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White House Admits Mistake; CENTCOM Hacked; French Attacks; U.S. Sleeper Cells

Aired January 12, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, ANCHOR, CNN'S "THE LEAD": But I think the point is that, look, there is a very special relationship that the United States has with France. And I think culturally the United States kind of got away from it during the Iraq War debate when France opposed the U.S. going into Iraq and there were all sorts of blowback to that, including members of the House of Representatives actually changing the name of French fries in the house cafeteria. One of the odder things that I've seen members of Congress do in the last decade or so.

But the bottom line is, France is literally the United States' oldest ally. The United States and France, the republics that we know them to be right now, were born within the same decade. And there are thousands of Americans buried in the beaches here having come here to fight in World War II. It is a very strong and special relationship.

And what I was expressing yesterday, and in a piece I wrote for cnn.com, was not meant to be a harsh criticism of leadership in general, but more like a moment of regret. It was such a beautiful event to have attended, to have covered, to have witnessed. So many moving things. And it was sad for me, speaking only as an American, not as a reporter. It was sad for me as an American to not see American leadership there side by side with Francois Hollande and all those other world leaders.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: You noticed, Jake, that your name did come up in the briefing, specifically referring to that article you wrote on cnn.com.

TAPPER: Yes, I noticed. Well, Josh asked for - Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, asked who were the critics because one of the reporters, Steve Holland, asked if they had a right to criticism or something like that. And Josh gave a diplomatic answer, which was, we, in the United States, have the right to criticism. And, look, that's one of the things that the rally was about and one of the things that the people in this building behind me were slaughtered for doing. I'm right outside the offices of "Charlie Hebdo" and I'm certainly not comparing what I did to what they did on a regular basis or even the courage that they showed in the face of Islamic extremism and the threats, but the fact that we all enjoy that freedom, that ability to criticize people in power is one of the things that was celebrated in that march yesterday and one of the things that Josh noted we have the right to do, and then he just pivoted right to, and we agree. We agree with the fact that we should have had a higher level person there.

BLITZER: Yes, he admitted the White House made a mistake in not sending a higher level representative to be at that rally.

Jake, stand by for a moment. Jay Carney, the former White House press secretary, is with us, joining us on the phone.

Jay, you and I spoke before the White House briefing and I asked you, maybe the press secretary should just come out and admit they made a mistake. That doesn't happen very often, but that's precisely what he did. Were you surprised to hear him acknowledge they made that mistake?

JAY CARNEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR (via telephone): You know, Wolf, I was a little surprised. I thought that it might come more gradually. I thought it was a smart move. I think Jake was on target when he explained the wisdom of doing this. It sort of takes some of the sting out of the criticism when you say, look, in retrospect, we should have done this. We should have had a higher level representative. I also think it's smart not to try to unpack why this official couldn't go or that official.

I think, ultimately, it's probably also true that anyone short of the president being there representing the United States would still have begged the question about why not the U.S. president? And I think there are certainly good reasons for not sending the U.S. president. But I - but I do think it's unusual, but I think it's very wise. I think it was a smart move.

BLITZER: Yes. You get out there, you make - you acknowledge he made a mistake and you move on.

But one thing that's going to probably happen now, because you know how the White House works, the media relationships and all of that, they're not going to be back around briefings for reporters, or at least selective reporters with the tick tock. Why this mistake occurred, how did it happen that no one at a higher level than the U.S. ambassador in France represented the United States at this historically very important event. Walk us through this process, what's about to happen, because they're going to brief some reporters now and some people are going to be blamed. Who's going to get the blame for this blunder?

CARNEY: No, I don't think, in fact, in this case, that there's probably going to be too much detailed divulge even on background about decision making process. I think they'll explain the complexity of sending the president or the vice president. Not impossible, as you and Jake have pointed out, but challenging. The level of security that we, the United States, bring to these events is quite different and more substantial than even the leaders of Israel or European leaders like the chancellor of Germany or the French president might bring.

And then you sort of go down the list and it just becomes a little uninspiring when you have to say, well, the decision was made that Secretary Kerry couldn't go because he was engaged in very important meetings in India. The decision was made that Attorney General Holder had to come back. He had had important meetings on this very issue in Paris but perhaps the decision was made that he wasn't high level enough. It's -- none of it is really going to help the story I think for the White House. My guess is they're going to try to say, look, we admitted we made a mistake here. Let's talk about more substance issues. That's probably what they're going to try to do.

BLITZER: But, in the end, it's the president of the United States. The buck stops with the president. In the end, he's the one who decides whether or not he goes or someone else goes, right?

CARNEY: I think that's fair to say, Wolf. I think, again, that this is probably the counter to the argument that it's wise to do something like this, is that it only engendered, you know, another round of questions and another round of criticism. I think it's the right move to just say, we should have sent somebody higher level and to try to hold that line because, honestly, I do think that this is, while important and symbolically important, not a story that is likely to cause a lot of damage to the White House, the administration, or the country for long term here. I think there are just more substance issues that the administration is going to have to contend with and that reporters will turn to.

BLITZER: Jake Tapper, I suspect the lesson that the White House is learning right now is -- at least for the next two years, that this president remains in the White House, you've got to be really, really sensitive to these kinds of moments. Learn a lesson from this mistake and then move on.

TAPPER: You know, this president has acknowledged in the past that he doesn't have the same predilection for optics as he refers to them, images as previous presidents. He has said that it is not his strength. I think that there was something more about this than just optics. Although if you look at the reality of the march, those world leaders were not actually marching all the way from the Place de la Republic to the Place de la Nation.

But be that as it may, you know, this is - this is being referred to here in France as France's 9/11. This is being referred to as a demarcation, a moment where this country is changing. And truly having been at the rally yesterday, having covered it for CNN for eight hours straight, I have to say it really looks as though France, at least for one day, is embracing all the right things, all the great things about France. All the pluralism and the open mindedness that should thrives here, that usually do thrive here.

I think that it was beyond just optics. When you think back about 9/11, which obviously was a much bigger deal in terms of the fact that the United States had not really been hit by terrorism from Islamic terrorists within the country, in the homeland itself, and also the fact that the body count was so massively huge, 17 people -- innocent people killed here in France is horrific, but certainly can't compare to 3,000. You also have to look at the fact of, who was the first world leader to come to the United States after that awful trauma. Who was it? Well, it was the president of France. It was Jacques Chirac. He came to Washington, D.C., and he came to New York right after 9/11, within a week and a half or so.

And I don't think that's a mistake. And we have a special relationship with this country. And it's, obviously, not shaken by the fact that President Obama wasn't there or Joe Biden wasn't there or Mitch McConnell or John Boehner or any other American leader. But it reaffirms -- in would have reaffirmed it in the minds of not just the French people but the American people. I think that's important for people to convey.

BLITZER: All right, Jake Tapper on the scene for us in Paris. Thanks very much.

Jay Carney, thanks to you as well.

We're going to stay on top of the news coming out of Paris. That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room." "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin has the breaking news on the hacking of the U.S. military's Central Command Twitter and YouTube accounts. That information and a lot more of the news coming up right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go. Breaking news here on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. My colleague, John Berman, joining me live from Paris.

John, we'll check in with you momentarily, of course, with brand new information coming in to us on the search for more accomplices in that Paris terrorist attack. But first, let me begin with what's breaking here.

These hackers, claiming to be allied with ISIS, have hacked the Twitter and YouTube accounts of the U.S. Central Command or CENTCOM. The hackers changed the Twitter account page to show this masked militant with the title, you can see it, "CyberCallphate." And if you look in the avatar picture, the words "I love you ISIS." One tweet listed what appears to be private information about military personnel while reading, quote, "we won't stop. We know everything about you. Your wives and children." Another tweet, "American soldiers, we are coming. Watch your back. ISIS."

So let's talk about this with our justice correspondent Pamela Brown and also cyber security expert Mark Rasch, a former prosecutor for cyber crimes with the Department of Justice.

So, great to have both of you on.

And, Pamela, let me just begin with you. You know, we talk about some private information, yet DOD is telling us nothing classified was posted, correct?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That is correct. And a DOD official telling us that as we speak they're trying to take the appropriate measures to address this issue. It caught everyone's attention earlier today, Brooke, when these unusual tweets came from Central Command's Twitter account aligning with ISIS and basically targeting the U.S. military, as we saw. And so it became quickly apparent that ISIS sympathizers apparently hack into Central Command's Twitter and YouTube accounts.

One of the tweets, as you said, pretty disturbing. It said, "American soldiers, we are coming. Watch your back." And with a link with what appears to be Pentagon documents. Now as you point out, the Pentagon is saying it does not appear anything of a classified nature was posted. But there was one item marked, quote, for official use only, which reportedly included the name and addresses of U.S. military officials. So, of course, that would be concerning if items of a personal nature like that are out there in the public arena and somehow ISIS sympathizers had access to that.

But right now, Brooke, what's important to note here is that officials are just trying to piece together the extent of this hack. Is this just a simple Twitter, YouTube hack -- which, apparently if you talk to tech experts, isn't really that difficult to hack into a Twitter account -- or is this something deeper, more serious, where the hackers actually were able to get into CENTCOM itself and pull information out? So that's what they're really trying to look at right now, how deep does this go, how serious is this hack.

BALDWIN: I mean, Mark, when you look at the tweets and some of the information, that's one thing. But, again, I go back to this Twitter avatar and the words "I love ISIS." I mean this could be anyone. How significant is this hack in your opinion?

MARK RASCH, CYBER & PRIVACY EXPERT: Well, the hack itself, the technical aspects of the hack, to hack a Twitter account or a YouTube account is not very difficult to do. What's more concerning is the fact that they were able to post sensitive but unclassified documents onto that account and the nature of the threats themselves.

BALDWIN: Because it is sensitive information. Let's be clear.

RASCH: Sure it is. I mean the truth is that we have massive amounts of data about our service members and their families. And we have it in lots of different places. We have it in the military. We have it with insurance companies, with a barbershop outside of Fort Hood might have the names and addresses of members of the military. And we don't treat that stuff as sensitive information. And we should in light of the threats.

BALDWIN: Pamela, when I think of hacking, I mean most recently we've been talking a lot about North Korea. You think of China. Maybe you think of Russia. But do you think of ISIS? Have there been threats to do something like this in the recent past?

BROWN: Well, we know ISIS has members that are very tech savvy. I mean just look at their use of social media -

BALDWIN: Right.

BROWN: And how they're been able to use that as a recruiting tool. That, though, is very different from being able to actually carry out a hack attack. And we know that ISIS has some quote, unquote, hackers that are in their - in Raqqa, Syria, where they're based. But as far as whether they have the manpower and the resources to carry out a hack attack, experts I've been speaking with and, you know, people in the law enforcement, intelligence community, I don't think that they think that's an actual real threat right now. But, of course, something down the road, of course that is concerning and it's something that they're looking at.

Also important to mention, Brooke, that the defense department has been using sort of a counter cyber program against ISIS, against those people in Raqqa, to make sure a hack doesn't happen against U.S. infrastructure.

BALDWIN: Mark, I saw you nodding and I also was told you recently worked, what, on a case involving securing military medical records against ISIS threats?

RASCH: That's right. I mean one of the problems you have is, is when a military member goes to a doctor or a hospital, there's a record of that. And if it's paid for by military insurance or by the military, you can now tie back together the name of the person, their family member's names. That information was not normally treated as sensitive information. It's just, they went in for a checkup or whatever. It's now, with the threats from ISIS, to go after people at the homeland, very sensitive information if they can know names, addresses, ranks and structure.

BALDWIN: Mark Rasch -

BROWN: And I want to - can I just mention, Brooke, really quickly -

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Pamela.

BROWN: It's, you know, it's concerning, obviously, that CENTCOM's Twitter account was hacked and so forth, but just to kind of piggy back in on what he just said, you know, there's been a big concern in the intelligence community that ISIS members have been trying to pull information on U.S. soldiers, gleaning that information any way they can. And a big way they're doing that is through social media. So a lot of U.S. military members are being warned by the FBI, other agencies, to not post, not even have social media accounts because of this concern.

BALDWIN: As they should be, I suppose in this day and age. Pamela Brown, thank you. Mark Rasch, my appreciation to you as well.

Let's go to Paris, to John Berman.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks so much.

Nearly 20 after 8:00 p.m. here in Paris and you can still see behind me this memorial outside the offices of "Charlie Hebdo," the satirical magazine where 12 people were massacred. Still we -- people still streaming through here to pay their respects.

Of course, this city is still in the aftermath of a pair of terrorist attacks. And CNN has just learned from a senior U.S. official that the kosher market gunman, seen here in a video posted on a jihadi website, this man, Amedy Coulibaly, had been on a U.S. terrorist watch list for, quote, "a while."

As for the questions about a suspected accomplice, his girlfriend or his partner, his religious wife, Hayat Boumeddiene, she is still missing and she is believed to be in Syria right now. Turkish media say that this video shows her - and I think you can see her right now in the white head dress on her way to Syria, arriving in Turkey from Spain on January 2nd.

Now, back here in Paris, the French government has enacted a historic uptick in their security preparations here. Ten thousand military troops and more than 8,000 police officers deployed to key sites around the country. More than 8,000 of those police just to Jewish locations, synagogues and schools. It was just announced that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, he will be coming here to France on Thursday. Of course that now is so interesting after the administration just admitted, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, just admitted it was a mistake not to send a higher level official here to the huge unity march in Paris that had more than 1.5 million people. You can see an array of world leaders who did make it. The White House now says it was a mistake not to send someone bigger.

I want to bring in CNN's Isa Soares right now. She is also in Paris.

And, Isa, there was a key bit of news today on the investigative front. The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, in an interview with our very own Christiane Amanpour, said he believes the French government believes there was an accomplice in these attacks, particularly in the attack on the kosher market. At least at the operational level. The finance level. Talk to me about the significance of that statement.

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, John.

Yes, we have heard in the last couple of hours an exclusive interview with our very own Christiane Amanpour the prime minister, the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who, like you said, has been speaking at great length today about the security measures put in place has been talking a bit about the investigation and what level or how much he can say at this stage about the investigation and asked whether there may have been an accomplice to the attacks we've seen in Paris last week. He says he believes there may have been, there must have been, he said must, that there must have been an attack - an accomplice.

He then went on to say that this perhaps was someone who - or helped finance, helped organize. Not necessarily, he said, a trigger person, but they are looking also at aspects of the investigation, whether this is a wider cell, a wider group, a wider web of terror that -- of involvement here. He said also that he believes that this is not a lone wolf attack. And, of course, John, you and I know, because we're following this story at great length, that you're already starting to see the connections between the layers, between both the Kouachi brothers and also Coulibaly, who, you can remember, he said during - just before the attack on Friday he - on a -- in a telephone conversation with our French affiliate, he said that he did have a connection with the Kouachi brothers, that his mission was obviously to target police and the Kouachi brothers was to target the store.

Of course, we just don't know if this accomplice, the Prime Minister Manuel Valls is talking about, refers to the girlfriend, Hayat, who we now believe -- sources telling us she's crossed over to Syria, having taken a flight to Istanbul via Madrid, or whether there's an additional accomplice that may have been part of these attacks.

But all this, of course, raising concerns, leaving the city on alert. Already so weary, so worried about further attacks. We've seen 10,000 soldiers being deployed. They will be deployed by tomorrow. An additional 500 by Wednesday. So, 10,500. And on top of that, John, like you said, almost 8,000 police officers spread out across schools, mostly Jewish schools. Some 717 schools, John. And some were actually saying today, some Jewish students saying today they are worried. They do fear for their life. And some are actually considering going back home to Jerusalem.

John.

BERMAN: It is an unprecedented security deployment here according to the defense ministry. Isa Soares, thank you so much for that.

And in just a little bit, I'm going to have a guest here, a former State Department official, and we are going to discuss the remarkable admission from the White House press secretary that the White House made a mistake by not sending a higher level official here to this unity march in Paris yesterday. How did that mistake happen? We'll discuss.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll hear from that guest. John Berman, thank you.

Also ahead, one high profile senator says there are sleeper cells right here inside of America and that the U.S. has, her phrase, an Achilles heel when it comes to how people travel here. We'll discuss this. You're watching CNN special coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

What happened in France last week is making many wonder about what's happening right here in the United States. When could an attack like this happen here? Senator Dianne Feinstein acknowledged on "State of the Union" here on CNN Sunday morning that terrorists are at work right now and, think about it, she is basically as informed as a politician can get. She is vice chairwoman of the Senate intel committee, having just stepped aside as its chair. Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA), INTELLIGENCE VICE CHAIRWOMAN: I think there are sleeper cells, not only in France, but certainly in other countries, and, yes, even in our own. So I think this calls for vigilance, it calls for seeing that the national security organizations of our country, the intelligence community is funded fully, is directed ably, is cooperating with whether it be British intelligence, French intelligence, German intelligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, today, a senior U.S. law enforcement official downplayed Senator Feinstein's comments saying, quote, he says, "there are folks we are looking at. Is there something we don't know about? It's possible. But I don't want to call them sleeper cells."

With me now, Julie Myers Wood, president of Guidepost Solutions. She used to be assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

Julie, welcome.

JULIE MYERS WOOD, PRESIDENT, GUIDEPOST SOLUTIONS: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: So we're all on the same page, define sleeper cell for me.

WOOD: Sure. A sleeper cell is traditionally thought of a group organized by terrorists or another transnational criminal organization that's kind of lying in wait. It gets into position in a certain location that is waiting for direction in order to execute that direction so they might move to a certain location in two or three years down the road decide now's the time to execute a plot against the U.S.

BALDWIN: Do something. When you hear the senator talking about potentially sleeper cells here in the United States, and there are a lot of unanswered questions, how many there are, I don't know if you have that answer necessarily, or if there even at liberty to say, but what kinds of capabilities do these sleeper cells have?

WOOD: I think law enforcement is very concerned about not only sleeper cells, but other sorts of threats that the U.S. might be facing. And when somebody like the senator says she's worried about sleeper cells, we've all got to listen, you know, very clearly because, obviously, she's had the most access -

BALDWIN: Been in the know.

WOOD: Been in the know in that, absolutely. But I think we've seen, over the last few years, that it's not just sleeper cells, but it's also lone wolf, a sympathizer, homegrown terrorist. We have to worry about all those things. And we really - the Achilles heel for the U.S. is really complacency, I would say, not the visa waver program.

BALDWIN: Let me get to that.

WOOD: Yes.

BALDWIN: So this is something else that definitely made news when Senator Feinstein was talking to Gloria Borger and she said that basically this is the weakness, the visa waiver program. This is what she said. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEINSTEIN: The visa waiver program is the Achilles heel of America because, you're right, Gloria, they can come back from training, they go through a visa waiver country, and they come into this country. Now, there are no fly lists, there are terrorist lists, but they're in the tens of thousands and even millions. So it's difficult to ferret someone out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That's interesting because we were talking, these Kouachi brothers, apparently, were on this no-fly list.

(CROSSTALK)

There's so many names on the list, maybe they could have slipped in. Do you agree?

WOOD: No, not the no-fly list. The visa waiver program has strengthened intelligence we have about people wanting to come in and harm the country.

BALDWIN: You disagree with her saying it's the Achilles?

WOOD: I think the Achilles is complacency. You don't waltz in with your passport. You have to go through an intelligence check in the system. Because we have the visa waiver program, we have more intelligence than we used to have with the 38 countries. What's important now is we have to look at do we have enough intelligence? How are programs working? Are we acting on that intelligence in a clear and quick manner?

BALDWIN: If somebody wanted to come from France into the United States, they could do so for 90 days, correct?

WOOD: They would have to apply online through the program. When they apply online, they enter all sorts of information. Actually, Secretary Johnson as proposed they enter more information. When they enter that information that is run through the same database the State Department runs when you go in to interview. When reviewed, if there's something in the file that's problematic, they say no. It is denied. You can come in to a consulate or embassy for application for visa or forget about it, you're on no fly and you're never coming in. It's a little misleading to blame these problems -- and we have serious problems -- on the visa waiver program.

BALDWIN: Julie Myers Wood, thank you very much.

WOOD: Thank you.

BALDWIN: There's room to disagree a little bit with the Senator.

John Berman, we'll send it back to you in Paris.