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Manhunt for Suspected Cop Killer; Man Jumps Fence, Enters White House; Roger Goodell Speaks Out; Growing Concerns about Al Qaeda Affiliate; New Clues in Missing UVA Student Case; U.S. Readies Help for Syrian Rebels; Cabin Smoke Forces Emergency Landing; NFL Sponsors Pressure Goodell; New Hope for U.S. Space Travel

Aired September 20, 2014 - 11:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It's the 11:00 Eastern hour of the NEWSROOM which begins right now.

Happening right now, a hunter is being hunted. It is day eight of a multistate manhunt for suspected cop killer. Residents are on lock down and on edge.

Also we have new details about the White House fence jumper who was able to make it through the front doors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a huge failure and here's what we're going to do to remedy it. And I can almost guarantee you there's going to be operational changes pursuant to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Plus NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says he's not going anywhere and never planned to but he did announce some changes as new details emerged about the Ray Rice incident and who knew what and when.

We begin this morning in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania where tensions are still running high and an alleged cop killer is still on the loose. Overnight reports that Eric Matthew Frein was spotted. Shots were fired and he was cornered at some point. Frein is the man police say killed a Pennsylvania state trooper last week and wounded another. He is now on the FBI's Most Wanted list.

Jason Carroll is on the scene in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. So Jason, Frein a survivalist who knows the woods well, and it appears as though he has disappeared again though.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well look, I mean you are absolutely right. And this is something that investigators know. They know that he knows these backwoods extremely well. He knows the area very well especially the area of Canadensis. That's the town where he grew up and that is where we've seen a great deal of the police activity, Thursday night and then again last night.

Last night was far more intense than what we saw out here on Thursday night. That is when again you have the report of shots being fired. And then you had that alert that went out telling residents to stay inside their homes, off the roads and away from windows. So that was at the point where things really went to another level out here.

But I also want to point out that, Fredricka, investigators believe and have believed since Thursday that Frein is in the area. They still believe he is in the area. What they are trying to do is narrow their search -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And how do they go about doing that, especially since we're talking about residents who are on edge?

CARROLL: Right. And you're talking about a wide wooded area that is very, very dense. It is difficult, make no mistake about that. But what they're doing is they are working on this grid-like system, basically trying to eliminate places where he's possibly been and try to cutoff and prevent places that he might be able to go.

And yes he is a survivalist; self-described, self-taught survivalist. But even a survivalist after seven, eight days might need food, might need water, might need shelter. And so these are the things that they are going to try to cutoff in some way in order to try to find him.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jason Carroll, keep us posted. Thank you so much from Monroe County, Pennsylvania.

All right. It is considered one of the best protected buildings on the planet. But this morning the U.S. Secret Service is trying to figure how a man jumped the fence at the White House and made his way inside the White House last night.

CNN's Erin McPike is there. So Erin -- where was the President when this man got past Secret Service?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka -- that is the biggest point of all in this. President Obama and his two daughters took off four minutes before. They were leaving for Camp David for the weekend. So there was a lot of activity. But just four minutes after that departure, this 42-year-old man from Texas, Omar Gonzalez jumped over the fence that's right here on the north lawn in front of the White House -- this fence about seven or eight feet tall.

When you say this is one of the most protected buildings maybe on the planet. There are snipers on the roof of the White House, some of the buildings around the White House. But still, Omar Gonzalez jumped the fence, then ran about 105 yards behind me.

Now at that time Secret Service officials were yelling at him to stop. They didn't shoot. They say he didn't appear to be armed. He wasn't carrying anything like a bag or a backpack. And they say he may have been mentally disturbed. Then he ran up to the front doors, ran inside. That is then when Secret Service officials apprehended him. He was then taken via ambulance to the George Washington University Medical Center to be evaluated.

At that time, they also evacuated the White House, the entire Press Corps, many White House staff and then we see Secret Service officials after that combing through the bushes and the grass to make sure that he didn't drop anything, it could have been foreign substance a chemical, something like. And again they say he didn't appear to be armed but he could have dropped something.

Then again this morning I was out here about 7:15. A Secret Serviceman official came up to me and said we need everybody inside. We are going to do another K-9 search just to re-confirm that he didn't drop anything -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so, Erin, you know what is the explanation from the Secret Service, you know, current or maybe even former members especially when we're talking about wasn't it just a few weeks ago there was a toddler who slipped through the fence and now you have actually someone intentionally, you know, with the wherewithal to jump over the fence.

Is it an issue of, you know, too much shrubbery, too many trees close to that fence. You know, perhaps obstructing the view of those snipers?

MCPIKE: Look, it's a great question and they are investigating this today to make sure that the proper protocols were actually followed. We did speak with a former Secret Service official whose brother is currently a Secret Service agent. His name is Daniel Bongino. I want you to take a listen to what he said. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE: They will acknowledge that. You know, during my time in the Secret Service, one thing I always found really rewarding about working there is they never tried to gloss over their mistakes. Whether it was the Reagan shooting or the George W. Bush incident in Tbilisi or in Georgia, the country of Georgia -- they always acknowledge right away this was a huge failure and here's what we're going to do to remedy it. And I can almost guarantee you there's going to be operational changes pursuant to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: And on that point when I arrived here early this morning when it was still dark, there was a bigger security presence than we usually see out front. There were a number of clusters of Secret Service agents, obviously talking in very hushed voices about what happened and what may have gone wrong -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alarming stuff, nonetheless. Erin McPike at the White House -- thanks so much.

All right. Now to the NFL and the league's commissioner trying to repair its image. Roger Goodell apologized Friday for what he said was his mishandling of the Ray Rice domestic violence scandal. Many people he should be fired for not taking a tougher stance on Rice's case and on other abuse cases involving different players. But yesterday Goodell said he has not considered stepping down. He said he's focused on doing his job. And part of that is making all players and staff get education and training on how to prevent abuse.

That announcement however did not spare him from getting grilled by CNN's Rachel Nichols. Here is one of her questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: You have had pretty extreme unilateral power in deciding discipline. As you have said a few times you have gotten it wrong in a few cases and that tends to happen when there's no checks and balances. How willing are you to give up some of that power? And do you think that that would be the right thing for you to do?

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: Well, Rachel, as I said in my statement, everything is on the table. We are going to make sure that we look at every aspect of the process of how we gather information to make a decision, how we make that decision, and then the appeals process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Even as Goodell vows to move forward, questions still linger in the Rice case, who knew what and when after TMZ released the elevator video of Rice knocking out his wife. A source within the Ravens organization tells CNN that Atlantic City Police described the elevator video to the Ravens security head. And ESPN reported that the security head shared those details with team executives in Baltimore.

The Ravens responded to that in a statement saying quote "The ESPN.com 'Outside the Lines' article contains numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions and perhaps misunderstandings," end quote.

Straight ahead, a sports business analyst shows just where this controversy is going; I'll get his reaction to how Goodell is handling this controversy.

And the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback of last year's college national championship team has been suspended for today's entire game. Florida State's Jameis Winston originally was supposed to sit out just the first half of today's game against Clemson for shouting an obscene phrase on campus. The university announced the change in a statement last night by interim president Garnett Stokes and athletic director Stan Wilcox saying this, quote, "Based upon the results of our continuing investigation of Tuesday's incident involving Jameis Winston, we have decided to not play him for the entire game against Clemson on Saturday night," end quote.

CNN and Turner sports' Rachel Nichols has more on the reasoning -- excuse me -- the reasoning behind the change. She tweeted, quote, "Am being told increased penalty for FSU's Jameis Winston came after school discovered he's not entirely been truthful with them. Based upon results of our continuing investigation of Tuesday's incident involving Jameis Winston we have decided to not play him for the entire game against Clemson Saturday night." That quote, of course, coming from the school -- we mentioned that earlier.

There are new developments in the meantime. We'll get more on that situation.

Also up next, the missing Virginia College student. Ahead we'll get you the latest on the police investigation.

And next, experts in the intelligence community say the biggest terror threat to the U.S. homeland is not from ISIS. There is now growing concern over another group, an affiliate of al Qaeda.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: There is reason to celebrate today for some families in Turkey. Dozens of Turkish hostages abducted by Islamic militants are now free after three months in captivity. ISIS militants had raided the Turkish consulate in June and seized 49 people, including children. It is not clear exactly how they were released but Turkey's president put a statement on his Web site thanking Turkish intelligence officials.

All right. Now, new warnings about the threat of ISIS on American soil after a man in Rochester, New York is charged with trying to support the terror group. But ISIS is not the only threat to the United States. CNN's Pamela Brown takes another look at another group that may be much more dangerous to the homeland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is newer, even smaller bombs than the ones in these toothpaste tubes that have U.S. officials so concerned. An American intelligence official said publicly the government is worried about a terrorist cell in Syria known as Khorasan saying it is working with al Qaeda bomb makers to target U.S. (inaudible). The same bomb maker include Ibrahim al Wasiri (ph) behind a failed 2009 underwear bomb on a Detroit-bound plane and the bomb hidden in a printer cartridge on a plane in 2010.

JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: This Khorasan group so-called, which I guess is out there is potentially yet another threat to the homeland.

BROWN: U.S. officials say Khorasan is made up of al Qaeda fighters who were fighting in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. The worry is they are now in Syria working to recruit European and American-born fighters who can use their passports to smuggle bombs on to U.S.-bound airplanes.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: One of the operatives who's moved from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region of Syria is a Saudi operative called Abdul Rahman al Jahani (ph). He is an experienced fighter. He was part of al Qaeda's command structure in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. And a year or so ago he moved to Syria and according to the United States intelligence services, he's involved in plotting attacks against Western targets.

Wednesday U.S. officials hinted at those same concerns telling Congress, al Qaeda affiliates are intent on targeting U.S. lives.

MATTHEW OLSEN, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: For the five years, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula tried three times to take down an airplane bound for the United States.

BROWN: And U.S. officials say there is fierce competition between al Qaeda and ISIS, to be known as the biggest, baddest, jihadi organization.

CRUICKSHANK: That would be a very, very worrying scenario indeed if these two groups start to try and outdo each other to launch attacks in the West. For al Qaeda it would be a way to restore its relevance when ISIS grabbing all the head lines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks to Pamela Brown for that report. So just how much of a threat is this al Qaeda affiliate, the Khorasan group, to the United States?

CNN national security analyst and author of "Manhunt: the 10-year search for bin Laden", Peter Bergen is now joining us. Peter is one of three Western journalists to interview Osama bin Laden just to bring you up to date for those who have not been able to keep up with all that you've done in the realm of antiterrorism and the research behind it all. So Peter should we really be concerned at home about this Khorasan group?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well it is the job of U.S. government officials to be concerned about this kind of thing and certainly they are concerned about this group. I first heard about the group back in July. And it has been hinted at several months earlier by U.S. intelligence officials. Basically they were saying what they were concerned about was a stream of people coming out of the (inaudible) tribal regions in Pakistan with long rolodexes and long history in fermenting terrorism who are moving to Syria and joining the al Qaeda affiliate there.

The other dimension of this as Pamela Brown mentioned in her piece is the fact that they are hooking up with people associated with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who making these highly effective small bombs. That said, Fredricka, you know, we had Matt Olsen in that piece talking about three plots to put bombs on American planes.

The one commonality those plots have is that they all failed. The underwear bomb didn't work on Northwest flight 253 on Christmas Day 2009. The cargo plot was discovered because of extremely precise intelligence given to the United States by a Saudi intelligence mole inside the group. And the other plot was never really serious because it was controlled by another Saudi mole. So yes, it is a concern but the fact is that so far these groups have failed.

WHITFIELD: And how potentially dangerous is this real obstacle and challenge for U.S. intelligence that it is difficult to distinguish these groups, to differentiate them even. There have been some analysts who say that ISIS is just a rebranded al Qaeda.

BERGEN: Well I think it basically is. I mean Freud once talked about the narcissism of minor differences and the differences between al Qaeda and ISIS are one merely of degree. I mean they basically share the same ideology. Both groups are fighting each other. Al Qaeda has publicly rejected ISIS and ISIS has publicly rejected al Qaeda. But you know, this is the sort of the distinction between fascist Mussolini Italy and Nazi Germany in a sense. It is just a matter of degree.

WHITFIELD: All right. Peter Bergen -- thanks so much from Washington.

Bergen: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Tonight a CNN exclusive. Meet the al Qaeda terrorist who switched sides and became a spy who helped the West in the war against terror. Watch the "CNN SPECIAL REPORT DOUBLE AGENT, INSIDE AL QAEDA FOR THE CIA". That's tonight, 8:00 Eastern only on CNN.

All right. New clues in the case of a missing University of Virginia student; police now believe she got into a car with a man after a dinner with friends. We'll tell you what else we're learning next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. New clues today in the case of a missing University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham left dinner with friends in the Charlottesville area last Friday around 11:00 p.m. A few hours later she sent a text to her friends saying she was lost. Hannah hasn't been seen or heard from since. Well now, investigators say believe she got into a car with a man.

I want to bring in CNN's Jean Casarez in Charlottesville, Virginia. So Jean, what are police saying about this person? They make it sound like they know who he is but then they are being a little vague as well.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: They exactly know who he is. And they believe that she was in a restaurant with him. They don't believe they knew each other but they left together and she got in his car. And actually yesterday, his care was searched along with the apartment he lived in but they say there is no probable cause at this point to be able to arrest him.

Well, a new day and here's what's happening today. It is a massive search in Charlottesville, Virginia area. Community volunteers -- 1,500 we're hearing at last count -- they are now out combing every single nook and cranny of Charlottesville. Professional search and rescue groups are going to wooded areas.

But I've just learned that community volunteers are actually being asked to look in dumpsters, to look in manholes. They're going to abandoned buildings. They're retracing the steps that Hannah walked and surveillance video caught her walking in that area just a week ago. Anything to help to try to find Hannah and that is what everybody is saying -- find Hannah.

WHITFIELD: So Jean, what about the sequence of events or at least what officials are willing to reveal? Because I found that press conference yesterday by the police chief a little perplexing. Because while in some circumstances it seemed like things were very definitive. Then there were big question marks. So has the timeline or the sequence of events, I guess, improved or crystallized anymore this morning?

CASAREZ: You know, I think everybody is a little confused because it was a bombshell yesterday. We didn't know what to expect from this press conference but when we hear that they believe that an African- American man, 32 years old, 6'2", 270 pounds with dread locks actually was walking on the opposite side of the mall from Hannah. Made a U turn and then videotape shows her walking and then behind her is him. And out of the camera's view they say that he put his arm around her. And that is when they then walked to a restaurant. But they don't believe that they knew each other.

That led them to his car which was searched and his apartment. But no probable cause to arrest him. So the parents of Hannah actually came out with a statement yesterday thanking the community for the support. The vigil they had Thursday night. But saying if any of you are out and about this weekend, exercise the buddy system. Be careful. Be aware.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very unsettling. Jean Casarez, thanks so much. Keep us posted on any updates.

CASAREZ: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: And next the President says no ground troops in the fight against ISIS. Why the Pentagon may not be on the same page as the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Obama now has the green light from Congress to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels in the fight against ISIS. So far in Iraq the U.S. has relied on air strikes to support Iraqi forces and as Barbara Starr reports the challenge now is finding the best way to help Syrian rebels as they battle ISIS on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In northern Syria, Kurdish forces clash with ISIS fighters who have taken over some 60 villages in recent days according to a monitoring group. U.S. officials know the war against ISIS must be won on the ground but President Obama insists it won't be with U.S. ground troops.

ANTONY BLINKEN, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It has to be the Syrians fighting for their own country. That is the best way to do it, the most effective way, the most sustainable way to it. STARR: But is the U.S. running out of time before it even gets

started? The Pentagon estimates it will take up to five months to first find 5,000 reliable Syrian fighters to train and then --

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Probably a period of eight to 12 months of actual training and fielding. So it's going to be a little while before you start to see opposition fighters returning to Syria.

STARR: So is it worth starting air strikes in Syria now?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, FORMER AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: There is still a significant weakness and a significant gap if you don't have ground forces that are ready, willing and able to conduct missions in conjunction with air power.

STARR: In Iraq General Lloyd Austin, head of Central Command, did ask to place a small number of troops on the ground to direct U.S. air strikes when the U.S. began helping local forces retake Mosul dam last month. The White House said no. President Obama was sticking to his pledge.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has ruled out the option of deploying American boots on the ground in Iraq and in Syria in a combat role.

STARR: The Pentagon insists commanders are not at odds with the president even as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs holds open the option of requesting the U.S. military join Iraqi troops as advisers on the front lines.

KIRBY: There is complete alignment between the White House, the president and his military leadership here at the Pentagon, from Secretary Hagel right on down to the all the planners that are putting together the options for the president to consider.

STARR: But a former head of Central Command warns the U.S. may be telling ISIS too much about no U.S. ground troops.

GEN. JAMES MATTIS (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I don't think we should reassure the enemy in advance that they will never face them.

STARR (on camera): On the ground in Iraq already there are nearly some 1700 U.S. troops mainly acting as advisers. Military officials say that number could still grow.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Is the supporting role for the U.S. enough to defeat ISIS? The White House and the Pentagon as you see may have different points of view on that particularly when it comes to U.S. ground troops.

Joining me right now from Washington, Aaron David Miller. He is a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. He's also -- he's been an adviser to six secretaries of state on Arab-Israeli relations and all matters Middle East. And in Orlando, Florida, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. He's a CNN military analyst and a former commanding general in the U.S. Army.

Good to see both of you, gentlemen.

So, General, to you first, is this a true disconnect between the president and Pentagon or is this, you know, the real culture gap that sometimes happens with any White House and the Pentagon?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: No -- no, Fredricka. And good morning. This is not a disconnect at all. I think this is a tempest that's been blown very much out of proportion by the reporting of it.

There's no disconnect. I think you've heard that from both General Dempsey and the Pentagon spokesman. It's the chairman doing the things he's supposed to do. He's thinking ahead. He's thinking about potential options. He clearly said, hey, if we see this as a possibility, we will go to the president and have him make a decision. We would be appalled if General Dempsey was not thinking of future opportunities.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, Aaron, if that is the case, this really is customary and perhaps people are misinterpreting this, what is the public message, then, and does this, in any way, kind of empower, if not give more credibility to ISIS?

AARON DAVID MILLER, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER: Well, I think Mark's right. You have to distinguish between the possibility of the redeployment of thousands of American combat forces in Iraq and perhaps even in Afghanistan, from the reality that we are going to have to use, as we're doing in Iraq now, special forces or special operators.

And in Iraq, that number could double or triple. And once you begin to stand up Syrian allies, local allies, that's going to be a tough sell, tough to do, you will have to probably deploy special operators or special forces into Syria as well. But, again, the model is Afghanistan in the fall of '08. Good intelligence, local allies, special operators, and air strikes.

Whether it will work or not, to defeat ISIS, is another matter. But I think Mark's right. This has really been blown way out of proportion.

WHITFIELD: And so, General, special ops, special forces, if they were engaged, isn't that boots on the ground?

HERTLING: It certainly is, but first of all, Fredricka, as you know, I can't stand that expression of boots on the ground. This is -- these are forces in harm's way, potentially. But when you're an adviser and you're contributing to another force doing things the right way, you have to be right there with them.

And I think that's maybe what General Austin asked the president. Hey, can we send them forward? And the president said, not now because the potential risk involved with having a special operator or a special forces troop being at the front line and potentially getting killed would really be quite devastating to the extension of the strategy today.

It -- there's a nuanced approach, and I think there is a disconnect between the military understanding of the terms and what the politicians, the media, and our public understand in terms of this boots on the ground.

WHITFIELD: And to both of you, is this late that the U.S. would take this kind of action? Does it come too late? Meaning did it allow these forces to take too much control of Syria or to regroup enough to take this -- make this kind of impact in Iraq? Or, you know, Aaron, you first. Is this the time that needed to have been taken for the U.S. to get a better handle of who represents the rebels, the Syrian rebels before giving them arms?

MILLER: You know, the conventional opposition critique of the president is we headed for the exits too fast in Iraq and we were late to stand up a so-called moderate Syrian opposition in Syria.

Look, there may be some truth to that but the reality is ISIS feeds on the reality of two failing states, Syria and Iraq. It feeds on Nouri al-Maliki's willful efforts to persecute and prosecute Sunnis and it feeds on Bashar Ashad's use of barrel bombs and chemical weapons against largely Sunni opponents. So I doubt frankly whether or not we could have fundamentally changed the trajectory.

Had an agreement to lead 5,000, 10,000 American forces in Iraq been achievable I think it would have helped.

WHITFIELD: In less than 10 seconds, General, too late?

HERTLING: No, it's not too late. Not at all. But we have to reinforce, Fredricka, this is a generational problem. I think a lot of people want quick solutions to this. This is going to take years, if not decades to solve. So I think the president's slow approach or paced approach with the right operational tempo is the right way to go.

WHITFIELD: All right. Lt. General Mark Hertling and Aaron David Miller, thanks to both of you, gentlemen. Appreciate it.

And we'll be right back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Some harrowing moments aboard a JetBlue flight. Smoke filled the cabin and so did panic, just minutes after takeoff. One passenger described the ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN HUBBARD, PASSENGER: The engine blew out. We're out over the ocean. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Wait, wait. What do you mean the engine blew

out?

HUBBARD: Our right engine blew out.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You actually heard it?

HUBBARD: Yes, a pop blew out. Smoke engulfed the cabin where you couldn't see the person next to you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: That bad?

HUBBARD: It was that bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So with emergency vehicles lining the runway that plane actually landed and several passengers were hurt in the frantic scramble to safety. Much of the ordeal was caught on cell phone cameras.

So here now is Stephanie Elam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we've had a right engine failure.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Terrifying new video from inside the cabin of JetBlue Flight 1416. The air thick with smoke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep your seatbelts fastened.

ELAM: It was just shortly after takeoff when something went wrong.

DEAN DELBAUGH, PASSENGER: I heard a weird noise. The landing gear came up and a pop.

ELAM: While en route to Austin, Texas, from Long Beach, California, the airline says there was an issue with the number two engine on the plane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please stay in your seats so we'll try and clear the cabin of smoke. Thank you.

ELAM: The oxygen masks failed to deploy, according to one passenger, forcing the attendants to manually release them.

DELBAUGH: We're way over the ocean probably a couple of miles out and then you immediately got the smell and it obviously something burning.

ELAM: The pilot immediately turned the plane back to Long Beach.

You can hear babies crying as the 142 passengers and five crew members brace for an emergency landing. DELBAUGH: Once we turn around and got over land it was very -- you

know, it was jarring all over the place and then people started to get really worried.

ELAM: He thought he was going to die.

DELBAUGH: I thought this was it. My wife was right next to me, we were going on vacation and I was like -- she held me, she was crying, and I was like, well, here we go.

JARROD WEST, PASSENGER: The scariest part of the whole thing probably was when we were coming down for landing and the flight attendants, they were yelling, "Brace, brace, brace."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brace, brace, brace.

WEST: And they kept repeating it and repeating it and repeating it. And it was at the top of their lungs.

ELAM: After landing safely, a round of applause from all on board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JetBlue 1416 is on the ground. JetBlue 1416 will be evacuating.

ELAM: The control tower told the pilots smoke wasn't coming from the engine. But the passengers weren't waiting. They quickly escaped down the slides.

JACKSON RATHBONE, ACTOR: Well, I figured, you know, it was going to be too hot to wear black.

ELAM: Celeb passenger "Twilight" actor Jackson Rathbone --

RATHBONE: I never lost a fight.

ELAM: -- tweeting photos of everyone crowding the tarmac including his family. The plane in the background.

Four people were injured, thankfully none seriously.

WEST: I'm just happy to be alive. You know? I don't think I'll ever be mean to anybody ever again.

ELAM: Stephanie Elam, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Scary stuff there.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has pledged to get his house in order. Will it be enough to redeem the league in the eyes of fans and sponsors?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The NFL commissioner stood his ground Friday in a major news conference saying he had not seen the elevator video of Ray Rice knocking out his then fiancee until it was released to the public. But a source with the Ravens' organization and an ESPN reporter alleged the Ravens did know about it.

The source tells CNN that Atlantic City Police described the elevator video to the Ravens' security head. ESPN reported that the security head shared those details with team executives in Baltimore.

The Ravens responded to that in a statement saying this, quote, "The ESPN.com's 'Outside the Lines' article contains numerous errors, inaccuracy, false assumptions and perhaps misunderstandings." End quote.

Well, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell admits he fumbled the handling of the league's domestic abuse scandal. Goodell faced reporters in New York yesterday and pledged to, quote, "get his house in order," end quote. He's now promising sweeping changes to counter domestic abuse in the lead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: I got it wrong in the handling of the Ray Rice matter. And I'm sorry for that. I got it wrong on a number of levels, from the process that I've led to the decision that I reached. But now I will get it right and do whatever is necessary to accomplish that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. After those latest comments from Commissioner Goodell, is he saying enough?

Joining us right now from New York, Keith Reed. He's a sports business analyst and former senior editor for "ESPN," the magazine.

So is Roger Goodell making the right moves to turn things around? Is this the beginning, in your view?

KEITH REED, SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: It's a very, very tertiary beginning, right? I mean, he's absolutely right, he did get it wrong. The question is, exactly, what are you going to do about it? Now he talked yesterday about revamping the NFL's personal conduct policy, which to me is what actually led to this entire thing to begin with. The Ray Rice incident was a much -- was a picture of a much, much bigger issue that the league has always had, which starts with Roger Goodell himself being judge, jury, and executioner for all of these players.

Not allowing due process to happen and being really haphazard and capricious with how he's always handed out discipline, not just for domestic violence, but in terms of almost everything that a player can do. From drugs to violence to anything else. That has to change, it should not be left up to Roger Goodell himself and himself alone. And if they're willing to come to some sort of a meeting of the minds with the union, with the players union, to fix that, then it's a step in the right direction. But we just don't know that from what Roger Goodell said yesterday.

WHITFIELD: So he's planning on coupling efforts, you know, of awareness, helping to -- I guess, teach people in their thinking about domestic abuse and, you know, domestic problems, but he said nothing about changing, I guess, his discretionary powers. And that's where some of the criticism has come into play. That it is at his discretion, whether an athlete is suspended, whether they are fined, whether they are removed from the team.

And you mentioned, it's capricious. It's been arbitrary. And so what kind of commitment does the NFL have to make to revamp that effort?

REED: Well, he talked about the formulation of a conduct committee, right? And so that's a step in the right direction. Now we don't know who's going to be on that committee, we don't know who it's going to include. We don't know if that's to be -- if it's going to have owners, is it going to have players, is it going to have people who come from outside the league? It -- it would seem to me like the right thing to do would be to have a player representative, someone from the league office, someone who represents the owners, and potentially someone from the outside.

But we don't know that yet. It's -- one thing is clear. Discipline in the NFL, whether it's on domestic violence or anything else, can no longer be up to Roger Goodell and Roger Goodell alone. That can never happen again if they want to get this right.

WHITFIELD: What kind of role would the players union be playing in all of this?

REED: Well, the players union has already had a role, right? If you look back at one thing that was missed in all of this talk about domestic violence is that they just revamped -- the league just revamped its substance abuse policy. And it did that with significant input from the player union, right?

That was an example of the union taking back a little bit of the power that it ceded in the last collective bargaining arrangement -- negotiation, that helped out some of the players, quite frankly, in terms of the length of suspensions that they had been handed by who? By Roger Goodell himself. So they've got to be a part of this process.

WHITFIELD: And so last week you talked about the potential fallout from the NFL sponsors. We are seeing many of the sponsors go public with their concerns. How influential is this going to be in compelling the commissioner to change his ways or change the policies or even change the message?

REED: Well, the sponsors have a huge role, right? I mean, listen, the NFL -- I mean, Anheuser-Busch was one of the first ones to cut -- the first ones to come out. They spend upwards of $1 billion -- with a B dollars -- a year with the NFL. When you're spending that kind of money, it's really difficult for them to pull away. They're not going to pull entirely out of the NFL, but they've got a lot of influence in terms of what the NFL does. I think Roger Goodell's press conference yesterday was very, very

carefully orchestrated. I don't believe for a second that Goodell himself and some of the other higher ranking officials at the NFL spoke directly to sponsors that are very high level and talked to them before they had that press conference yesterday. So it's going to make a big, big difference.

WHITFIELD: All right. Keith Reed, thanks so much from New York. Good to see you.

REED: Thank you. Great to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right.

NASA reaches a new milestone in space exploration. We'll explain its new plan to get American astronauts back up to the International Space Station.

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WHITFIELD: All right. In the U.S., the days of government-run space travel are becoming a thing of the past. This week, NASA announced a new arrangement between Boeing and SpaceX that will send Americans to space again.

Karen Kafa has more on this week's "American Journey" report.

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KAREN KAFA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One up in the air for almost 100 years, the other around for just over a decade. Aerospace giant Boeing and Elon Musk's SpaceX following a four-year competition have been tapped by NASA for a private sector partnership to put American astronauts back on American spacecraft.

CHARLES BOLDEN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: From day one, the Obama administration has made it very clear that the greatest nation on earth should not be dependent on any other nation to get into space.

KAFA: The first flight to the International Space Station is planned for 2017, the year in which an agreement with Russia ends. The contracts are worth $6.8 billion. Boeing bid with its CST-100 space capsule. SpaceX already shuttles cargo to the ISS with its Dragon capsule.

NASA's space shuttle program flew 135 missions over three decades before being cut amid funding concerns. So when Atlantis touched down at Kennedy Space Center in the pre-dawn hours of July 21st, 2011 --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The space shuttle pulls into port for the last time.

KAFA: -- it marked the end of an era. Now a new chapter for Cape Canaveral and new goals for NASA.

BOLDEN: Turning over low earth orbit transportation to private industry will also allow NASA to focus on an even more ambitious mission. That of sending humans to mars.

KAFA: NASA said hopping on Russian spacecraft cost about $70 million per seat. Typically purchasing six seats per year. Recent tensions between Russia and the U.S. over Ukraine have also led to increased tensions between the two space programs.

In Washington, I'm Karen Kafa.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.