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The Situation Room
New Orleans to Lay Off Workers; Bush Holds Press Conference; DeLay's Attorney Discusses Charges
Aired October 04, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, HOST: It's 5 p.m. now in Washington, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information from around the world arrive at one place simultaneously.
Happening now, it's 4 p.m. in New Orleans, where some city workers will soon be out of a job. Mayor Ray Nagin says the city is strapped for cash and must lay off those workers.
It's among our very worst fears, bird flu in the United States. One expert says it's not a matter of if it will come here, but when? Estimating millions of deaths worldwide. The president now focused on avoiding an epidemic.
And it's a CNN exclusive, keeping drugs out of your children's hands. "Just say no" is being replaced with aggressive campaigns of sweeps and arrests. We'll take you along for an exclusive ride.
I'm John King. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Thanks for joining us. Wolf has the day off.
Now the developing story we're following. That's a problem on top of many other problems for the mayor of New Orleans: how to kick start the city's devastated economy while putting even more people out of work.
Mayor Ray Nagin has just announced the city will lay off some 3,000 city workers, because, he says, there's not enough money to pay them. Our Lisa Sylvester now with the latest -- Lisa.
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, many of these residents lost their homes, lost everything that they own. And now they're being told that they may lose their jobs. The problem is that the city is running out of money with no tax revenue coming in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: Unfortunately, we have searched high and low. We've checked the federal sources. We've checked the state sources. We've talked to local banks and other financial institutions. And we are just not able to put together the financing necessary to continue to maintain city hall staffing at its current levels.
So after weeks of working to secure these funds to make payroll, the city of New Orleans today announces it has been forced to lay off up to 3,000 classified and unclassified city workers as a result of the financial constraints in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SYLVESTER: Now the kinds of jobs that they're talking about, accounting jobs, secretarial jobs, the people who deliver summonses, clerk positions. And all in all, the mayor says it will save anywhere about $6 to 7 million of the $20 million payroll. And these layoffs are expected some time in the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, Governor Kathleen Blanco is trying to get a change in a law. She's trying to get a change in the federal law that will allow the federal government, FEMA, in this instance, to pick up more of the tab and to pay for the base salaries of essential workers -- John.
KING: Lisa Sylvester, live for us in New Orleans.
And here with us to talk more about these layoffs and other challenges facing the city of New Orleans, joining us on the phone is the president of the city council, Oliver Thomas.
Mr. Thomas, thank you for joining us in THE SITUATION ROOM. Let me just begin with a simple question: the right call by the mayor today?
OLIVER THOMAS, PRESIDENT, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: Well, you know, I think the mayor has been like a contestant on the Monte Hall show. And every door he's looked behind, there was private banking. There was no prize. There was the state, and there was no prize from the government behind door number three, no prize, no relief.
So at some point, everyone knew that these chickens were going to come home to roost in terms of how long we would be able to continue employing the same people without any new revenue.
So our situation is no different than the business operating without bringing in any new revenue, any new money to meet their expenses.
KING: And is there no way, sir, whether it's through the state or the federal government to essentially tell these workers, you have to stay home but you will be eligible for some help, part of their paychecks? Or do they have to now go seek federal aid?
THOMAS: Well, I would hope so. The one thing that city council is going to do, and I initiated today when I met with Dr. Hatsfield, the CAO, is that we're going to put together a job fair with all of these hundred million dollar employees. They're going to need a lot of help.
We're talking about anywhere in the next few years, 10,000 to 15,000 to 20,000 new workers being in the city with this hundred billion dollar effort. A lot of those city workers could be absorbed by a lot of those companies, especially a lot of the skilled laborers. Those who used to work on our roadways, working in our infrastructure, park and parkway, you know, road maintenance, sewer and water. These $100 million, billion dollar companies, can easily absorb those employees, because they provide the same time of service.
KING: And how...
THOMAS: This has been another hurricane. We had Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita now we have Hurricane Layoff.
KING: Is...
THOMAS: Very little relief for the people in our region.
KING: You mentioned very -- very little relief, sir. Excuse me. Is there any way to guarantee these jobs to people who at least used to live in New Orleans? Obviously, many people can't return home now.
But when I was there last week, people were saying that essentially Baton Rouge has become like a suburb. And people are driving the 65, 75 miles every day, because they can get jobs cleaning up, paying them $10, $12, $15, sometimes even more an hour. And they're now commuting back and forth.
Is there any way, once the residential situation is stabilized, to say those who lived here get first priority?
THOMAS: Absolutely. That's what we should be saying. I mean, that's what our congressional delegation, our U.S. senators. You know, that's what they should be mandating, that these federal contracts not be released until southeast and southwest Louisiana people have priority.
We're going to have $200 billion invested in this area. That's enough to pay people who are laid off more money than they make right now and build the middle class we never had before. That just can't come from parish president Rodriguez, the mayor, or myself. We need the federal government, basically, I mean, you know, just really hollering, screaming from the loudest mountain top about take care of their people first.
KING: Bit of a catch 22, sir, though, isn't it? That you can't hire somebody from New Orleans if there's no place for that person to live?
THOMAS: Yes, but that's absolutely correct. And we heard parish president Davis over in St. Tammany basically saying he's been begging for trailers, because he has jobs. His problem is not as severe.
They only got a couple of hundred trailers, and he's been trying to get 20,000.
So you know, everybody is screaming the same song. But every time we turn around there's another storm. There's another storm in Louisiana. And it's not a natural storm. It's a bureaucratic storm. It's a storm of neglect.
So at some point, give us -- look, these are American citizens. A lot of them have been paying taxes for a long, long time. And have gotten very little for their tax dollars. So we're not really giving them anything anyway. We spend more money than this in foreign aid every month.
KING: City council president Oliver Thomas in the city of New Orleans. Sir, thank you for your thoughts today. An issue we will continue to follow in the days, weeks and months, probably years ahead. Thank you, sir.
And now to an event not held in four months at the White House. President Bush holding a news conference, discussing energy prices, hurricane damage and his relatively unknown Supreme Court nominee.
On Harriet Miers, Mr. Bush says he knows her well, even if the rest of the country might not.
CNN White House correspondent Susan Malveaux has more.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, of course, what was really important here, there were two audiences the president was addressing, first the American people but also his conservative base, and perhaps that was the more important audience, trying to reassure them in this case here the selection of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court justice position. They are very concerned, some conservatives, that she will change the balance, the ideological balance of the court, be more like a David Souter. Of course President Bush's father's selection that he chose for the Supreme Court who ended up being much more liberal than many of the conservatives were comfortable with.
Well today, President Bush made it very clear to that particular audience, saying, "Yes, I'm a pro life president despite the fact I have not spoken with Harriet Miers on the subject of abortion." He believes very clearly that she'll be in line with the conservative thinking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's an enormously accomplished person who's incredibly bright. Secondly, she knows the kind of judge I'm looking for. After all, she was the part of the process that selected John Roberts. I don't want somebody to go on the bench to try to supplant the legislative process. I'm interested in people that will be strict constructionists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And, John, of course a lot of people looking at the president this time around since May, looking at someone they believe to have been weakened by a number of developments. The president still coming forward very strong, saying and urging Americans to support him when comes to his foreign policy in Iraq but also making a very big concession here, saying that he believes the Social Security program -- this was the centerpiece of his domestic agenda -- has actually stalled -- John.
KING: And he passed up an opportunity, Suzanne, did he not to criticize his father for the Souter pick?
MALVEAUX: He did. He said, "I'm not going there."
KING: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thank you very much.
MALVEAUX: Sure.
KING: In a worst case scenario, it could kill millions of people. So what is the government doing to prepare for a bird flu outbreak? President Bush weighs in.
Also cries for help: 911 calls as that tour boat sinks on New York's Lake George, killing 20 people.
Plus, fighting hurricanes. Some unusual ideas for averting disasters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: The first indictment was called a partisan vendetta, but now there's another. It's an abomination of justice. Republican Congressman Tom DeLay has not shied away what he really thinks of the charges against him, even more so now that a Texas grand jury announced that second indictment, of money laundering, in less than a week.
Joining me now is Dick Deguerin, an attorney for Congressman DeLay.
Sir, is your argument against this that it's a technicality and that it should be tossed out? Or are you flatly saying Congressman DeLay is innocent?
DICK DEGUERIN, ATTORNEY FOR TOM DELAY: He didn't do anything wrong. And there's no crime that's been committed. It's like a bumbling group of Keystone Kops.
What they indicted him for first last week was not a crime in 2002 when all the actions took place. I mean, it was just not -- the law wasn't even on the books. And even if it was on the books, what he did didn't violate the law.
So now, this latest indictment is to cover up the idiotic mistake that the D.A.'s office made in the first indictment.
KING: I want to ask you a political question first. Then I want to get to the legal argument. But your client has said that Ronnie Earle, the district attorney there, is working with the Democratic leadership here in Washington as part of a calculated, coordinated partisan effort. Is that part of your case?
DEGUERIN: It's not part of our case. Is it true? I think it probably is. I don't know. I'm not a politician; I'm a lawyer, and what I'm representing Tom DeLay on simply is not a crime.
KING: I want to ask you this question, and I'm hoping our cameras can capture this. There is the indictment. This is actually a copy of a check put in the indictment as evidence from the Texans for a Republican Majority PAC.
Essentially, the allegation here is that Tom DeLay and two political associates conspired to put this money in the left pocket of the Republican National Committee so that the national committee then would take money out of its right pocket and give it to campaigns in Texas. Because they could not legally directly give the money to those campaigns in Texas.
Are you saying that never happened, the shell game with the money never happened? Or are you saying Mr. DeLay was not involved in it?
DEGUERIN: Well, I'm saying both. First it was not a shell game. TRMPAC collected more Crawford money than they could spend in Texas. So they sent it to the Republicans. The Republicans spent it where they could spend corporate money.
The Republicans then sent different money, money than that was collected from individuals, to Texas. And the bottom line is the law that individual candidates can't receive corporate money was never broken. And -- but Tom DeLay didn't know about the transactions -- there were several -- at the time they were happening.
KING: He did not know. You are certain of that fact?
DEGUERIN: Sure.
KING: And your -- the prosecutor disagrees with you. He says that that money was put in the national party hands with specific instructions that it immediately be turned around and sent back, that that's a violation.
DEGUERIN: That's not true. That's not what happened. And though we spent -- the other lawyers in the case spent a year and a half showing Mr. Earle the records that that didn't happen.
The corporate money was separate from the individual money. It was always kept separate. The corporate money went where it could lawfully go. It was gathered lawfully. The individual money was kept separate from the corporate money and it was sent where it could lawfully go.
KING: Let's talk legal strategy in the context of your client being a high-powered politician in Washington. I assume you want this over with as soon as possible. So your next step, I assume, is just to simply challenge the indictment, period. Ask it be caused out?
DEGUERIN: Well, I think we're probably going to do that. And yes, I do want to get to it quickly. I think we can. I think we can be ready quickly. But I don't want to short-circuit any kind of legal moves that we have to make to protect the client.
Now, Tom DeLay has already been -- had to step down from his majority leadership position, so in effect, the indictment, the faulty indictment had the effect that I think Mr. Earle's office wanted, to strip him of his power.
KING: As you know, sir, the longer he is without that power, the less likely it is he will get it back. If you had to tell your client, "I'm sorry, Mr. Leader. I'm sorry, Congressman, but from a legal standpoint we need more time, and if that costs you your powerful position so be it"?
DEGUERIN: No, I haven't told him anything like that. Of course, our conversations are private. And I'm telling you that he's giving me the marching orders to do what's necessary for him. He's ready for the fight.
Now whether that takes a couple of months, which I think is as soon as we can get to it. Or whether it takes six months, he's in for the fight. There's -- everybody is on the table in this case.
KING: And you think a couple of months is the earliest you could get to trial?
DEGUERIN: I think December is as early as we could, but I think we could. It's up to the judge. It's -- I don't run his courtroom at all. And he's got other cases. This is not the only case. But we will ask for a trial as quick as the judge can give it to us.
KING: As your client once said, I want to trial if there is a trial, in '05 not the congressional election year of '06?
DEGUERIN: I don't know about that quotation, but certainly if we can get it before the congressional elections or primaries in March in Texas, so much the better.
KING: Dick Deguerin, the attorney for former House majority leader, Tom DeLay. Thank you, sir, for your time and your thoughts today.
DEGUERIN: You're welcome. Thank you.
KING: Thank you, sir.
And coming up, that deadly tour boat accident in New York. And frantic cries for help. Nine-one-one tapes tell more of this heartbreaking story.
Plus a SITUATION ROOM exclusive. We take you inside of a drug enforcement agency bust. And look at the toll on children caught in the methamphetamine epidemic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Our Zain Verjee joins us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with a closer look at other stories making news.
Hi again, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, ANCHOR: Hi, John. Florida police say an argument during Rosh Hashanah services resulted in gunfire. They say two men were arguing after leaving Jewish New Year's services at a synagogue in Boca Raton today when one of the man allegedly shot the other man twice. The victim is hospitalized and in critical condition. He's expected to survive, though. The alleged shooter, who's in his 70s, is in custody.
It's a constant battle, and most Americans, apparently, are fighting it. A new study suggests 90 percent of American men are overweight at some point in their lives. Seven out of 10 women become overweight. Researchers at Boston University tracked 4,000 white adults for 30 years. They say many people put on pounds after middle age even if they'd always been thin before.
Three dieters have a beef with TV psychologist Dr. Phil. They filed a lawsuit accusing the talk show host of defrauding customers with his now discontinuing "Shape Up" diet plan. They want a Los Angeles judge to give the suit class action status. That could allow claims by thousands of people.
The suit alleges that the $120 a month plan doesn't work. It requires dieters to take 22 pills a day.
John, you don't take pills, do you? You're always working out, keeping in shape, not overweight?
KING: I've got a few extra pounds, and a few more if the Red Sox score doesn't change. Thank you, Zain.
Something in the air in San Francisco, at least if the mayor, Gavin Newsom, gets his way. Free wireless Internet. CNN's Ali Velshi has the bottom line from New York. And can you change the Sox score while you're at it?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was perking up when Zain was talking about being fit. And I thought she was going to come right to me, but you got in the way of that, John.
Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco, he may not get his way in terms of giving out free Internet service. But he certainly is suggesting that wireless Internet service across the city is something that should be happening, and 24 companies are bidding on the right to be involved in the building of a wireless network for people who live there. Albeit not free but inexpensive.
Now, if you want to sort of get a sense of how that model works, let's shift it over to Philadelphia, who just today awarded a contract to Earthlink, a company based out of Atlanta that many people will know of because they get their Internet service from Earthlink.
Philadelphia is aiming to be the first city in America that is fully wired, or at least 135 square miles of Philadelphia is fully wired so that you can, for a subscription fee, anybody there can take their laptop wherever they want and get Internet service.
Now Earthlink, the other main contender to this -- for this contract was Hewlett-Packard. Earthlink, working with Motorola and other partners will now build out the infrastructure to allow people to use wireless Internet in and around Philadelphia.
The big boon here might be for small businesses, in fact. Because it's the kind of thing that people will not necessarily, particularly in the northeast, want to be sitting in parks to do, although they may do that in spring and summer. Fundamentally, it's cafes, restaurants, fast food outlets and things like that who will benefit from this.
It's also great because a lot of the searching that's done on Internet is done for local services. If you are in a place where it's encouraged to use the Internet to search for things, because wireless Internet is so inexpensive, there might be a boom to businesses who list on local search services.
We're talking about 20 bucks a month, John, in Philadelphia. That's the proposal. Ten bucks for low income people.
So Gavin Newsom is not out there when he's saying that San Francisco should have free Internet. He may not get his way. It may not be totally free, but San Francisco and Philadelphia certainly leading the charge in terms of American cities that are getting wired and going to be good places to get an Internet signal wherever you are -- John.
KING: The new -- next wave of the new economy.
VELSHI: Yes. You'll be hearing a lot about this kind of stuff.
KING: And a place to sell THE SITUATION ROOM diet. Stand here for three hours, you're guaranteed to lose weight.
VELSHI: That's it.
KING: Thanks, Ali.
Still ahead, the threat of the bird flu. President Bush is concerned about the possibilities. Should you be worried, too? I'll ask Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health.
And fighting hurricanes in the air and on the ground. Is there a silver bullet to sap their strength? We'll explore some unusual ideas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: More now on a story we're following from New York state: the investigation into that tour boat accident that killed 20 people. Transportation officials are combing through every bit of evidence they can find to figure out what happened. And they've released some chilling 911 tapes.
CNN's Susan Lisovicz is in Lake George with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities say they're looking at every piece of information related to the sinking of the Ethan Allen. And that includes 911 calls made in the immediate moments after the accident.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God, a boat, a boat, a boat went over, the Ethan Allen just outside of Green Harbor. Green Harbor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many people in the boat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, a lot of people. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Oh, please, hurry.
LISOVICZ: The owner of the tour boat company said he was shocked as well by what happened on Sunday.
JAMES QUIRK, OWNER, SHORELINE CRUISES: Our company, Shoreline Cruises has been in the passenger boat business on Lake George for more than 27 years. And until Sunday we have had a perfect safety record.
Its captain, Richard Paris, has been employed by us for more than 23 years. And we are fully confident in his judgment and his capabilities as a captain.
We consider to support fully with the NTSB and all authorities investigating the situation so that we can determine the cause of this tragic mishap.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LISOVICZ: Nonetheless, the New York State Parks Department has suspended operations of Shoreline Cruises, pending the outcome of the investigation, also that of its pilot, Captain Richard Paris.
Meanwhile, divers today returned to the scene of the accident, very different mission, though, today to retrieve personal effects. Among those that came back to the surface, authorities tell us this afternoon, John, were that of a cane and -- a walker and a couple of canes.
Back to you.
KING: Susan Lisovicz keeping track of that investigation in Lake George, New York. Thank you, Susan.
Coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM, an in-depth look at the threat of that bird flu virus. Could it here in the United States? And what would be the ramifications?
Also, go inside on a CNN exclusive, drug raids aimed at protecting your children. We'll show you this amazing report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: In our CNN "Security Watch," imagine millions of Americans quarantined in a deadly flu outbreak. The federal government is already considering just such a scenario, as concern grows over a possible bird flu epidemic.
CNN's Brian Todd is here with that story -- Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we've been reporting how worried top health officials are about the human outbreak of avian flu in Asia. Today that concern transcends the health care community and goes to the top.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): A lethal strain that's killed roughly five dozen people in Asia, with no confirmed cure, no fully-developed vaccine, has the president openly discussing worst-case scenarios. What if the avian flu spread to the United States?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country, and how do you then enforce the quarantine?
One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move. So that's why I put it on the table.
TODD: President Bush acknowledges some governors don't like the idea, and the head of the American Public Health Association says quarantining one region or even a community would be, in his words, extraordinarily difficult.
DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN, AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSN: The more likely thing is the outbreak will be in multiple places at one time. The odds against you being able to get the whole community quarantined and contain the infection that way is probably not going to happen.
TODD: And, says Dr. Georges Benjamin, the U.S. military's Medical Corps is stretched too thin to be effectively deployed for a quarantine.
Dr. Benjamin says the public health system should handle any U.S. outbreak, and he supports measures the administration has already taken: bolstering research, stockpiling vaccines that are in development and anti-virals for people who already have avian flu.
World Health Organization officials say, historically, quarantines have worked only to delay pandemics. But they say that delay could be valuable if a deadly strain is on the move.
One expert has an ominous projection if avian flu moves to the U.S.
DR. MICHAEL WESTERHOLM, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: We need to figure out how are we going to handle what could be many hundreds of thousands of dead bodies. That's the kind of planning we need right now, and that's what's going to get us through this.
(END VIDEOTAPE) TODD: But, some important perspective here: So far, according to the World Health Organization, human cases of avian flu are now confined to four countries -- Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
How close is this strain to spreading to the United States?
Officials at the WHO and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says there's no way to know that for sure. One official at the Centers for Disease Control says it's possible but unlikely -- John?
KING: Brian Todd, thank you very much.
And for more now on that threat of the bird flu epidemic, I'm joined by a gentleman who should have some of those answers -- he's Dr. Anthony Fauci and he's the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Fauci, let's just start where Brian just left it.
And as I toss to you for an answer, you called this the mother of all emerging infections. How at risk are the citizens of United States of America?
FAUCI: At this point in time right now they're not because there's no birds that are infected here.
But the risk to the American public relates almost exclusively to the capability of this or any other virus that's as virulent as that of being able to spread in an efficient and sustained manner from person to person.
The situation we have now in Southeast Asia, there's 116 cases and 60 deaths. So it's inefficient in jumping from the chickens to the humans, and even less efficient in going from human to human.
The concern is, as influenza viruses generally evolve, will it attain the capability of rapidly going from human to human. If it does, then given jet travel and the situation of the globality of all the interactions that we have, we are at great risk if that happens.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: How do you stop it from happening?
FAUCI: Well, there are several ways that you can do that.
One of them is to try and get control over the bird infections and that has been something that has been quite problematic because early on this started -- the first H5N1 was noticed in Hong Kong in 1997. The Hong Kong authorities essentially culled all the chickens. It kind of laid low for a while and then came back with a vengeance just this past year, year and a half to two years.
If you cull the chickens and get the chicken health in line, you're OK. However, migratory birds are infected, and there's a terrible problem of cross infecting not only flocks, but going from country to country because of the migratory birds. So it's very difficult to do that.
KING: You're talking about this a lot more calmly than the gentleman we had on earlier in the show, and it seems somewhat out -- in congress if you want to match it up to the president's talk of perhaps using the military for a quarantine.
Why should the president be talking about that if you still think of this as an if?
FAUCI: No, no.
Well, it's an if, but you can't err and make a mistake. I mean, you must be prepared for the worst. That's exactly what the president was talking about today. That's exactly how we, myself, Secretary Leavitt, Julie Gerberding at the CDC -- that's how we think about that.
Prepare for the worst. So when you hear people discussing it, if you're on the mode -- if the discussion prompts you to preparation, that's a good thing. If the discussion prompts you to panic, unrealistic projections about things that people get frightened about, that's not where we're at.
We need to use this as an energy to prepare. That's exactly what the president was saying. He wasn't panicking, he wasn't saying that the world is going to come to an end. He's going to say as part of our preparation an option might be quarantining and using certain mechanisms to quarantine.
KING: Let's look around the world for a minute.
What is, or perhaps who -- as in a specific country or countries -- are the weak links, if you will, in stopping it from spreading?
FAUCI: Well, the weak links are the Asian countries if they are not transparent in the sense of allowing the rest of the world to know the real-time information about how this virus might be evolving.
And that's -- you know, the president went before the General Assembly and called for cooperation and transparency among nations.
The concern we have is that right now as you track the virus -- as I mentioned it does not go efficiently from human to human. If there are cases of efficient spread from human to human that we don't know about it, that would be a very bad thing. We need real-time transparency so that we can track this and take the appropriate steps as that evolves.
KING: In the worst-case scenario that the president is preparing for, he's talking about quarantines but he also talked about trying to get what he called a surge in the production capability of a vaccine.
Does that vaccine exist today? FAUCI: Yes.
We have a vaccine that's against the virus that's now circulating. It is safe and it has been tested in individuals and shown that it can induce an immune response.
Now, that might change as the virus evolves and you have to keep up with it. That's why when I was saying about getting the real-time information.
But what the president was talking about the surge is that we do not have in this country or globally the capacity to manufacture the doses that would be required to protect the American public.
And Secretary Leavitt has been working very closely with the pharmaceutical companies to try and figure out how we can work together to develop that capacity.
KING: Quarantine -- the word quarantine coming from the lips of the president of the United States pretty alarming I think to people who were listening to that today.
Is that a -- A, is it a foreseeable scenario if you can't stop the spread of this? And, B, would it work?
Could you quarantine the state of California and stop the disease?
FAUCI: John, that's a good point.
Quarantine works if you can get it early on in the course of a spread. If there is virus in every state of the Union, quarantine doesn't make any sense. What the president was referring to was trying to nip it in the bud if there are isolated pockets. Or, for example, if you have planes coming in, you want to quarantine that, or if you have a certain area.
But once it diffusely spreads, it doesn't work. So what he was talking about was that early on there are critical points in the epidemic where things like identification, isolation and quarantine can work.
KING: Dr. Anthony Fauci, thank you very much for your time today.
FAUCI: Good to be here. Thank you.
KING: And stay tuned to CNN day and night, of course, for the most reliable news about your security.
The war on drugs -- an exclusive look just ahead at a DEA bust and children who are innocent victims of addiction.
And later, if only there were a way to defang a monster hurricane. Some ideas that have been floated may surprise you.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Lou Dobbs is getting ready for his show at the top of the hour.
Lou, give us a preview.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": Thank you, John.
At 6:00 p.m. tonight here on CNN we'll be reporting on the escalating war in Iraq and the rising number of American casualties. Is our troops still on the offensive?
And we'll have an exclusive interview tonight with "New York Times" reporter Judith Miller, who spent almost three months in jail to protect her confidential sources in the CIA/White House leak case -- a case that is still under investigation, an investigation that has now taken longer than that of Watergate.
All that and more coming up at the top of the hour. Please join us.
Now back to you, John.
KING: Thank you, Lou. We look forward to that.
Some 400 people, including law enforcement personnel, are meeting here in Washington discussing ways to protect children exposed to the drug trade. The number one danger -- methamphetamine. It's now at epidemic proportions.
Recently, the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted a massive sweep targeting meth labs and meth distribution. Operation Wildfire covered more than 200 cities, resulted in more than 400 arrests and shut down more than 50 meth labs.
CNN'S Brian Todd had exclusive access to a group of law enforcement teams in southern Michigan who took part in the sweep.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Law enforcement officers sneaking up on a suspected drug lab, part of an aggressive nationwide sweep called Operation Wildfire targeting what U.S. law enforcement officials say is the most dangerous drug in America.
KAREN TANDY, DEA ADMINISTRATOR: Meth has spread like wildfire across the United States. It has burned out communities, scorched childhoods and charred once happy and productive lives beyond recognition.
TODD: Methamphetamine -- a toxic, crudely made powder that law enforcement agents say is at least as addictive as crack cocaine, but cheaper and more powerful. Users able to sustain a high for several hours, sometimes days at a time by taking a tiny hit smaller than a fingertip.
Do enough of those, former users say, and the body is ravaged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I used to weigh a lot less than I do today other than I got some teeth issues and stuff like that, because it does cause calcium problems, which the impurities then come back out through your skin. So then they're itching and scratching, and get a lot of scarring.
TODD: Law enforcement officials say meth abuse has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S., an estimated million and a half regular uses, many of them in rural areas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to give you some GPS coordinates. 10-4, we're in front of the prison right now. I'm the last car.
TODD: In southern Michigan, a crucial component of Operation Wildfire -- five teams, each combining agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, state and local police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will go through a walkway to clear the garage where we think they may be cooking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're out.
TODD: CNN is given exclusive access, riding with the teams as they fan out over several counties looking for users, traffickers and the so-called meth labs where they operate -- labs that are in reality just kitchens, shacks and garages.
(on camera): Are you guys nervous at all about these things, or you've just been at it too long to be nervous?
DETECTIVE TONY SAUCEDO, MICHIGAN STATE POLICE: Always in the back of your mind you're always thinking about trying to think ahead of what could go wrong, et cetera. As far as nervousness, maybe at the very beginning, but once you get actually into the execution of it, it's like anything else, you just -- instincts take over.
TODD (voice-over): We have to blur the faces of some agents who do undercover work. We move with them in convoy and by helicopter to raid dozens of targets over hundreds of square miles.
Speed and precision are vital.
Once a target is located, they move in with surprise and overwhelming force.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police, search warrant. Police, search warrant.
TODD: At this house in Kalamazoo, one suspect is pulled outside. Inside, a DEA agent takes this video, a woman police believe is high on meth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some unnatural type of stuffing in here. TODD: Creative hiding places for possible ingredients.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that.
TODD: Elsewhere, suspects are more elusive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't buy the Kentucky thing. I wouldn't mind just going by that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Yes, if we got something out here, we can check. We know what he's driving.
TODD: After a short chase, two are caught at a dead end in the woods. One tells agents he's been using meth recently. They lead a team to the end of another road not far away.
(on camera): This is what the DEA and state police teams have chased all morning. They've gone to four houses, interviewed suspects, chased two suspects into the woods and now they've come to this place after getting some information from all those operations.
This is what they found, a meth lab in that hollowed-out shack right there. And you've got some agents wearing masks in there testing out what they found.
(voice-over): Over two days, we come across six suspected meth labs.
The teams take down 10 in all in southern Michigan, 19 arrests are made.
But for each raid that brings in suspected users or traffickers, there are houses where suspects may have been tipped off and taken off.
Left behind with potential evidence, wives, girlfriends -- many of them, agents say, also hooked on meth. And children often exposed to the toxic chemicals used to cook the sometimes lethal mix.
Can law enforcement keep up with these mom and pop meth labs that are seemingly everywhere?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't move, don't move. Get on the ground now, now.
TODD: As one agent put it, they're making a difference, chipping away at this problem with each takedown.
But other veteran narcotics officers are less sure.
(on camera): Do you guys feel like you're keeping up with this or do you not feel you're keeping up?
DETECTIVE DAVID COOK, MICHIGAN STATE POLICE: Unfortunately, I don't think we're keeping up with it at all.
TODD: Why?
COOK: Just it's so prevalent out there that we can't get to every single one. All we can do is take the information we got on each one and go after that one person which may lead us to another one.
TODD (voice-over): Brian Todd, CNN, south central Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And tomorrow, the human toll -- children caught in the meth epidemic, many exposed to dangerous chemicals growing up with a meth lab at home.
We'll have part two of Brian Todd's exclusive report tomorrow right here in THE SITUATION ROOM. And let's talk more about this fight against drugs. Our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is here with Internet tools to help parents and the public identify street drugs -- Jacki.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: John, we did find some information online to help you learn more about methamphetamine and other street drugs from whitehousedrugpolicy.gov. They have a database of over 2,300 street terms having to do with drugs and drug activities. Take a look at what this list looks like. It's pretty comprehensive. That's just part of it right there.
When you click through it to something like methamphetamine, this is what it will give you, the street term, things like biker's coffee or boo. It's an alphabetical list. You can go all the way down it.
Also from that same site, there's another section of drug facts. And you can go to specific drugs and it will tell you everything you need to know about background, about the effects of the drug, the availability and the drug enforcement agencies -- how they're handling this sort of thing. Again, it's whitehousedrugpolicy.gov.
Another site we wanted to show you was from the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration. They actually have a database as well of photographs. This is a photo library. You can see the list is not as long here as it is on the other one, but some of the more popular or well-known street drugs.
And if you click through it will give you a photograph. Here we see methamphetamine like Brian was talking about in his package. It'll give you all of the different sorts of forms that it can take in photo form.
And then another site we found we thought was kind of interesting is called drugs.com. They have a pill identifier. If you find something and you don't know what it is, you can go onto the site, you can put in the form that the drug is in -- is it a tablet, is it a capsule?
What shape is it? Is it round? Is it oval? Also you can tell what kind of text it has imprinted on it and it will find out for you what that could be. Again, that's at drugs.com. It's a good way for parents to help identify something if they find it maybe in their teenagers' room and they don't know what it could possibly be -- John.
KING: All right, Jacki, thank you very much.
And still ahead you can see a killer hurricane coming but there is not much anyone can do to stop it. Or is there? You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Here's a look at some of the hot shots coming in from the Associated Press. Pictures likely to be in your newspapers tomorrow. In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomes the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for the start of the European Union Leader Summit.
In New York, just out of jail journalist Judith Miller back at the news room at "The New York Times." She's giving an exclusive interview to Lou Dobbs right here on CNN at the top of the hour.
And in Fort Worth, Texas, look at this. Six-week old Guapo (ph) makes his debut. A special nursery was created at the zoo for the jaguar cub to help educate the public about this endangered species.
And in Germany, they were dancing on the tables to mark the end of Oktoberfest. More than six million people visiting Munich this year for the world's largest folk festival. And that's today's hot shots.
With all the worry over more hurricanes in the ongoing Atlantic hurricane season, some are asking how might we avoid another Katrina or Rita? While hurricane experts offer their professional advice, other ideas can be discussed only as strange. Here's CNN's John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take a whole bunch of jet engines, load them on barges and haul them out in the ocean. Simple, and says MIT scientist Moshe Alamaro, the engines may be all that's needed to reduce a hurricane's punch.
MOSHE ALAMARO, MIT SCIENTIST: If you reduce the wind speed by 10 percent, you reduce the power of the storm by 50 percent.
ZARRELLA: Alamaro's theory works like this. Barges, each carrying about 20 jet engines would be positioned off the coastline. When a hurricane approaches, the engines pointed upward are started.
ALAMARO: It's expected the vertical jet would create plumes and updraft and thunderstorm and hopefully a tropical storm.
ZARRELLA: These storms would sap the energy from the ocean, cooling the water. When the hurricane passes over the cooled water, it would lose some strength. Even if the hurricane and tropical storms hit, the damage would be much less than from a major storm. Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield has seen hundreds of ideas from well-intentioned folks, many he neatly keeps in what he calls the x-files.
MAX MAYFIELD, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: The harmonizer which is connected to the nerve endings coming from the brain to -- I don't understand what he's talking about here.
ZARRELLA: Mayfield gets proposals from all corners of the world.
MAYFIELD: This is from the Pepperville (ph) correctional institution. This guy is in jail.
ZARRELLA (on camera): In South Carolina.
(voice-over): If only there was a silver bullet to drain a hurricane's power. In the 1960s through the early 80s, the federal government went looking for it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a way?
ZARRELLA: It was called Project Storm Fury, the plan, seed the hurricane with silver iodide crystals that would induce precipitation. Making rain would release heat, force the eye wall to expand, and reduce the storm's strength, project scientists hoped, by up to 15 percent.
In 1969 the work seemed to pay off. A hurricane was seeded twice. Both times the wind speed was reduced. The problem was, the team could never prove they caused the change. Many scientists felt man could not have done it.
After all, a hurricane is monstrous. In a single day it releases energy equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs. And then, the political winds came into play. The Castro government charged the U.S. was trying to steer storms to the island, and the Mexican government felt altering hurricanes would deprive them of rainfall.
The project was shut down in 1983. The government has not tried again, so Max Mayfield keeps waiting.
MAYFIELD: This one that inquires here set a quadrapole (ph) resonator.
ZARRELLA (on camera): Do you know what that is? What's a quadrapole resonator?
MAYFIELD: You don't have one of those?
ZARRELLA: I don't have on of those.
(voice-over): Maybe someday a letter with a silver bullet will cross his desk.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: We're right here in THE SITUATION ROOM every weekday afternoon from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm John King, thanks for watching. Don't go anywhere. LOU DOBBS TONIGHT starts right now, and Lou's in New York.
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