Obama Planning Dramatic Moves; Military Combats Bird Strikes
BLITZER: Just four days until the inauguration of Barack Obama and we're now learning the next president is planning some sweeping action his first week in office. Our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, is joining us now from the White House. What are you hearing -- Ed?</s>ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, they're talking about hitting the ground running almost immediately with some dramatic action.</s>HENRY (voice-over): Barack Obama back in the battleground state of Ohio, mingling with workers who make fasteners and energy-efficient wind turbines.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Made in America by Americans.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENT-ELECT: That's great. You guys are doing great work.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.</s>OBAMA: Daryl (ph), thank you very much.</s>HENRY: Instead of selling himself as a candidate, he's pushing his economic recovery plan.</s>OBAMA: And it's not too late to change course, but only if we take dramatic action as soon as possible. The way I see it, the first job of my administration is to put people back to work.</s>HENRY: But top Obama aides tell CNN the incoming president will also move quickly on other fronts his first week in office. CNN has learned one option under serious consideration is an executive order raising fuel-efficiency on automobiles -- a move that would please environmentalists, but put more pressure on the car industry. On the eve of the election, Mr. Obama promised energy reform would be his second priority after the financial crisis.</s>OBAMA: We have to seize this moment, because it's not just an energy independence issue, it's also a national security issue and it's a jobs issue. And we can create five million new green energy jobs.</s>HENRY: Senior officials also revealed the Mideast crisis has shot to the top of the incoming president's immediate agenda, which may include quickly appointing high profile enjoys to the region -- something he teased this week to "USA Today".</s>OBAMA: I will announce a team and an approach that allows us to get engaged in the Middle East on day one.</s>HENRY: Aides privately say Mr. Obama is also likely to flex his muscles early with other executive orders -- not just closing down the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, but also potentially banning the use of torture. That would undo a key part of President Bush's legacy -- the CIA program of enhanced interrogation of terror suspects.</s>HENRY: Now, CNN has also learned that the president-elect is considering a speech to a joint session of Congress in mid-to late February. The topic would be the economy. That's a sign that he is already planning to use his bully pulpit early and often -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: We'll watch together with you, Ed. Thanks very much. Let's get back to our top story now -- the airliner which made that extraordinary river landing may have been disabled by a collision with birds. For military aircraft, bird strikes can sometimes be just as dangerous as hostile fire. Let's go to our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence. He's been looking into this story for us -- all right, so what's the U.S. military, Chris, trying to do to deal with this potential disaster out there?</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, right now, the Air Force is just testing this system. But it's got the potential to be deployed anywhere and reduce these kind of crashes.</s>LAWRENCE (voice-over): Up until a few years ago, birds were crashing into Air Force jets about 5,000 times a year -- doing $35 million of damage annually.</s>MAJ. GEN. FREDERICK ROGGERO, AIR FORCE CHIEF OF STUDY: We can't afford that. We need to save that money.</s>LAWRENCE: The Air Force chief of safety says in both military and civilian flights, most bird strikes occur near the runway, during takeoffs, as in this video, and when the plane is coming in for a landing. Now, the Air Force is developing a radar system to drastically change how the control tower detects birds.</s>ROGGERO: Right now it's just visual. The radars that they have in the tower are not going to pick up the -- the flesh and feathers.</s>LAWRENCE: The new system is small and mobile, and it can detect exactly where the birds are in relation to the plane.</s>ROGGERO: At the last minutes, if an airplane is coming in and on this radar they see, you know, flock activity, they can then warn the pilots who are coming in that there are birds in the area.</s>LAWRENCE: After a bird strike, the remains are supposed to be sent to the Smithsonian for identification. But an FAA study found that only a quarter of the bird strikes are ever identified down to the species level. If scientists could increase that number, they could relay the information on migration patterns to airports. And bird strike experts say those airports need to make themselves less attractive and eliminate nearby feeding and nesting areas.</s>RON MERRITT, BIRD STRIKE EXPERT: Birds are like teenagers. They want three things. They want a place to eat, a place to hang out and a place to breed.</s>LAWRENCE: Which obviously sometimes conflicts sometimes with where we want to fly. Now, the Air Force system right now is currently being tested at five air bases around the country. Each unit costs $300,000 -- a far cry from that $35 million that it is costing in some of these crashes. And eventually that technology could be shared with some civilian airports, as well -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Chris Lawrence, thanks very much. Chris is our new Pentagon correspondent. We welcome you to Washington, Chris. As someone who used to be a Pentagon correspondent, it's a great beat. Have some fun. Do some terrific work, as I know you will. Chris Lawrence here in Washington with all of us.</s>LAWRENCE: Thanks, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: That's good news for CNN. Bird strikes have caused some catastrophic crashes over the years. Back in 1960, an Eastern Airlines plane struck a flock of startling -- starlings and crashed into the Boston Harbor, killing 62 people. Two years later, all 17 people aboard were killed when a United Airlines flight struck birds over Maryland. In 1995, an Air Force radar crashed in Alaska, killing 24 crewmen after geese were sucked into one of the engines. Then, there are the close calls. In 1995, this Continental jet hit a flock of geese approaching Seattle-Tacoma Airport, breaking the nose cone and the radar inside. Fortunately, there were no injuries. So what are Barack Obama's top priorities and what's important enough for an executive order? Barack Obama reveals his game plan in an exclusive interview with our own John King. James Carville and Kevin Madden -- they're here to discuss. And inside Air Force One on 9/11 -- President Bush's pilot recounts the single most nerve-wracking day of his career and how he scrambled to keep the president of the United States safe. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.