike many here fear would further destabilize the region already beset by crisis in every corridor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That's a round up of how it is appearing around the world today. We're going to talk about the military response to Iran's threat with Retired Army Major General John Batist (ph). He's going to be with us in the next hour.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: If you're a parent of a teen, a teen who's on the Internet, you probably are aware of myspace.com and you're probably a little bit worried. Well, the company is trying to take some steps to allay your concerns. Unclear if they're going to be able to do everything it will take to make you feel secure about it. AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian live now from Boston with more on myspace.

Myspace scares a lot of parents, Dan, because there's so much personal information out there.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a lot of personal information out there. And what's interesting, when you talk to young people, is that they don't realize that just the slightest information they put out there can somehow lead right back to them. And obviously, as you pointed out, this is a major concern for parents as they try to protect their kids in cyberspace and myspace, which has 70 million members is trying to protect its cyber playground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN, (voice over): Fourteen-year-old Stacy Yanofsky's mother pulled the plug on the popular social networking site myspace.com, even though nothing bad had happened to her.

STACY YANOFSKY, FORMER MYSPACE MEMBER: I really didn't think about the dangers of being -- of posting something online. CINDY YANOFSKY, PARENT: That's a fear of every parent that your kid will get in trouble because they are too innocent.

LOTHIAN: Photos, sometimes provocative, and personal details are often shared on the site and others like it. Now in the wake of assault and rape allegations across the country stemming from meetings in myspace and amid growing concerns that some teen sites are becoming a playground for predators, myspace has hired a former federal prosecutor turned Internet safety expert, to keep a tight grip on security.

It has also posted this public service announcement banner on its site. It warns, "one in five kids online is sexually solicited. Online predators know what they're doing. Do you? Don't believe the type.'

That is part of a campaign created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Ad Council.

ERNIE ALLEN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN: What we were seeking to do was one, to inform parents and to urge them, challenge them to get more involved in their kids' lives. And secondly , to say to kids, when you're online, you are in public. You need to be careful.

LOTHIAN: To help crack down on criminal activity, myspace says it has also create a team assigned to work with law enforcement, there's a 800 hotline for investigators and a handbook to help guide police through the network. But still, parents and educators who blocked access to the site at school computers worry criminals are slipping through and preying on minors. Child safety advocates say a lot more can be done.

ALLEN: We think these providers, myspace and the other social networking companies, need to do more to ensure that young kids are kept off of the sites and that those people who are misusing their services for unlawful purposes are identified and prosecuted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN: Everyone agrees that there's no way to make these sites 100 percent safe. But what myspace says is that parents need to treat the cyber world much like the real world, telling their children not to talk to strangers and not to give out any private information.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Dan Lothian, thank you very much.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Thirty-eight minutes past the hour. Let's check the weather. Chad Myers is at the CNN Center for us with the latest update.

Hey, Chad, good morning. (WEATHER REPORT)

MILES O'BRIEN: There is no DNA evidence to link Duke lacrosse players to an alleged rape victim or so say the defense attorneys. Case close, right? Well, not so fast. The D.A. is pressing on and we'll tell you what kind of case he might have without DNA evidence on his side.

And 25 years ago today, two astronauts made history. The first ever space shuttle launch. We'll hear from them. Their take on what it was like to strap in for the riskiest space flight ever. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The Duke rape investigation is continuing despite the fact that DNA samples from the lacrosse players do not link them to the alleged victim, at least that's according to their lawyers. So then just how strong is the case if what might be the strongest evidence hasn't panned out? AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho has been looking into the story. She's with us this morning.

Good morning.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

You know, DNA is often seen as the be all end all in evidence these days. It is considered so important, so critical that when there is no DNA match in cases of rape, for example, many people often think case closed. Well, that is not necessarily true and it's certainly not true in the Duke case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no DNA evidence.

CHO, (voice over): When defense attorneys representing Duke lacrosse players made that announcement, many began to wonder would prosecutors still have a case? If DNA is the most compelling evidence in a rape case, what happens without it? Rockne Harmon is a long-time prosecutor and DNA expert.

ROCKNE HARMON, SR. DEP. D.A., ALAMEDA CO., CALIFORNIA: I think, for starters, we have to acknowledge that just because there's no biological evidence of any kind, no DNA evidence, that doesn't mean an assault didn't occur.

CHO: Harmon says DNA is a relatively new prosecution tool, introduced in the late 1980s, brought into the American consciousness during the O.J. Simpson trial.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder.

CHO: In the absence of DNA, Harmon says prosecutors must rely on other forensic evidence, like trauma to the victim or markings on the defendants. He says they must also rely heavily on witnesses.

BEN BRAFMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Maybe there was an overstatement of what actually took place.

CHO: Famed Attorney Ben Brafman says witnesses coming forward can also help the defense. In the case of the Duke lacrosse players, Brafman says if there are 47 players on the team, there are likely many different stories and it's possible none of them will match the accuser's account.

BRAFMAN: In a he said, she said, it's always difficult to get a conviction when you have a she said he said he said he said he said, then multiply that out, you really have a very difficult case as a prosecutor.

CHO: So we're looking at an uphill battle for the prosecution?

BRAFMAN: You're looking at an uphill battle.

CHO: Then there's the issue of how some high profile cases are handled. Take basketball star Kobe Bryant. When DNA linked him to his female accuser, the L.A. Lakers' denial became a tearful admission.

KOBE BRYANT, L.A. LAKERS: I'm so sorry.

CHO: Rockne Harmon says that proves DNA, through important, doesn't guarantee a conviction. HARMON: Fifteen years ago we hardly ever got to do DNA. Now, whenever anything happens, we want -- we turn to DNA to save the day. And as you've seen, it does when it can. And when it can't, you revert back to normal investigative means.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Now one thing to keep in mind is that just because the district attorney isn't talking about the evidence in the Duke case, it doesn't mean he doesn't have any. The prosecutor we spoke to told us the D.A. is doing the right thing. He is under no obligation to reveal his play book, so to speak. And he will be presenting the evidence soon enough to the grand jury next week.

You know, a lot of Americans, Soledad, have been trained to sort of think of things in the "CSI" way as one law school professor said.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Right.

CHO: You know, he said, if there's no evidence, that isn't the guy. Well, that's not necessarily the case in real life.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So then should we assume, or can we assume, that the prosecution has some good evidence and they're just not talking about it, as you say?

CHO: Well, they're keeping it close to the vest. I mean they're very quiet about it but they certainly are hinting that there might be additional evidence. And one thing that they're hinting at is that they're waiting on the results of additional DNA tests.

Now, no one knows exactly what they're talking about in that case. And even the DNA expert we spoke to said he's a little baffled by that. But nonetheless, they are hinting that that might be there. And certainly all of it, I'm sure, will come out sometime soon.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, it is kind of a baffling case. Alina Cho for us this morning. Alina, thanks.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. There's probably a good chance you use broadband Internet at home these days, right? What are the numbers? And I think we might come to the conclusion that here in the U.S. we probably led in this category. Not necessarily so, right?

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Miles. You'd think that we're the most wired nation on earth. Not even close. A new survey out shows that we're lagging far behind other western nations in terms of broadband.

MILES O'BRIEN: Iceland?

SERWER: Iceland.

MILES O'BRIEN: What is up with that?

SERWER: Rikiovec (ph). From Rikiovec to Keklovec (ph) you've got a lot of -- this is per hundred. So 26 people per hundred have broadband in Iceland.

MILES O'BRIEN: And that would be South Korea for sure.

SERWER: South Korea for sure. The Netherlands, Denmark. And you can see there are other countries between number four and number 12, of course, like Belgium. Belgium more wired than we are.

MILES O'BRIEN: Wow.

SERWER: And, interestingly, we were fourth in this survey as recently as 2001, but we've fallen behind as these other countries have gotten more and more wired. The government says defending this that, well, we're spread out all over the place and we still have more lines but, you know, we need to get on this. It's not a good thing.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: Another story completely unrelated. Jessica Simpson is being sued by jeans maker Tarrant Apparel for $100 million. And this is because she has a deal with them, Jessica Simpson Jeans, which you may know about. Or you may not know about, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, I have a pair, yes.

SERWER: Oh, you do. OK. And you look so good in them.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, I really do.

SERWER: You know, I don't want to see that. I'm sorry to say, Miles, your Jessica Simpson Jeans. But here's what's going on. Apparently, you know, if you're a celebrity and you have one of these deals, you're supposed to do some endorsing. You're supposed to go out there.

MILES O'BRIEN: You're supposed to wear the jeans, right? Yes.

SERWER: You're supposed to wear the pants. You're supposed to, you know, show up. Apparently, according to these charges, she's not doing that.

MILES O'BRIEN: She doesn't like her own jeans.

SERWER: My favorite line is, it says here that she would not pose for photos. Now when does that ever happen with Jessica Simpson? Would not pose for photos.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, she's so camera shy.

SERWER: Right. Yes. I mean, she really is. She goes to the White House. She goes to Capitol Hill. But, anyway, one of these stores charming shops has canceled a $4 million order saying that, you know, they're not getting the support they need, the pants are not selling and that's what's making this company sue her Jessica-ness.

MILES O'BRIEN: You know that boots are made for walking thing?

SERWER: I do. Nancy Sinatra.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, no, Jessica did a more recent version.

SERWER: Oh, the more recent version. I do know that.

MILES O'BRIEN: Was she wearing her jeans in that? Was that . . .

SERWER: You know, I don't know. We'll have to do some research.

MILES O'BRIEN: We'll do some research. OK. Back with more in a moment.

SERWER: Thanks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: This is a big day for space cadets. Forty-five years ago the first human to fly in space, Yuri Gagarin, lifted off from the Vostok Ocosmadrom (ph), what was then the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. And 25 years ago this scene right behind me. Kennedy Space Center, Florida, the good ship Columbia, astronauts John Young, Bob Crippen, living legends they are, boarded the first space shuttle and ushered in a new era in space.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, the astronauts now are leaving the suit up room. They're on their way to the launch pad.

MILES O'BRIEN, (voice over): It was, and remains, the single riskiest human space flight ever flown. Astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen suited up and strapped in to the most complicated, yet least proven flying machine ever devised.

JOHN YOUNG, PILOTED FIRST SHUTTLE MISSION: In fact, it was a perfect -- almost a perfect mission. Nothing went wrong. And that was a big surprise to me.

BOB CRIPPEN, PILOTED FIRST SHUTTLE MISSION: The only thing I was scared of was I didn't want to screw up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, four. We've gone for main engine start. We have main engine start.

MILES O'BRIEN: With 2 million parts, the $12 billion space transportation system offered plenty of opportunities for disaster. Columbia was the first piloted spacecraft to fly without an unmanned dry run. The first to use solid rocket motors. The first not to contain a viable crew escape system. In short . . .

CRIPPEN: It was a test pilot's dream to get a chance to fly something like that.

MILES O'BRIEN: And now we know how close this mission came to being a nightmare. As they hurdled toward space, Young and Crippen watched as debris flew off Columbia's external fuel tank, then painted white.

CRIPPEN: It looked like pieces of popcorn kind of coming up over the nose and they continued throughout most of the ascent. They were actually just sort of softly flying off it. I mean they weren't violently coming back and hitting the vehicle.

MILES O'BRIEN: Neither man was worried about the falling foam, which 112 missions later would inflict a mortal blow to Columbia's heat shield, dooming her crew of seven during the fiery reentry.

YOUNG: And, of course, we know a lot more about the space shuttle now than we knew then. If they have known about the other problems that we hadn't fixed yet, well they probably wouldn't have gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, four, three. Touchdown. Welcome home, Skipper (ph). Welcome home, Columbia. Beautiful. Beautiful.

MILES O'BRIEN: Fifty-four hours after launch, Commander Young became the first man to pilot a winged spaceship to a runway landing in California's high desert, the home of the right stuff.

Did it fly like a dream?

YOUNG: Yes. Well, it did flying good. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at the size of that rock.

MILES O'BRIEN: This cool customer who had flown to the moon twice was walking on it when Congress approved the shuttle program, loped beneath his craft with about as much bounce as a moon walker.

CRIPPEN: Actually, John had calmed down by the time he came outside the vehicle. He was really excited while we were in.

MILES O'BRIEN: And while Columbia looked good to him then, Young learned only five years ago there was a small breach in a gap filler sealing the right main landing gear door.

YOUNG: It didn't hurt anything but, of course, getting hot gas is your wheel wells, it's very bad because all three hydraulic systems in there and the big tires are in there and you sure don't want to get those babies too hot. And I think we were very lucky.

MILES O'BRIEN: Have you guys remained close friends or did you guys hate each other when you flew? I mean . . .

These days, Young and Crippen are retired. When the anniversaries roll around, they get together and reminisce as they did with me in Florida this past weekend. The remaining shuttles will join them in retirement in four years. NASA is moving on to a new spacecraft and a return to the moon and the shuttles will be remembered for things like the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station and, sadly, two lost crews.

CRIPPEN: Obviously we made some mistakes. We've corrected a lot of those during the 25 years. But it's still a vehicle that requires a lot of tender loving care. And it is very, very unforgiving of mistakes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN: The new vehicle NASA is working on will look a lot more like the Apollo spacecraft than the shuttle. The age of winged spacecraft flying to low earth orbit will soon be over for the foreseeable future at least. But it ain't over till it's over. Next hour we'll talk to the commander of the next shuttle mission slated for launch in July right now. Steve Lindsey (ph) is his name. We'll ask him about the accomplishments of 25 years ago.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Coming up in just a moment, a look at the top stories, including United Flight 93's cockpit tape going to be played in court at the Zacarias Moussauoi trial today.

And Iran becoming even more defiant in its push towards nuclear power.

A Louisiana parish may hire the former FEMA chief, Michael Brown, as a consultant.

And Prince Harry graduates from Sandhurst Military Academy.

Plus, start your engines. It's the New York City Auto Show and we're there live. We've got a look at some of the new, hot cars. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jeanne Meserve at the courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, where today the Moussauoi jurors will hear the last moments of Flight 93. That story coming up.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm David Ensor in Washington. What U.S. intelligence knows about Iran's nuclear program. That story coming up.

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