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ISIS Reveals Laptop of Doom; New Details on Minnesota Martyr; No U.S. Strategy against ISIS in Syria?; Ukraine: Russian Invasion Under Way; Russia: Those Aren't Our Troops in Photos; U.K. Raises Terror Threat Level to "Severe"

Aired August 29, 2014 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Have a great weekend.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: You too.

COSTELLO: NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The White House under fire and on the defensive after a stunning admission from the president. How should the United States deal with the ISIS terrorists who are growing stronger in Syria?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to put the cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And on this morning after, the White House back pedaling continues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We do have a comprehensive strategy for dealing with ISIL. What the president is still waiting on is some military options that are being developed by the professionals at the Department of Defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Also developing overnight, new causes for concern, reporters from "Foreign Policy" magazine gained access to what they call the ISIS laptop of doom, buried in hidden files preps to unleash a biological weapon attack.

Plus the army psychiatrist who killed 13 fellow Americans at Ft. Hood from death row, Nidal Hasan writes to the leader of ISIS asking to join.

And federal investigators step up their monitoring of extremist websites and chat rooms. Intel has identified nearly a dozen Americans who have traveled to Syria to become ISIS fighters.

So let's take a closer look especially at that laptop of doom and its hidden secrets. According to "Foreign Policy" magazine there was a 19-page document that included efforts to develop biological weapons and even weaponized the bubonic plague. It suggested using grenades to help disperse the bioterror and targeted closed areas like stadiums and subways where people would be trapped.

Let's turn now to CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank. He's on the phone with me this morning.

Good morning, Paul.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST (via phone): Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Paul, how likely is it that ISIS could successfully carry out a biological attack?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, obviously this news has caused a concern and this guy was a chemistry graduate but there's a big difference between aspiring to make these sorts of weapons and actually having any sort of capability. Al Qaeda, for example, have researched this kind of stuff for the last couple of decades but they've never come close to developing biological or chemical weapons.

The distribution systems for these kind of things are particularly difficult but I think what's also concerning now is that we're kind of in unchartered territory with ISIS because they control a large degree of territory and also they have deep financial pockets. They're raising millions of dollars a day and they're also attracting foreign fighters from across the Middle East.

Now the worry is that some of those could have scientific knowledge, but there's no evidence yet that ISIS is developing a program for this kind of thing. This seems just to be one individual doing some research into it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, I know there is concern because ISIS operates in Syria, and we know Syria has chemical weapons or had chemical weapons. So is it possible that ISIS managed to get a hold of some?

CRUICKSHANK: I don't think there is any evidence of that. Those chemical weapons are under lock and key when it comes to the regime. I don't think anybody is suggesting that ISIS is about to get hold of chemical weapons in Syria. Obviously there's always theoretical concern about that but no evidence of that yet -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We also know ISIS controls some major cities, for example, Mosul in Iraq. Mosul has a university and a medical college with laboratories. Should that be a concern?

CRUICKSHANK: Yes, that is an obvious concern that they may have access to some scientific facilities, where they're able to sort of experiment on this kind of thing. But when it came to al Qaeda, they were experimenting in sort of training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s, far away from sort of modern civilization.

If you control scientific and medical facilities in an actual city, that obviously gives you a better chance of going further down the road of developing these kind of things, Carol, that's true.

COSTELLO: All right, Paul Cruickshank, thanks for your insight. We appreciate it this morning.

The man responsible for killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in 2009 is now asking ISIS for citizenship. Nidal Hasan's lawyer provided a copy of the letter to FOX News and in it Hasan says, quote, "I formally and humbly request to be made a citizen of the Islamic State. It would be an honor for any believer to be an obedient citizen soldier to a people and its leader who don't compromise the religion of the Almighty Allah to get along with the disbelievers."

Hasan signed the letter with his name and the abbreviation "SOA" or "Soldier of Allah."

The FBI is trying to get a handle on just how many Americans have been recruited by ISIS and how many have left the United States to join the fight in Syria They also want to know how these young men Authorities want to know how young men are being recruited to fight in Syria.

Today we're learning about yet another American terrorist. The family of Abraham Muhammad says he was killed over the weekend in Syria while fighting for ISIS. People who knew him are trying to figure out why he decided to join this brutal terrorist group.

Ted Rowlands live in Minneapolis this morning with more for you.

Good morning, Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Muhammad is the latest in a group of young men from this Minneapolis- St. Paul area that have gone on to fight for extremist groups. He joins two men that went to high school together, both here from Minneapolis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS (voice-over): According to a friend, Abu Rahman Muhammad is the latest so-called Minnesota martyr, an American giving up his life to fight with the ruthless terror group ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's well-known in the community. He was involved in politics. For some reason somewhere down the road he changed allegiance to a different set of philosophies.

ROWLANDS: Mohammad was killed in Syria, where he was fighting along with another American jihadist from Minneapolis, Douglas McCain. While it's still unclear how well McCain new Mohammad, McCain knew the man in this terrorist recruiting video very well.

TROY KASTIGAR, AMERICAN JIHADIST: If you guys only knew how much fun we have over here, this is the real Disneyland. And you come here and join us.

ROWLANDS: Troy Kastigar and Douglas McCain were high school friends. Kastigar who appeared in this training video died in 2009 fighting with al-Shabaab in Somalia. Kastigar's mother tries to explain how her son and Douglas McCain went from basketball team buddies to terrorists.

JULIE BOADA, MOTHER OF TROY KASTIGAR: It was like wanting to have -- you know, wanting to be -- have a purpose and wanting to be a valuable human being and not finding that, and then I think, you know, some of the things that they were told were lies and some things were truths. I think they felt like they could go help some people who needed help.

ROWLANDS: The fear that a Minnesota terror recruit will someday attack America is a real concern for the FBI. They're investigating exactly how ISIS has been able to recruit.

KYLE LOVEN, CHIEF DIVISION COUNSEL FOR FBI IN MINNEAPOLIS: How are people being radicalized, what methods are being used and what are the logistics behind the travel of some of these young men.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: And Carol, the FBI here in Minneapolis believes there are a handful of other young men that grew up in the Twin Cities that are now in Syria fighting for ISIS -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Ted Rowlands reporting live from Minneapolis this morning.

When it comes to the hostages being held by ISIS, we're learning more about the brutal treatment they received while in captivity. "The Washington Post" citing unnamed sources familiar with the treatment of abducted Westerners reporting that four hostages including that American journalist James Foley were waterboarded. Foley was later beheaded in what ISIS claimed was retaliation for U.S. airstrikes.

In a statement to CNN, a senior Obama administration official would not confirm the report due to sensitivity to the families and to protect intelligence and how it was gathered. But officials repeated calls to ISIS to release all hostages.

I know what you're thinking, wasn't it just last week President Obama called ISIS a cancer worth rooting out? Wasn't it just a few days ago that he promised justice for James Foley?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: But our message to anyone who harms our people is simple. America does not forget. Our reach is long. We are patient. Justice will be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So what gives? Because the president just yesterday says that his administration, the Defense Department doesn't really have a strategy to deal with ISIS in Syria.

So let's talk about that. Josh Rogin is a CNN political analyst and senior national security correspondent for "The Daily Beast."

I know you've also written extensively on this topic and you have insider information so I'm glad you're here this morning.

JOSH ROGIN, SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: Glad to be with you.

COSTELLO: I must say when the president of the United States says we don't have a strategy to deal with the terrorists who kill Americans, it's unsettling to say the least, so what gives?

ROGIN: Yes, it's really amazing, especially after seven days of not just President Obama, but John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, Joint Chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey all saying that it's an eminent threat, we have to confront them, both sides of the border, and then President Obama saying basically we're going to wait, we're going to check it out.

I believe him. The administration doesn't have a strategy and that raises two big questions, one, what are they waiting for, and two, is it really a good idea to tell ISIS that we don't have a strategy? How does that impact their actions? And what does that mean for the safety of us?

COSTELLO: Well, along those lines, in your "Daily Beast" article you quote a former Pentagon official who says, "It's not just demoralizing to those who want to stop ISIS in its tracks but ISIS is just going to act with greater impunity, now they believe they've been given a free pass. Every single ISIS leader was watching the president as he made those comments yesterday."

So has the president made things worse with his own rhetoric?

ROGIN: It's hard to say. We can say that by deciding not to decide, that has implications. So ISIS is doing lots of things. They're expanding across Iraq, across Syria. They're fighting the Syrian rebels and they're going to continue to do those things, whether or not we react. So if we don't react, if we wait, if we study the issue, we can be sure that the problem will get worse and worse, and when they hear that we're about to weigh in, that factors into the calculations.

COSTELLO: So I guess the obvious question, where does the administration go from here?

ROGIN: So John Kerry is going to go to the region this weekend. He's going to try to coalesce some international support around whatever it is they ultimately decide to do, and they're going to have more debate inside the administration.

The White House doesn't want to intervene in Syria. They've been very clear about that. There are a lot of people in the administration that say we have no choice. They haven't convinced the one man whose vote is the most important, his name is Barack Obama. Until he's convinced, we're not going to see any movement.

COSTELLO: All right, Josh Rogin, thanks so much for your insight. I appreciate it.

And check out the article that Josh co-wrote, "Why Obama Let ISIS off the Hook" at the dailybeast.com.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, NATO released these images it says show Russian forces inside Ukraine. Russia says that's not us. That's quite an unusual explanation, as a matter of fact.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow.

Good morning.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and from the Russian capital, the U.S. steps up its allegations about Russian military involvement in Ukraine, I'll bring you all the latest Kremlin denials.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: World leaders are condemning Russian troop movements into Eastern Ukraine in what one Ukrainian army officer calls a full scale invasion. Following today's emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors, the group secretary-general accused Russia of a serious escalation of aggression.

NATO earlier released satellite images of what it says are Russian troops engaged in military operations inside Ukraine. Russian denies any of its units are taking part of the fighting, but Kiev says rebels backed by Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers have been fighting Ukrainian forces on two eastern fronts.

CNN's Diana Magnay has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY (voice-over): Pro-Russian forces gaining more ground as the fighting rages on. In rebel-held Donetsk heavy shelling killed 15 civilians as Ukrainian troops tried to push back Russian forces. The town of Novoazovsk seized by Russian tanks and artillery battled Ukrainian troops for control.

This morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened a so-called humanitarian corridor. The order, have pro-Russian separatists release Ukrainian troops trapped in the battle zone and provide medical assistance to the injured.

On Thursday, as many as 1,000 Russian troops with heavy weapons crossed the southern border to fight alongside pro-Russian rebels, according to NATO.

The fear in Ukraine, that Russian troops might march as far as coastal city of Mariupol, but already this has opened a third front in the fighting, in the strongholds already of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine accusing Russia of a full-scale invasion. The evidence is mounting as NATO provides satellite imagery that they say captures Russian forces on the move inside Ukrainian territory over the last several days. This images show a convoy of self-propelled Russian artillery unites in the eastern area of Krasnodon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the overall scope of Russian troops and weapons movements.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY: But, Carol, 1,000 troops is still a small troop presence spread across a very large area, all along the Russian border. If this is an invasion, then it is a very small one -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Diana Magnay reporting.

Russia has a unique response to those NATO satellite images of troops in Ukraine. They may be from computer games. That's what they're saying.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow with that part of the story.

Seriously, they expect everybody to believe them?

CHANCE: Well, to be honest, there have been incidents in the past, Carol, where images that have been shown to be images that were meant to be satellite images, not from NATO obviously but from other quarters, have been found to be bogus images and I think that's what the Russian foreign minister is referring to when he said this could be from video games.

Look, I mean, the general point is that despite the mounting, the genuinely mounting evidence that's being gathered now, that there are Russian forces that are operating inside Ukraine, we saw 10 Russian paratroopers arrested by the Ukrainian government and displayed on television in that country that gave interviews as well, that was explained by the Kremlin saying they accidentally went to Ukraine. There's been other incidents as well, which is sort of building this case, that there is a real presence in Ukraine of Russian regular service personnel.

Despite that, the Kremlin is categorically denying it. Take a listen to what Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, had to say about this a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): From the very beginning of the crisis, we have been blamed for everything. There have been reports that there are photographs from space showing movements of Russian troops. But as it turned out, it was computer games and the images were taken from there. And the latest allegations are more or less the same kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHANCE: All right. So, again, that categorical denial coming from the Kremlin.

The only sort of chink in the armor, if you will, that we've seen so far in terms of the message is pro-Russian rebels in Eastern Ukraine confirming that there are Russian soldiers fighting alongside them in the insurgency -- but saying they're doing so unofficially. They say they're volunteering during their leave time, instead of going to the beaches, they're saying, they're choosing to take up arms and fight alongside their Ukrainian brothers -- as they call them -- in the battle against the government of Ukraine -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Matthew Chance reporting live from Moscow this morning.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: All right. Some breaking news to pass along to you.

Britain has raised its terror threat level to severe. That means a terrorist attack is highly likely, but there's no information to suggest an attack is imminent. This decision comes against a backdrop of increasing concern about hundreds of aspiring British jihadists traveling to Iraq and Syria to learn terrorist tradecraft and the murder of American journalist James Foley by an apparently British killer.

We're going to take to you London to talk more about this. We're getting a reporter in place.

Again, the terror threat level in Britain raised to severe. I'll be back with more information on that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. As promised, more on the breaking news this morning. The British terror threat has been raised to severe. That means, that seems to mean that an attack is eminent, although there is no specificity as to what that attack might be.

So, let's head out to London and CNN's Erin McLaughlin to tell us more about this.

Good morning.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. That's right.

British Home Secretary Theresa May within the last hour releasing a statement raising the alert level from this country from substantial to severe -- meaning a terrorist attack is, quote, "highly likely".

Now, the statement goes on to say that there is no information to suggest that an attack is imminent and that this decision is based on the latest intelligence.

Now, statement also goes on to say that this is related to developments in Syria and Iraq where, quote, "terrorist groups are planning attacks against the West", likely to involve foreign fighters who traveled there from the U.K. and Europe. And we know that there are estimated to be between 400 and 500 British jihadist in Syria and possibly have crossed into Iraq, that this government has been very, very concerned about what could possibly happen if those jihadists decide to return back to the United Kingdom -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, what precautions is the government taking there?

MCLAUGHLIN: The moment that is not clear. We're getting this initial information, but the fact that the terror level has been raised in this country is an indication that certain precautions, certain security measures across the country need to be taken, need to be heightened and, again, this is the first time that this kind of alert has been raised in the past several years, Carol. So, officials here in the United Kingdom, no doubt, taking this extremely seriously.

COSTELLO: All right. I'll let you get back to reporting. Erin McLaughlin, many thanks to you.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)