Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

White House Acknowledges Mistake; CENTCOM's Twitter Account Allegedly Hacked By ISIS; Boko Haram Continues Terror In Nigeria

Aired January 12, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just past the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And today, with the rare White House acknowledgement just a short time ago, the White House essentially saying we got it wrong. The White House spokesperson Josh Earnest admitting that a quote "higher profile official should have gone to yesterday's huge unity march there in Paris." I mean, look at that all these leaders linking arms. Dozens were there joined by lower level U.S. diplomat but no top level Americans were present, something noted by several nonpartisan observers including CNN's Jake Tapper during coverage of the event yesterday. Here's White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: It's certainly a free country and people have the opportunity to subject their elected officials to criticism and make it clear when they disagree with a decision or action that has been taken by the administration. And I certainly wouldn't quibble with their right to do so and to the extent that there are those who are out there saying that the administration should have sent someone with a higher profile to participate in the march. I guess what I'm saying is that we agree that we should have sent someone with a higher profile. Again, in addition to the ambassador to France.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And Mr. Wolf Blitzer sitting next to me to talk about this. You, in the 90s, were a senior White House correspondent. How often do you hear a White House spokesperson say we got it wrong?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Not often. It's pretty rare. I think in this case Josh Earnest made the right thing. They did make a mistake. They have acknowledge the mistake. Now, they want to move on. They're going to have to do explaining probably on background with reporters who made the mistake, why wasn't there a higher level U.S. official standing in the front row with all those world leaders? Why wasn't the president there or at least the vice president or the secretary of state? I know he was in India, but he could have gone to Paris. They acknowledged they made a mistake. You don't hear that kind of acknowledge often. It's significant.

BALDWIN: But having covered the Clinton administration, I mean, you are sort of familiar with some machination behind the scenes, I mean, even though as you out Kerry was in India. I know the president has the state of the union coming up. How did that happen?

BLITZER: They could have -- look, the secret service I'm sure understandably legitimately would be deeply, deeply concerned if the president were walking in that front row --

BALDWIN: But prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu --

BLITZER: I know. But that's their job. They always worry and understandably so. But sometimes a president has to tell the secret service, you know what, let's just make it work. We can do this. I want to go. It's really important. The president could have said that to the secret service. They would have figured out a way to make sure he would be safe and others would be safe. It would have been a lot of work. I know it only came up Friday. The rally was Sunday. But in the past, secret service personnel have been able to do this kind of thing.

I remember when I was the White House correspondent during the Bill Clinton administration, and the prime minister of Israel (INAUDIBLE) was assassinated. It was a Saturday night in Tel Aviv. Saturday afternoon in Washington I was on the air reporting it. And they announced the funeral I think would be on Monday and the next day, Bill Clinton 747. He took, not only himself, but he took the speaker of the house, he took all sorts of members of Congress. They flew over there.

They were worried about the security. I'm sure the secret service said Mr. President maybe this isn't such a great. But President Bill Clinton said I'm going to this funeral. It's (INAUDIBLE), assassinated. It's important that I show that I represent the United States at this funeral. And he went. And obviously, really turned out OK.

So if the president really would have wanted to go, he could have gone. It would have been a nightmare for the secret service, there is no doubt about that. At a minimum, though, the minimum, you know, the attorney general of the United States was there. He was already in Paris. He could have gone too. It would have been a higher level number of the cabinet than the U.S. ambassador.

BALDWIN: Final question. Just do you think it was big enough (INAUDIBLE) that the president himself needs to address this publicly?

BLITZER: No. I mean, they've already acknowledged there was a mistake. Basically they want to move on and learn from this mistake which is the right thing. I think they did the right thing, you know. If you screw up, you make a mistake and you tell the American people I made a mistake. People will forgive you because we're all humans. We all make mistake.

BALDWIN: We are forgiving nation, aren't we? Wolf Blitzer, thank you very much. Nice to see you.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Still ahead, there are concerns the sleeper cell is still out there. And now, one U.S. senator who has a lot of Intel suggests there are terror sleeper cells in the United States. A ranking member of the Senate intelligence committee says you can count on that. We'll discuss that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You know what happened in France last week is making many wonder about what would be happening right now in the United States. Could an attack like what they witnessed in Charlie Hebdo offices last week happen here? Senator Diana Feinstein acknowledged on CNN "STATE OF THE UNION" Sunday that terrorists are at work right now. And she as, think about it, as informed as a politician can get. She's vice chairwoman of the intelligence committee having just stepped aside as the chairwoman. Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: 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, cooperating with whether it be British intelligence, French intelligence or German intelligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was Senator Feinstein.

But today, senior U.S. law enforcement officials down played her comments saying this. Yes, there's folks we're looking at. Is there something we don't know about? It's possible. But I don't want to call them sleeper cells.

Kimberly Dozier, our CNN global Affairs analyst joins me now.

You hear this senior U.S. law enforcement official saying I don't want to call them sleeper cells. What is a sleeper cell? How would you -- what would you call a sleeper cell? And what more do we know about them in the United States?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good to be with you, Brooke.

It is possible the Kouachi brothers were a sleeper cell. One of them did train in Yemen with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. And then years later with his brother carries out the attack on Charlie Hebdo's offices. So, what U.S. intelligence is trying to figure out right now is, was that directed? Did they have communication from AQAP saying now is the time to carry out this attack? Or was there something on a jihadi Web site that was their go signal?

They'll look at the movements of the men before they were killed and all of their computer and cell phone communications. So, if it's proven that somehow they did have an order from Al-Qaeda, then the question is, could there be sleeper cells like that, small cells of people with previous training, in this country who are just waiting for the signal to attack?

BALDWIN: How much do we know about this notion now? Because you think about these major terror organizations like AQAP, like ISIS, like Al-Qaeda core and then you think of your lone wolves. And this to me, sort of fits in the middle of that. And how often would we have heard in recent examples of someone calling the shots, let's say from Yemen, to these few individuals in a sleeper cell?

DOZIER: Well, I mean, you're quite right. There's a big difference between the attacks we saw in Australia and Ottawa where you had someone who was apparently self-radicalized, no training. They watched this on TV, picked up the nearest weapon and hit something symbolic but not very effectively.

Now, the Kouachi brothers had, according to many of the specialists I have spoken to, just enough training to be deadly, but they weren't experts. And that that kind of cell could be operating in the states, perhaps just as I said waiting for the signal. But right now, they're probably keeping their heads down because they know the U.S. intelligence community is watching so fiercely and closely right now.

BALDWIN: That's one of the fears, of course, for those in France, part of that district, that 19th district where some of this younger Kouachi brother came from. How many other of these members are out there with potential to strike, right? Then you have the point from Senator Feinstein. This is also what she said on "STATE OF THE UNION." She talks about what she considers serious vulnerability here in the United States, the visa waiver program. Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

BALDWIN: Do you agree with her criticism of the visa waiver program here?

DOZIER: Well, there were some changes made to that program back in 2007 to step up the analysis of the applicants so that there's a slightly higher bar there it used to be. They don't completely get it, you know, the visa just rubber stamp and a passport. But they don't have the same close look that someone applying for visa from scratch would get. And there are some lawmakers I've spoke to who are going to try to change this and tighten this further because they're worried.

BALDWIN: Understandably so. Kimberly Dozier, thank you very much.

Coming up next, we will show you what ended up on Centcom's twitter feed after a hack. Sensitive information and threats. Hackers claiming to be liked to ISIS. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Let's get you back to breaking news. Hackers targeting social media accounts of U.S. central command. The Pentagon saying nothing classified was leaked, but it is definitely sensitive information. According to one tweet, it read, American soldiers we are coming. Watch your back. ISIS.

Joined by CNN money tech correspondent Laurie Segall and CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruikshank.

So to both of you, and let me just begin with you, Laurie Segall. How has twitter responded? What is the Pentagon saying?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Sure. You know, neither of these folks are commenting too much. Twitter has said that they are looking into it. They did receive a notice from the Pentagon and they are looking in to. This account has been suspended. It was suspended. I was up for about 15, 20, 30 minutes then it was down.

Centcom has confirmed that their twitter and You Tube accounts were compromised earlier today. So everyone is looking into this. I will say, you know, we should be careful more talking about how it was hacked, you know. Because to get into a twitter account, you know, it's almost -- it could be embarrassingly simple based on how easy your password was, based on whether or not this is a phishing scam and for employee to click on the link and didn't realized that they were exposing some of their log and credentials. So that is something that we should take consider into account and we are looking at all this, you know, with a grain of salt, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. So not that sophisticated of a hack is I think what I'm hearing.

My question to you would be we talk a lot about ISIS' capability as far as sophistication goes, as far as videos, social media, but how -- are they capable of carrying out a real cybercrime?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: No, probably not. And most experts think they don't have the capability to launch a major cyberattack on the United States. They have hacked into twitter and You Tube here, not the Pentagon. That's very, very important to point out. And some of these documents that they have posted, they may have already been out there online and they are just sort of putting them out there again for propaganda purposes perhaps.

BALDWIN: Again, DOD is saying it's not classified. But I mean, I clicked on it before this whole thing was suspended and you could see, you know, members of the military's names, phone numbers, you pick up --.

SEGALL: I wanted to confirm this was actually out there. It is like I picked up the phone and called some of these numbers and, you know, I was the one telling these people that their personal information was out there. So, you know, I think that is the scare factor is big here.

You know, whether or not this was sophisticated, we are hearing about lone Wolf attacks. People are worried about their personal information out there. We are worried if ISIS, are they specifically targeting certain types of people. So when this twitter account is taken down and it says, you know, watch your back, American soldiers, we're coming, it incites fear which I am assuming it is something they absolutely want to do no matter how sophisticated this hack was.

BALDWIN: And we don't know who did this. I mean, we see what the profile looks like and the I love you ISIS avatar. That doesn't mean it's ISIS. IS this something, maybe they're not capable of a major cybercrime? Is this something they have expressed that they want to do?

CRUICKSHANK: I'm sure that they want to do it, but I don't think they have the capability yet in terms of manpower experience. They are nowhere near as experienced as say the Chinese hackers. In many parts of Syria and Iraq, they don't even have broadband internet access. O, it is very, very difficult.

I think the bigger concern when it comes to ISIS is they control through social media accounts without needing passwords all and find out all sorts of information about police and military so that perhaps their supporters in the west could target them. But we have seen the French now ask police officers and military to scrub their social media accounts. Also, the FBI here last month did the same.

BALDWIN: That's right. And apparently also, yes, members of our own military asked not to share this kind of information on social media.

Paul Cruikshank, thank you. And Laurie Segall, I appreciate it very much.

Just in here, we are getting some news out of homeland security about the response at airports to the attacks last week at Paris, the threat of terror in the skies. Here what airports across the United States are now doing and why it may mean longer lines at the airport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, all eyes have been on the terror attacks in Paris. Nigeria continues to be ravaged by the infamous terror group, Boko Haram. Since the new year, local officials tell CNN there have been several violent attacks, including suicide bombings and at least one involving a girl as young as 10.

Young boys have been kidnapped in this latest attack here, this deadly rampage nine days ago through this village of Baga. The death toll now ranging anywhere from hundreds dead to 2000 dead. Reportedly shot and killed, burned alive or firebombed.

Amnesty international saying this is Boko Haram's deadliest act. All of this as the 200 plus girls kidnapped last spring remain missing. We are now asking where is the global outrage, where is the help? One Nigerian archbishop even making a public plea for the same kind of international support now flooding into Paris. The Nigerian government has been accused of not doing enough to stop Boko Haram. And this just in to CNN, the TSA is stepping up security at airports

across the country. This is all part of a range of measures just announced by the department of homeland security in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris to face this growing threat of extremism in the United States and of course, all around the world.

So Rene Marsh is joining me. She is our CNN aviation and government regulation correspondent.

So, what is the TSA doing?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you, Brooke, we just received this information from the department of homeland security. They outlined five points here.

First, that our nation's airports, they announced that TSA will be stepping up random searches on passengers. Now, these are searches that will occur at the gate once you have already cleared through the security checkpoint. We should note Tsa has been doing random searches at the gate for quite some time now, but what we will be seeing is more of that happening. So if you're traveling, expect that.

Also, DHS is letting us know they have just, as of today, secretary Johnson has called for increased law enforcement presence outside of government buildings beyond what he called for in October. They essentially expanded the list of major cities where we would see that enhanced security outside of government buildings. Because of the sensitivity, they are not listing which cities this enhanced police presence, where essentially we will see that.

In addition to that, Brooke, they also mentioned they will continue to work hand in hand with local and state law enforcement sharing those intelligence bulletins. They are also continuing to share intelligence information with other countries and they are working with community leaders in major cities across the country to help them figure out the best way to weed out extreme terrorism that they may have brewing essentially in their communities.

So these are the five points that DHS just laid out. But again, if you are a traveler, going through an airport, expect to see even more ramped up, random searches even once you have cleared the security checkpoint, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right. So those random checks, issues too around government buildings, and as you mentioned, reaching out to community leaders, all of course in the wake of the massacre in Paris at the satirical magazine headquarters of Charlie Hebdo.

Rene Marsh in Washington, thank you so, so much. I appreciate you today on this Monday.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. That does it for me here in New York.

For much more in Paris, what is happening, the fall out now as we have heard from the spokesperson at the White House that they should have sent a high profile official to that massive show of unity, that march yesterday in Paris. Let's go now live to France. Jake Tapper and "THE LEAD" start right

now.