president announced on tuesday. so far, a lot of good response verbally from nato countries to the president's request for troops. but not a lot yet in fra cal terms. britain confirmed 500 troops. italy bolstering its troops to 3,000. as well, poland is committing to 600 troops. and georgia said it will put 900 in. and slovakia said it would put in 250. hillary clinton, secretary of state, will be arriving tomorrow morning to talk to the ministers of other nato countries about increasing the force levels. as far as we know there's not going to be lot of arm twisting, but the u.s. will be putting subtle pressure on its allies, saying that afghanistan is everyone's problem, not just america's problem. richard holbrooke has been here for a couple of days. as well as other issues, he hasn't exactly been high on reconstruction civilian efforts in afghanistan. saying while military forces have been unified, it has been ununified in terms of trying to rebuild the country on a civilian level. so kiran, all of that coming away from nato headquarters in brussels. meanwhile we have other big stories to tell you about. the white house accepting some of the blame for the security breach at the president's first state dinner. also making big changes to keep president obama safer. all of this going on while lawmakers are pressing for more answers about how this happened in the first place. and selling the surge in afghanistan to the american people and to congress. it's being played out now on capitol hill. members of the administration's war council will be back today. explaining and defending president obama's plan. this morning, a warning of what could happen if the strategy goes wrong. and president obama focusing on the economy this afternoon. on his to-do list, specifically what to do about the 16 million unemployed americans. he's hosting a summit at the white house with business leaders. but can brainstorming bring back jobs? our jim accosta is six miles from the white house where real out of work americans have something to say to the president. first, though, the white house admitting it shares the blame for the security breach at president obama's first state dinner. the administration is also making some security changes, after a d.c. couple slipped into the event, uninvited. the big unanswered question this morning is -- how did michaele and tareq salahi get into the white house dinner? the couple and the white house facing a call for answers from capitol hill. suzanne malveaux is live from our washington bureau, even though congressmen want to interview some of the keer players in this, they are saying no thanks. >> they are saying no thanks. the white house this morning is taking part responsibility for failing to properly vet the crowd answering the president's state dinner. the deputy chief of staff put out this statement essentially saying that the white house did not do everything we could have done to assist the u.s. secret service in insuring that only invited guests entered the complex. they say that's going to change. now this acknowledgement comes after nine days of tough questions concerning the president's security. the white house and secret service both say they weren't supposed to be there. but dressed to the nines, there they were, meeting the vice president and even the president himself. so how did michaele and tareq salahi get into president obama's first state dinner? the white house is still trying to figure it out. >> obviously there's an ongoing assessment and investigation by the secret service into what happened, i guess a little more than a week ago. >> reporter: monday, press secretary robert gibbs deflected reporters. but 48 hours, gibbs says staff will start watching the doors. >> last night was the first of many who will holiday parties that will happen in, in this complex over the next several weeks. we had staff at the security check-point to insure that if there was any confusion about lists, those would be double-checked with somebody representing the social office. >> reporter: lawmakers on capitol hill want answers, too. the house homeland security committee will have a hearing today, but they may not have many witnesses. social secretary desiree rodgers has been under fire since the security breach. but the white house says don't expect her to testify. >> you know based on separation of powers, staff here don't go to testify in front of congress. you won't, she will not be testifying in front of congress. >> reporter: and even though the salahis are invited, they won't be coming, either. in a statement obtained by the "associated press" their publicist says -- >> reporter: but that's not sitting well with the chairman of the homeland security committee. congressman bernie thompson says if the salahis are a no-show, he's ready to start handing out subpoenas. so, kiran, as you know, the issue of white house staffers testifying before congress, that isn't new. when i covered president bush, his top aides refused to testify over firing some u.s. attorneys and cited the separation of powers, the idea that the executive branch, the white house, the legislative branch, or congress, co-equal branches of government, therefore, they can't compel each other to act. it wasn't until after there was litigation to enforce the subpoenas and mr. bush left office, that ultimately they did give those depositions. so we're going to have to see what happens, how this plays out in this case. but already, kiran, there is some criticism because the obama administration had actually vowed, mr. obama vowed during the campaign to be different than president bush in promising an administration that is open and transparent, so there's still a lot of questions about whether or not she should come forward, whether or not she should testify and ultimately how this is going to turn out. kiran. >> a lot of questions, and we'll be talking with congressman bernie thompson as you pointed out in your piece, the chairman of the house homeland security committee. he wants to get all of them there, even if it means a subpoena. will he go that route? the white house social secretary, the salahis, no-show for today's hearing. what's the next step? more on that in a moment. now let's head back to brussels where john is this morning, hey, john. >> kiran, good morning to you. we're outside of nato headquarters in brussels where for the next few days the foreign ministers of the 28 nato countries will be talking about afghanistan and whether or not to commit for troops to the cause. yesterday 9 members of the obama administration were on capitol hill selling the bill very hard. the secretary of state, secretary of defense and the joint chiefs of staff appearing before the senate armed services committee. they got a respect foreign minister welcome from the members of that committee on a personal level. when it came to policy, the fur was flying, to say the least. the democrats were pummelling them on the idea of putting 30,000 more troops in afghanistan. democrats would like to see our profile in afghanistan reduced, as opposed to increased. the problem for republicans was the idea of a timeline to begin getting out of afghanistan, jl of 2011. let's listen to some of the exchange from yesterday. >> will we withdraw our forces based on conditions on the ground? or based on an arbitrary date? >> we will be in a position in particularly uncontested areas, where we will be able to begin the transition. >> let's suppose you're not? >> i think we will be in a position then to evaluate whether or not we can begin that transition in july. >> which is it? it's got to be one or the other. it's got to be the appropriate conditions, or it's got to be an arbitrary date. >> we will have a thorough review in december of 2010. if it appears that the strategy is not working and we are not going to be able to transition in 2011, then we will take a hard look at the strategy itself. >> some tough questions yesterday for administration officials. in part because congress does not want to see a repeat of what happened in afghanistan during the 1980s. a secret war, funded by the c.i.a., supporting the mujahedin against the soviets. the mujahedin which eventually went on to become america's enemies. they don't want to see that happen again. our foreign affairs correspondent, jill doherty, has more on that front. >> john, kiran, you hear it over and over. this can't be a replay of "charlie wilson's war." a film that depicted a horror movie for afghanistan and for america's foreign policy. "charlie wilson's war." a movie based on reality. and a warning of what could happen if president obama doesn't get his afghan strategy right. >> what is u.s. strategy? >> strictly speaking, we don't have one. but we're working on it. >> in the film, congressman charlie wilson helps funnel u.s. aid to mujahedin fighters battling soviet troops in 1989, only for washington to abandon afghanistan when russia withdraws. >> i had a privilege of serving with congressman charlie wilson in the house of representatives. >> reporter: 20 years later, congress is holding hearings on president obama's policy. and the analogy is only too real. >> mr. secretary, i am so happy to see in your statement, and i quote you -- we will not repeat the mistakes of 19 89, when we abandoned the country only to see it descend into civil war and then into taliban hands. >> reporter: president obama says he'll begin withdrawing u.s. troops in 2011. but his secretary of defense claims that does not mean america is abandoning afghanistan. >> we must not repeat the mistake of 1989. and turn our backs on these folks, and when we've got the security situation with them under control, then the civilian and the development part must be the preponderance of our relationship far into the future. >> reporter: american civilian specialists in agriculture, law, government, health care and economics are training for afghanistan. their mission? reverse the momentum of the taliban by rebuilding the economy and helping the afghan government provide services for its citizens. >> as we put additional troops in, we want to have more civilians embedded with them. we want to have them right there on the ground when combat is over to begin the building process and part anywhering with their civilian counterparts. >> reporter: the hope? no rerun force charlie wilson's war. clinton says all of this depends on afghan president, hamid karzai. he's promised to fight corruption and deliver for the afghan people. she says his words were long in coming, but welcome. now they must be matched with action. john? kiran? >> jill dougherty, our foreign affairs correspondent. again, the obama administration insisting it will not cut and run. that the withdrawal of american forces will be based on conditions on the ground. but at the same time saying it wants to begin to draw down the forces in july of 2011. a lot of questions to be answered. we'll put some of the questions to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen coming at 6:30 here on the most news in the morning. now back to new york and kiran. >> it's 11 minutes after the hour. other stories new this morning, she has so far denied an affair with tiger woods. but rachel uchitel may be ready to 'fess up. meanwhile, tiger woods apologizing on his website for unspecified quote transgressions and personal failings, this after a magazine published a voice mail message they said is from tiger woods to another alleged mistress. meantime fell or pga player said he owes woods' wife an apology for introducing them. new york state lawmakers have rejected a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. the vote, 38-24. advocates of gay marriage say that republican supporters of the bill were scared off by the election drama in new york's 23rd district. and in a race, a republican who supported gay marriage was forced out of the running by hard-line skoifrs. and a look at democracy in action, argentina style. lawmakers in that country's chaco province channelled their inner jerry springer. ten lawmakers were slightly injured when chair-throwing officials from the party in power tried to stop the opposition from entering the room. police were called in to end the brawl. >> it makes what goes on in our sessions of congress look quite civilized. meantime, we'll be talking about this white house jobs summit taking place, jim accosta talks to unemployed americans living in the shadows of the white house, what do they want to hear about prospects for helping more americans get work. it's 13 minutes past the hour. i chose habitat for humanity. our pets are our kids. we chose the aspca. we're sharing the love again this year. because giving back feels good. on the subaru outback, motor trend's 2010 and two hundred fifty dollars gets donated to your immune plus shot. this little shot is more like a big shot of-- (dog barking) ...for your immune system. feel the-- (dog barking) feel the good welcome back to the most news in the morning, 16 minutes past the hour right now. the president shifting focus from afghanistan to jobs. hosting a forum, looking for ideas to put 16 million americans back to work. our jim accosta joins us live from washington with an a.m. original. you had a chance to talk to people who are feeling the pain of the unemployment numbers directly. >> that's right. the prous says the president will hear from ceos, small business leaders and union leaders from the jobs forum. but once the foempl is wrapped up, he may want to cross the potomac and meet some of the real people who understand the jobs crisis all too well because they're living it. just six miles from the white house volunteers at this northern virginia food bank are bagging up free groceries for the poor. >> i got to the point where i put canned expired food inside my cupboards, you know? i'm scared. >> that's where we met this unemployed mother. she asked us to call her pidy. >> people are hungry out here, people are starving. >> reporter: she told us how she spends her days, scrambling from food banks to clothing distribution centers to make sure she gets the basics. on top of the ten applications for jobs she said she filled out since september. >> how can you work hard when you don't have a chance to get into the doors. >> reporter: is this as bad as you've ever seen it? >> this is as bad as i've ever seen it. i've been a director for five years and i was an employee for ten years we've never seen anything like this. >> reporter: the director of the food pantry sees a hunger for work. any message you would give to somebody who sees this on the front lines? >> anything they can do to stimulate jobs is a big help. i spoke to a business group the other day, if you want to help me, don't lay anybody off. we really need jobs. >> reporter: the white house insists the president is taking on the unemployment crisisth and that his jobs forum with political and business leaders is just the beginning. republicans say, that's just the problem. >> we believe it represents a tacit admission that the economic policies of this administration and this congress have failed. >> reporter: just around the corner of the food pantry, one man says the politicians better hurry. he runs a day labor center where he notes that jobs are drying up for the working poor. is it scary when you take a look at what's happening right now? >> it is beyond scary. at least in terms of the glimpses that we're getting here for the day laborers, it's devastating. >> reporter: and it's devastating for people like pidy, who doubts there's much that the president can do for her. >> we're going to be a third-world country pretty soon. >> reporter: after his jobs forum, the president takes his message on the road to allentown, pennsylvania. the jobless rate there is almost identical to the national average, around 10%. and just an indication, kiran, that the white house is really racking its brains to try to solve this jobless crisis. white house press secretary, robert gibbs, yesterday said at the briefinger that open to ideas. so just an indication that this is a very difficult problem to solve. >> we'll be talking about this with you throughout the morning as well. jim accosta for us, thanks so much. coming up in ten minutes, we'll be breaking down another challenge for the president, that is moving forward with a new strategy for afghanistan. admiral mike mullen will be joining us to talk about the challenges and how prepared we'll be when we send 30,000 more troops to the fight. national car rental knows i'm picky. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. ♪ okay. seriously, you choose. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] every penny counts. so does every moment. make the most of both this holiday season with great gifts at great prices from l.l. bean. ♪ ♪ i go back to too tall chevy >> just for you this morning. >> just for me. >> stephanie elam is "minding your business" this morning. we're putting the focus on the economy. the president with his jobs summit and a lot of concerns about where we're headed. >> that's true, first we'll look at the bank of america craziness and the t.a.r.p. basically, how about paying some money back? that's what bank of america wants to do, they want to free their minds and not be under the government. >> and pay their ceos the big bonuses. >> bank of america is paying out $45 billion in bailout money. and on top of it they're going to add to that, $26.2 billion in cash as well. this all has to be voted on by shareholders. but the idea here is really going to free them up from a lot of restrictions. for one thing, they won't have to make dividend payments on the money they've gotten from the t.a.r.p., that's a huge deal, they've paid $2.54 billion to treasury so far 24 year. it will save $3.6 billion. on top of that, they're free to pay their top executives what they want to, how they want to. no more pay caps. that will probably help in a search for a new ceo. they wanted to have a new ceo lined up by thanksgiving. ceo ken lewis is supposed to leave by the end of the year and retire. and they're provide will be i saying i don't want to get bothered with that. just so you know, they got $25 billion in aid last fall and in january they got another $20 billion simply because they were trying to work out all of the moving parts with associated losses regarding to merrill lynch. >> once they pay us back free and clear, they don't owe anything else to the government? >> right. they want to be free to do what they want and operate as their own independent operation. >> would that leave just citi -- >> citi is still one of them. that's one of the exponential ones that we have out there. you have wells fargo. there's a couple of the other ones. but one of the bigger ones would be citi. >> let's see if it's a move in the right direction and they can lend again. stephanie elam "minding your business" thank you so much. next, we're talking about human trafficking, this is a shrimp industry practice. varying types of human trafficking and some are comparing the shrimp industry to modern-day slavery. we'll take a look at why. would you like a pony ? yeah. would you like a pony ? yeah ! ( cluck, cluck, cluck ) oh, wowww ! that's fun ! you didn't say i could have a real one. well, you didn't ask. even kids know when it's wrong to hold out on somebody. why don't banks ? we're ally, a new bank that alerts you when your money could be working harder and earning more. it's just the right thing to do. 27 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. shrimp imports are a multibillion dollar business in the u.s. but to hear the state department tell it, industry workers in southeast asia are modern-day slaves. and those abuses are being felt by shrimpers in this country. tainting the product that's ending up on your dinner plate. shawn calebs is digging deeper in his series. >> reporter: it's the kind of night just outside new orleans that used to be a bonanza for sha richers like paul willis. >> this past, on an evening like this ten years ago, would have had 300 vessels in here right now, ready to shrimp. you're going to see eight tonight. that's what's happened to this industry. >> reporter: fuel cost and mother nature may be a never-ending battle. but willis says his biggest foe is cheap shrimp pouring in from asia. >> foreign industries are using cheap labor, slave labor, call it whatever you want, we can't compete. >> reporter: willis said he's forced to sell shrimp at the same price he did 15 years ago. and that's still not as cheap as the cut-rate asian shrimp selling at $3 a pound. a price at which willis said he wouldn't even break even. consumers know what they buy some seafood, like tuna, that it's dolphin safe. but critics complain that when you buy shrimp, there's no label that it came slave-free. >> one of the oldest crimes in the world is alive and well, in slavery. >> the u.s. ambassador in human trafficking said the shrimp industry in asia is one of the worst offenders. a three-year investigation by the afl-cio-affiliated solidarity center, said workers as young as eight are subject to sweatshop conditions. >> men's bodies wash up routinely on the shores of cambodia, malaysia, where they've been tossed overboard. usually for asking for a fair wage. talking back to the boss. asking to be taken back to shore. >> reporter: however, not all critics agree with the report. the aqua culture certification council, an american agency that runs global certification of food safety said the report is exaggerated. and said since it came out, the industry has made a lot of improvement. it's not only shrimp that may have links to a criminal past. but an inexpensive cotton shirt. coffee that's too cheap to be believed. and the chocolate in cookies. for willis, the impact is all too real. and he wants american consumers to ask the tough questions. >> they've heard tales about you know, why can they sell this shirt for $5 when it's made in the usa, would cost $16, how can that be done? >> reporter: well there's a grassroots organization called not for sale, that is working with companies, as well as consumers trying to get them to avoid products allegedly tainted by slave labor. now this is the fastest-growing crime in the world. not for sale said they originally thought it was about a $32 billion a year industry. now they say it could be as much as $150 billion. so kiran, they ask people to think about it when they're buying seafood, shrimp, coffee, chocolate, whatever. if a price is too low to be believed, you might want to think about the footprint, was slave laeb involved. very interesting, thanks so much. former arkansas governor, mike huckabee, is defending the decision to commute the sentence of maurice clemmons back in 2000. he said he was aware that clemmons had a violent past, but couldn't have known about the deadly consequences that would come later. our drew griffin tracked huckabee down in florida. >> i read the entire file. >> reporter: was it just this few pieces of paper? >> no, no, it was a file this thick. >> reporter: did it tell you the violations he had in prison, the assaults, the firearm owe session, the fact that he tried to slip a piece of metal in the court? >> i looked at the file every bit of it. and here's the case where a guy had been given 108 years. if you think an 108-year sentence is an appropriate sentence for a 16-year-old for the crimes he committed, you should run for the governor of arkansas. >> clemmons was killed by seattle police on tuesday, after police say he murdered four policemen at a coffee shop. the nfl plans to begin enforcing strictest rules yet to protect players who have suffered head injuries. new guidelines out saying any player exhibiting any significant sign of a concussion must be taken out of a game or off the practice field and barred from returning the same day. new rules take effect this week. we'll talk about this with a neurologist and the former team doctor for the pittsburgh steelers. later today, secretary of state hillary clinton flies to brussels to meet with nato leaders, hoping to secure additional troops and money for the president's new war strategy in afghanistan. and that's why our john roberts is live in brussels for the upcoming nato talks. hey, john. >> good morning to you, kiran. for the next couple of days, the foreign minister of the 28 nato countries will be meeting here at nato headquarters in brussels, talking about a numb of things. probably foremost among them, president obama's request for an additional about 7,000 nato troops to go into afghanistan to bolster the incoming 30,000 american forces. now, the nato secretary-general rasmussen has said maybe we could get you 5,000, or maybe a little bit more. but there may be a difference between what the u.s. is looking for and what nato is willing to deliver. italy came out today and said it would probably commit 1,000 troops to the cause there. britain has said it would give 500. poland has said we've give six. and georgia said we'll contribute 900. that gets it up to 3,000. but still looking for at least another couple of thousand more troops. and it's interesting when you look at the big nato countries like france and germany, they have said, we don't know if we can give any more troops, but we will not make that decision until a big nato meeting coming up on the 28th of january. and nicolas sarkozy, the president of france last month said no more french troops for afghanistan. the united states is asking france for a commitment of 1500 or so. it will be interesting to see if the big nato countries will come forward with those. or whether or not they might give some paramilitary forces to help in the training. no question, kiran, in addition to the military commitment that the u.s. is look fogger from nato, they're also looking for a civilian commitment, a support commitment. so a lot more forces are going to have to be going in there, not only military, but civilian as well. >> thanks, john. and before secretary of state hillary clinton heads to brussels, she'll be back on capitol hill sitting beside defense secretary robert gaits and joint chis of staff admiral mullen talking questions about the build-up in afghanistan. admiral mullen joins us now. let's talk about the unique challenges of afghanistan's terrain. you look at the afghanistan terrain, the size, the rural areas, how realistic is it in your opinion that the president's wish to have the 30,000 more troops in the country by summer of 2010? how realistic is that when you think about whether or not that can happen. >> we'll get the vast majority of them there by mid-summer. there are you neen challenges to afghanistan, different from iraq. because of the lack of infrastructure, if you will. but we've been working this part of the problem for, for a couple of months, i think we know what we have to do and we know how to do it. i think a great strength of this decision is to get these forces there as rapidly as possible. general mcchrystal gets the forces he needs to, to reverse the momentum of this insurgency, which has gotten worse over the last three years. >> one of the things that president obama has vowed in the past and has repeatedly said is he's not going to send troops without the support that they need to get the job done. we know ieds kill more u.s. troops than anything else in afghanistan. you yourself have said they are the number-one threat and we the new technology in the mine-resistant vehicles and we know they save lives. will the military be able to get more of those vehicles into theater in time for those additional troops? >> yes, we're working that. in fact a lighter mine-resistant vehicle explosive-resistant vehicle, if you will, which has proved incredibly good in iraq in terms of saving lives. not perfect, there still are casualties associated with them. but as you said, it is, it is clearly the number one threat that we have out there. and we're working that very, very hard in afghanistan as we did in iraq. both from a procedure standpoint, as well as a technology standpoint. to work hard to get ahead of it. >> president obama said 18 months and then we'll start pulling out. on capitol hill yesterday, you heard from defense chief robert gates, saying he's adamantly opposed to deadlines. is july 2010 a hard target? >> well, again, i would reemphasize the president's decision to get these forces in as rapidly as possible. it shows resolve, and it also recognizes a sense of urgency. there's also a sense of urgency that the afghan security forces become engaged heavily in training. in taking the lead and that 18-month timeframe, july of 2011 is a time where they can, we can start to transition, transfer responsibility and transition that responsibility to them. but it is not, it is not a hard deadline to leave. it really is to start to bring our troops out. there's no, there's no end date on that, there's not a withdrawal date or anything like that. and it's reasonable from my perspective, to start to be able to do that, based on the strategy that we have. >> okay. again, just to clarify, the july 2010 date is not a hard date to leave the country, it's basically more of a, i guess timeline to start drawing down? >> well it's a target date. at this point. we've been given very clear direction from the president to start to transition the transfer of responsibility for security to the afghan security forces. i mean, this strategy is designed to create breathing space, to turn the security around. it's focused on the people. and in that environment and umbrella, be able to train the afghanistan army, train the afghan police so they can take over their own security. and then conduct that transition. so that target date of july 11 is one we're all shooting for. but it isn't going to be all forces out at that point. we really don't know how many will transition and we'll see when it's closer to that timeframe. >> 2011, i misspoke there, sorry about that, admiral. greg mortensen, he's the author of "three cups of tea" we know that's required reading for counterinsurgency officers in training. missing is the unique role that the triber elders play, and bringing them on board and how important it is. how are you addressing their unique role in afghanistan? >> i think general mccystal and ambassador iconberry. very focused on this part of it. while we certainly need the government in kabul, president karzai and his ministers to be partners. we also need to engage in the greatly depend on local governments. tribal leaders, tribal elders. so general mcchrystal in the execution of this strategy, will spend a lot of time developing those relationships, as will our troops. because we think that's such a critical lynchpin to the long-term security for afghanistan. >> admiral mike mullen, great to hear from you this morning. thanks for joining us. >> thanks, kiran, good to be with you. still ahead, president obama under pressure from his own party to create more jobs, holding a summit today. we'll hear concerns from real-life americans who say they're struggling and want to share their stories as well. what is the plan? and how quickly can it work? we should be a household name. and we will be. so you're suggesting that we change our name from florida, the sunshine state, to...? 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(announcer) priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. ♪ ♪ 43 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the mortgage. president obama is hosting a jobs summit at the white house today. looking for answers from business leaders to bring down unemployment. but for some democrats, that's not good enough. they're facing re-election next year and they're facing a lot of voters out of work and angry. so they've joined forces to give the jobless a voice, jessica yellen has more. >> reporter: they're usually some of president obama's closest political friends but now some house democrats say the white house is failing on their top priority -- creating jobs. so, they're turning up the heat. millions of americans without jobs. are they being ignored? some democrats in congress say yes and they blame their own leaders. >> i'm going to say there's something that's not getting through to them. >> reporter: he's not alone. members of the congressional black caucus are also slamming the white house. demanding the president do more to stem catastrophic job losses in minority communities. >> we're prepared to do what we need to do to truly represent our communities. >> reporter: these members believe the stimulus is not reaching the hardest-hit americans. some of their proposals? redirect remaining stimulus and wall street bailout money to jobs programs. demand banks do more for homeowners facing foreclosure. and pass a new bill to spur job growth. essentially, a stimulus by another name. the white house insists it's already focused on this issue. thursday, holding a jobs summit with ceos, small business owners and others. >> what i think the president wants to do is hear from them on the type of environment that we can have that would allow for the hiring to take place. >> reporter: that's not good enough for these frustrated house members, who say the white house listens too closely to business, especially wall street. representative rush is organized 128 house members to as he says, bring the voices of the jobless to the table. >> wall street has been there for a while, move over, wall street, because here comes main street. >> reporter: one threat? some of these members are talking about organizing a massive march on washington that would bring some of the millions of unemployed americans right to the president's doorstep. john, kiran? >> jessica yellen for us, thanks. a big storm rolling through the northeast. it will be a messy travel day today. today. what's on tap for the rest the day? rob marciano will be joining us with a look. ♪ ♪ 49 minutes past the hour now, welcome back to the most news in the morning. there's a live look at nato headquarters in brussels, belgium. it's 50 degrees there right now. light showers. and that's where our john roberts is reporting live this morning, from brussels, ahead of secretary of state hillary clinton's trip there today. right now we'll check in with rob marciano. we're dealing with some extreme weather in the northeast. man, we're talking about localized flooding all around the new york area. coming in at 3:00 in the morning. what a mess on the roads. >> not to mention the wind, kiran, whipping up because of the storm that started across parts of texas and new mexico, flooding and storms across the northeast. check out the video coming in from georgia. heavy rains between two and five inches in some cases. this is the time of year obviously the leaves are on the ground, it will easily clog up the storm drains that was the main issue. there were some small creeks and streams that went over their flood banks. all of that now across the northeast. here it is on the radar. new york to boston, the heaviest rain is coming to an end in the new york city area. but the winds are whipping up. winds gusting to 47 miles per hour at jfk. getting close to that at philadelphia as well. the winds will be an issue for sure. the severe weather threat that has shifted down to florida, although the storm tornado watch that was in effect has just been allow althoughed to expire as this begins to weaken and the center of low gets far away. today's delays that we expect to happen, new york metros, boston, d.c. and philly, mostly because of the wind, the morning rains will be coming to an end. a little light snow in chicago and minneapolis. we'll be talking for the next system for the south and mid-atlantic and for the northeast over the weekend. we'll talk more about that in the next hour. still ahead, we're offering our viewers a rare opportunity to follow new army enlistees from the home front to the battle front. and we'll be fomg three military lives, three very unique story, jason carroll wi be bringing it to us. ♪ ♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. 54 minutes past the hour. the tiger woods affair has generated lots of headlines. now one website is offering a computer-generated recreation of tiger's suv crash. the latest in the annals of animation, genie moos brings it to us. usually we use animation to illustrate the h1n1 swine flu virus, going up a nostril or even the technique of waterboarding. but now you can watch tiger woods being tortured in a taiwanese computer-generated reenactment. it's generating lots of laughs, at least. critics are picking apart the creation. she's beating the wrong window. tying's escalade has been turned into a minivan. reenactments are par for the course on taiwan's apple daily website. the online news service tends to animate any big news story. it even got fined for animating violent crime too explicitly. look who else they featured. a couple that got into the white house state dinner. of course, not all recreations of news events have to be animated. >> craig moved his right foot so it touched the slide of my left foot. >> slate used stand-ins, to recreate now former senator larry craig's adventures in the rest room. and though this doesn't quite qualify as a reenactment. >> i understand they've already updated the latest version of tiger's video game. >> where is tiger! where is tiger! come on out! >> a sports comedy show in new zealand recreated the version of tiger's story in which his wife rescued him. >> my darling. >> the dramatic rescue is completed as elin resuscitated her husband. >> reporter: gatorade also did it, portraying him as a boy in the ad. big tiger's recreation has inspired jokes. the difference between a cadillac escalade and a golf ball? tiger woods can drive a golf ball 400 yards. jeannie moos, cnn, new york. >> there you go. we have more coming up this morning. the white house is admitting blame in the case of the uninvited guest showing up as president obama's first state dinner. and john is live in brussels, belgium this morning. hi, john. >> good morning, kiran. we've got more coming to you from nato headquarters in brussels this morning, where for the next couple of days, the foreign ministers of the 28 member nato countries will be discussing the way forward in afghanistan. we'll put some tough questions to ambassador richard holbrooke coming up. all of that and more coming up. special edition of "american morning" on this thursday, december 3rd. glad you're with us, i'm kiran jetry, here at cnn headquarters in new york. >> and good morning, i'm john roberts, coming to you this morning from outside of nato headquarters in brussels, belgium. where for the next couple of days, the foreign ministers of the 28 nato-member countries will be discussing the way forward in afghanistan. the obama administration is looking for about 7,000 troops from nato, to go hand in hand with the 30,000 american troops that the president announced will be going to afghanistan. within the next six months, making the announcement on tuesday. the big question is -- how many troops will the nato countries commit? so far the united states has commitments from countries like britain, italy, poland, as well as georgia and slovakia, for a number of troops, just about over 3,000, but it's a far cry from the 7,000 that the u.s. is looking for. nato saying the best we can do is 5,000 troops. and new concerns this morning in afghanistan and pakistan, on the idea of a deadline. officials in pakistan and afghanistan are worried that the united states might decide in july of 2011 that it's done with the war in afghanistan and get out and leave the condition in whatever shape it is in at that point. and might that also cause a lot of taliban to flee the border across afghanistan and into pakistan and cause more problem force the pakistanis. that those are all questions we're going to put to special ambassador richard holbrooke, the point person for the obama administration in afghanistan and pakistan. all of that coming up in a few minutes' time. right now, back to kiran in new york. >> john, thanks. here are the other big stories we'll be covering for you in the next 15 minutes. the white house is accepting some of the blame for the security breach at the president's first state dinner and making changes to keep the president safer in the future. all while lawmakers are pressing for answers about how this could happen in the first place. we're live at the white house straight ahead. and the president is turning his attention to the economy today, gathering the best and brightest for a job summit at the white house. the goal? helping put america's 16 million unemployed back to work. but can all the brainstorming bring back the jobs? our jim acosta joins us live with every-day americans who are living the crisis. and off to the army -- a new recruit takes us through his final days at home before he leaves for basic training. jason carroll has the first installment of an a.m. original series, "a soldier's story." first this morning, the white house is admitting it shares some of the blame for the security breach at president obama's first state dinner. the administration is also making some security changes. after a d.c. couple was able to slip into the event uninvited. but the big unanswered question this morning is how did michaele and tareq salahi actually get in? the couple and the white house are facing a call for answers, from capitol hill. our suzanne malveaux is tracking the story for us this morning. good morning, suzanne. >> reporter: good morning, kiran. well you know the white house is taking responsibility in part for failing to properly vet the crowd entering the president's first state dinner. the deputy chief of staff put out this statement, saying that the prowhite house did not do everything it could have done to assist the u.s. secret service in insuring that only invited guests entered the complex. and that that is going to change. this acknowledgement comes after nine days of tough questions concerning the president's security. the white house and secret service both say they weren't supposed to be there. but dressed to the nines, there they were -- meeting the vice president and even the president himself. how did michaele and tareq salahi get into president obama's first state dinner? the white house is still trying to figure it out. >> obviously there's an ongoing assessment and investigation by the secret service, into what happened i guess a little more than a week ago. >> reporter: monday, press secretary robert gibbs deflected questions asking if staffers should be at the gates with the secret service. but just 48 hours later, changes, gibbs says staff will start watching the doors. >> last night, was the first of many holiday parties that will happen in, in this complex over the next several weeks. we had staff at the security checkpoint to insure if there was any confusion about lists, those would be double-checked with somebody representing the social office. >> reporter: lawmakers on capitol hill want answers, too. the house homeland security committee will have a hearing today, but they may not have many witnesses. social secretary desiree rodgers has been under fire since the security breach. but the white house says don't expect her to testify. >> you know that based on separation of powers, staff here don't go to testify in front of congress. you won't, she will not be testifying in front of congress. >> reporter: and even though the salahis are invited, they won't be coming, either. in a statement obtained by the "associated press," their publicist says -- >> reporter: but that's not sitting well with the chairman of the homeland security committee. congressman benny thompson says if the salahis are a no-show, he's ready to start handing out subpoenas. kiran, as you know, the issue of white house staff members testifying before congress is not new. when i covered president bush, his top aides, karl rove and harriet meijers, they refused to testify over firing u.s. attorneyses, citing the separation of powers, executive and legislative branchs are co-equal, therefore they can't compel each other to act. it wasn't until after litigation to enforce the subpoenas and mr. bush left office that they ultimately gave those depositions. so we're going to have to wait and see what happens in this case. but kiran, already there is some criticism, the obama administration is getting some flack for this. because mr. obama vowed during the campaign to be different than mr. bush in being open and transparent. kiran? >> we'll be talking about that throughout the morning, suzanne malveaux thanks so much. coming up, we'll be speaking with congressman benny thompson, the chairman of the house homeland security committee. he's going to be the one conducting this probe into what exactly happened. so what if the white house social secretary and the salahis are no-shows for today's hearing? are subpoenas next? that's ahead on the most news in the morning. 5 1/2 minutes past the hour right now. also new this morning, a job summit at the white house. president obama and his economic team brainstorming with business leaders, it's all going to be happening later today. and topping the agenda, how to put america's 16 million back to work. no easy task. our jim acosta joins us live from washington with an a.m. original. you had a chance to talk with people living through this horrible situation of joblessness. >> it's really tough, kiran. and right now, there are no big answers in site. so the white house says the president will hear from ceos, small business owners, and union leaders at this jobs forum. and once the forum is all wrapped up, the president may want to cross the potomac and meet some of the real people who understand the jobs crisis all too well. because they're living it. just six miles from the white house, volunteers at this northern virginia food bank are bagging up free groceries for the poor. >> i got to the point where i put canned, expired food inside my cupboards. you know? i'm scared. >> reporter: that's where we met this unemployed mother. she asked us to call her pytee. >> you know people are hungry out here. people are starving. >> reporter: she told us how she spends her days, scrambling from food banks to clothing distribution centers to make sure her families get the basics, that's on the ten applications for jobs she's filled out since september. >> is this as bad as you've ever seen it? >> this sass bad as i've ever seen it and i've been the director for five years and i was a volunteer for ten years before that we've never seen anything like this. >> reporter: the director of the food pantry sees a hunger for work. any message you would give from somebody who sees this on the front lines? >> anything they can do to stimulate jobs is a big help. i spoke to a business group the other day and i said, please, just don't, if you want to help me, don't lay anybody off. we really need jobs. >> reporter: the white house insists the president is taking on the unemployment crisis and that his jobs forum with political and business leaders is just the beginning. republicans say, that's the problem. >> we believe that it represents a tacit admission, that the economic policies of this administration and this congress have failed. >> reporter: just around the corner from the food pantry. one man says the politicians better hurry. he runs a day labor center, where he notes jobs are drying up for the working poor. is it a little scary when you take a look at what's happening right now? >> it is beyond scary. at least in terms of the glimpses that we're getting here. for the day laborerors, it's devastating. >> reporter: and it's devastating for people like pytee who doubts there's much the president can do for her. >> i feel he can't bring us out of this mess. we're going to be a third-world country pretty soon. >> reporter: strong words from an average person struggling to make ends meet. after the jobs forum, the president takes his message on the road to allentown, pennsylvania, a stop where he'll be able to see the struggle for work firsthand. the jobless rate there is almost identical to the national average, 10%. and kiran, just an indication as to how much the folks over at the white house are racking their brains over this. the white house press secretary robert gibbs was asked about the jobs forum yesterday and said simply, they're looking for ideas. >> they need answers, that's for sure. we'll see how it turns out, jim acosta, thanks so much. also new this morning, she denied having an affair with tiger woods, but new york nightclub hostess, rachel uchitel is expected to issue a statement through her attorney in a few hours. and tiger woods has apologized on his website after a magazine published a voicemail message from woods to another alleged mistress. bank of america says it will repay the $45 billion bailout it received from taxpayers. the bank has been having a tough time finding a new ceo well to accept government restrictions that are tied to the t.a.r.p. money. the news sent the company's stock up in after-hours trading. stephanie elam is keeping tabs on that for us this morning. and say bye-bye to the beetle. volkswagen saying it is halting production of the beetle. it will make 3,000 more final edition versions. what will take its place in 2011? the volkswagen company said it will be something beetle-ish. there you go. john? >> reporter: all right. kiran, we're back live outside nato headquarters in brussels, where for the next couple of days the topic will be about the way forward in afghanistan, how much help account united states expect from its nato allies and what's the situation on the ground now in afghanistan and pakistan, in regard to the idea of a timetable? all questions we'll put to ambassador richard holbrooke, coming up after the break. stay with us. ♪ [ female announcer ] get the taste of a home-cooked meal at work with new marie callender's homestyle creations. marie callender's homestyle creations -- a little touch of home for lunch. you'd think it would be something out of your control. not necessarily. after menopause, when a woman has a fracture, the underlying cause could be osteoporosis. that's a fracture that might have been prevented. if you have post menopausal osteoporosis you could be at high risk for fracture which is why i hope you'll call now. 1-800-267-0241 for this free information kit. in it you'll see the difference between the inside of a strong bone and the inside of an osteoporotic bone... weakened, prone to fracture. you'll find ways to help reverse bone loss and to help prevent fractures. learn how to help maintain strong bones and read about an effective treatment option. there's even a guide to use when you talk to your doctor. osteoporosis is that important. another surgeon agrees with me. the surgeon general. half of women over 50 will suffer an osteoporosis related frture in their lifetime. call 1-800-267-0241. if you could help prevent a fracture, wouldn't you? for your free kit call now. we're back with the most news in the mortgage in front of nato headquarters in brussels, belgium. joined now by ambassador richard holbrooke. the point person for the afghanistan and pakistan. >> why aren't we indoors, john? >> it's a tough issue. >> you're a tough guy. >> we have to tough it out. question for you -- you're here to twist arms in a nice kind of way with the other 27 nato allies looking for a commitment. this administration would like about 7,000 troops in addition to the 30,000 americans that the president announced will be going over. how many can you get from nato? >> well first of all, the secretary of state will arrive early in the morning. and i've been here for two days, are not coming here to get a specific number. this is to reaffirm nato's full commitment after the president's historic speech tuesday night. on the basis of all the talks i've had here with nato foreign ministers and other representatives, i am tremendously gratified by the support we've gotten. it's been overwhelming. as for specific resource increases, we announced ours. other countries are coming forward. it's a sssembling, there will a nato ministerial meeting tomorrow. next week there will be a force generation meeting at nato headquarters in the lower level. there will be a meeting in london at the end of january. it's coming together nicely. but we do have not have a specific numerical goal here. it's about support. >> britain has offered 500 troops, italy looks like it will come forward with 1,000, georgia will commit 900, poland, 500, slovakia, 250. what about france and germany, what can you expect to get from them? >> i'll let them speak for themselves. i think everyone knows where chancellor merkel stands on this issue. and she'll work it and she said she'll make her announcements at the end of january in london. as for france, again, i'll be meeting with the french foreign minister later today. and hillary clinton will meet with him tomorrow. and the french will work it out their way. but both countries are supporting the president. they're giving us what we want in terms of a unified front. and we're very gratified at the response to the president's speech. it's been overwhelming. and it's bringing us together as a unified coalition. >> this is different than any of the meetings that have gone on before. because at this point, based on the president's speech on tuesday night, you are now looking at an exit strategy. the president talked about -- >> i big to differ, john. that was word was not in the speech. it is very misleading. and let none of your viewers think that that phrase -- we will not stay forever. open-ended commitment on the military troops is clearly ruled out by nature of the obvious reasons. >> the president has said, he doesn't want to leave this for the next president. that would indicate whether it's a three-year or seven-year timeframe. there is some sort of exit strategy that he is looking at. i want to ask you about this date of july 2011. because as you know, there's a big point of contention on capitol hill during the hearings before the senate armed services committee yesterday. it's also causing anxiety in both afghanistan and pakistan. officials there concerned that maybe this will be a repeat of 1989. when the u.s. in the words of officials in pakistan and afghanistan, cut and ran. >> in 1989, that's exactly what happened. it was a terrible mistake with consequences that haunt us to this day. the president made absolutely clear in his speech, that our resolve is undiminished. there's been no change in our strategic goals, which is to destroy al qaeda, which pose as clear and present danger to the united states and to the great capitals of europe, including this city, the capital of europe. and we're not going to, we're not going to do that. what the president said, and it's been misrepresented by some people in the united states, and by the taliban simultaneously for entirely different reasons. what the president said was -- that in the summer of 2011, we will begin, begin to draw down some of our combat troops. but there are two other major components to our presence. there's training afghan police and army. he played clear in the speech that that is the key to our, our gradual departure. that as you train the police and army, afghanistan in a responsible way is france takes over the responsibility for its own securityth and then there's the civilian effort. which is what i'm responsible for. >> this is something that you're not very happy with at present in afghanistan? >> the civilian effort? well the civilian effort has made tremendous strides this year. we have significantly increased our efforts. as the president mentioned in agriculture. >> you have been critical about it in terms of nationwide and how the allies get it together. >> let's distinguish between two things. our civilian efforts have been inadequate in the past, including agriculture, police training and so on. we're increasing those substantially. and the president mentioned those. and those will go on for a long time. 1989 will not be repeated. now on the point you're talking about, every other country has its own individual efforts. the kind of unity that the military command now has an afghanistan, it took them six years to get to the point where a commander like stan mcchrystal can wear both an american hat and a nato hat and an international hat. that's very unusual. we've got it in place in the military side. we don't have it in place on the civilian side. as both secretary clinton and i have said in the last few days, we think that we need better coordination of the international civilian effort. yesterday, i met with my counterparts from 20 nations. they all agreed we've got to have better coordination. but sorting it out will take sometime. we want to strengthen the u.n., we want to strengthen the civilian presence of other institutions and we've got to work more closely together. >> we'll see if that's possible. ambassador richard holbrooke. always good to see you. thanks for joining us this morning, sir. >> thanks, john. >> kiran? bank account, that means that they're considered unbanked. now 43 million adults or 18% are considered underbanked. and the whole idea of that is they may have bank account. but they really tend to rely more on, pawn shops, payday lenders, those sort of things to take care of their daily financial needs. now if you take a look at the number, that means altogether, nearly 26% of households in the united states are either underbanked or unbanked, that's a high number. coming from the fdic. they did the survey to find out exactly what's going on with america's people. and if you take a look at it by the numbers of how much people are making, if they're making under $30,000 a year, it's more likely that 71% of them will be unbanked. up to $50,000 a year, 4% would be unbanked. and above $75,000, only 1% are likely to be unbanked. they do say that that has to, a huge part of it, people just say, the reason why i don't use a bank account is because i don't have the funds. the main reason that people gave for the situation. and also, kiran, if you take a look at it by race. the unbanked numbers are bigger for minorities. 21.7% of black households, over 19% for hispanic households. and the groups less likely to be unbanked, asians and whites, underbanked, 31.6% of black families and 28.9% of american indian families. so it shows that there's also a discrepancy on how people view it based on where there's coming from. >> there's some mistrust out there as well, are you going to get fee 'd to death. >> it would be safer to put it into a bank account because it's insured by the fdic. so if somebody steals the money from under your mattress, there's no getting it back. but if it's in the bank, it's insured. still ahead, a soldier's story. "american morning" is doing a special series, with where we follow three people from the home front to the battlefront. will maclean is somebody that jason carroll sat down from his decision to go to battle. he'll be joining us with more. you helped us donate almost $5 million dollars to charity. i chose the boys & girls clubs. it's an investment for the future. i chose the national wildlife federation. our pets are our kids. we chose the aspca. we're sharing the love again this year. because giving back feels good. on the subaru outback, motor trend's 2010 and two hundred fifty dollars gets donated to your choice of five charities. ..when your nose is raw and sore. plain tissue can make it burn even more. but mom knows there's puffs plus... ...with the magic of three. soothing lotion with a touch of shea butter, aloe and e. plain tissue can irritate the sore nose issue. puffs plus with lotion is a more soothing tissue. a nose in need deserves puffs plus indeed. and try puffs plus with the comforting scent of vicks. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. 154 are tracking shipments on a train. 33 are iming on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email on a vacation. that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. right now get a free 3g/4g device for your laptop. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com sun life financial has never taken government bailout money, yet no one knows our name. ♪ get down tonight that's about to change. so you'll pay for the tour, but i have to change my name? no, you're still kc, but from now on, they will be the sun life band. it's funky. sooner or later, you'll know our name. sun life financial. 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(voice 3) great exercise guys. let's run it again. 27 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the mortgage. today we kick off an a.m. original series, one that will track three military recruits, from their final days as civilians all the way through their deployment. our jason carroll has been given unprecedented access by the pentagon. and this morning, it's off to the army for one high school football star, who traded the gridiron to be all he could be, literally. and jason carroll is here with more on the story. we were talking about how important you felt it was to show the whole story, for people from deciding on recruitment all the way into what it's like to actually go to war. >> reporter: right, we've never done it, it's something that i've always wanted to do. and thankfully with the help of the pentagon now we've been able to do it. with so many men and women putting their lives on the line in places like afghanistan and iraq, we set out to chronicle what the military suspicious ex like for them from the moment they leave home, through deployment. and we begin with will maclean. this is will mclean, 18 years old and a week away from taking the oath to enlist in the army. >> more people in here. >> reporter: we gave him a video camera to show how he was passing the time. there were lots of parties. >> it's always funny, because even when i'm partying with my friends or something like that they have to throw the army jokes in. >> reporter: how have your friends take tn so far? >> they think i'm doing a good job. bet thaern rotting away in rosamond, california. >> reporter: a large stretch of land with a small population, about 14,000. a place where dirt bike riding is surpassed only by motorcycle racing in popularity. a place will maclaine can't wait to leave. >> i'm kind of glad to be getting out of this small town. >> reporter: we met up with will, his last day at home before he left to zwroin the army. a day his 12-year-old brother didn't want to leave his side. >> i think it hits him more that i'm leaving. >> reporter: like a lot of high school football players, he had dreams of pursuing a career in the pros. >> i could think was that i'm going to go pro, no matter what. and then pretty much, junior, i realized there were a lot bigger fishes in the sea. >> reporter: he says earlier this year, keeping him to think advice from his uncle. >> my uncle said, you need to have a back-up plan. i thought the service would be the best bet. >> reporter: will had grown up with guns and always liked the idea of joining the military. so he tried to convince his parents to allow him to enlist before his 18th birthday in may. >> they didn't want me to sign the papers and come back in a year and say, i hate you, you let me sign. my mom doesn't want to be responsible for sending me to afghanistan. >> reporter: and now with time running out at home, reality is setting in. >> i would say about a week ago it truly hit me. that's when i forgot how to sleep and stuff. i just pretty much lay there and think, i'm leaving in a week, i'm leaving in three days, i'm leaving in a day. >> reporter: for will's parents, bill, a construction worker and his wife, laurie, will's future is taking shape. >> we're all worried that eel come home in one piece. he might be 5,000 miles away. but he knows there's people that care about him. >> reporter: the next morning came the good-byes. and one last word of advice. >> head down, brain on, okay? she wasn't looking forward to this moment. >> reporter: i'm sure there were a lot of mothers out there who have moments like that. next, we'll show you what happens as will the civilian becomes private will. eel be heading to fort leonard wood, missouri, where he'll be completing his 13 weeks of basic training. it's not just going to be will who we're going to be following. we're actually going to be following three of these recruits, heading into different parts of the army and chronicling their experiences as they go along the way. >> just from a mother's perspective, it really takes a lot to just -- you have to allow your children to make their own decisions. but when it's one that you're so fearful for their safety. especially knowing we're in an active war, we're in active wars and we don't know how long we're going to be in it. >> reporter: you heard from her there, this is not a decision that they were completely behind. this is a decision that they wanted him to make. again when he wanted to do this when he was 17, they said no way. no way are we going to allow you to do this. we're going to wait until you turn 18, then you make the decision. >> we'll look forward to seeing how it goes for him. jason carroll, great job. thank you. you bet. the alleged white house party-crashers have declined an invite. an invitation to appear before the house homeland security committee. a spokesman for michaele and tareq salahis say they have nothing more to say. they may be served with more forceful invite, a subpoena. new york state lawmakers rejecting a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. advocates of gay marriage say republican supporters of the bill were scared off by the recent aelection in new york's 23rd congressional district. in that race, a republican who supported gay marriage was forced out of the running by hardline conservatives. the first woman accused of having an affair is going to be holding a news conference. nightclub hostess, rachel uchitel has denied the affair. her lawyer, gloria allred will be appearing at a news conference, but will not be speaking. woods has apologized on his website for unspecified transgressio transgressions. meanwhile, let's head back to john in brussels, belgium this morning. hi, john. >> hey, kiran, a rainy day outside of nato headquarters in brussels. there are a the although of people talking about the way forward in afghanistan. how many troops will nato countries commit to the conflict there. in addition to the 30,000 that the united states is sending in. the united states wants as many as 7,000 nato troops, it doesn't look like it's going to get that number at this point. secretary of state hillary clinton will be here first thing tomorrow morning, she'll attend the ministers' meeting. they don't want to twist arms too hard. but they want to make the point that they believe that afghanistan is the world's problem, as we were talking with ambassador richard holbrooke a you foo minutes ago, that al qaeda represents a threat not just to the united states, but to all of the world. particularly here in europe. and it is incumbent upon the member nations of nato to get together and support the cause there. secretary of state clinton before she heads here is going to make an appearance today before the senate foreign relations committee. yesterday she was on a bit of a hot seat before the senate armed services committee. along with the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. some pretty pointed back-and-forth over a number of points, democrats unhappy that the democrats is sending 30,000 more troops there. republicans unhappy about this idea of what they call a timeline. and that would be the beginning of the withdrawal of u.s. forces from afghanistan in july of 2011. our congressional correspondent, dana bash. wraps up yesterday's hearings. >> reporter: tough questions for the president's national security team. most not about the 30,000 more troops to afghanistan, but confusion over whether the july 2011 date to start withdrawing is a hard deadline. >> it is that date conditions? based or not? >> no, sir. >> reporter: that sounded definitive. but the date-certain became less certain, when pressed by gop senators, who call a deadline a dangerous signal to the enemy. >> will we withdraw our forces based on conditions on the ground? or based on an arbitrary date? >> we will be in a position in particularly uncontested areas, where we will be able to begin the transition. >> let's suppose you're not? i think we will be in a position then to evaluate whether or not we can begin the transition in july. >> which is it? it's got to be one or the other? it's got to be the appropriate conditions or it's got to be an arbitrary date. >> we will have a thorough review in december 2010. if it aer peers that the strategy is not working and that we are not going to be able to transition in 2011, we'll take a hard look at the strategy itself. >> reporter: later secretary gates admitted after the december 2010 assessment -- >> the president always has the freedom to adjust his decisions. >> reporter: secretary clinton signaled flexibility, too. >> have we locked ourselves into leaving in july of 2011? >> i do not believe we have locked ourselves into leaving. but what we have done is to signal very clearly to all audiences that the united states is not interested in occupying afghanistan. >> reporter: but the defense secretary conceded the exit date is aimed in part at politics at home. >> i think the other audience, frankly is the american people, who are weary of, after eight years of war, and to let them know this isn't going to go on for another ten years. >> reporter: that didn't convince some of the president's fellow democrats at another hearing later in the house. >> my fear, as is the fear of so many others, is that we could easily get bogged down in an endless war. >> this is not open-ended and we're are not going to escalate. >> reporter: the defense secretary who called the region the quote epicenter of extremist jihadism, got quite passionate at one point. saying every service member is deployed with his signature. and if he thought they would get bogged down with no hope of success in afghanistan, he quote, wouldn't sign the orders. dana bash, cnn, capitol hill. and again, the secretary of state appearing today before the senate foreign relations committee, from there she'll get on a plane and she will be arriving tomorrow morning first thing here at nato headquarters to talk to the other ministers of the nato countries to see what they are willing to contribute to the way forward in afghanistan. kiran? >> we look forward to hearing from her. john, thanks. and also a quick programming note, you don't want to miss an exclusive interview this sunday, afghan president, hamid harzi, speaks for the first time since president obama announced his new strategy in afghanistan. and still ahead, the nfl coming out with new rules that go into effect this week regarding how the league handles players with concussions. we're going to be talking to doctor who was once the team doctor for the pittsburgh steelers about how significant these changes are. will they help protect players from head injuries and neurological troubles down the road. it's 37 minutes past the hour. to worry about tonight. tylenol pm is recommended by more doctors than any other sleep medicine. it eases pain... and helps you sleep, in a non-habit forming way. welcome back to the most news in the morning. the nfl is set to enforce its toughest rules yet when players can return to practices or games after suffering head injuries or potential concussions. these new guidelines go into effect this week. and it's the latest move by the league it try to address a hot-button issue. does the new concussion policy go far enough? joining us from morgantown west virginia is dr. julian bales, chairman of neurology at the west virginia school of medicine and the former team doctor for the pittsburgh steelers, dr. bales, thank you for being with us. break down what they're saying in terms of assessing concussions and how the policy means changes on the field? >> well the changes are that the patient cannot, or that the athlete cannot go back to play if he has any symptoms or signs of concussion. either during that game or practice. also, he must later have a normal neurological examination, a normal neuropsychological examination and be cleared by an independent physician who is not a part of the official medical staff of the team. so four big changes that are new. >> go ahead. >> in addition, they emphasize rightly so that the player has to be candid, the player has to come forth, many of the inches and symptoms, you don't know that. it's something that they're feeling, you can't see as a trainer or a coach or even a team physician. >> right, it's something that the athlete sort of has to convey to you, and that's where we get into some murky waters. the ap did a survey where nearly a fifth of the players they had asked revealed they had hidden or played down the effects of a concussion because they wanted to keep playing for their team. how do you enforce that? >> it's voluntary enforcement. it's as we've often done, trying to get other teammates to suggest if they're worried about someone, a fellow player, not performing, not make their assignments, not acting right. only one out of ten concussions in sports is the player knocked out. so 90% of the time he or another sports, like soccer, she is walking around and maybe just confused. maybe with a memory problem. so it's very subtle. >> yeah, it is very subtle. when we talk about how big of a problem this is or why the league is addressing this. we know there's a university of michigan study, commissioned by the nfl and part of the study found that alzheimer's disease or other similar memory-related diseases appear to be diagnosed in former players in the league vastly more than the general population. a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30-49. is this part of an admission by the nfl that concussions from football may lead to permanent brain damage? >> i think we've got a lot of emerging evidence the last few years. the brain injury research institute here at west virginia, we have autopsied several players that have shown that. that's the worst-case example. that's what we don't want to happen. but i think it's a culmination of many things. i think the science is emerging and now we know more than ever about the importance of proper and conservative management, if you think someone's had a concussion. >> right, and you were there, you were the team doctor for the steelers. some have said the only way to really tackle this is to take the head out of the game. make changes to the way football is played. is that something that you think is realistic and we could be moving toward down the road? >> i hope we do. it's going to be difficult. it's traditionally gotten more head into the game as the helmets have gotten bigger and heavier. i think that's an important long-term goal. and i think that i'm afraid that's where we have to go. commissioner goodell has implied, also, that rules changes to take the head out of the game will continue. >> dr. julian bailes, great to talk to you this morning, thanks for being here. still ahead, a key security post still vacant. we explain why there's still no head of the tsa, 44 minutes past the hour. (announcer) we call it the american renewal. because we believe in the strength of american businesses. ge capital understands what small businesses need to grow and create jobs. today, over 300,000 businesses rely on ge capital for the critical financing they need to help get our economy back on track. the american renewal is happening. right now. welcome back to the most news in the morning. now to a developing story. one of the country's most important national security posts remains vacant this morning. a single senator is holding up confirmation of the man nominated to head the transportation security administration. but why? well as our jean meserve found, it's politics as usual. >> reporter: 50,000 transportation security officers screen, inspect, question and observe at the nation's airports, to keep dangerous people and items off planes. senator jim dement believes giving them collective bargaining rights would hurt security. >> collective bargaining would standardize things across the country. making it much less flexible. much harder for the agency to adapt to changing threats around the world. >> reporter: harder, for instance, to react to something like the 2006 plat to blow up airlines with liquid explosives. within hours, the tsa ramped up security and changed policy to ban carry-on liquids. the union representing 12,000 tsas, said demint's argument is rubbish. pointing out that employees of the border patrol, immigration and customs enforcement. the protective service and others all have full representation. >> no one talked about union membership when the cops and the firefighters went up the stairs at 9/11 at the world trade center. no one talks about our two officers, two union members who took down the shooter at fort hood. there was nothing in their union membership that stopped them from doing their duty. >> reporter: during the presidential campaign, barack obama wrote the union that giving the tsa collective bargaining rights would be a priority. >> it's all about politics. it's payback to the unions. >> reporter: demint pushed the issue at a hearing wednesday. >> how can unionization and collective bargaining enhance security at our airports? >> well, senator, the answer is collective bargaining and security are not mutually exclusive concepts. >> reporter: demint is holding up the confirmation of errol suthers to head the tsa, to make his point. he's been noncommittal on the issue, telling demint, he wouldn't recommend mention that would potentially compromise the safety and security of the traveling public. >> i think the nominee understands the confirmation process and he doesn't want to say anything controversial. but ultimately, once he's confirmed, it's not going to be his choice. it will ultimately will be the choice of the president, and the president has married it clear where he stands. >> meanwhile, the union has accused demint compromising security by holding up the confirmation process. >> jean, when you talk about it obviously it doesn't look good not to have a leader, not to have somebody heading up to that vital administration, but is it hurting the tsa, hurting the job they're doing? >> well, this is a new agency and i don't think anybody would dispute that the agency would be better off if the administer was in place. but people who are currently in the tsa or even were in the tsa in the last administration say that things are going pretty well. that the career employees who filled those jobs on a temporary basis are doing a good job and point specifically to the thanksgiving travel period, which was extraordinarily busy, and went off without any major glitches. >> jeanne meserve, thanks so much. let's head to brussels, belgium, where john is this morning. >> good morning, kiran. here's what's coming up on the next hour of the "most news in the morning," live here outside of nato headquarters. a senate report released at the end of last week said back in december of 2001, osama bin laden was definitely, without question, at tora bora and that the united states could have done more at that time to get him. and by not getting him, allowing him to escape, we've been feeling the repercussions of that ever since. that senate report mirrors almost to the word what former cia operative gary bernsten wrote in his famous book, "jaw breaker: the story at tora bora." he was there with a small contingent of special forces. they knew that they had bin laden there. he called for reinforcements and was denied. gary joins us in our next hour to talk about that and his new concerns for what's going on in pakistan, how many militants are there really out there, just what is the extent of the secret war that the united states is fighting in pakistan. all of that ahead. ♪ [ female announcer ] get the taste of a home-cooked meal at work with new marie callender's homestyle creations. marie callender's homestyle creations -- a little touch of home for lunch. goodwrench... we roll 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about when women should be screened for breast cancer. we're paging dr. gupta, cnn's chief medical correspondent, joins us now from atlanta. you and i were both talking to the one of the women on that panel, she's a nurse, and we said to her, are you guys going to change your mind, are you going to clarify a little bit. what are they saying now? >> well, i think they were trying to articulate a bit of a clearer message overall about mammograms. what was interesting about these hearings, though, kiran, listening to them, the discussion really seemed to go toward health care reform. and more specifically, what recommendations like the ones that came out of the task force or even panels like the task force, what sort of impact they could have on health care reform. the task force really couldn't answer that particular question, but they did try to be a little bit more clear about mammograms. here's what they said. >> the task force is saying that screening starting at 40 should not be automatic nor should it be denied. many doctors and many women, perhaps even most women, will decide to have mammography screening starting at age 40. the task force supports those decisions. the task force communication was poor. >> really three major points that i sort of took away from the hearing from them. they're saying that mammograms, overall, are more effective starting at age 50. doesn't mean that they're not effective starting at an earlier age. they're also saying there is some psychological harm in a woman having what's known as a false positive. so they go to the doctor, find some sort of abnormality, leads to biopsies. they say there's some psychological harm to that. and they also say that the decision as to when to begin screening should always be predicated on a conversation between the patient and her doctor. part of the issue here, kiran, part of the reason this has became so controversial, one is that there's a significant percentage of women in the country who already don't get screened who should be getting screened. and a lot of people fear this may make those numbers even worse. but also that conversation between the patient and the doctor. it's important to keep in mind that the vast majority of women who get breast cancer never had a risk factor and they don't have any family history. so it's really hard to sort of siphon out who is the best candidate for a mammogram. it's not a perfect screening test, but the best one that we have. that was sort of the message that came out of there. >> the other thing that a lot of people were shocked by, in this panel, in the recommendations, is to stop doing self-exams, or doctors should tell patients to stop with the self-exams. some of the lead rereading that all done says that 70% of people have discovered a lump through a self-exam. >> right. and i think there was a fair amount of backpedaling when it came to that as well. when you really look at the language, they were saying the time spent to teach someone how to do a proper self-exam, could that time and resources be spent better doing something else? but how do you determine if something is going to be medically effective for large populations of people? that's kind of that constant friction point between public health and between individual risk. and the self-exam, really, demonstrates that. >> you would tell your patients to keep doing self-exams? >> i would. and i think that they should be taught how to do that and i think most doctors we've talked to about this, including major cancer societies, will continue recommending mammograms starting at age 40 as well. >> sanjay gupta clearing up some of the confusion for us today. thank you. >> thank you. our top stories coming up in 90 seconds. we should be a household name. and we will be. so you're suggesting that we change our name from florida, the sunshine state, to...? florida -- the sun life state. the posters will be so cool. sooner or later, you'll know our name. sun life financial. welcome to idaho where the world's best potatoes come from. some people say it's the rich volcanic soil that makes our potatoes so special or maybe the pure water. whatever it is, idaho potatoes are a delicious part of a healthy diet. with zero fat or cholestrol and only 110 calories and they taste great. but remember not all potatoes come from idaho. so always look for the grown in idaho seal. genuine idaho potatoes, from the best earth on earth. it's 8:00 on the nose here in new york. good morning and welcome to "american morning" on this thursday, december 3rd. i'm kiran chetry in new york. hey, john. >> hey, good morning, kiran. i'm john roberts outside of nato headquarters in brussels, belgium, where today and tomorrow, the nato ministers, the foreign ministers rft 28 nato nations are meeting to talk about afghanistan and the way forward there and how many troops that nato members may commit to the new surge strategy in afghanistan that president obama announced back on tuesday. we spoke with ambassador richard holbrooke just a little while ago. he says he's feeling pretty good about things here, however, the number in terms of troop commitments are not yet what the united states would like to see. the obama administration is asking nato members for about 7,000 troops to go along with the 30,000 americans that will be going into afghanistan over the next six months or so. so far, they've got commitments for just over 3,000. the bulk of those coming from great britain, as well as poland, italy has just committed another 1,000. tiny slovakia has committed 250. but the big countries, france and germany, have yet to ring in. nicolas sarkozy said just back in act that france would send no more troops. maybe backing off of that position, but that probably won't be known until a little later. germany and france both withholding judgment until another nato conference coming up on the 28th of january. hillary clinton, the secretary of state, will be arriving first thing tomorrow morning. she's up on the hill today, testifying before the senate foreign relations committee again about afghanistan. she was there yesterday, along with the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs before the senate armed services committee. they were treated respectfully, from a personal level, but they got a real grilling in terms of administration policy. so she is now going to be coming here tomorrow morning to tri to very gently and diplomatically twist some arms to see what she can get out of nato countries. we'll be speaking with her tomorrow morning as well. much more coming your way from here, nato headquarters, but right now back to new york and here's kiran. we have other big stories we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes. first, the white house is now accepting some of the blame for the security breach at the president's first state dinner. also making big changes to keep pr president obama safer. all why lawmakers are pressing for answers on how this happened in the first place. live from washington, next plus, more troops for afghanistan, but not just from the u.s. as john mentioned, the u.s. calling on nato to put more muscle in the fight. and from the home front to the front lines. we're following a new army recruit as he begins his military journey. jason carroll has the first installment of an a.m. original series, "a soldier's story." the white house admitting it shares the blame for the security breach at the president's first white house state dinner. making some changes after a d.c. couple slipped into that event uninvited. the big question that has not been answered, how did tareq and michaele salahi get inside? the couple and the white house are facing a call for answers from capitol hill. suzanne malveaux is live for us from washington this morning with the very latest. good morning, suzanne. >> reporter: good morning, kiran. the white house is taking responsibility now, in part for failing to properly vet the crowd entering the president's first state dinner. it was the deputy chief of staff, he put out this statement here, saying that the white house did not do everything we could have done to assist the u.s. secret service in ensuring that only invited guests entered the complex. he also said that that, of course, is going to change, and this acknowledgement comes after nine days of some tough questions concerning the present security. >> reporter: the white house and secret service both say they weren't supposed to be there, but dressed to the nines, there they were, meeting the vice president and even the president himself. so how did tareq and michaele salahi get into president obama's first state dinner? the white house is still trying to figure it out. >> obviously, there's an ongoing assessment and investigation by the secret service into what happened, i guess, a little more than a week ago. >> reporter: monday, press secretary, robert gibbs, deflected questions, asking if staffers should be at the gates with the secret service. but just 48 hours later, changes. gibbs says staff will start watching the doors. >> last night was the first of many holiday parties that will happen in this complex over the next several weeks. we had staff at the security checkpoint to ensure that if there was any confusion about lists, those would be double checked with somebody representing the social office. >> reporter: lawmakers on capitol hill want answers too. the house homeland security committee will have a hearing today, but they may not have many witnesses. social secretary desiree rogers has been under fire since the security breach. but the white house says don't expect her to testify. >> you know that based on separation of powers, staff here don't go to testify in front of congress. she won't -- she will not be testifying in front of congress. >> reporter: and even though the salahis are invited, they won't be coming either. in a statement obtained by the associated press, their publicist says, the salahis believe "there is nothing further that they can do to assist congress in its inquire regarding white house protocol and certain security procedures. they therefore respectfully decline to testify." but that's not sitting well with the chairman of the homeland security committee. chairman bennie thompson if the salahis are a no-show, he's ready to start handing out subpoenas. kiran, as you know, the issue of white house staff members testifying before congress, it's not new. when i covered president bush, his top aides, karl rove and harriet myers, they refused to testify over firing some u.s. attorneys. once again, they cited separation of powers. the idea that the executive branch, the white house, and the legislative branch, or congress, are co or equal branches of congress so they are not compelled to act. it was not until after president bush left office that ultimately they did end up giving some depositions. we'll have to wait and see what happens in this case, but already, kiran, i can tell you that the obama administration is getting some flak, some criticism for this, because mr. obama vowed during the campaign to be different from president bush in being more open and transparent. >> that's right. all right. we'll see what happens with that, suzanne, because in just a few minutes, we'll be talking to congressman bennie thompson, the chairman of the house homeland security committee and he wants answer. our senior legal analyst, jeffrey toobin also weighing in on this situation. what t so will they subpoena them to try to get them to talk if they're no-shows. that's ahead. some breaking news right now we've been follow for you from somalia. we're getting reports of an explosion happening at an upscale hotel in the capital city of mogadishu. somalia officials are reporting that three government cabinet ministers as well as six other people have been killed. they were attending a graduation ceremony at the time. this is some of the first video coming out of this situation there from somalia. again, an explosion at an upscale hotel. no details right now on any claims of responsibility, but it's a story we're watching for you this morning on "american morning." our john roberts, meanwhile, is reporting live from brussels this morning ahead of secretary of state hillary clinton's trip there today. of course, we'll be hearing a lot more out of that meeting, especially when it comes to the nato commitment to more troops for afghanistan. hey, john. >> hey, kiran. we're hearing positive things coming out of nato so far. a two-day meeting of nato ministers, foreign ministers, some defense ministers here as well, talking about the way forward in afghanistan, president obama's call to arms and what sort of a commitment the 28 nato members will make. the white house would like to see 7,000 troops coming from those countries to complement the 30,000 american forces that will be going in. don't know if they'll make it to that number. so far, commitments just over 3,000. people are saying the right things, but as to whether or not they're actually going to make those commitments remains to be seen. we may not know until some time toward the end of january or the early part of february whether big nato countries like france and germany will come to the plate in terms of troops or whether they maybe will commit paramilitary trainers and some supplies is to back up things like that instead of actually military forces. as you said, kiran, the secretary of state will be here first thing tomorrow morning to have meetings in which she'll try to gently twist arms and bring some of those nato members to the table. ambassador richard holbrooke, the president's point person on afghanistan and pakistan, has been in this region for a couple of days now, sort of greasing the skids, if you will, towards those meetings. and earlier here on the "most news in the morning," we spoke with ambassador holbrooke about that call to arms among nato nations. this administration would like about 7,000 troops, in addition to the 30,000 americans that the president announced will be going over. how many can you get from nato? >> well, first of all, the secretary of state will arrive early in the morning and i have been here for two days, are not coming here to get a specific number. this is to reaffirm nato's full commitment after the president's historic speech tuesday night. and on the basis of all the talks i've had here with nato foreign ministers and other representatives, i am tremendously gratified by support we've gotten. it's been overwhelming. >> he thinks i live in his district -- >> tremendously gratified, says ambassador holbrooke, but the devil's in the details. tomorrow on the "most news in the morning," we'll be speaking exclusively secretary of state hillary clinton about the way forward in afghanistan and some of the other concerns, one of the things that ambassador holbrooke and i were talking about off-camera was how much funding for the taliban is coming not from opium production in afghanistan, but actually coming from sympathetic people in the persian gulf region. he says, in fact, that is the bulk of the funding. one of the issues we'll talk to to the secretary of state about. and of course, new anxiety in both afghanistan and pakistan on this idea of u.s. troops beginning to pull out of afghanistan july 2011, as announced by the president on tuesday night. they're worried as happened in 1989 that the united states might cut and run from the region again. ambassador holbrooke told me that was a huge mistake and they're vowing that that will not happen again. but a little bit of a contradiction between the president saying, troops will begin to withdrawal july 2011 and the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan will be based on conditions on the ground. so still some things to clear up. we'll be talking with the secretary about all of that tomorrow morning here on "american morning." kiran? >> we look forward to it. john, thanks. it took a tough congressional hearing on the war in afghanistan to get secretary of state hillary clinton to publicly comment on the engagement of her daughter, chelsea. >> first, please give my heartfelt congratulations to the youngest clinton on her decision to make a monumental move in her life. >> thank you. it was a very long, thoughtful process. >> there you go. a little bit of light heartedness amid all the talk of war. and the wedding, by the way, is scheduled to take place next summer. still ahead, we're joined by congressman bennie thompson. he is appalled at the security breach at the white house at the first state dinner. should the party crashers be prosecuted? our own jeff toobin will be weighing in as well. if toyota gets credit for being the most fuel efficient car company in america, well, then how do you explain all this? chevy malibu, cobalt, 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[ male announcer ] a 46" tv with 120 hertz. delivered right to your home. the best gifts come from best buy. last night president obama gave a speech at west point and did you see this? right in the middle they cut to a cadet who was sleeping. did you see that? yeah. that cadet was immediately assigned to work security at the next white house state dinner. >> well, the late-night comedy hosts getting a fun punch line of what happened. but the white house not laughing. the white house admitting this morning that it shares some of the blame for the security breach at the white house's first state dinner and lawmakers want some answers. the problem is the couple that have slipped in uninvited, i'm sure you've seen them, tareq and michaele salahi, well, they will not testify, they say, before the homeland security committee. and the white house saying its social secretary, desiree rogers, also will not be testifying before congress. i'm joined now by the chairman of the committee, congressman bennie thompson, as well as our legal analyst, jeffrey toobin. thank you for being with us, mr. thompson. >> thank you for having me. >> will you be subpoenaing the salahis? >> well, the committee will make that decision before we finish with our hearing this morning. >> what do you want to hear from them? they're claiming through their lawyers that they provided congress and the secret service with all of the information that they have relating to this incident. >> well, they've provided the information that they wanted to. they've not provided the oral testimony that we need in the hearing. there's other information. if they'll talk to all the networks and all the other people, then why not come talk to members of congress who have a responsibility for looking into white house security. >> all right. so that's the situation with the salahis right now. you said the committee will be making a decision as to whether or not they will be issuing subpoenas in that situation. meantime, white house social secretary, desiree rogers, also will not be testifying today. press secretary robert gibbs saying that allowing rogers to testify before congress would violate the constitutional separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches. will you be issuing a subpoena to hear from her? >> again, that's the responsibility of the committee to look at it. the republican minority on the committee listed desiree as their potential witness. we didn't see her as a major player in this. white house security is a function of the secret service. we want to hear from the secret service director, see what he has found out in his review of security and what he plans to do going forward. >> i want to bring in jeff toobin here as well, our legal analyst, about this situation. how much responsibility, perhaps, do you think that the white house bears in this situation? >> well, congress will never know, will it, because they're getting stonewalled by the white house. let's be clear about what the press secretary said. he said that she's -- that there's some -- he's suggested that there's some legal prohibition on her testifying before congress, desiree rogers, the social secretary. that's not true. that's the choice of the white house. just like the bush administration, this white house is choosing not to have an administration official testify. if they wanted to let her testify, she would. she would be testifying. so this is a choice of the white house not to disclose information. >> so it's not that a law would be violated if she did, it would be that they don't have to be compelled or forced to have her do it by law. >> correct. and the same thing that's going on with the salahis. frankly, it doesn't matter whether they're subpoenaed or not, because it seems very clear, they're going to take the fifth, which they have the right to do. so they're not going to testify, subpoena or not. they're very happy to talk to matt lauer at the "today" show, but when it comes to the possibility of sworn testimony where they could be charged with perjury, they're saying, no thank you. >> and congressman, the salahis have pointed to e-mails they say they exchanged with pentagon's liaison, michelle jones, and they say they missed a message from her saying they did not get an invite, and so they showed up anyway. claiming a misunderstanding. is there a possibility this is all a misunderstanding? >> well, i think that's the -- their opinion. we've looked into it. our real concern is that somebody can walk in off the street to a state dinner, uninvited, not on the list, and get in. get to talk to the president, vice president, other officials. and that is not proper white house security. our responsibility is to help protect ft. from an oversight standpoint. and by having this hearing, that's what we're amendmettempt do. >> go ahead, joe. >> that's what congressional oversight committees are supposed to do. they're supposed to look into things and see if they're working properly, but this committee is not getting cooperation from the white house and not getting cooperation from the salahis. let's be clear about that. >> and what's your take on that? you say you're doing this to try to protect the president as best you can, make sure there are no lapses in the future. you said yesterday, what if this had been a terrorist incident? and yet the white house doesn't seem to be wanting to help you, at least getting the social secretary to testimony before the committee. >> well, we'll start the process with the hearing today. we'll look into whether or not subpoenas will be issued. we will do our job. we hope the white house and other individuals will cooperate. but at the end of the day, the committee will do its job. >> all right. congressman thompson, thanks for being with us this morning. jeff toobin, our senior legal analyst, also great to have your take. thanks for being here. still ahead, the president holds a job summit today. some democrats say they have waited too along to focus on jobs and they're hearing it from their constituents. they want action now. our jim acosta speaks with some real people who are out of work and have few prospects. with friends around the country. you know, priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service makes shipping simpler than no-bake peanut cluster. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. so sending macadamia moos to miami costs the same as sending sugar trees to sante fe? 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[ male announcer ] prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on. prilosec otc. dominates heartburn. 24/7. including the eight hours you spend with your eyes closed. prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on. we're back with the "most news in the morning," live outside of nato headquarters in brussels, belgium, where issue number one, really the only issue of the day today is afghanistan and the way forward and what sort of troop commitment, what sort of military commitment the nato member nations will make. but back in washington, the president is turning his focus from afghanistan to jobs today. he's holding a summit at the white house in which he hopes to get some ideas to create some 16 million jobs. but he certainly has his work cut out for him, particularly with unemployment, now about 10%, potentially going higher. our jim acosta is in washington for us this morning, with an a.m. original. good morning, jim. >> good morning, john. lots of issue number ones out there for the president. and the president will hear today from ceos, small business leaders, and union leaders at this jobs forum. once the forum is wrapped up, he may want to do what we did, cross the potomac and meet some real people who understand the jobs crisis all too well, because they're living it. just six miles from the white house, volunteers at this northern virginia food bank are bagging up free groceries for the poor. >> i got to the point where i put canned expired food inside my cupboards. you know? i'm scared. >> reporter: that's where we asked this unemployed single mother. >> people are hungry out here. people are scrambling. >> reporter: she described how she spends her days, scrambling from food banks to clothing distribution centers. that's on top of the ten applications for jobs she's filled out since december. >> how can you work hard when you don't even have a chance to get into the doors? >> is this as bad as you've seen it? >> it's as bad as i've ever seen it. >> reporter: the director of the food pantry, christine lucas, sees a hunger for work. any message that you would give from somebody who sees this on the front lines? >> anything they can do to stimulate jobs is a big help. i spoke to a stimulus group the other day, i said, if you want to help me, don't lay anybody off. we really need jobs. >> reporter: the white house insists the president is taking on the unemployment crisis and that his jobs forum with political and business leaders is just the beginning. republicans say that's the problem. >> we believe that it represents a tacit admission that the economic policies of this administration and this congress have failed. >> reporter: just around the corner from the food pantry, andreas tobar says they better hurry. jobs are drying up for the working poor. is it a little scary when you take a look at what's happening now? >> it's beyond scare. it's devastating. >> reporter: and devastating for people heidi, who doubts there's much the president can do for her. >> we're going to be a third world country pretty soon. >> after his jobs forum, the president takes his message on unemployment on the road to allentown, pennsylvania. it's a stop where the president can see the struggle firsthand. the jobless rate there is almost identical to the national average, around 10%. and john, just an indication of how folks at the white house are racking their brains over this issue, yesterday white house press secretary robert gibbs says they are open to ideas when it comes to creating jobs in this country, john. >> does that mean that they're out of ideas, jim? >> well, they will say no. they will say they are not out of ideas, but they are hoping that there will be some ideas later today, because obviously they have a big political problem, and that is folks up on capitol hill feel all spent out, all tapped out when it comes to devoting tax dollars to fixing this economy. at the same time, the president's getting -- he's getting heat from some democrats. there are democrats up on the hill, especially in the congressional black caucus, who are talking about a jobless march on washington to make sure the white house gets the message on this issue. >> well, they do at least seem to be getting it. jim acosta for us in washington with an a.m. original. coming up in 20 minutes, we'll dig a little bit deeper into that senate report that was released late last week that says definitely, absolutely, without question, that osama bin laden was at the tora bora complex in the afghanistan mountains in december of 2001 and he slipped through u.s. fingers. we're going to talk with a man who was there on the ground at that time, a guy who pleaded with his superiors to send 800 u.s. rangers in to try to bottle bin laden up and capture him. they also know that al zawahiri was there. we also could have got omar. all three at the same time. gary bernsen who wrote about this will be here to talk about not only that, but his new concerns for what's going on in pakistan and just how many militants the united states is fighting there. all of that coming your way on the "most news in the morning." right now back to new york and here's kiran. >> we look forward to hearing about that. also, still ahead, friday, the car crash, tiger woods crashing outside of his florida home. it's now led to a lot of problems for him. women coming out of the woodwork with salacious allegations and now people are saying, is his brand in jeopardy? the millions and millions he makes off of endorsements because of his image. the short and long-term impacts on tiger's career and business deals, still ahead. $5 million dollars to charity.t i chose the boys & girls clubs. it's an investment for the future. i chose the national wildlife federation. our pets are our kids. we chose the aspca. we're sharing the love again this year. because giving back feels good. on the subaru outback, motor trend's 2010 and two hundred fifty dollars gets donated to your choice of five charities. have an old 401k? no matter how the market changes, your retirement savings need care and attention from year to year. open a t.rowe price smartchoice rollover ira, and let our professionals manage it for you. just choose the retirement fund closest to your expected retirement date. our fund managers will adjust the investment mi over time to become more conservative as your retirement date nears. all with no loads, sales charges or commissions. visit our website, or call our investment guidance specialists at 1800-681-2294 and consider a move that could make all the difference in your retirement. the t. rowe price smartchoice rollover 1800-681-2294 request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses and other information to read and consider carefully before investing. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. welcome back. 31 minutes past the hour right now. checking our top stories. bank of america says it will repay the 45 billion bailout it received from the government. the bank has been having a tough time finding a new ceo willing to accept government restrictions tied to the t.a.r.p. money. once they paid back that money, they then will not be forced under those restrictions. the nfl set to enforce its toughest restrictions yet. they say a player who gets a concussion should not return to action on the same day if that player shows certain signs or symptoms. and a drug bust in texas has police concerned, because officers say that the ecstasy pills seized were made to look like children can's vitamins. a 22-year-old has been charged with five counts of felony drug possession. well, he's apologized to his family and his fans, but there are still more questions than answers about tiger woods' admitted, quote, transgressions and personal failings. that's what he said in a statement on the web. still, the golfing great's biggest sponsors has his back, for now, but how long? steve rozner is the cofounder of 16w marketing, and i asked him what that mean, and an exit off the new jersey turnpike is how you got the name. great to have you with us. >> great to be here. >> what makes tiger woods so unique, that he is such a winner when it comes to advertising and when it comes to sponsorships. $120 million last year in sponsorships. >> well, first and foremost, his play on the course has just been exceptionally. so that's where it starts. then from there, he's been a likable guy to the public, so he also is a guy who took golf from one step that wasn't the most popular support at that time, has really raised its profile. so besides that, all the people that wanted to really get involved in golf, tiger woods was the first one they decided to approach. >> so he's become a role model, of sorts, for many. gotten people who would not normally be interested in the game interested. and now when we hear, hey, he's human, we know that there is -- still unclear -- but this friday car crash and what's sort of followed since, these women coming out of the woodwork, claiming to have had affairs with tiger, how does that affect his ability to stay marketable? >> well, it definitely took a little bit of a hit, his reputation over this, but i think long-term right now, since he came out, raised his hand and said, you know, i have some faults, i'm going to work on them, and i think we are a country that's very compassionate when it comes to that. and i think in the long-term, his endorsement deals will stay in place, teespecially the ones that he has now. and i think it will take a little while for him to get new endorsements with but i think moving forward if he handles it right and stays out of the public eye, i think he'll be fine. >> you talk about sports marking. there are many different ways in which celebrities' faces and name and their image is used in advertising. when you see what tiger advertises, it's about personal perfection, greatness, striving, working really hard, and almost being infallible. does anything that transpired affect the brands that he is actually representing? >> i think they do. i think it depends on which companies we're talking about. but i think they might be a little bit more sensitive about how they position and use him moving forward based on what transpired here. also, time, that will aheal all the wounds, i believe. i don't think you'll see any full-page ads in the next couple of weeks. but his next tournament is about two months, i think that will be the really testing point about how these companies use him moving forward. >> tiger, someone who has been intensely private, and even mentioned on his website how dismayed he was by the huge amount of publicity and he called it in some cases false, you know, statements about what happened. does he need to speak more about it, or is just responding with a few statements on the web going to be enough. not necessarily for advertisers, but for fans and for people who love tiger woods. >> well, this is a decision that team woods has to make. he's in good hands with his representation. however, i personally believe that one time he's going to have to get in front of people. they're going to have to see him up close and personal answer some questions. and then that will be it. something like alex rodriguez did after he came out and said that he did the steroids. he had one press conference during spring training and after that he didn't address it at all. i believe tiger in the future will have to do something like that. >> anytime you have one of these sporting events, you sit down and everyone's going to be asking you a million questions. probably not going to be asking about his putting. >> probably not. >> great to talk to you, steve rozner of 16w marketing. great to have you with us. >> my pleasure. still ahead, 18-year-old high school football player, he decides, my future is with the u.s. army and jason carroll followed him from the very beginning of his decision to enlist to getting ready to say good-bye to his family and friends as he heads to basic training. it's a soldier's story, an a.m. origin nal, and we'll bring it to you next. >> this is jeff norman. he doesn't get health insurance 39 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the "most news in the morning." as we kick off an "a.m. original" series today, one that will track three military recruits from their final days as civilians to the moment they're deployed. our jason carroll has been given unprecedented access by the pentagon and this morning it's off to the army for a high school football star who traded the gridiron to be all that he could be. and jason carroll has his story this morning. >> this is something i've always wanted to do. with so many men and women putting their lives on the line in afghanistan and iraq, we set out to chronicle what the military experience is like for them from the moment they leave through deployment. and we begin with will mcclain. >> reporter: this is will mcclain, 18 years old and a week away from taking the oath to enlist in the army. >> more people in here. >> reporter: we gave him a video camera, to show us how he was passing the time. there were lots of parties. >> whenever i party with hi friends, they've got to throw those army jokes in. >> reporter: how have your friends taken the news so far? >> they think i'm doing a good thing. they think it's better than just rotting away in rosamond. >> reporter: rosamond, california. will's hometown. in the western mohave desert, a large stretch of land with a small population, about 14,000. a place where dirt bike riding is surpassed only by motorcycle racing in popularity. a place will mcclain can't wait to leave. >> i'm kind of glad to be getting out of this little town, you know, just because it gets old, but there's a lot of things you will miss, you know? >> reporter: we met up with will, his last day at home before he left to join the army, a day his 12-year-old brother didn't want to leave his side. >> i think it hits him more, that i'm leaving. this last week, it's hit him and my family. >> reporter: like a lot of high school football players, mcclain had dreams about going pro. >> i wanted to go pro, you know, and then pretty much, junior year, i realized there was a lot bigger fishes in the sea. >> reporter: mcclain says earlier this year, he began to really think about advice from his uncle. >> my uncle always said, you need to have a backup plan. and i figured the military would be the best bet. >> reporter: he grew up with guns and always liked the idea of joining the military. so he tried to convince his parents to allow him to enlist before his 18th birthday. >> i was like, i hate you, but they made me wait until i was 18, so the blame was fully on me. because my mom doesn't want to be responsible for sending know afghanistan. >> reporter: and now with time running out at home, reality is setting. >> a week ago, it truly hit me. that's when i forgot to sleep and stuff. i just lay there and think, i'm leaving in a week, leaving in three days, leaving in a day. >> reporter: for will's parents, will's future now taking shape. >> we're worried about him coming home in one piece. he might be 5,000 miles away, but he knows that people care about him. >> reporter: the next morning came the good-byes. >> it's all right. >> reporter: and one last word of advice. >> head down, brain on, okay? >> easy enough. >> she wasn't looking forward to this moment. it's okay. >> with so many men and women heading to afghanistan, you can bet that there are a lot of mothers out there who feel the way she does. next, we'll show you what happens as will, the civilian, becomes private will. we'll be heading to ft. lennardwood, missouri, that's where will will be completing 13 weeks of basic training. so he's got all lot ahead of hi. we'll be following him along and two others as well as they go through their entire military experience. >> do they know whether or not they'll be deployed to iraq or afghanistan? >> very good question. and he doesn't know yet. it's likely that he will, but at this point, when he finds out, we'll find out. so we'll all be finding out together. >> we look forward to following him, charting his progress. good luck, basic training. not easy, right? >> a tough road ahead of him. >> jason carroll, thanks so much. and still ahead, we're going to be talking about a report that osama bin laden was able to escape capture back in 2001. just how close were we to capturing him? 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(announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. 46 minutes now after the hour. we're back with the "most news in the morning," live from outside of nato headquarters in brussels. as president obama commits more troops to the fight in afghanistan and asks the other nato member nations for a bigger commitment in afghanistan, the senate foreign relations committee late last week released a report detailing one of the early failures in the fight against al qaeda. that report found that we are still feeling the repercussions of not capturing osama bin laden when it says we had a real chance to when he was holed up with his number two, ayman al zawahiri at the tora bora complex in the mountains of afghanistan between afghanistan, right there along the border with pakistan. the report was based in part by an account in the book called "jaw breaker," which was written by cia operative gary berntsen. gary, great to see you. what did you make of the senate report? it really backed up what you said in that book that was out so many years ago. >> the senate report was with accurate. it drew on accounts from myself, from the commander that was on the ground, and some other individuals that were involved in the decision-making process at that time. >> right now, in your book, and this was quoted in the senate report, you said, quote, i had sent my request -- this is when bin laden was holed up at tora bora. you said, "i'd sent my request for 800 u.s. army rangers and was still waiting for a response. i repeated to anyone at headquarters who would listen, we need rangers now! the opportunity to get bin laden and his men is slipping away." that passage has been redacted in more recent editions of your book by the cia. just how urgent was your call for reinforcements and what was headquarters saying? >> i sent the request on the third of december after i got an initial team into the mountains of tora bora, and that first team conducted 56 hours of air strikes. i knew, at that point, looking at the lay of the land, the forces that were arrayed there, that we needed to get rangers in there, because the afghan allies that we were paying and working with were not going to be sufficient to get the job done. they didn't have enough force, they didn't have enough in numbers, their loyalty was questionable, and we needed to get rangers in between bin laden and the border or bring them in from the pakistani side. unfortunately, the decision that was made was to use a smaller force, very brave men, very capable men, but tora bora was too large for these men to handle alone to sort of bottle him up and to finish this. we did eliminate, probably, 70% of his force that was in tora bora, but, sadly, bolin would cross into pakistan on the 16th of december. >> gary, looking back on it now, eight years later, if you had had those 800 rangers that you so urgently wanted, do you think you could have captured -- captured and/or killed bin laden and ayman al zawahiri? >> i think we came very close on a number of occasions. and if they'd had the rangers, we would have been able to sort of do it ourself at that point. the problem was this -- the first part of the afghan war, the formula was u.s. forces, small numbers of us, working with afghan surrogates and allies. what the white house failed to do was to make that adjustment at the last -- at the final minute where we needed larger u.s. forces. i'm convinced, had we put in the 800 rangers, we would have eliminated bin laden. on the 14th of december, he wrote his last will and testament. his world was crashing around him and we were eliminating all of his people. unfortunately, we didn't come with the troops that we needed and my concern was that if bin laden entered into pakistan, islamic fundamentalism would metastasize on that side of the border and that's exactly what's happened. >> right. and as the senate foreign relations committee report says, we continue to feel the repercussions of bin laden getting away. we hear about what's going on in pakistan in terms of these drone attacks, the so-called secret war that's being run by the cia. what do you know of all of that, gary? just how involved is the united states and how bad is the situation on the pakistani side of the border? >> the situation on the pakistani side of the border is very, very difficult. and there is a lot more fundamentalists there than i think most people in the united states understand. you know, we talk about the taliban in afghanistan. talk about 15,000, 20,000. well, there are 24 militant groups on the pakistani side of the border. if you just looked at the two groups and put them together, there's 35,000 of them there. if you were to look groups like the lakshar, jihad mohammad, groups like that have put several hundred thousand people through training over the last decade. there are hundreds of thousands of people in pakistan who have received militant-type training that are linked in one way or another with one another and with al qaeda as the glue. al qaeda has shifted itself from a force that is just doing significant, direct action to coordinating groups together for militancy against the governments of both afghanistan and pakistan. it's complicated. the administration was correct to choose somebody like holbrooke to handle both afghanistan and pakistan together. it's got to be done together. >> and gary, do you have any faith that this new plan of surging the troops in afghanistan, 30,000 u.s. troops, maybe 5,000 to 7,000 extra nato troops, and partnering with pakistan to try to diminish the taliban's effectiveness on the border between pakistan and afghanistan, do you have any faith that that program is going to work? >> mcchrystal had asked for and needed additional forces. it won't work in the time frame that has been laid out. we're going to need a little bit more time in afghanistan. you've got to get the afghans not just build a police force, and there have been problems with the police, but they need to have a special branch that is in there that does counterinsurgency. if you look at sri lanka, they had the special task force, those were couranterinsurgency police. they have nothing like that. we have a thing called task force paldin out there that is in charge of ied efforts. we've got to build components within the afghan government that do this, this part of this battle. because we are involved not just in an insurgency, but we're involved in an advanced stage of counter-ied warfare. >> all right. gary bernsten for us this morning, thanks for stopping by this morning. really appreciate it. >> a pleasure, john. weather-wise, it has been a terrible day here in brufrls. we've had rain and cold weather. but also back home in the united states, more problems up and down the east coast. our rob marciano is tracking all of the extreme weather. for what matters to you. introducing blueprint. blueprint is free and only for chase customers. it lets you choose what purchases you want to pay in full to avoid interest...with full pay. and those you split... you decide how to pay over time. if having a plan matters. chase what matters. create your own blueprint at chase.com/blueprint. ♪ all the single ladies ♪ all the single ladies well, the 2010 grammy nominees are out this morning, and there you hear it, one of the songs, beyonce leading the pack with ten nominations, including album of the year, song of the year, there you go, "single lady," and taylor swift, hot on her diamond-studded heels with eight nominations. if she wins, taylor might want to hold her microphone extra tight, because kanye west picked up six nominations and he'll be there too. now we're headed over to rob marciano. the weather certainly not behaving in some parts of the country today. hey, rob. >> i felt like you were introducing a boxing match, kanye is going to be don king with the spiked up hair -- >> i know, right? >> that will be something to watch. that will be appointment television for sure. good morning, kiran. looking at windy conditions across parts of the northeast. the rain that soaked the northeast and the southeast and the south the last couple of days is quickly moving in shore, but behind it, gusty winds and these will be strong enough to knock down tree branches and power lines. they'll last for another five to six hours and delays on that. a little slither of thunderstorms. what was severe is now beginning to taper off. cold air coming in to replace this storm. and watch this thing. that will be the next item of interest, which could bring snow as far south as south texas and louisiana and maybe some snow up across the northeast. kind of a wet day for the tree lighting in rockefeller center, kiran. last night, the president's going to light his tree in d.c. later on this afternoon. i think it will be a little bit drier for that occasion. back to you. >> all right. rob marciano thanks so much. you a cop? 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