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Hayden Hearing; New Tip in Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa; Cancer Screening in your 30s, 40s, 50s

Aired May 18, 2006 - 08:59   ET

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

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm David Mattingly in Milford, Michigan, where FBI agents say a new tip in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa is pumping new life into a 30-year-old mystery.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: You can expect tough questions today for the architect of NSA's listening program. CIA chief nominee Michael Hayden's confirmation hearing just 30 minutes away. You'll want to stay with CNN for live coverage.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And are you doing enough to catch cancer before it catches you and it's too late? A specific, perhaps life-saving, to-do list for people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s is ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

We begin, really, with what's going to begin in about 30 minutes. The question is before the Senate: Is General Michael Hayden the right man to lead the CIA? The Senate's Intelligence Committee is going to being that debate in just a few minutes.

CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor and Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley will be watching.

David, let's begin with you.

Obviously, the controversy is over the surveillance system, certain to be a focus when the senators have some tough questions. Lots of other ones as well, right?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. As you say, the key questions will probably focus on his role as the -- as the architect of the post-9/11 surveillance programs that include surveillance of some Americans. And there will be tough questions about exactly what is the NSA up to and how does the -- how does General Hayden think it can be justified legally? But, as you say, a lot of other questions, too.

Should a general, should a serving general be the head of the nation's premier civilian intelligence agency? Some on the committee don't think so.

Will he be ready to stand up to Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon? Because there is this kind of ongoing struggle over who really is controlling human intelligence. The Pentagon moving into that area more and more.

And finally, and perhaps most importantly, Soledad, as the nation -- you know, as the head of the CIA, one of the nation's key intelligence officers, will Mike Hayden, who as so far, at least in public, seemed to do what the president wanted him to do, served him well, so to speak, but will he be ready to speak truth to power? That's the real question.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. David, thanks.

Let's turn to Candy Crowley now.

Candy, I have a theory. It goes kind of like this: the closer you are to an election, the more political posturing there will be when cameras are in at a hearing. Do you agree with that theory, or no?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll go with that theory. You know, although, you know, there's always political posturing. But even if there isn't a political intent, there's always a political implication in an election year. And what do we have here?

What we have is a guy with four stars on his shoulder who will be intensely grilled by Republicans and Democrats at a time when a nation is very interested, as it has been since 9/11, in national security. So this is a very delicate dance, particularly for Democrats who have worked very hard to try to play on an even playing field with Republicans, who have at least historically been seen as being tougher on matters of national security.

So to grill Hayden and to try to get some answers has to be at least weighted with wanting to look as tough as Republicans on matters of national security. So there will be some nuance here, I think.

S. O'BRIEN: Candy Crowley and David Ensor will be, of course, monitoring the hearings as they get under way in less than 30 minutes now.

Thanks, guys.

Our coverage of the hearings begins with a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM" in about 20 minutes at 9:25 Eastern Time. If you're away from your television, of course, you can catch the hearings on your desktop computer, CNN.com/pipeline -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Where in the world is Jimmy Hoffa? It's a question we have asked for more than 30 years now. It is possible we'll have an answer soon. Just maybe.

The FBI is now digging up a farmer's field not far from the restaurant where Hoffa vanished in 1975.

CNN's David Mattingly is there. Milford, Michigan, is the location, about 30 miles north of Detroit.

David, tell us about the search.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the FBI agents I've talked to this morning say they really can't comment about this, but according to The Associated Press, the tip that the FBI agents are operating on goes like this: According to The Associated Press, they say that back in 1975, when Jimmy Hoffa -- the night that Jimmy Hoffa went missing, that there was suspicious activity at this farm here behind me involving a backhoe. It's also reported that this area -- this farm was used as a meeting place for mob figures, and that after that night, there was no more meetings at this farm.

Well, that apparently was a credible enough tip that FBI agents have come out here. They were out here yesterday looking over the place with shovels, and there's supposed to be digging going on today, possibly for the remains of Jimmy Hoffa somewhere at this location.

In the wee hours of the morning, we have seen dozens of vehicles coming through this checkpoint that's been set up by agents here at the entrance of the farm. And at this point, all they're telling us is that they will have a briefing at 3:00 today Eastern Time to tell us what's going on out here, what they're finding, what they're not finding, and where this mystery might be going after 30 years of questions -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: David, it's just amazing to me that they're just now following up on this particular tip. Certainly, over the years the FBI has gotten tip after tip. You know, of course, the urban myth one is the Meadowlands, Giants Stadium. There was a recent story I think they pulled up some floorboards in a house.

These kinds of things have come in sort of, you know, periodically over the years, haven't they?

MATTINGLY: They've come in, they've been checked out, and they haven't turned up anything. And it seems like over the years it's been something of a practice for people to want to take credit for taking care of Jimmy Hoffa back in 1975, confessions supposedly, death bed confessions. But none of them have actually played out so far.

Residents in this area are also saying that they've heard rumors for years that Jimmy Hoffa might have been buried at this farm, so the rumors have been very persistent here and throughout the country -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: And just quickly, David, are they just digging, or do they have some sort of high technology or information to know where to go?

MATTINGLY: Yesterday we saw them in a very small area where they had turned up some dirt by hand with shovels. We have not seen any heavy equipment coming through the entrance today. If that does come through, that will give us a really good idea of how serious they are about what they're digging and where they're digging. M. O'BRIEN: David Mattingly in Milford, Michigan, watching that dig and perhaps some sort of answer in the long running mystery of Jimmy Hoffa.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, that big landing in London. Take a look at this.

The biggest passenger plane landing at Heathrow Airport. It happened just about 30 minutes ago.

This morning's arrival is part of a critical test to see if Britain's main airport can handle the more than 800-passenger plane. Here's what this massive Airbus 380 looks like on the inside. It looks big.

President Bush leaving just a short while ago for the border. He's going to visit an area near Yuma, Arizona, one of the busiest, apparently, for immigrant smuggling. The trip comes three days after the president announced plans to send National Guard troops to help patrol the U.S.-Mexico border

One of the three Duke lacrosse players accused of rape heading to court today. It's going to be Reade Seligmann's first appearance before a judge since his indictment. His lawyer is expected to ask the prosecution for the accuser's cell phone records.

And several rivers in New Hampshire, in Massachusetts, and in Maine remain above flood stages. They're receding now, though. Scattered storms are expected today. Heavy thunderstorms, though, protected -- predicted, rather, for Friday. And that's causing concerns that many of those old dams are going to be pushed right to the breaking point.

That brings us right to the forecast at 8 minutes past the hour, and Rob Marciano, who's at the CNN Center. He's in for Chad today.

Hey, Rob. Good morning.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: Back up to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Rob Marciano. Today is Thursday, which means Miles Cam day. If you have a question for me or for Soledad today, who will make a cameo appearance, the Sole-cam, send it to us now at AM@CNN.com.

We'll take them all in -- we might not read them all, but we'll take them all in, for sure. So fire away. And we answer most everything.

And there's the Miles cam. And soon to be the Sole-cam. You'll see it live on Pipeline -- CNN.com/pipeline, 10:30 Eastern Time -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And ahead this morning, our 30-40-50 series continues today. We're talking about cancer screening and cancer prevention. We're going to take your questions.

You can call us, too, at 877-AM6-1300. The number's right there on your screen. Or send us an e-mail at AM@NN.com.

A short break and we're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Live pictures now, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. The Senate Intelligence Committee is ready to be seated soon, and in the foreground, in that single, solitary seat, that would be what they call the hot seat. That's where General Michael Hayden will be seated. He is the president's nominee to run the CIA.

A year ago, this same committee, headed by Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the ranking minority member, unanimously endorsed General Hayden to be the deputy to John Negroponte, who's the director of National Intelligence. It's going to be a different go-round this time, you might say.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, definitely.

M. O'BRIEN: I think he's had a long and illustrious career by everybody's accounts, but he's never run into a buzz saw of a political nature like this before.

So we will be watching it for you. And, of course, "THE SITUATION ROOM," 9:25, Wolf Blitzer presiding over that.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, we're going to hop off the air a little bit early to hand it over to Wolf for that.

First, though, we're talking about cancer this morning. Life expectancy in America is just about 78 years, but does living longer mean we're living healthier?

CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us with advice on staying healthy in your 30s and your 40s and your 50s, all part of our series.

Nice to see you. Thanks for coming up from Atlanta.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely.

S. O'BRIEN: What do you think is the number one risk factor for cancer? I mean, who -- what is it? What do doctors tell you?

COHEN: The number one risk factor is something you actually can't do anything about, and that's age.

S. O'BRIEN: So... COHEN: As you get older, you're more likely to get cancer, which is why you have to have more tests as you get older. That's the number one risk factor.

S. O'BRIEN: So then let's talk about some of the things that you can prevent, because you can only lie about your age, but you cannot go out of your way...

M. O'BRIEN: The only cure for that is not to get older, and that's not solving the problem very well, is it?

COHEN: No. No, you don't want to do that.

S. O'BRIEN: So people who are in their 30s, what kinds of tests should they first be thinking about, you know, as you go from your late 20s right into your 30s? What do you need to know?

COHEN: Well, we're going to break it down between men and women, because there are different tests that men and women need to have. And some people are surprised to learn that even in your 30s you're supposed to be getting tests for cancer.

For example, women in their 30s need to be getting cervical cancer screening, which means pap smears. And actually, you're supposed to be really starting in your 20s. And the same thing for breast self-examinations. You're supposed to be starting those even at age 18.

And mammograms, if you're high risk -- and this is something that is very important. People think of mammograms as something you're really doing in your 40s and 50s. You should be doing it in your 30s if you're high risk, and that means, among other things, if you have a family history, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother had breast cancer. Talk to your doctor about getting a mammogram at an earlier than usual age.

Now let's talk about what men need to do in their 30s. The list is much shorter, I do have to say.

Officially, there's nothing that men are supposed to do in their 30s; however, a testicular self-exam is suggested. In fact, we did a story with a young man who caught his own cancer in his 30s, and he probably would not be alive today if he hadn't done that.

And now we'll move on to our 40s, things that people are supposed to be doing in their 40s.

For women, it's that whole list that I just talked about now, but they're supposed to add mammograms starting at age 40.

S. O'BRIEN: Now, is this because you're trying to create this sort of base level that, if there is, god forbid, a problem later, that doctors can go back to the original test and say, here's what it looked like at your base level mammogram when you were 40. Now that you're 50, we know what to compare it to? COHEN: Exactly. So, for example, not all women will necessarily need them every single year. Some doctors actually will do a baseline at 35. They've decided they want to do it at 35. So not all doctors agree to wait until 40, but then you're exactly right. You might have one at 35, and you might not have another one for five years.

They just wanted to see what you looked like then so they can compare it later. That's absolutely right. That's absolutely right.

And for women, also, continue those pap smears that you really were supposed to be doing starting at age 18.

And men are supposed to be also starting other types of exams.

S. O'BRIEN: Prostate cancer is a huge disease. And that's when they really get aggressive. Although I have to tell you, I know a number of men who had prostate cancer younger than 40, you know, late 30s.

COHEN: Right. And actually, officially, 40 is when you're supposed to be starting prostate exams if you're high risk, which means family history or African-American. And one thing -- I'm glad you brought that up, because one thing that I think we really need to be very clear about is that some people, because they're high risk, or even just because they're worried, might want to do some of these tests earlier.

So even if it's not officially recommended that you start a certain test at age 30, you can always talk to your doctor about doing something earlier. You mentioned, you know, someone who had prostate cancer younger than 40. Well, if that person had a particular reason to worry, they might have wanted to have started earlier.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, but if you go and say, I really want a test, will insurance cover that?

COHEN: Sometimes they will and sometimes they won't. I mean, if you have a reason for it, if, you know, god forbid your father died of prostate cancer at the age of 40, your doctor probably could convince insurance to do that. But if you don't have a reason, you may end up paying for it. And that can be a decision that you have to think about, do you want to pay for that?

M. O'BRIEN: because tests aren't cheap.

COHEN: Not all of them, no.

S. O'BRIEN: No they sure not necessarily are.

Do we have time to get to our 50s?

All right. Let's run through our 50s.

Women in their 50s, mammogram, we've already established that.

COHEN: Right. S. O'BRIEN: Pap smear, you've already established that.

COHEN: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: And colon cancer screening, too.

COHEN: Right, women and men need to start colon cancer screening at around age 50. And again, higher risk, you want to do that earlier. If you have a special reason why you're worried about colon cancer, talk to your doctor about doing it earlier. And men, prostate cancer as well.

S. O'BRIEN: As much as we started by saying that age is something you can't do anything about, the truth is, with that list of tests there are a lot of things you can do. I mean, you can monitor your health and make sure that you are protecting your health as best as you possibly can.

COHEN: Right. You are in control of a lot of different things.

Let's go through a list of things that you can do to help protect yourself against cancer.

For example, don't smoke. That is to important. We hear that over and over again. So important to so many different kinds of cancers.

Also, exercise regularly. Protect your skin from the sun, wear sunscreen all the time, not just in the summer. Practice safer sex. And limit alcohol.

All of those things can help prevent getting cancer.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

S. O'BRIEN: There are things you can do.

M. O'BRIEN: Good words of wisdom. It is no longer a death sentence when they say cancer by any means.

COHEN: It's true, and people forget that. If you have cancer, especially if you catch it early, it is so much more treatable than it used to be.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you. Appreciate it.

COHEN: Thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks for coming in.

Still ahead on the program, some answers to your health questions. We invite you to give us a call: 877-AM6-1300. That's 266-1300. Or send us an e-mail: AM@CNN.com.

Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: You're looking at a live picture of the room where General Michael Hayden is going to soon undergo questioning from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The guy's had a 37-year career. This could be, though, the toughest day in that 37-year government career as the hearing gets under way.

We're expecting it in just a few minutes. "THE SITUATION ROOM" will jump in. At that point, we'll hand over coverage.

First, though, we are back with Elizabeth Cohen. We're talking about 30, 40, 50, and medical tests, things you need to think about your health at those ages.

Elizabeth, thanks for being with us.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to have you here, Elizabeth.

We have an e-mail for you. This comes from Liz in East Meadow, New York.

She says this: "My grandmother died from ovarian cancer. I am approaching 30. Should I be worried about it at my young age, and when should I start screening?"

COHEN: You know, doctors always say, don't worry, takes action, do something. So the first thing that Liz ought to do is go to her gynecologist and tell him or her about her family history, because he may want to do -- there may be certain manual exams that he may want to do in a different way, or there may be some imaging that he may want to do.

Now, so there are some things actually that you can do to help prevent ovarian cancer. One of them is to go on the pill. Actually, statistically, women who have been on birth control pills have a lower risk of ovarian cancer.

Also, women who have been pregnant at least once, maybe a couple of times, and breast feeding, that decreases the risk. That's not the reason I'm pregnant here, but...

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: But it's sort of a nice side-effect. And also your diet. Like many cancers, a good diet can help lower the risk of -- can help lower the risk of ovarian cancer.

S. O'BRIEN: There are things you can do. They've made huge strides in breast cancer treatment and research really in recent days.

COHEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: I mean, it's such great news. Really all cancers, I think COHEN: They really have. And we were talking about prevention before, about early detection, how much that helps. But also, treatment.

We were talking a couple of days ago of people going back to work after having cancer. And people think cancer, death sentence, you have it, you're treated, you're never going to be sort of the person you were before, and that's just not true. People are going back to work and leading productive lives.

S. O'BRIEN: That's really great, great news.

All right. Elizabeth Cohen helping us out this morning with some of the questions we have about cancer and screenings in your 30s and your 40s and your 50s.

Nice to see you. Thanks.

COHEN: Nice to see you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to the start of this hearing. We're, you know, just a few minutes away. And Wolf Blitzer is going to pick up our coverage now. He is in "THE SITUATION ROOM".

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