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White House Breach Raises Security Concerns; ISIS Recruiters on Social Media; Protests and More Arrests Overnight in Ferguson; Kansas City Chiefs Crowd Breaks Noise Record

Aired September 30, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this half hour, security scare. Breaking, new details on the White House jumper, making it much farther inside the White House than first reported. The East Room. The stairs to the family's residence. This morning, the head of the Secret Service is grilled on Capitol Hill.

Plus, come to jihad, bro. ISIS going to social media to recruit teenagers, likening the fight to a call of duty. Tweets telling readers to put down the chicken wings. Our Laurie Segall is tracking that story for us.

And divided Ferguson, Missouri, coming together to talk tonight, race, accountability, the police and the protesters. Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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

In just 30 minutes, the head of the Secret Service will face blistering questions over recent security failures, including scary new details of that breach at the White House just two weeks ago. Sources confirm that a White House fence jumper was not stopped once he crossed the doorway as first reported. Instead, Omar Gonzalez overpowered a Secret Service agent, dashed past the stairway leading to the first family's residence, and was tackled only as he approached the far end of the East Room. Those details that even more levels of security failed were first reported by "The Washington Post."

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ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR, CNN'S "AC360": Carol, the idea that this man was able to make it across the lawn into the entrance was shocking enough. How is it possible that he made it so far into the White House and so close to the first family's living quarters? Is it clear exactly how that happened? I assume there was an alarm box that had been muted.

CAROL LOENNIG, NATIONAL REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": Yes, we have some sources who say that this box was not working. There's a crash box on lots of the stations of various security posts around the White House complex. And this box is something you are supposed to hit, basically like a big red button, if you think there is an intruder or some sort of crisis at your location.

When you hit that button, it also starts alerting all the other crash boxes in the building. So it's alerting everybody elsewhere to respond to. And it's piping in the audio of your location. So what we've heard from our sources today is that that crash box was never set off.

The protocol for the White House complex is that the Secret Service officers are trained to lock that front door if there's an intruder on the grounds. And it's clear, obviously, that this person did not lock the door.

COOPER: If this intruder made it so far into the White House, why were the public and press told differently until your reporting?

LOENNIG: Well, as you probably know, the Secret Service has not given an official account of what happened, other than to confirm that someone got close to the door or in the door. It's interesting because it was bad enough before the five rings of security that were pierced on the North Law. Now we see a couple more that were pierced on the inside. And I would say this goes to this larger issue that I keep hearing about the Secret Service, and that is incredible, severe staffing shortages, incredible morale problems and also lots and lots of churn of employees who are leaving, coming, resigning, new ones coming. Apparently the officer who was on this front door had been there for a little more than half a year.

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COSTELLO: All right, let's take you inside the White House for a virtual view of how far this intruder got into the White House and how serious the security implications are. CNN's Brian Todd is at our magic wall in Washington.

Good morning.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

And when you look at this diagram and when you look at exactly how far this intruder, Omar Gonzalez got, it really ratchets up the level of concern about the security and about the layers at the White House and the fact that they just were not working that evening of September 19th. First, we know from law enforcement officials who have spoken to CNN and from Congressman Jason Chaffetz, this is where this information is coming from. Chaffetz leading an investigation into this incident.

We know that Gonzalez made it through the north portico here, got into the main hallway here. We're going to show you kind of a look of how that hallway looks, the layout of it. He goes into this hallway here toward the East Room. Now we can swipe this back and get you back to the diagram.

From the hallway here, he makes a left turn and goes past a stairwell that leads up to the first family's residence. Now, the first family, we have to say, was not there at the time. President Obama had left with his daughters to go to Camp David. Michelle Obama was not in the White House at the time.

He goes to the East Room here. We believe that he was taken down right about here on the south side of the East Room. Let me clear this and hit the diagram here. This is a look at what the East Room looks like. This is a very important room here, obviously, because the presidents throughout the years have given important speeches here, hosted important receptions here. This is the room where President Obama told the nation that Osama bin Laden was dead.

Apparently, according to law enforcement officials who've spoken to CNN, this is the Green Room. He got to about right here before he was taken down. It's a long way to go. It was a pretty wild chase, from what we're told, through this main floor of the White House before he was taken down. And here's a shot of the Green Room just as he got to the edge of this room apparently before he was taken down, Carol.

But, again, just to kind of get the, you know, the gist of where he wept, all the way in here to the hallway, takes a left, this area apparently is a stairwell near the first family's residence. This is the south side of the East Room where he gets taken down. Step by step construction of this is undoubtedly part of the investigation here. We've asked the Secret Service for comment on it. They are not commenting pending an ongoing investigation, Carol. And, of course, that's going to be coming up in about 25 minutes, all of these logistics coming up in that hearing with Julia Pierson, the director of the Secret Service.

COSTELLO: Yes, and I'm sure that members of Congress will have very pertinent questions to ask of the Secret Service director. And as Brian Todd said, that hearing starts around 10:00 Eastern Time. We'll take you live there when it does. Brian Todd, many thanks to you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, ISIS is using social media to try and bring in new teenage recruits. Laurie Segall live with more.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.

Well, ISIS recruiters are trolling networks and they're telling teenagers, I'm just like you. And, Carol, that's just the beginning. I'm going to have more on that after the break.

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COSTELLO: A standoff over democratic values is hardening in Hong Kong. You are looking at a live picture showing tens of thousands of protesters. It's been peaceful today. No police launched tear gas and pepper spray, like two days ago. But neither the demonstrators nor the government are showing any signs of compromise. Hong Kong's leader says China will not give into protester's demands for open elections. Economists say if the protests grow larger and turn violent, U.S. markets and the global economy could be affected. Another risk, the possible spread of the demonstrations to China, which could trigger even more economic fallout. Tomorrow could be a turning point in the protests. More protesters are expected since it's a national holiday. Tomorrow is also the demonstrator's deadline for Hong Kong's leader to step down. Afghanistan's new government has signed a long delayed security

agreement with the United States. The pact will allow for about 10,000 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan after this year.

And in Iraq, another military base has been taken over by ISIS. The town is about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad. ISIS militants stormed the base on Sunday. A local official says the base was home to about 180 Iraqi soldiers. Some left before the base was overrun, but many were also killed. Images posted by ISIS claim to show the takeover of the base, but CNN cannot independently confirm them.

Put down the chicken wings and come to jihad, bro. That is a direct quote from an ISIS recruiter using social media to try and entice teenagers into joining the brutal terrorist group. And here in the United States, just this month, New York's top cop addressed the real threat that these online recruitment efforts pose.

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CHIEF WILLIAM BRATTON, NYPD: Their ability to use social media to try and spread their recruitment efforts to try and inspire. They have a number of magazines, including one that's called "Inspire," where they make it quite clear what they would like adherence to do. This is a new world, if you will, of the evolving world of terrorism.

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COSTELLO: Laurie Segall is here with more. Put down the chicken wings, bro, and join jihad? That actually works?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are appealing - they are trying to appeal to westerners. And, Carol, what's interesting is, we knew that they were using FaceBook. We knew they were using Twitter. But what's even a bit more scary is they've moved beyond those social networks to ones that are specifically targeting teens. Take a look.

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SEGALL: Question, favorite dessert? Answer, ice cream on top of a hot apple pie. How do you maintain your beard? Shampoo, scented oils and a comb. Have you ever fallen in love? The day I embraced Islam. These are the questions posed to an alleged ISIS recruiter on ask.fm, a site that's popular among teens. Approachable to the curious, accessible to the masses, his tag line, I'm just like you. CNN cannot independently verify the man's identity, but terrorism analyst Mubin Shaikh confirm this man is likely an ISIS recruiter based on his social media presence.

MUBIN SHAIKH, FORMER TALIBAN RECRUITER: He's a recruiter who is putting himself out there to some kid who just might be trolling, looking to see if he can cash in also on this little jihadi adventure that they all think they're on.

SEGALL: Shaikh would now. He's a former recruiter for the Taliban, who later defected to work with Canadian intelligence. Over the last few years, he's been tracking ISIS tactics on western social networks from a variety of recruiters, collecting Instagram pictures like this one before it was removed. It likend the ISIS fight to the video game "Call of Duty." Propaganda posters full of heavy arms. Tweets telling readers to put down the chicken wings and come to jihad, bro.

Posts that make them look like average guys, playing xBox, pictures of what they ate for dinner. On ask.fm, curious readers inquire about ISIS married life. Do they own a house or get paid? Answer, they're paid $700 per wife. Another asks if he could join even if he doesn't speak Arabic. In some of those answers, you'll see a kick (ph) user name, encouraging users to message on a private app. As the process continues, some users are directed to more secure sites, like this protected form. In a statement to CNN, they are focused on being able to understand and catch password protected jihadi web forum.

In a statement to CNN, ask.fm says it's focused on being able to understand and catch specific threats. The company says it's been removing profiles aimed at recruiting young people. Instagram says they don't allow terrorist groups like ISIS to promote their causes on the site, but Shaikh, who's been monitoring the activities for two years, says the western world is playing catchup.

SHAIKH: The recruitments been going on for a long time. It will be on deep (ph) line, but it might be a little too late because now the individuals are already there. They're part of the group. They're part of the threat and they're welcome to bring the threat back.

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SEGALL: And what we're seeing, Carol, is propaganda in the age of social media. It's just a whole different beast and a lot of bad has been done already.

COSTELLO: You know, a lot of people might -- it's hard to control what's on the web. But I'm sure there are some people who are trying.

SEGALL: Sure, at the State Department, they have digital operatives that are going on these sites and they're trolling that. They actually have a hashtag. It's #thinkagainturnaway to a lot of the folks that are interested.

Now, let me go ahead and say there are about 50 folks at the State Department doing this and ISIS has been doing this for the last couple years. That (INAUDIBLE) that you saw in this piece, that is still up. That hasn't been taken down. And, Carol, it took me all of ten minutes to find that online. So they're definitely -- they have a lot of work to do and they are playing catch-up to a degree.

COSTELLO: Laurie Segall, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM -- protests and more arrests overnight in Ferguson, Missouri. CNN's Stephanie Elam is there.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I just interviewed Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson and asked him whether or not he thought it was a mistake to come out and engage the protesters last week. Coming up, I'll tell you what he had to say. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: More protests and arrests overnight in Ferguson, Missouri.

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POLICE OFFICER: You're going to have to back up.

POLICE OFFICER: Any violation will result in arrest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Crowds sang and chanted and shouted at officers. Eight people were arrested when demonstrations grew violent. Ferguson has been the site of protests since the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager last month. A town hall meeting is tonight but many in Ferguson don't believe that meeting will do any good.

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LARRY MILLER, FERGUSON RESIDENT: From me witnessing these things from over the years, I don't think so. I don't think that it's going mean a lot. I don't think so. I think what's really going to happen is that the DOJ is going to end up having to step in because we're going to have to force them in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right, let's bring in CNN's Stephanie Elam. She's in Ferguson this morning. So why are they bothering with this meeting if the residents don't think it will help?

ELAM: I think they're hoping to convince the residents that they that need to talk and that there needs to be dialogue and that they're not allowing media cameras in there so people can freely speak their mind, Carol. That's what they're hoping here.

And what's interesting about the town of Ferguson is that it is a small town and they're not used to this kind of attention. They're used to their big cousin over there St. Louis getting that. That doesn't happen here. So everything is sort of being magnified in a way that they are not used to here.

And, to that point, I just interviewed the police chief of Ferguson, his name is Tom Jackson, and I asked him about Thursday night. And that's that video we all saw of him out there engaging with the protesters, when he was out there walking with him. I asked him if he thought that that was a mistake and this is what he had to say about it.

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CHIEF TOM JACKSON, FERGUSON POLICE DEPARTMENT: No, I don't think it's ever a mistake for me to try to engage people who are trying to talk to me and my police department and my city. I think it's important that we keep those lines of communications open, so if some folks wanted to turn it into a hostile situation, that's their fault, not mine. But I wish it would have turned out better than it did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And I also, Carol, asked Chief Jackson if he realized that tensions in this town were as high and that things need to be addressed before the shooting of Mike Brown. And he says they didn't realize it was at that level, he didn't realize it, but they're now working to try to make it better as they can. But it's obviously a very slow process around here, Carol.

COSTELLO: There was a shooting of a Ferguson police officer this past weekend. Do you have new information on that?

ELAM: Well, I did ask him about that and what I was able to confirm with him was that he -- the officer did confront this assailant around the building, came and saw the man's gun shooting at his chest. He deflected it with his left hand, which happens to be his dominant hand and that's when he got shot in the left arm.

The officer also had another weapon on his right side, used his right hand to shoot at the assailant, but they have no reason to believe that that person was in fact shot. What they are saying now as far, as body cameras, is that they only have eight hours and under normal circumstances they would not have to worry about how much time is being run on them. But since this was just a routine stop, a routine check that he would normally make, he was not going because of a call, he did not have his body camera on at that time.

And let's keep in mind, too, these body cameras came after mid-August, they came after the shooting of Mike Brown. They have not had these cameras a long time. So they are still adjusting how they use them as far as the as far as the force is concerned, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Stephanie Elam reporting live from Ferguson, Missouri, this morning Thank you.

Checking some top stories for you, other top stories I should say, at 53 minutes past. New video from overnight shows authorities in Pennsylvania continuing their search for Eric Frein. The survivalist is wanted in the September 12 ambush killing of one state trooper and the wounding of another.

The body of missing Arkansas realtor Beverly Carter has been found in a shallow grave near Little Rock. 33-year-old Arron Lewis will be charged with capital murder. Police are not saying how they linked Lewis to Carter. A statement from Carter's family says, "There is now a hole in our hearts that will never be filled."

The U.S. is posed to become the world's biggest producer of liquid petroleum. "The Financial Times" reports the United States will pass Saudi Arabia's output either this month or next. U.S. crude oil output still lags behind the Saudis for now, but America produces more natural gas liquids.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING: CHEERING) COSTELLO: Oh, it's deafening, isn't it? It really is. A huge home field advantage for the Kansas City Chiefs last night. The crowd set the record for the loudest outdoor stadium, breaking Seattle's old record by five decibels. Chiefs fans had plenty to cheer about too. The Chiefs smashed the New England Patriots 41-14. Wow is right.

OK. On a personal note, if you will kindly indulge me this morning, Larry States, the man who gave me my first reporting job, is retiring today after 40 years from WAKR Radio in Akron, Ohio. Larry worked tirelessly for the people of Northeast Ohio, always a journalist first but such a great teacher. I want to say thank you, Larry, for believing in a 21-year-old woman who did not know much but wanted to learn everything. Larry, you are simply the best.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

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