03/15/2026: Choke Point, Laser Focus, Growing Up Behind Walls

Summary

60 Minutes – March 15, 2026:
Choke Point, Laser Focus, Growing Up Behind Walls

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Episode Overview

This episode of 60 Minutes explores three urgent and compelling stories: the global impact and ongoing crisis at the Strait of Hormuz amid war with Iran ("Choke Point"), a look at the rapidly evolving battlefield technology of high-powered laser weapons as a counter to cheap military drones ("Laser Focus"), and an inspirational segment on a Haitian orphanage providing hope and opportunity amid the country’s political chaos and gang violence ("Growing Up Behind Walls").

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1. Choke Point: The Crisis in the Strait of Hormuz

Theme: How the war with Iran has effectively shut down the world’s most critical oil shipping lane, threatening the global economy and upending the lives of thousands of stranded mariners.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• The Scene and Stakes

  • The Strait of Hormuz is the only route for oil-rich Gulf countries to export petroleum—a “crucial 21-mile wide waterway for a fifth of the world’s oil” (Cecilia Vega, 03:53).
  • As conflict escalates between the U.S., Israel, and Iran, commercial shipping has stopped almost entirely. “Most others have been at a standstill in the waters surrounding the strait with the constant sound of drones and scenes like this all around.” (Cecilia Vega, 04:22)
  • At time of airing: 700 ships, including 400 oil tankers, are stranded; 20,000 mariners trapped and at risk (06:30).

• Shipping Industry in Peril

  • Captain Zilke Leemkuster, operations center head at Hapag Lloyd, describes pulling her fleet from danger after Iranian warnings:

    “From now on, all navigating through the Strait of Hormuz is forbidden.” (05:55, Captain Leemkuster quoting Tehran's radio broadcast)

  • Ships’ crews witness drones, explosions, and ongoing attacks, with communication hampered by Iranian jamming (06:18–07:14).
  • Since the war started, 16 confirmed attacks on ships, several by Iran, with at least 8 dead (07:13).

• Economic Fallout

  • Oil analyst Matt Smith shows, with visual time lapses, the stark decrease in traffic:

    “On a normal day…about 100 or so ships that pass through there. When the bombing started…we saw it drop into the teens. And then since then, it's just one or two tankers…” (08:08)

  • Notably, Iranian oil is still moving—using tankers with tracking systems turned off, almost exclusively heading to China (08:45).
  • Counterintuitively, Iran has increased its oil exports to China during the crisis (08:55).

• Wider Economic Ripple Effects

  • Bob McNally, ex-White House energy advisor, underscores the scale:

    “Choke point understates it. This is the mother of all choke points.” (09:36)

  • Gasoline in the U.S. has surged by 65 cents a gallon—the fastest weekly spike in 20 years. Higher jet and diesel prices are already raising transportation and grocery costs (11:03–12:07).

  • “The price of that gasoline is set in a global oil market. A supply disruption anywhere leads to a price spike for consumers everywhere...” (John Wertheim, 11:49)

• Political Response & Limits

  • While the U.S. Navy is destroying Iranian "mine-layer" boats and offering insurance and potential escorts, most shipowners remain too wary to cross (12:42–13:37).
  • The Trump administration lifted sanctions on Russian oil and began releasing strategic reserves—moves described as slow and limited in impact:

    “There are no policy solutions to a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz... Escorts are a sideshow. Strategic stock releases are a sideshow.” (John Wertheim, 14:11–14:39)

  • McNally is blunt:

    “You've got to restore the flow of the Strait of Hormuz.” (14:41)

  • Even peace may not reopen the strait quickly, as “all Iran has to do is demonstrate…that it has the means and the ability to attack ships…and that will be enough” (John Wertheim, 15:00–15:17).

• Memorable Quotes:

  • “This is a very, very expensive parking lot.” – Matt Smith, on stranded tankers (08:34)
  • “You cannot insure the life of a seafarer...” – Captain Zilke Leemkuster, rejecting insurance as a substitute for safety (13:28)

Timestamps

• 01:14 – Introduction to the Strait of Hormuz crisis
• 04:22 – Shipping industry comes to a halt
• 06:01 – Iranian threats & operational decisions
• 07:13 – Attacks and casualties
• 08:08 – Oil market analytics
• 11:13 – Gas price surge
• 14:11 – White House limitations
• 15:17 – Continuing attacks

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2. Laser Focus: Countering the Drone Threat

Theme: The emergence of directed-energy (laser) weapons as a possible game-changing response to the unrelenting threat of cheap, prolific enemy drones.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• A Costly Mismatch

  • Iranian drones cause major damage at minimal cost (as low as $20,000 each), while U.S. anti-missile interceptors cost millions per shot (16:31–18:15).

  • “It changes the economics on how we can actually defeat and defend against these targets that are now being deployed and produced by tens of thousands.” (Bill Whitaker, 18:15)

• Laser Systems & Their Potential

  • Featured company: AeroVironment (AV), makers of the "Locust" laser system. CEO Wahid Nawabi highlights the dramatic cost difference:

    “Per shot goes from $4 million a shot to less than $5 a shot. In most cases about $3 a shot.” (Bill Whitaker, 18:52)

  • Each unit costs $8 million and can be truck-mounted or stationary (19:01).
  • AV says Locust has already been fielded successfully, including against Iranian Shahed drones, though not in the current war (19:43–19:54).

• Why Not Ready Sooner?

  • Mara Karlin (former Pentagon official):

    “They went into this war prepared for certain threats, like missiles. They did not go into this war prepared for other threats, like drones hitting soft targets.” (Mara Karlin, 20:10)

• How It Works: The Laser Shot

  • John Garrity, Locust program leader, demonstrates system operation—tracking targets 7 miles away, lock-on via Xbox controller, and instant destruction with an invisible beam (21:53–23:00).

  • “That creates enough heat to melt through the plastics… these drones are made of.” (John Garrity, 22:45)

  • Sharing system reliability and AI-enabled auto-tracking (22:29–22:38).

• Current Limitations

  • Environmental sensitivity: lasers can be hindered by rain, fog, or dust, but drones also avoid adverse weather (25:12–25:22).
  • Technology is “valuable… though surely not enough,” and as with all military tech, the arms race continues (Mara Karlin, 25:43–26:08).

• Deployment & Civilian Safety

  • U.S. Army has ordered $100 million in these systems, which are already being used domestically against cartel drones at the Mexican border (26:35–27:19).
  • FAA briefly closed airspace near West Texas for safety tests, though developers insist Locust lasers cannot harm airliners (27:51–28:04).

• Export Hurdles & Scale

  • Government restriction on sales delays wider deployment—even with approval, production could take months (29:02–29:20).

Memorable Quotes

• “The price difference of firing a missile or a laser is like buying a mansion versus a cup of coffee.” – Lesley Stahl (19:01)
• “You gotta restore the flow of the Strait of Hormuz.” – John Wertheim (14:41)
• “Can this shoot down 100 drones at the same time?” – Lesley Stahl (24:04)
  • “Because you’re only taking one second or less to kill some of these drones… you can quickly go through and complete your mission.” – John Garrity (24:08)

Timestamps

• 16:31 – Asymmetric warfare: interceptors vs. drones
• 18:15 – Cost savings with lasers
• 21:53 – How Locust works (demo)
• 24:16 – Capability against Iranian drones
• 25:12 – Technology limits, weather effects
• 26:35 – U.S. Army procurement and use on border
• 29:02 – Challenges scaling production

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3. Growing Up Behind Walls: Hope in Haiti

Theme: The extraordinary efforts of Mitch Albom, his wife Janine, and their Haitian team to create a protective, loving home and pathway to the future for orphans in a nation besieged by violence and chaos.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Setting and Background

  • 16 years after Haiti’s earthquake, violence and governmental collapse force most orphanages to close; the story focuses on “Have Faith Haiti,” a walled oasis in Port-au-Prince (30:40–31:24).
  • Mitch Albom, famed author, is the owner and de facto head, making monthly trips by helicopter and convoy through dangerous territory (31:15).

• Life at Have Faith Haiti

  • Sixteen kids, aged infants to teens, most haven’t left the seven-acre compound in 4+ years (32:01), where education in French and English is prioritized.

  • “All children deserve to feel like they have a future... if my wife and I can do anything to change that, even if it’s a drop in the bucket, that’ll be our drop.” – Mitch Albom (32:42)

  • Entry is based on extreme need—sometimes parental abandonment due to poverty, illness, or death.

• Personal Stories and Emotional Connection

  • Alumni recount being abandoned, their adjustment, and gratitude for new opportunities.

    “I was like, he’s so white!” – Gina, on seeing Albom for the first time (35:29).
    “Honestly, not really, because I know my mom is human… she was looking at my future.” – Gina, reflecting on her mother leaving her at the orphanage (35:38).

  • Director Yannel, himself a former orphan, shares:

    “I thought that they hated me back then… But later on, I will understand why they did that... that's why I forgive him, you know, because I think they do it out of love.” (36:21)

• Security and Resilience

  • The orphanage is surrounded by 30-foot walls, barbed wire, guard towers, and emergency bunkers due to rampant gang warfare (37:09–38:15).
  • Yannel drills the children in emergency procedures:

    “Not good. Can’t leave no one behind.” (Captain Zilke Leemkuster, after a drill, 38:10)

  • Funding is a perpetual struggle, mostly shouldered by Albom and donations, and skepticism about aid effectiveness is a barrier (38:25–38:48).

• A Different Kind of Childhood

  • “There are no cell phones here. There’s no television. And consequently, we get to see childhood in a much purer form.” – Yannel (39:04)
  • All high school graduates have gotten scholarships to U.S. colleges; each pledges to return and work at the orphanage for two years (39:35–39:53).

• Dreams for Haiti’s Future

  • Alumni speak of wanting to bring back skills, become leaders, and improve the country:

    “Education is one of the things I would really want to take back and I will take back in Haiti...” (Captain Zilke Leemkuster, 40:34) “The end goal is to be senator…” (John Wertheim, 40:49)

  • They are undeterred, even acknowledging the risks:

    “Our last president got assassinated. We have to take that into account.” (Bill Whitaker, 41:00)

  • “Like, to me, Haiti isn't just my country. It's…my home where I was raised, and I have a deep connection to Haiti.” (John Wertheim, 41:07)

• Philosophy of Potential and Hope

  “Every child has that potential inside. No matter what circumstance they come from, if you give them something beautiful and calm and hopeful, they'll spend. And that's what I think you see with our kids.” – Yannel (42:24)

Memorable Quotes

• “We try to give them a childhood which is stolen from so many people.” – Lesley Stahl (38:25)
• “That's all we got, you know, growing up, we have to rely on each other, you know, to survive.” – Yannel (36:58)
• “They don't deserve to be ignored because Haiti has a checkered history.” – Yannel (38:48)

Timestamps

• 30:40 – Haiti crisis introduction
• 31:15 – Albom’s dangerous journey
• 32:01 – Life inside the orphanage
• 32:42 – Mission and philosophy
• 33:45 – Entry criteria and heart-wrenching interviews
• 36:01 – Director Yannel’s story
• 37:09 – Security imperative
• 38:25 – Financial struggles, fundraising challenges
• 39:03 – Purity of childhood inside the walls
• 40:34–41:18 – Alumni ambitions and reflections
• 42:09–42:24 – Potential of every child

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Notable Closing Reflection: Jamie Lee Curtis

On the question of American unity, Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis says:

"I don't think it's possible to have a perfect union... I think the whole idea was that we would always be doing this because that's kind of what democracy's all about... It's supposed to be debate and question and answer. And that tumult is what brings you to a democratic solution... I think there's an imperfect union, and I think that's what makes America so special."
— Jamie Lee Curtis (43:20)

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End of Summary

This episode of 60 Minutes showcases the interconnectedness of geopolitics, technology, and human resilience—exposing the fragility and hope at some of the world’s choke points, both literal and figurative.

Transcript

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[Cecilia Vega]

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[Bill Whitaker]

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[Cecilia Vega]

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[Cecilia Vega]

This was the scene this past week in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow stretch of water where Iranian attacks on tankers and cargo ships have choked the flow of oil and threatened to hold the global economy hostage.

[John Wertheim]

This is the mother of all choke points.

[Cecilia Vega]

We could be looking at the highest gas prices ever paid in this country

[John Wertheim]

if we don't open Hormuz to the free flow of traffic. Yes,

[Lesley Stahl]

they call it asymmetric warfare. Iranian attacks with cheap low tech drones across the Persian Gulf while the US tries to shoot them down with anti missile interceptors that cause millions. Could this weapon be the answer?

[Bill Whitaker]

The cost per shot goes from $4 million a shot to less than $5 a shot.

[Scott Pelley]

It's rare you hear about something good happening in Haiti, but tonight we want to take you to a small oasis where children may be growing up behind walls, but hope is very much alive. Do you get greeted like that every time you come?

[Yannel]

Pretty much, yeah.

[Scott Pelley]

It's an orphanage called have Faith Haiti. It's run by best selling author Mitch Albom and his wife Jeanine.

[Yannel]

If you give them something beautiful and calm, they'll aspire to those things and that's what I think you see with our kids.

[Lesley Stahl]

I'm Leslie Stahl.

[Scott Pelley]

I'm Scott Pelley.

[Bill Whitaker]

I'm Bill Whitaker.

[Scott Pelley]

I'm Anderson Cooper.

[Cecilia Vega]

I'm Sharon Alphonsi.

[John Wertheim]

I'm John Wertheim.

[Cecilia Vega]

I'm Cecilia Vega. Those stories and in our last minute, Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis reflects on America's next act tonight on 60 Minutes. As the war enters its third week. U.S. military officials say 6,000 Iranian military targets have been struck, including ballistic missile sites and air defense systems, and that Iran's navy has been rendered combat ineffective. Yet Iran continues to maintain its stranglehold over a tiny elbow of water called the Strait of Hormuz. It is the only route connecting oil rich countries in the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world. A crucial 21 mile wide waterway for a fifth of the world's oil. Normally 130 commercial ships pass through it every day. But on February 28, when Israeli and American jets began dropping bombs on Iran and Iran retaliated, those ships ground to a halt, spiking American gas prices. It is an unprecedented closure of one of the world's most vital choke points. And that is where we begin tonight, the Strait of Hormuz, where an estimated 20,000 crew members are stranded and under attack. This was the scene this past Wednesday in the strait. A Thai cargo ship was struck by a projectile from Iran, setting the ship on fire and trapping members of the crew. It is one of the few ships that has attempted to cross since the start of the war. Most others have been at a standstill in the waters surrounding the strait with the constant sound of drones and scenes like this all around. At what point did you look at the situation out there and say it's too dangerous. These ships should not sail through this strait?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

That was very early and very quickly. Iran already said that they would attack any vessel that is passing through the Strait of Hormuz. And this was the moment when we

[Cecilia Vega]

called off from her operations center in Hamburg, Germany. Captain Zilke Leemkuster oversees a 300 vessel fleet for the German shipping giant Hapag Lloyd. So hundreds if not thousands of ships sitting, hovering outside the Strait of Hormuz right now?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Yes. And they're all waiting basically to go inside, to go around the corner.

[Cecilia Vega]

It's at a complete standstill.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

This is a standstill.

[Cecilia Vega]

Six of her cargo ships carrying furniture, electronics, clothing, anything you might have in your home were headed toward the strait as the war broke out. This is the message they heard from Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Attention all ship, attention all ships broadcast

[Cecilia Vega]

over their ship radios.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

From now on, all navigating through the Strait of Hormuz is forbidden.

[Cecilia Vega]

So you heard this message from Iran and took that seriously.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Yes.

[Cecilia Vega]

Captain Leamcaster ordered her crew not to proceed. Today. 150 men sit trapped as the war rages around them. What were they seeing out there?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Drones flying by, of course. They also saw explosions close to the port. A lot of smoke.

[Cecilia Vega]

They saw explosions close to the port?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Yes.

[Cecilia Vega]

That must have been terrifying for them.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

It was.

[Cecilia Vega]

And they are not alone. Roughly 700 ships are currently sitting in the Persian Gulf, including 400 oil tankers holding 200 million barrels of oil. That's enough to fuel Japan for two months. This is Captain Leam Kuster's view of the war now. Day and night, she and her team keep watch. Those orange dots are their ships. The men on board have been ordered to stay below deck as much as possible. How often are you able to have communications with the crews out there?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Sometimes the communication is difficult because the satellite phone is interfered as well. But we are in constant communication with our crew.

[Cecilia Vega]

Her biggest fear, what's happened to many other ships like these two oil tankers off the coast of Iraq, struck by Iranian explosives and set ablaze in the Persian Gulf. One was American owned. Crews had to be rescued by boat. The next day, scorched vessels were seen drifting in the water. Since the war started, there have been 16 confirmed attacks on ships in and around the Persian Gulf. Iran has claimed responsibility for several of them. At least eight crew members have been killed. Matt Smith monitors ship activity in the strait as an oil market analyst for Kepler, which tracks global trade and shipping. He made this time lapse, showing how quickly ship traffic moved around the bend of the strait in the days before the war.

[John Wertheim]

So on a normal day, you see about 100 or so ships that pass through there. When the bombing started with Iran, we saw it drop to about 70 on the Sunday. We saw it drop into the teens. And then since then, it's just one or two tankers that are passing through there every day.

[Cecilia Vega]

All those red and green arrows represent oil tankers that haven't moved for the past two weeks. Fair to say this is a very expensive parking lot.

[John Wertheim]

It is a very, very expensive parking lot. That's right.

[Cecilia Vega]

The few ships that have moved are mostly from one country, Iran.

[John Wertheim]

And you can see that Hilda is loaded with Iranian crude.

[Cecilia Vega]

Hilda is an Iranian vessel.

[John Wertheim]

Yes, an Iranian tanker loaded with Iranian crude, 2 million barrels. And with all that Iranian stuff, it is typically heading to China.

[Cecilia Vega]

That oil is going to China. Yeah. And this past week, Smith and his team made a surprising discovery that Iran has exported daily 100,000 more barrels of oil than it did before the War, most of it going to China. Smith says nine Iranian oil tankers have traveled through the Strait of Hormuz by turning off transponders that reveal locations. Thursday on Iran State tv, the first public statement from the country's new supreme leader was ready to saying, quote, the leverage of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must continue. Choke point. A fair description.

[John Wertheim]

Choke point understates it. This is the mother of all choke points. Imagine your heart has one artery taking that lifeblood to the rest of your body, and that is what the Strait of Hormuz is.

[Cecilia Vega]

Bob McNally was an energy advisor to President George W. Bush during the Iraq war who now advises clients on oil and gas markets. Last year, he made a prediction. You saw this coming?

[John Wertheim]

Absolutely. My team and I wrote a big report and we're not surprised that if unmolested, Iran would be able to make Hormuz unsafe for that lifeblood to flow. We're not surprised at all.

[Cecilia Vega]

Would you have advised President Bush to go through with these strikes?

[John Wertheim]

Yes. I believe that what President Trump is doing in terms of defanging the Iranian regime is principled, courageous and correct. Totally support the goal. If I were advising him on how to achieve the goal, I would emphasize the need to manage the oil and gas market implications. And that means making sure from day one we are attacking Iran's ability to do what it has done for some 12 days now and may apparently do for an entire month.

[Cecilia Vega]

Did they do that?

[John Wertheim]

I don't know.

[Cecilia Vega]

Do you have concerns based on what you've seen so far?

[John Wertheim]

Yes.

[Cecilia Vega]

In the United States, gas prices have increased by more than 65 cents per gallon since the war began. The fastest weekly spike in 20 years.

[John Wertheim]

The all time high for the most consumers have ever paid for gasoline was in the summer of 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine. It was a $5 per gallon average. If we don't open up Hormuz soon, I can see us making new records.

[Cecilia Vega]

We could be looking at the highest gas prices ever paid in this country

[John Wertheim]

if we don't open Hormuz to the free flow of traffic. Yes.

[Cecilia Vega]

It's not just gas prices. The cost of jet and diesel fuel has risen 25%. And as a result, higher plane tickets and grocery prices are expected to follow

[John Wertheim]

the gasoline we pay for at the pump. The price of that gasoline is set in a global oil market. A supply disruption anywhere leads to a price spike for consumers everywhere, including here.

[Cecilia Vega]

We're seeing this trickle down effect.

[John Wertheim]

We are. So when that mom in Des Moines goes to the store to buy food for her family. That food was grown with and transported by oil. And as those producers and growers of food react to and absorb these price increases, they'll be passed along to the consumer, to that mom in the store.

[Cecilia Vega]

So what's happening at the Strait of Hormuz today affects the entire supply chain.

[John Wertheim]

It does.

[Bill Whitaker]

The Straits are in great shape.

[Yannel]

We've knocked out all of their boats. They have some missiles, but not very many.

[Bill Whitaker]

I think we're in very good shape.

[Cecilia Vega]

Despite President Trump's assurances this past Wednesday, the reality is most ships remain too wary to cross. In recent days, US Central Command took out 30 so called mine layers, boats believed to be used by Iran to deploy mines in the shipping lanes of the strait. The president said the US Would help cover the cost of risk insurance that as a way to reassure nervous ship owners, and suggested the US Navy could offer escorts for protection. Though it is unclear when that will happen as the navy is currently busy fighting the war. Captain Leamcaster is still not letting her ships move through the strait. Would more insurance help?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

You cannot insure the life of a seafarer, so more insurance would not necessarily help. We rather have to.

[Cecilia Vega]

Has a US Navy escort been offered?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

No.

[Cecilia Vega]

To move more oil onto the global market, this past week, the Trump administration announced it will temporarily lift sanctions on Russian oil that had been meant to punish Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. 32 countries, including the US also plan to release 400 million barrels of oil from the strategic reserves, the world's emergency supply, a process expected to take at least three months.

[John Wertheim]

I've worked in the White House during an energy crisis. There are no policy solutions to a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

[Cecilia Vega]

You're saying there's not much a White House, a president can do to stop this bleeding.

[John Wertheim]

You open up the toolkit and the tools in there. The options range from marginal through symbolic to deeply unwise. Escorts are a sideshow. Strategic stock releases are a sideshow.

[Cecilia Vega]

Gas tax holiday.

[John Wertheim]

Gas tax holiday. Sideshow. You gotta restore the flow of the Strait of Hormuz.

[Cecilia Vega]

Even if the White House, President Trump, declared an end of this war today, tomorrow, is there any guarantee that Iran would open up the Strait and it's back to business as usual?

[John Wertheim]

No guarantee. It's not like there's a big gate that swings open in front of the Hormuz and Iran locks the gate. So all Iran has to do is demonstrate every day, every other day that it has the means and the ability to attack ships in the strait and that will be enough.

[Cecilia Vega]

And those attacks continue, including on this ship Thursday. Remember the orange dots? Captain Leam Kuster was monitoring in the operations center back in Hamburg. Two days after our interview, one of her six cargo ships stuck in the Persian Gulf was struck off a port near Dubai. The ship caught fire. No crew members were injured. What needs to happen in order for you to get on the radio to your crews and say go, it's safe.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

We would need really an end of this escalation so that there are no drones, no missiles, no whatsoever flying and that there is a clear message from everyone that they will stop.

[Cecilia Vega]

Yesterday, President Trump called on other countries, including China, to send ships to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, saying this should have always been a team effort. This morning, Iran's foreign minister said its military decides which countries are allowed to pass through the Strait.

[Lesley Stahl]

They call it asymmetric warfare. Our highly sophisticated interceptor missiles Patriots thaads against Iran's low tech drones made of materials you can largely get at your corner hobby store. While attacks by Iranian drones were down this past week, the amount of damage they have done has come as a jolt. An Iranian drone attack caused the first American casualties of the war when it kills six soldiers in Kuwait. Iranian drones are a drain on the US weapons stockpiles and a threat to the Strait of Hormuz. We have found that in the race for a counterweapon there are contenders that look like science fiction lasers that focus on zapping drones out of the sky. This is Iranian propaganda footage of its arsenal of drones that have been menacing the Gulf states, blasting apartment buildings, airports, oil refineries. These shahed drones are getting faster, stronger. They can move in swarms and there are tons of them. Perhaps their greatest advantage, how cheap they are often made of flimsy plastics. One costs as low as $20,000 to shoot them down. The US is using anti missile interceptors that cost millions. A possible solution, lasers.

[Bill Whitaker]

It changes the economics on how we can actually defeat and defend against these targets that are now being deployed and produced by tens of thousands.

[Lesley Stahl]

Waheed Nawabi is CEO of American defense contractor AeroVironment AV that makes lasers that he says solve the the money disparity.

[Bill Whitaker]

So let me give you an example, a real example. A Patriot missile battery cost about a billion dollars to procure one system. Each missile cost about $4 million a shot.

[Lesley Stahl]

Compare that to a laser, the cost

[Bill Whitaker]

per shot goes from $4 million a shot to less than $5 a shot. In most cases about $3 a shot.

[Lesley Stahl]

That's shocking. The price difference of firing A missile or a laser is like buying a mansion versus a cup of coffee. We visited AV in Albuquerque, where their laser system, called Locust, is built. The top part that looks like Wall E is the beam director. The deadly ray blasts out of one of the eyes. The base contains batteries as the power source and a cooling system. Each unit costs roughly $8 million and can be stationary or installed in the back of a truck. Has it ever been deployed in battle?

[Bill Whitaker]

Absolutely, yes. Multiple battles in different theaters around the world, including against Shaheds.

[Lesley Stahl]

Are you telling us that it has been deployed in the Middle East?

[Bill Whitaker]

Yes.

[Lesley Stahl]

He said he's not allowed to tell us exactly where, but it is not being used in the current war. That drones have become so pervasive in the war brings up the question, why didn't the US Have a cost effective solution ready?

[Mara Karlin]

They went into this war prepared for certain threats, like missiles. They did not go into this war prepared for other threats, like drones hitting soft targets.

[Lesley Stahl]

Mara Karlin worked at the Pentagon in both Democratic and Republican administrations. Her last job was Assistant Secretary of Defense for strategy plans and capabilities. Is Iran doing anything that surprises you?

[Mara Karlin]

Not really. If anyone were to war game this out, you knew there were a couple things the Iranian regime would do. They would always look at how to use cheap, tough to counter capabilities like drones in as many spots as possible.

[Lesley Stahl]

Is there anything within our arsenal to confront the drones?

[Mara Karlin]

So I can't tell you that there is one magic solution that will do it, and frankly, that's kind of the history of warfare. You find multiple ways to counter different challenges, and then your enemy either catches up or they then get a counter to that counter.

[Lesley Stahl]

While AV is not a household name, it's a leader in developing drones as well as lasers. But their lasers face stiff competition from some of the giants, including Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Countries are in the hunt as well. Israel has Iron Beam, part of the Iron Dome, Ukraine has a system, and China just revealed its lasers in a large military parade.

[John Garrity]

But you're going to start tracking us.

[Lesley Stahl]

John Garrity, who's in charge of the Locust program, showed us how it works. First, Locust's radars find the enemy drone up to seven miles away as it moves toward the target. Then an operator, in this case me, locks in on the drone by clicking an ordinary Xbox controller.

[John Garrity]

And I'm gonna have you tap that bumper one more time.

[Lesley Stahl]

From that point on, the laser tracks the drone as it approaches, using AI. I don't have to touch anything. It's going to follow the Drone wherever it goes, correct?

[John Garrity]

Yes, exactly.

[Yannel]

Yep.

[John Garrity]

And that's the beauty of a laser weapon system. That ability to track and take that overhead burden off of the operator as

[Lesley Stahl]

it gets two to three miles from the system. The final step, destruction. Tell us about the kill.

[John Garrity]

So imagine, if you will, you're taking a beam of light or a flashlight and pushing that out several miles away, and that creates enough heat to melt through the plastics or what the material is that these drones are made of.

[Lesley Stahl]

For a closer look, he had a drone placed in a hangar. The door was bolted, and we observed on monitors outside. John showed me what an operator would do.

[John Garrity]

All right, Leslie, what I'm going to ask you to do right now is go ahead and pull the trigger.

[Lesley Stahl]

Watch closely, because the invisible beam travels at the speed of light. Here's the replay. The beam went right through the drone,

[John Garrity]

and you can see there instantaneously, flames. Look at the flames coming out of there. That is out of the sky. It is no longer a threat.

[Lesley Stahl]

This is what the drone looked like afterward.

[John Garrity]

And so let's go ahead and fire again.

[Lesley Stahl]

We were able to see the beam through cameras sensitive to infrared light.

[John Garrity]

Look at that. Isn't that cool? And so what you're seeing there is effectively clear light that's traveling across the sky and hitting the target that you intend. So the benefit of a laser system is you can just keep. Keep on lazing at that target until it goes down.

[Lesley Stahl]

Can this shoot down 100 drones at the same time?

[John Garrity]

Because you're only taking one second or less to kill some of these drones, depending on the range, you can quickly go through and complete your mission.

[Lesley Stahl]

Right now, today, is it strong enough to shoot down the Shahad drones that Iran is sending in?

[John Garrity]

So we've had a lot of great success with those types of drones. And our new locus system is directly intended to get after that Shahad fight.

[Lesley Stahl]

As drone technology keeps evolving, lasers have to keep up. Laser technology overall is still relatively young and experimental. Ongoing military tests have raised concerns about performance, accuracy, how heavy the battery is, how much energy is required, and how effective the beam is in certain weather conditions. I'm told that there's a lot of trouble with these systems. If it rains, if it's humid, if it's sandy like in the desert, if there's fog, if there's dust.

[John Garrity]

Now, when you're talking about, does the system operate in rain? Well, traditionally, drones aren't flying in rain.

[Lesley Stahl]

What about sand and fog and dust?

[John Garrity]

You know, I won't get into our deployments, but I can tell you that our systems have been actively deployed and placed at their battle stations and never had to come inside during any weather events.

[Lesley Stahl]

We asked Mara Karlin, the former Pentagon official, how laser technology should fit in the US Arsenal.

[Mara Karlin]

That would be an element and has clearly been an effort that has gotten some investment, though surely not enough. But even for the lasers, you've got to be able to figure out where the target is coming from. So do you have sufficient intelligence along those lines? Are you able to make the physics work in terms of what you're actually aiming towards?

[Lesley Stahl]

So you don't think lasers are a magic bullet.

[Mara Karlin]

So at this moment in time, they are very valuable. When we are sitting here six months from now, I don't know that will be the case.

[Lesley Stahl]

But as the war enters its third, there's an alignment of moments with laser weapons maturing exactly when less powerful, less expensive military hardware is needed. Is the US Military right now procuring Locust?

[Bill Whitaker]

Yes, Leslie. Just this fall, the United States army requested from us to deliver about $100 million worth of locust laser directed energy systems.

[Lesley Stahl]

Turns out the lasers have been in use since last month. Not in the war in Iran, but in the war on drugs at home. We have learned that the army is routinely shooting down drones operated by cartels along the Mexican border. Drug smugglers are sending the drugs in

[Bill Whitaker]

by drone, not just one direction. It's a lot easier to fly cash via drone than to dig a tunnel and then transport it underground.

[Lesley Stahl]

So it's the army that is conducting these operations using Locust on the border area?

[Bill Whitaker]

I believe the United States army is working in cooperation with Customs and Border Patrol.

[Lesley Stahl]

But after Locust was used near West Texas, the Federal Aviation Administration, the faa, shut down the airspace near the border twice, causing flight cancellations and cargo diversions. Do you know why the FAA shut down the airspace over El Paso?

[Bill Whitaker]

Because there were some concerns that these systems can interfere and hurt commercial airplanes, which is not true.

[Lesley Stahl]

It's not true.

[Bill Whitaker]

It is not true.

[Lesley Stahl]

Well, how do you know it's not true?

[Bill Whitaker]

The FAA just this past weekend conducted a series of tests to ensure and demonstrate that the type of system that we've developed cannot and will not defeat or harm a commercial airliner.

[Lesley Stahl]

So if you aim this beam at a Delta flight, it won't burn through it and disable it and crash it.

[Bill Whitaker]

The system is designed to not make mistakes like that.

[Yannel]

Oh, my God.

[Lesley Stahl]

In order for the lasers to be sold to the Gulf States, the Pentagon and the State Department would have to approve the Zail because Of the national security aspect of the technology. And then there's another issue. Let's say Bahrain wants 500 of these to protect their hotels and all the other targets. Could you send them 500 tomorrow?

[Bill Whitaker]

Not tomorrow. Remember, there's a chicken and neck thing in here. So far, we've only been authorized and allowed to provide this to the US military. So I cannot go at risk and build a billion dollars worth of this stuff when I don't have a contract in place that allows me to have a security or guarantee that somebody's going to buy it.

[Lesley Stahl]

The reality is that even if the government gave the go ahead for a sale to the Gulf states tomorrow, it would take months for AV to scale up its laser production.

[Scott Pelley]

It's rare you hear about something good happening in Haiti 16 years after the devastating earthquake which killed some 200,000 people and left more than a million homeless. The government has all but collapsed and gangs battle for control of the capital, Port au Prince. But tonight, we want to take you to a small oasis in that besieged city where children may be growing up behind walls, but hope is very much alive. It's an orphanage called have faith Haiti that's run by best selling author Mitch albom and his wife Janine. Since the earthquake, they've been taking in the most at risk kids, Abandoned infants, toddlers with disabilities, children begging in the streets. It hasn't been easy, but with love, faith and a focus on education, the results have been extraordinary. It's too dangerous for international flights to land in Haiti's capital. So every month, Mitch Albom flies the two hours from Florida to the northern city of Cap Haitian. That's where we met him and boarded a helicopter to reach Port au Prince. From the air, much of Haiti is a maze of dry riverbeds and rugged mountains stripped of trees. Then appears Port au Prince, A dense sprawl of chaotic streets and dilapidated buildings. Once on the ground, heavily armed guards drive Albom to the orphanage in a convoy of bulletproof vehicles. It's kind of crazy. Just what it takes for you to get in and out of here. And you do this every month?

[Yannel]

Yeah. Back before the gangs were an issue, we had two security guards. Now we have 24.

[Lesley Stahl]

Wow.

[Scott Pelley]

From the outside, it looks like a prison. The concrete walls are 30ft tall with barbed wire and guard towers. To enter, you have to pass through a series of locked gates. But once inside, it feels like another world. Mr. Mitch. They're chanting.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Mr. Mitch. Mr. Mitch.

[John Garrity]

Oh, my goodness.

[John Wertheim]

Hello.

[Scott Pelley]

So nice to see you guys. Hi.

[John Wertheim]

Hello.

[Scott Pelley]

Do you get greeted like that every time you come?

[Yannel]

Pretty much, yeah.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Yeah. Oh, Mama.

[Scott Pelley]

There are 56 children living here and more than 50 teachers and staff. The kids range from infants and toddlers cared for by nannies to teenagers living in dorms. Most haven't left this seven acre compound in more than four years. They play here, do chores, go to church, and eight hours a day go to school.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

How did enslaved Africans.

[Scott Pelley]

They're taught in both French and English and prepared to go on to college.

[Yannel]

All children deserve to feel like they have a future and the future is possible. And there are a lot of children right on the other side of that gate and their bellies are swollen and they're not eating and that's not fair. And if my wife and I can do anything to change that, even if it's a drop in the bucket, that'll be our drop.

[Scott Pelley]

You're not doing analysis of a two or three year old and seeing what their cognition is and what they're capable of. You are just picking kids in the most difficult circumstances.

[Yannel]

Love, food, Prayer works miracles. We don't give apt to be tests to get in here. Most of the kids that come to us aren't even speaking yet. But if you put them in the right environment and you surround them with other kids who are aspiring to do certain things, they'll grow.

[Scott Pelley]

Not all the kids are orphans. Many were brought here by a desperate parent or family member who couldn't afford to feed them. Albom has to choose who gets in.

[Yannel]

We try to set the connection because otherwise it's hundreds and hundreds of children. So we say only if there's one parent, not two. Only if there's no home, no actual structure home, you know, or if there's a case of a sickness or something like that.

[Scott Pelley]

What are those interviews like?

[Yannel]

I don't have any food to give my baby. The parents died. I don't know who this child is. We found this child under a tree. He was six weeks old and he was starving. So those stories, those interviews, they broke me in half. But they also cemented me to Haiti and cemented me to this operation, which I will do for the rest of my life.

[Scott Pelley]

Mitch Albom is The author of 19 books, including Tuesdays with Maury and his most recent bestseller twice. He first came to Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake. That's when Albom, who's Jewish, began fixing up a Christian orphanage run by an elderly pastor.

[Yannel]

The pastor basically said, I don't have any money to run this place and I'm 84 years old. And I kind of blurted out, well, I could probably run it. How hard could it be? And he said, here you go.

[Scott Pelley]

Bettany was brought here around that time. A year and a half old. Her father died in the earthquake, and her mother was desperate. Lorvens was malnourished when he came at 3, and Gina was left here by her father at 5. She now wants to be a lawyer.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

I felt abandoned. I could say I was a little bit scared because there were a lot of new faces and just a lot of people staring and smiling.

[Scott Pelley]

Smiling felt weird.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Yeah. It was my first time seeing an American.

[Scott Pelley]

Mr. Mitch, what did you think?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

I was like, he's so white.

[Scott Pelley]

Were you angry at all when you learned your story?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Honestly, not really, because I know my mom is human. And I don't think it was a really bad choice for her to bring me here because she was looking at my future.

[Scott Pelley]

Lorvin's Hammer for you. You'd said that there was a sense of betrayal for you early on, because

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

I feel like, why would your own

[John Wertheim]

family leave you in a place where

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

you don't know anybody? Follow me.

[Scott Pelley]

That feeling of abandonment is something Yonel, the Haitian director of Half Faith Haiti, knows well. He was left at the old orphanage 36 years ago when he was five. Do you remember coming?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Oh, yes, I remember coming. It was the worst day of my life. Honestly, I did not like it.

[Scott Pelley]

Yannel's father had three other children and couldn't afford another.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

I thought that they hated me back then because they just, you know, kicked me out. They didn't even tell me why. But later on, I will understand why they did that. That's why I forgive him, you know, because I think they do it out of love. When we share and when we give, it reminds us of what God did for us. Amen. Almost all the kids, when they come, they all call me Father. They need that, you know, connection. So I put myself there for them.

[Scott Pelley]

The kids, they view each other as brothers and sisters.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

I don't know how to put this honestly. That's all we got, you know, growing up, we have to rely on each other, you know, to survive.

[Scott Pelley]

That's all these kids have, is each other.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Yeah, that's all we have.

[Lesley Stahl]

Yeah.

[Scott Pelley]

Keeping the kids safe is one of Yannel's biggest challenges. Outside the walls of the orphanage, the danger is very real. As much as 90% of the port au Prince metropolitan area is now controlled by armed gangs. Rapes, robberies and murders are common. The UN estimates more than A million people have been displaced from their homes by violence. And in just the last 24 hours in this one area, there have been three shootouts between police and gang members. In case gunmen ever break into the compound, Yannel regularly conducts surprises. Emergency drills. The kids grabbed go bags and rushed to a concrete bunker with steel doors. It's got its own generator, a month's supply of food and water, and cameras to monitor outside.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Hi.

[Scott Pelley]

Yannell wasn't happy with the results of this drill.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Talia, where is she?

[Scott Pelley]

One of the babies was left napping in the nursery.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Not good. Not good. Can't leave no one behind.

[Scott Pelley]

So what's it like trying to keep this going? Half Faith Haiti's budget is paid for mostly by Mitch Albom and his wife Janine, along with help from public and private donors.

[Lesley Stahl]

And we try to give them a

[Cecilia Vega]

childhood which is stolen from so many people.

[Scott Pelley]

There's not a lot of kids in Haiti who get a childhood.

[Yannel]

No, it's very hard to fundraise for Haiti. People think, oh, the money always disappears or the government takes it. I hear that a lot. These children, they don't deserve to be ignored because Haiti has a checkered history.

[Scott Pelley]

After security and fuel, education is the biggest expense. The classes are small, and if a child struggles, they're given a customized lesson plan. You don't see kids on phones or kids.

[Yannel]

We don't allow that.

[Scott Pelley]

Playing video games.

[Yannel]

No kids have any computers for personal use. There are no cell phones here. There's no television. And consequently, we get to see childhood in a much purer form than I think you get to see it in the States. So their attention span is remarkably long relative to American kids.

[Scott Pelley]

16 kids have graduated from high school at Half Faith Haiti in the last 18, eight years, and all of them have gotten scholarships to American colleges and universities, but they won't be staying in

[Yannel]

the US all of our kids agree before they leave here that they are coming back after they finish their studies, and they're going to work at our orphanage for two years for free to give back to the community. So they're not going to America to take jobs. They're not going to America to do anything but appreciate it and then come back and make their country a better place. You know, I hope our kids can stabilize this country, and that's part of what we're trying to raise them to do. We are really, really proud of you.

[Scott Pelley]

In December, when we visited Mitch Albom's home outside Detroit, all the Haitian college students were staying there on their winter breaks. We sat down with four of them. Whidley, Bianca, JJ and J. U. What's it like living in the U.S. like, what. What stands out to you?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

For me, it's like opportunities. Like, there's lots of opportunities here.

[Bill Whitaker]

Just being able to see the ins and outs of how an actual government works.

[John Wertheim]

I'd say it was like relief. A relief from all the violence.

[Scott Pelley]

All of them said they're determined to help turn Haiti around.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Education is one of the things I would really want to take back and I will take back in Haiti because you need a better education to lead the government and to get a good job eventually.

[Bill Whitaker]

I'd like to become an ambassador for my country someday.

[John Wertheim]

The end goal is to be senator,

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

my country one day.

[Scott Pelley]

It doesn't scare you off to get involved in politics?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

I mean, there is a little bit. Honestly.

[Bill Whitaker]

I mean, our last president got assassinated. We have to take that into account.

[Scott Pelley]

It seems like all of you want your futures to be with Haiti.

[John Wertheim]

Like, to me, Haiti isn't just my country. It's like my home where I was raised, and I have a deep connection to Haiti. So, yeah, my future is with Haiti.

[Scott Pelley]

Haiti's future, however, is uncertain. To combat the gangs, in September, the United nations, with US backing, authorized a force of 5,500 multinational troops to help the overwhelmed Haitian police. But so far, less than a thousand have been deployed, and the US has slashed its financial obligations to the country by more than 50%. This spring, another six students at the orphanage are set to graduate. They'll volunteer for a year of service in Haiti before applying for scholarships to study in the US Even if they get them, however, it's no longer clear they'll be granted visas. Is there a difference between you and kids outside these walls who are working in the streets in terms of their potential?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Because it could have been vice versa, and we could have been in the streets and they could have been here. So I think everybody has potential. They just have to be given the chance and the opportunity to explore that.

[Yannel]

Every child has that potential inside. No matter what circumstance they come from, if you give them something beautiful and calm and hopeful, they'll spend. And that's what I think you see with our kids.

[Cecilia Vega]

Anderson Cooper's personal connection to Haiti.

[Scott Pelley]

Somebody I knew so well. My math teacher assassinated. That was shocking.

[Cecilia Vega]

@60minutes overtime.com. The last minute of 60 Minutes. To mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, we've invited leaders in the arts, science, and business to share their reflections. For this Oscar night, we asked Academy award winner, Jamie Lee Curtis. How do we form a more perfect union?

[Lesley Stahl]

I don't think it's possible to have a perfect union. I think that was the whole idea. I think the whole idea was that we would always be doing this because that's kind of what democracy's all about. It isn't binary and it isn't calcified. It's supposed to be debate and question and answer. And that tumult is what brings you to a democratic solution. And so I don't think there is a perfect union. I think there's an imperfect union, and I think that's what makes America so special.

[Cecilia Vega]

I'm Cecilia Vega. We'll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.

[Scott Pelley]

Me and my brother, we grew up off the grid.

[Yannel]

A new Paramount plus original documentary explores

[Bill Whitaker]

the wild true story of two brothers.

[Mara Karlin]

They were dubbed the Wild Boys.

[Scott Pelley]

No driving records, nothing tangible.

[Lesley Stahl]

What's their story? Who shook a small town after they

[Yannel]

emerged mysterious from the Canadian wilderness?

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Are they criminals?

[Lesley Stahl]

Maybe they're in a cult.

[Scott Pelley]

Who are these guys?

[Yannel]

Why are they here?

[John Wertheim]

It's not my job to tell you the truth.

[Scott Pelley]

Wild Boys, Strangers in Town.

[Yannel]

Now streaming on Paramount plus Pluto TV

[Cecilia Vega]

has thousands of free movies and TV shows.

[Bill Whitaker]

If I'm lying, I'm dying.

[John Wertheim]

Like Dream Girls, SpongeBob SquarePants and Ghosts free.

[Captain Zilke Leemkuster]

Huzzah.

[Mara Karlin]

Pluto TV stream now pay never.