Congress to Pass 9/11 Commission Recommendations; Spinach Could Prevent Variety of Illnesses

I am posting on the part with the interview with John Lehman. If you don't read the whole thing at least scroll down and check out Soledad's insightful question in bold


S. O'BRIEN: As part of the 100 hours agenda, Democrats are vowing to pass more recommendations from the 9/11 Commission. Here's Nancy Pelosi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: Let us be the Congress that strongly honors our responsibility to protect the American people from terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP) S. O'BRIEN: John Lehman is a former commissioner of the 9/11 panel, also former secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration. He joins us this morning. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for talking with us.

JOHN LEHMAN, FORMER 9/11 COMMISSIONER: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: So that's sort of hopeful words from Nancy Pelosi early on, but in reality what we have seen over the last two years is slow, or really more like no progress, in implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations :shrug: THAT IS PELOSI'S FAULT? :grr: . Of all the recommendations still outstanding, what do you think should be the number one priority?

LEHMAN: Well, this is a terrific development because it's not just posturing. I believe the speaker is really serious, and one of the indicators of her seriousness is that she's taking on the barons of the big committees, particularly Appropriations, in recommending the creation of a select -- a permanent select committee that will have real legislative power, which has never been the case before. It's been divided up among many committees, which means there's been no coherence to either the oversight or the programming and budgeting of the intelligence community.

So, those with the most lobbyists, i.e. the hardware contractors, get all the money, and the area specialists, the Arabic speaker programs, the human spies have been starved for funding, and the technology, most important of all, to detect nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, which is the real threat we face, let no mistake be perceived here, because virtually every other terrorist we capture, in Afghanistan or here in the U.S. or in Britain, is involved in trying to get nuclear materials and get them into the United States, and especially New York and set them off.

S. O'BRIEN: So when you see this list that Nancy Pelosi has promised -- and she promised it before the midterm elections -- improving first responder communications, base security funding on risk, all air cargo screened within four year, and the one you mentioned, creating that select committee for intelligence oversight. Is there something not on this list that you think needs to be?

LEHMAN: No, because she's -- she's really taken on the pushing of all 41 of our recommendations, and the remarkable thing about the unanimous recommendations of the 9/11 commission is they're not pie in the sky. They're all easily achievable, and it's not going to take a huge amount of money. It just means putting the money where it should be, rather than pork barrel.

S. O'BRIEN: You saw what happened at the port of Miami over the last couple of days, and even the natural gas smell wafting across New Jersey, where everyone is sort of like we don't really know where it's coming from. Does that make you feel good about the security of our nation, or do you think that shows big holes?

LEHMAN: Well, there's good news and bad news in it, because, number one, as we found in our investigation, the people -- the men and women on the frontlines in the customs and in the inspection teams of Homeland Security, they get it. They're really looking, and they're playing it smart. It's remarkable and encouraging to see.

S. O'BRIEN: They blow up sprinkler parts at the Port of Miami.

LEHMAN: The problem is they don't have the technology because there are no big contractors pushing it. They want the money for satellites and things like that. The physics and the technology is available to detect nuclear weapons and to detect biologics and the things that al Qaeda is trying to put into this country, but we have not, because of the dispersal and pork barrel of the Congress, funded the programs to give these guys on the frontlines the tools to detect and not get all these false positives.

S. O'BRIEN: Of all the changes we've seen from President Bush in the last several days, what do you think are the best?

LEHMAN: I think the best --

(CROSS TALK)

LEHMAN: Well, that is a good change. First of all, the president's approach to intelligence reform, I think, is a disaster. Instead of doing what we had recommended, which is tearing down bureaucracy, tearing down the stove pipes, he has created a whole new bureaucracy.

Now, John Negroponte is, I think, one of the best diplomats we have had in this era, and he is finally going to where he should be, which is the number two at state, and one day he will be a fine secretary of state. But I'm afraid intelligence reform is going to have to await the next president to do that. The most positive thing that the president has done in the past few days is to put Fox Fallon (ph) as Centcom. Here is a guy who really is experienced. It's not just --

S. O'BRIEN: Navy admiral replacing --

LEHMAN: He is very experienced in combat, in the Persian Gulf. He has been in Bosnia. He is very savvy, very intelligent, and he takes a broader view. You are putting Petraeus, who is the best ground commander, in charge of the war, and you are putting the most experienced and savvy officer in charge of the theater, because you've got -- he has to integrate not just Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, but the threat from Iran.

S. O'BRIEN: So you like him?

LEHMAN: And the naval threat of closing off oil. So it's a terrific assignment.

S. O'BRIEN: You like that change. All right, nice to see you. The former 9/11 commissioner John Lehman joining us this morning. Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you Soledad. Coming up, a developing story, the latest on U.S. air power targeting al Qaeda in Somalia. Plus, what might prevent Alzheimer's. Dr. Sanjay Gupta pays a House Call with the latest research. You might want to each your spinach. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0701/09/ltm.02.html