"Security Moms" Represent New Voting Bloc
COSTELLO: Happening this morning, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf set to meet with President Bush in just about 15 minutes. The meeting comes amid controversy over Pakistan's truce with Taliban fighters and President Bush's statement that he'd send forces into Pakistan to get Osama bin Laden. Pope Benedict now inviting Muslim leaders to a Monday meeting at his summer home to discuss the uproar over his controversial comments about Islam. And a red flag warning in effect in southern California. The wildfire warning issued because the dreaded Santa Ana winds are expected to move in, fanning the flames of that massive two-week-old fire just north of Los Angeles.</s>O'BRIEN: Welcome back to the program. I'm Miles O'Brien.</s>COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.</s>O'BRIEN: In just about an hour, the army will be swearing their 80,000th recruit for 2006. That was their goal. But is the army cutting some corners to meet its quota, and can it sustain wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with the current active duty force? I'm joined now by Francis Harvey, who is secretary of the army, to talk about this. And Mr. Secretary, good to have you with us.</s>FRANCIS HARVEY, SECRETARY OF THE ARMY: Good morning, Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: Eighty thousandth recruit. Let's talk -- let's get beneath the surface on this just a little bit. Eighty-one percent of those 80,000 or high school -- have high school diplomas. The benchmark is 90 percent. The armed forces qualification test -- I guess that would be sort of the SAT for getting into the military -- lowest scores since 1985. And then you've increased the number of waivers for people with drug, alcohol, medical issues, 15 percent waivers as opposed to 10 percent. Are you worried about the quality of the troops?</s>HARVEY: No, I'm not. This is the highest quality force we've ever had. You have to look at what you just -- the statistics you talked about in retrospect. Eighty-one percent high school degree. You have to remember that the other 19 have an equivalent, so they have the so-called GED. So it's either high school degree or equivalent. Our primary quality indicator is the test that you mention, Miles. And the standard is 4 percent, and we're slightly under 4 percent for the so-called category four. So we feel it's the highest-quality force. We feel fundamentally that there's a significant number of young people that want to serve this country. We like to say they're answering the call of duty. They want to have the opportunity to defend the nation and they have the opportunity to get an education and the skills. So, again, volunteer, high quality. When you mention, like, 4 percent; in the '80s, it was 50 percent of category four. So we have a very high-quality force.</s>O'BRIEN: Let's talk about sustaining the dual war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is obviously taxing the army and the other armed forces. Right now, 140,000 troops, give or take, in Iraq; roughly 20,000 in Afghanistan. The projections are that for really the foreseeable future, you need about 15 brigades. I guess that's about 50,000 combat-ready troops. Does the army need to increase its active duty permanent size in order to sustain that over time?</s>HARVEY: When you talk about the army, you have to talk about the total army, and that is the active National Guard and reserves. Last year, we made a fundamental decision to transition the Army National Guard and the reserves from what we call a strategic reserve to an operating force. So the reserves and the National Guard are an intimate part of the army. They deploy with the army. That's our baseline plan. So I'm not concerned that we don't have enough combat brigades.</s>O'BRIEN: But are you relying too much on them? Is that -- is that, really, the way it's supposed to be set up? Is the National Guard supposed to be called upon as much as it has, with, you know, long stints of duty in Iraq, with short periods of time back home and back out the door?</s>HARVEY: No, there's a baseline plan that says that the active army will be deployed for one year out of three, and the National Guard one year out of four or five. So that's our baseline plan. Sometimes a particular unit may or may not meet that particular dwell time, as we call it at home. But we have a baseline plan. And again, the Guard and Reserves are a very, very important part of it. That's our approach. So when you talk about the army, talk about the total army.</s>O'BRIEN: This dwell time, though, that's a big issue, though, giving these people rest. Tremendous stress and duress in Iraq and Afghanistan. What can you do to address that issue?</s>HARVEY: Miles, I think the best measure of the stress on the force and how the force is reacting to that stress is the reenlistment rate. And right now today, in the active, two out of every three soldiers that are up for enlistment do, in fact, reenlist. You can look at a lot of other measures, subordinate measures, supporting measures, but the main way we look at it is the reenlistment rate. And it's very good right now.</s>O'BRIEN: "New York Times" has a piece this morning saying that right now, the army has currently between 7,000 to 10,000 troops available for an unexpected crisis. That seems like a low number. First of all, would you say that number is true? Secondly, should there be more?</s>HARVEY: No, I'd say that number is not true. We have a number of brigades in the ready-to-deploy pulls, we call them. If they're not deployed, they're the next to deploy. And there are a lot more than 7,000 to 10,000 in that pool.</s>O'BRIEN: How much is enough, and how much do you have available for that kind of eventuality?</s>HARVEY: We have up between -- in that pool, we have upwards between 15 and 20 brigades.</s>O'BRIEN: Is that enough?</s>HARVEY: We believe it is enough. We do a lot of operational assessments, and we believe that we have the surge capability. In other words, who are deployed are deployed. And then if you have a crisis you would surge with the units that are in the next-to-deploy in the next phase.</s>O'BRIEN: So bottom line, the army, as it is structured now with the National Guard and the Reserves,you feel it's adequate staffing for the foreseeable future?</s>HARVEY: I think you're right. But very, very important is that we continue to get the budgets we need and the reset money we need to ready the equipment. So it's a matter of the structure, the people and the equipment. That combination is -- makes us ready to defend this country.</s>O'BRIEN: Frances Harvey is the secretary of the army. Thanks for coming in.</s>HARVEY: Miles, pleasure to be here.</s>O'BRIEN: All right -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Sure, you've heard of NASCAR dads, but how about security moms? Some believe they're a young bloc that helped lead Republicans to victory in the last election. But this time around, the security moms may be insecure about the direction the country is heading. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken has more for you.</s>BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're always cited as a key to an election, suburban mothers. Last time around, the GOP called them "security moms" and convinced a substantial number to vote Republican.</s>SUSAN MCGRAW, MOTHER OF TWO: The reason I voted the way I did was for safety reasons. And I do not, you know, feel that I have that safety.</s>FRANKEN: As the president campaigns again to keep his party's control of Congress by again emphasizing the war on terror, these suburban St. Louis mothers who gathered at our request made it clear they had real second thoughts.</s>MEG MANNION, MOTHER OF THREE: I felt that the president's administration would help guide him to making the right decisions for security, and I don't know if I'm as convinced with that right now.</s>RICKI TISCHLER, MOTHER OF THREE: You know, I'm confused. I'm confused at a lot of reasons as, you know, why we are where we are.</s>FRANKEN (on camera): The security mom issue is a controversy within a controversy. Republicans vehemently deny that they're losing them, but many political experts deny they even exist.</s>KAREN KAUFMANN, AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSN.: When I think about security moms, I think about them in the same terms that I do like a unicorn, sort of a mythical being, because there really isn't such a thing as a security mom.</s>FRANKEN (voice over): Whatever they're called, many are up for grabs.</s>PATSY GOESSLING, MOTHER OF FOUR: I don't know at this point. I can't tell you right now how I'm going to vote, but it definitely will affect the way I vote.</s>FRANKEN: And what is definitely disturbing these women is the war in Iraq.</s>SUZIE FARON, MOTHER OF THREE: I believe the war in Iraq and some of President Bush's policies have contributed to the threat of terrorism in our country.</s>FRANKEN: Whether they represent a voting bloc or not, what these women do represent is a key question in this election, whether five years after the September 11th attacks Republicans can still gain the advantage from the war on terror.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I think before I thought, well, it's going to be a while for a president to get everything in place, and I was willing to, you know, support and be supportive of that, and I feel five years later disappointed more -- more afraid.</s>FRANKEN: Bob Franken, CNN, Brentwood, Missouri.</s>O'BRIEN: It's clean-up today in Kansas. Storms caused at least seven tornadoes in central Kansas yesterday. One person -- no one injured, I should say. Roofs torn off, trees toppled. And two tornadoes reported in Louisiana last night, as well. No injuries there, either. Damage mostly to homes, mobile homes and vehicles.</s>COSTELLO: All this week we've checked in with our teams from the "New You Resolution." Coming up, they will share some tips to help you get into shape. Plus, Donald Trump waves the flag at his golf course and gets into a bit of trouble with the locals. Andy explains in "Minding Your Business." That's just ahead.