American Morning
Obama: Intel failure was potentially disastrous
President Obama delivered a loud-and-clear message to his national security team yesterday. The president used strong language in a private meeting in the Situation Room with top aides, a senior administration official said.
"This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous," he said, according to the official. "We dodged a bullet, but just barely."
The president is pressuring his team to fix the mistakes that led to the attempted airline bombing Christmas Day. What can be done going forward? And will anyone be held accountable for failing to connect the dots?
On Wednesday's American Morning we discussed the matter with National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.
Cameras not on during airport breach
(CNN) - Cameras that might have shown the man who walked through security Sunday at Newark, New Jersey, Liberty International Airport were not recording during the incident, a federal official said Tuesday.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis said TSA-funded and Port Authority-installed and -operated cameras were running but not recording at the time of the security breach on Sunday evening, which led officials to shut Terminal C for hours and re-screen thousands of passengers.
Govt. changes watch list system after failed bombing
Washington (CNN) - The U.S. government has lowered the threshold for information deemed important enough to put suspicious individuals on a watch list or no-fly list, or have their visa revoked, senior State Department officials tell CNN.
The government overhauled criteria it uses for putting possible terrorists on such lists as a result of the failed Christmas Day attack, officials said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the material. Our Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jill Dougherty has the report.
Read more: U.S. changes criteria for inclusion on no-fly lists
Sen. Dodd to announce retirement
(CNN) - Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, plans to announce his retirement Wednesday, two sources close to the lawmaker told CNN. He plans to announce the decision at a news conference, one of the sources said.
Dodd, 65, had been winning congressional elections in his state since 1974, but he's recently been considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election in 2010. Our Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash has the report.
Read more: Sen. Dodd to retire, sources tell CNN
Lobbying for Your Health: 150,000 seniors in revolt
Editor's Note: Lobbyists have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence the health care debate in this country. By some counts, there were six health care lobbyists for every member of Congress. In part three of the American Morning original series, "Lobbying for Your Health," Carol Costello looks at the AARP's contentious role in the debate.
By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello
November 5, 2009. That's the day the AARP endorsed the House health care bill. With nearly 40 million members, it's not surprising that the president quickly came before cameras in the White House to thank the AARP for its endorsement.
That AARP endorsement wasn't universally applauded by all of the organization's millions of members. The organization admits it has lost 150,000 members since the endorsement but says that's been offset by more than 2-million new or renewed memberships.
Some, like Robert Tice, feel the AARP is out of touch with its members by focusing so much on selling insurance. He says he will let his AARP membership lapse without renewal because he doesn't like what they're up to.
"The letters don't mean American Association of Retired Persons," he told CNN's Carol Costello. "It just means AARP. It's just a name. ... The AARP is about insurance. People need to know that. AARP is not out there to help you."
In fact, the AARP brands several types of insurance, including health policies with United Healthcare. By endorsing so many insurance policies the organization brought in around $650 million dollars last year in premiums. That's almost three times what it took in from membership dues.
We Listen: Your Comments – January 5, 2010
Editor's Note: Tuesday’s American Morning audience reacted strongly to part two of Carol Costello's report on health care lobbying groups.
- Dan: Absolutely un-[…]-believable!! Costello is doing a feature on lobbying the health care bill and she singles out the SEIU? Can no one at CNN tell the difference between groups who lobby for the rights of average Americans and those who spend tens of millions trying to protect the profits of the huge health industry corporations? In this age where "lobbyists" are framed in a very negative light, singling out SEIU, and AARP, is reprehensible. Of course, those groups are not spending nearly the sums that the industry groups are on advertising on CNN. You people truly suck.
- Eliot: I was interested this morning to FINALLY see a story coming up about the outsized influence lobbyists are playing in the health care debate. I was, however, shocked to see your story focused exclusively on the SEIU president and their lone lobbyist and contained not a mention of the probably 5000 lobbyists working against reform. Your report was deliberately deceptive, misleading and completely transparent in its aim.
- Art: Two thousand pages in the house bill, and I will bet that half of that was written by or for some lobby and not for those in need of decent health care. Get rid of the lobbyists!
How do you feel about lobbying groups in Washington? Continue the conversation below.
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