[Chetry:] Twenty-five minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We have a CNN exclusive now. When a devastating tsunami hit American Samoa at the end of September, the U.S. rushed in to help. The south pacific island has been a US territory for more than a century, so Washington was quick to send millions in aid and emergency equipment using your tax dollars. But as Drew Griffin of CNN's special investigations unit found out, very little of that money is actually reaching its intended target. Drew joins us now with more on this investigation. Yesterday, you talked a little bit about the millions that went to get those tsunami predictors that never made it there either.
[Drew Griffin, Cnn Investigative Unit Correspondent:] Yeah, Kiran, the tsunami warning sirens, which weren't in place for this tsunami, even though they were supposed to be. You know what's interesting about this story? The people in American Samoa were practically begging us to tell it to you, because for years this territory has been on the receiving end of literally billions of dollars in federal money, tax dollars, and over and over, we heard the same thing from the people who lived there. Where is it?
[Griffin:] In village after village, recovery in American Samoa is a do-it-yourself operation. On this day, a church group has come to hand out water. Workers at a fish cannery are clearing debris. College students clean clogged streams. For most of those devastated by the tsunami waves, like this boy picking through rubble in search of furniture, the cleanup and recovery will be purely self-help. The government of this island of just 65,000 people seems to be absent.
[Willie Tanu, Samoan Villager:] I don't know what happened to the government. They said they were going to be here pretty soon, but not even coming.
[Griffin:] It's been a couple of weeks.
[Tanu:] Yes.
[Griffin:] And they haven't showed up?
[Tanu:] Nope.
[Heinrich Tavai, Samoan Villager:] The government gets a lot of money from the US federal government. Every year, they get millions and millions of dollars. As you see, we look like a third world country when we should be looking more like a US territory.
[A.e. Pulu, Samoan Villager:] And this is my old village.
[Griffin:] A.E. Pulu is a former lawmaker here. He points to an area where a federal grant was to build a gym. Where's that?
[Pulu:] Nothing.
[Griffin:] It's not here.
[Pulu:] Not here.
[Griffin:] A creek that had a $2.9 million grant for upgrades. It never happened. The money, he says, just seems to vanish. Remember, Samoa is an American territory, so we're talking about your money. And while there have been some federal investigations, many government agencies that send money here, he says, don't seem to care.
[Pulu:] They need to come down and look, make sure that follow-up the report.
[Griffin:] This is you you were a member of this government and you are telling the federal government, you need to come here and look at where you're throwing money.
[Pulu:] Exactly right.
[Griffin:] Because it sounds like you're telling me they're throwing it away.
[Pulu:] Well, that's what I'm saying.
[Griffin:] The one person who should know where the money is going is the person who takes much of the credit for getting it here. The Web site of Samoa's longtime congressional delegate, Eni Faleomavaega, is filled with notices of government grants he has won for this tiny island. But he told us his responsibility doesn't include making sure it's spent correctly.
[Eni Faleomavaega, American Samoa Delegate To Congress:] I'm very much aware of the fact that, yes, we do have a lot of federal funds that come here in the territory. And I make no excuses it's the American taxpayers' money, the public's entitled to know how this money should have been spent or should be spending.
[Griffin:] And in the meantime, you are about to send even more. $24 million in emergency housing funds just announced and, yes, even stimulus money for an island of just 65,000 people. Among the $68 million in stimulus funds heading to this island, $7.4 million from the Department of Energy to develop, among other things, solar power, on an island that receives 200 inches of rainfall a year. The money, Kiran, just seems to evaporate. That's the only thing evaporating on that island. So what is happening? Number one, the federal investigators are thousands of miles away in Washington and literally told us on background that it's too far to keep track of this money. They'd have to send too many people there, would take too long. Also, what American Samoa does is it basically survives on federal tax dollars. The big prize is to get a government job. Which our sources tell us, are handed out as a way to control the political power there. There are more than 6,000 government workers on American Samoa getting a tax-funded paycheck. But as we saw in the aftermath of this tsunami, we just didn't see any of those government workers working Kiran.
[Chetry:] As a result of your reporting, is anything going to change?
[Griffin:] It's rattled a lot of cages down on American Samoa. The FBI, as we reported yesterday, has opened up an investigation into where that tsunami warning system money is going. But I think internally there's a lot of people now in American Samoa beginning to talk about this, at least question, where was the money for that gym? Where are the moneys to clean up that creek, you know, trying to follow their own money if these federal investigators in Washington, these agencies that hand out the money aren't going to do it for themselves.
[Chetry:] Drew Griffin, some great reporting there. Thank you.
[Cho:] It's 31 minutes after the hour. Here are this morning's top stories. A solemn visit by President Obama overnight to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The president was on hand to pay personal tribute as the remains of 18 Americans killed this week in Afghanistan returned home. October is now the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the entire eight-year war.
[Chetry:] The president may soon decide on troop increases for Afghanistan. Sources are telling the Associated Press he's considering a large number of additional troops, not as many, though, as his war commander, General Stanley McChrystal, wants. That plan being dubbed "McChrystal-light" because it's lower than the 40,000 the general recommended.
[Cho:] And we have this just in to CNN. Within the past hour the British Navy has just found an empty yacht belonging to the couple feared kidnapped by pirates. But a bit of a mystery there's no sign of the couple. And according to the European Union Navy, pirates hijacked another ship today, this time a Thai fishing vessel. This means the pirates are now in control of a total of eight ships.
[Chetry:] And these violent episodes at sea show just how dangerous pirates can be and just how vulnerable the waters are in the region, as we've seen. But ships may have a new defense, a pirate-proof ship. In this exclusive report, Brian Todd takes you on board the ship that's designed to keep a pirate attack from ever happening in the first place. CNN has had exclusive access as we put this ship to the test.
[Brian Todd, Cnn Correspondent:] Using the crudest tactics, they've hijacked the shipping interest. With grappling hooks, AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, they brazenly clamor on board tankers and cargo ships, taking crews hostage. Pirates off the eastern coast of Africa have cost the industry billions of dollars in recent years. Military officials tell CNN they don't have the resources to cover the vast areas of those hot zones. And with monsoon season ending in that region, the pirates are back at it. But this is what they could now encounter. A security team helps the crew get into a blast-proof bridge. A sniper takes position on deck, scans the perimeter. It's a drill on board the S.S. Horizon Producer, a cargo ship making a run into San Juan harbor. The vessel is equipped with a new multi-layered security system called Triton Shield. It starts with long-range surveillance cameras to detect pirates further out, and if they do get close, loudspeaker alarms. A few feet away, trained guards patrol the deck under simulated fire. At sea and in port, with the help of the San Juan bay boat pilots, CNN has exclusive access as the captain and crew are trained how to scramble into their secure bridges and engine room. It's not always smooth.
[Todd:] But the captain says his crew needs this.
[Capt. Steve Procida, S.s. Horizon Producer:] Well, you saw the drill, guns going off and that kind of stuff. And there was a realism about it, and I think it woke up a lot of guys.
[Todd:] This is the brain child of a company called International Maritime Security Network, IMSN. The firm provides everything, security teams, fortification of bridges, sniper nests, training the crew how to react if pirates breach the vessel. I spoke to an IMSN professor, who asked that his name and face not be identified because he conducts training in high-risk regions.
[Unidentified Male:] We show them how to detain that individual and how to use handcuffs. We also in the course train the crew on how to be a hostage.
[Todd:] But there's another part of the system aimed at never letting it get that far. This is a crucial part of the deterrent, a wall of water that blasts down from the tunnel to knock the pirates off as they try to scale the ship. It can also flood the pirates' boats. They can mix in bleach, pepper, oil, even soap to try to distract them even more. I'm repeatedly blasted, and when I try to look up alongside the hull, I can't see a thing. Back on deck, I press the instructor about the effectiveness of all this. How confident are you that this wall of water, the blast-proof bridge, the loudspeakers, will really keep pirates from coming on this ship?
[Unidentified Male:] We're 99.999 percent sure that we've got the answer here.
[Todd:] That certain, because the pirates and the criminals always stay one step ahead of the law? 99.9 percent why?
[Unidentified Male:] Well, back in our factory, we're already making next version of the next step up. We're going to one step them. Every time they make a move, we'll be ready for them.
[Todd:] What they're really aiming for is a true deterrent.
[Unidentified Male:] The whole point is they see this from the water and they say these guys are ready for something. It's not worth hitting this ship. Let's go somewhere else.
[Todd:] This is the only vessel IMSN have outfitted so far, but we're told more are in line. In the coming months, this system is going to be deployed on another merchant vessel off the coast of Africa for a trial by fire. Brian Todd, CNN, San Juan.
[Cho:] We have this just into CNN. What could, could be a key turning point for the economy. Christine Romans has the just-released GDP number. So read the tea leafs for us.
[Romans:] The tea leaves are pretty clear. The economy grew 3.5 percent in the most recent quarter, driven by cash for clunkers, driven by government support for the housing market, driven by government support in the economy after four brutal quarters of the economy shrinking, a very painful situation for main street and for the American economy, the economy actually grew 3.5 percent. The question here now is, how much of this going forward is going to be government support and how much of this is going to be an economy that is actually healing? What this signals to us, it is more evidence, more evidence that the recession may be ending. The recession may be coming to an end. We won't know for sure until after it has been declared. It will be rearview mirror by then, of course, but this is more evidence that the economy got back up on its feet. We're looking at exports increased, imports also increased. We saw motor vehicles almost just shy of half of this gain for the overall economy was because of the cars, cars being sold.
[Cho:] Cash for clunkers.
[Romans:] Cash for clunkers. You can see, that's the government support. Without all this government support, we may not have seen growth in the quarter. We don't know exactly how much of the government support is this 3.5 percent, but it is a green it is the economy grew, folks, for the first time in five quarters. And that is a feat considering what we've been through.
[Cho:] That's good news.
[Chetry:] That's right.
[Cho:] We'll have to see whether it lasts. That's the big question, right?
[Romans:] Right. Once you start to pull back the government part of it, can the economy grow and heal on its own? That's the next key.
[Cho:] Christine Romans, thanks.
[Chetry:] Still ahead, we'll be speaking to Steve Gandel from "Time" magazine about the divide between Main Street and Wall Street widening. "Time" did a poll, and it is shocking how many people are angry maybe it's not so shocking, but for the first time in many, many years, the disconnect seems to be even wider. So we're going to explore all of that in just a moment. It's 38 minutes past the hour.