[Chetry:] Fourteen minutes past the hour. New developments this morning, the investigation expanding into the leak of thousands of secret files on the war in Afghanistan.
[Roberts:] The investigation now leading to MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Barbara Starr live for us at the Pentagon. What's the link between what's going on there in Afghanistan and MIT, Barbara?
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Well, John Kiran, as part of this widening investigation now, Adrian Lamo, the former computer hacker who tipped off federal authorities to Private Manning, the main suspect according to the Pentagon in this case. Lamo says there are two men at MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, who told him they helped Manning. Pardon me, one of them saying that they helped teach Manning how to use encryption software which may have been used in this matter of the leaked documents. Lamo is refusing to identify the men at MIT. He says one of them has already threatened him. But this is a real indicator of the widening of this investigation. Now, civil authorities, the FBI called into it. Defense Secretary Robert Gates continues to talk about the security damage that has been caused by this, and he's offering some thoughts about how it all happened.
[Robert Gates, Defense Secretary:] Had he tried to do this, or had whoever who did this tried to do it at a rear headquarters overseas, or pretty much anywhere here in the U.S., we have controls in place that would have allowed us to detect it.
[Starr:] And what Gates says is Private 1st Class Manning, the main suspect, according to the Pentagon, may have understood very well that those controls were not in place in overseas headquarters. Out in the field they try and push as much information, as much intelligence as they can, Gates said, down to the soldiers out in the field so that they can have everything they need to do their jobs about the security risks where they are. And this could be one of the major fallouts of this. They may have to tighten those controls. Gates says he wants to keep the information in the hands of the troops who need it John, Kiran.
[Chetry:] You know, we talk about this investigation expanding. What are the chances that the military would actually go after the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange?
[Starr:] Well, there is some indications that that's one of the reasons the FBI is in this investigation, that they will take on looking at everything, all of the links, all of the potential accomplices outside of military circles. Military investigators will focus on what has happened inside the Army, inside the U.S. military. The FBI will focus on the civilian expansion of this investigation. Both sides, however, will work very closely together.
[Roberts:] Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon this morning with the latest on that. Barbara, thanks. Good to see you this morning. Well, the Republican National Committee canceled a fund-raiser with conservative blogger and activist Andrew Breitbart. He was set to appear with party chairman Michael Steele later this month in Beverly Hills. An RNC spokesman says the event was canceled "to better capitalize on fund-raising this fall." Breitbart, you'll remember, posted edited online video of former USDA official Shirley Sherrod that falsely portrayed her as a racist and ultimately forced her to resign.
[Chetry:] Yes, there were a lot of questions last week as to whether or not he was invited before or after the whole big government.com video. And I guess now we have our answer.
[Roberts:] Timing is everything.
[Chetry:] Well, Sarah Palin coming to the defense of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer after a federal judge blocked parts of the state's new immigration law. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," the former Alaska governor used a masculine metaphor to slam President Obama for failing to adequately protect America's borders.
[Sarah Palin , Fmr. Alaskan Governor:] Jan Brewer has the cajones that our president does not have to look out for all Americans. Not just Arizonans, but all Americans in this desire of ours to secure our borders and allow legal immigration to help build this country, as was the purpose of immigration laws. If our own president will not enforce a federal law, more power to Jan Brewer.
[Chetry:] Well, on Friday, Governor Brewer lost her bid to get a speedy appeal hearing, so now that's not going to happen until November.
[Roberts:] So if you say it in Spanish does it make it easier to talk about it? I don't know. And Sarah Palin also not shying away from the president of scribbling notes on her hand. The former Alaska governor first said that her arm was not big enough to list all the damage that would occur if the Bush tax cuts were to expire. Host Chris Wallace noticed that Palin did indeed have something written on her hand and asked what it was.
[Chris Wallace, Host, "fox News Sunday":] Can I just ask you, what do you have written on your hand?
[Palin:] $3.8 trillion next 10 years so I didn't say "$3.7 trillion" and then get dinged by the liberals saying I didn't know what I was talking about.
[Chetry:] Do you need to borrow some paper? Because we have a ton of it here. You can write down notes on that.
[Roberts:] All about the theater. God bless her, she's taken something that was a negative and turned it into a positive.
[Chetry:] That's right. We all learn that the hard way in grade school.
[Roberts:] Exactly.
[Chetry:] All right. Well, the deadline lives for long-standing Bush tax cuts, but what if Congress fails to extend them? We're going to break down the impact that it could have on your family's finances. Twenty minutes past the hour.