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Caroline Kennedy Facing Death Threats in Japan; Tunisian Parliament Museum Complex Attacked; Top Officials Ask Congress to Authorize Force; U.S. Veteran Accused of Trying to Join ISIS. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 18, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: things I kind of just -- no pun intended -- fell into.

We're here in Costa Rica. This is one of our yearly trips. And I'm way too young to be this old. I'm not going to move into some senior citizen gated community. I want to be out there jumping out of airplanes as long as I can and having fun. So it's a pretty good retirement gig.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar sitting in for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. And we begin with breaking news.

New video out of Tunisia where a hostage situation is under way. At least eight people are dead. The country's Interior minister called the attackers here Islamists. Right now major questions about whether this attack is linked to ISIS.

Tunisia is considered a breeding ground for extremists and according to experts, more foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria come from Tunisia than any other country.

But first, new anti-American concerns rippling across much of Asia. In Japan, police are investigating new death threats against Caroline Kennedy. According to the Associated Press, the threatening phone calls are not only targeting Kennedy, the ambassador to Japan as she is, but another American envoy as well, and the timing is unsettling to say the least.

First Lady Michelle Obama just arrived in Tokyo this morning. It's the first stop on a five-day trip for her through the region.

And it has been less than two weeks since a knife-wielding man slashed the U.S. ambassador to South Korea. Witnesses say that the attacker was screaming anti-American hate when he slipped through the relatively light security at an event that the ambassador was at.

We're covering all of the angles on this. We have CNN's David Molko for us in Hong Kong. Our Michelle Kosinski is at the White House. And, David, I want to begin with you. Tell us what you've learned.

This is a situation that is developing.

DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, developing across the last few hours. Extremely serious. Japanese officials and the police taking this very, very seriously.

What we know is that there were a number of threats, death threats, according to Japanese media, that were called into the U.S. embassy specifically against the U.S. ambassador, Caroline Kennedy. Threats also called in against the consul general in Okinawa, and that's the southern island of Japan where the U.S. has a large troop presence.

A lot of questions here, though, about the timing with the first lady, Michelle Obama, arriving at Haneda Airport for the beginning of a five-day trip to Japan and Cambodia. Also, former President Clinton actually in Japan giving a speech at a Tokyo university. Also alongside the Japanese prime minister and Caroline Kennedy as well.

Police not saying much. The U.S. embassy not saying much. And I think the State Department is beginning to comment on this. But no clear confirmation. All of this coming from Japanese media. Of course very, very sensitive given the events in South Korea just a few weeks ago -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. Very concerning especially considering those.

Michelle, you're at the White House. You're monitoring things there with the administration. I know we were expecting maybe something from the State Department on this. Have we heard anything?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we just got a statement and it says this.

"We take any threats to U.S. diplomats seriously. We take every step possible to protect our personnel. We're working with the Japanese government to ensure the necessary measures are in place. We will not comment on the specific details of any threats or the steps we take to address them."

So this is not even a confirmation that those threats were made. I mean, this is in the Asian press. We're seeing Asian officials quoted. Japanese police I believe were quoted in one of them. But no one in the U.S. is commenting or confirming these. That includes the White House and the National Security Council.

What they do want to stress, though, is that any threat as you saw in that statement is being taken seriously especially given the attack on the U.S. ambassador to South Korea only days ago really.

And what we've heard from the White House in the past couple of weeks, when other threats would come up, I mean, the evacuation of personnel from Yemen is a good one, just saying how much they put that as a top priority protecting U.S. assets overseas, Brianna.

KEILAR: That's right. Michelle Kosinski for us at the White House. Thank you so much.

And I want to check in now with Kimberly Dozier, she's CNN's global affairs analyst and she's a contributing writer to "The Daily Beast."

Kimberly, thanks for being with us and I know that you've reported extensively on security and intelligence issues. So I want to ask you, you've got the first lady who has the protection of Secret Service personnel on this visit.

But what about diplomats? What about ambassadors? Are they enjoying the same level of protection and do you see it catching up to what threats may be?

[10:05:02] KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I see whoever making this -- whoever made this phone call is probably looking for attention and trying to grab the media spotlight rather than actually carrying out an attack on the ambassador or her deputy.

But what this highlights is that U.S. diplomats overseas are always facing this threat. They have this dual role of trying to reach out to the nation and people they haven't met before in the country where they're based. But they have a small number of security, people around them from the states, and they're relying on the local forces to keep them safe. So there's always this tension.

The ambassador wants to get out and have face time with the local population and the diplomatic security team around them wants to hold them back. It's an allusion of security more than a phalanx of people around them, protecting them at all times.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly we saw that with the ambassador to South Korea. So you said this is probably someone trying to grab attention.

So who would want that attention and who do we think would not be responsible for threats - -these threats?

DOZIER: Well, North Korea doesn't like the U.S. relationships with Japan or other nations in that region and would possibly seek this moment to embarrass the White House by making a threat toward U.S. diplomats just as the first lady visits.

This doesn't smack of al Qaeda to me because they -- whoever made the call has to know that with the Japanese intelligence services and their close relationship with CIA and NSA, they are probably going to get caught. They wanted attention more than to cause damage -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. Kimberly Dozier, great insight there. Thanks so much for joining us.

And I want to get back now to this breaking news that we're following out of Tunisia. Eight people are dead after a shooting in a museum near parliament. This is a beautiful museum there. You can see folks here. They just have been out for a day of sightseeing and here they are running away from gunmen. Two gunmen, we are told by Tunisian authorities. Two men who appear

to have entered in military garb. Some reports that they may have been in camouflage and we have Tunisian officials who are identifying them as Islamist.

All of this very fluid. All of this moving very quickly. New details coming into us.

But basically Tunisia in North Africa was sort of, you know, held up as this place where the Arab spring started in 2010 but it is certainly had its issues recently as a breeding ground for Islamism and really it's Tunisia that you've seen more foreign fighters go to ISIS who have headed to Syria to fight for ISIS and so we're waiting to try to decipher this and figure out if we are going to -- if we're going to be able to tell if there are links to ISIS.

We're -- sorry. Guys, where are we going? All right. We're going to continue to look at this story. We'll have a live report right ahead. But we do understand at this point there are helicopters overhead. There are ambulances. Eight dead at this time. Multiple nationalities. We're trying to piece all of this together. And we'll bring you a live report straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:11:55] KEILAR: Let's get back now to breaking news that's coming out of Tunisia. Let's --this is new video that we have from what appears to be -- pardon me -- an attack on a museum next to parliament there. Eight people dead after a shooting there and the Interior minister confirms to CNN that there's a hostage situation under way right now. That a minister calling these attackers Islamist.

Let's get now to CNN's Atika Shubert, she is live this morning for us from London. You've been getting new details really just as we've been moving through the last several minutes or so.

What's going on, Atika?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, as you can see there from that video, that is what -- is video that was taken as the attack was taking place, as gunshots rang out. A number of tourists was sort of milling outside of the museum. They were ushered inside by security believing they would be safer inside.

This was also happening in parliament which is right next door and connected to the museum. A number of members of parliament were told to hit the floor and then were evacuated out very quickly.

But then we understand two gunmen dressed in some sort of camouflage armed with automatic weapons did take hostages inside the national museum. We understand from a spokesperson from the Interior Ministry that at least eight people were killed. A number of them foreign tourists. We're still trying to confirm where are those tourists came from. And a number of people were also wounded and evacuated to nearby hospitals. Now the latest is that security has surrounded the national museum and

we're still trying to find out if this hostage situation is ongoing, what has happened to the gunmen. It is still, however, very fluid, Brianna. As when we get confirmed details, we will bring them to you.

KEILAR: Yes. And we're seeing pictures of families who were just out for what looks like a beautiful day there in Tunis going perhaps to the museum or checking out parliament. Winded as they're running away from the danger here.

Talk to us a little bit, Atika, about the threat of Islamism there in Tunisia. This is a nation that was -- where the Arab spring began. But certainly there have been a lot of trials when it comes to dealing with terrorism there. Although had we seen anything like this right in the capital or in such a populated area?

SHUBERT: No, we have not seen an attack like this for quite a number of years. And you're absolutely right. This is the birth place of the Arab spring. And it considered the success story of the Arab spring. It had stable elections, peaceful elections. It was able to elect a new parliamentary president just a few months ago.

But at the same time the lid was lifted off the political environment in Tunisia, it also allowed for this very radical strain of political Islam to come in and there is a group, Ansar al-Sharia, that has grown exponentially in Tunisia over the last few years. And this is a group associated with both al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, with militias in -- next-door Libya, but also foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq.

[10:15:04] And in fact, Tunisia has the greatest number of fighters in Syria and Iraq, fighting with groups like ISIS. More than 3,000 according to government estimates. So that's a staggering number. And hundreds of them have come back to Tunisia.

And this is something that security officials in Tunisia have been watching for some time very fearfully. But an attack like this specifically targeting a tourist area has not happened in a very long time there. So it is a big shock to the country.

And as you can see there with the tourists coming in, a number of them elderly tourists as well, this has been a destination for people who want to see the sort of archaeological treasures of Tunisia. And so it's a shock to them that a museum like this in particular has been targeted.

KEILAR: Yes. This is supposed -- you know, supposed to be a beautiful afternoon for them at the museum taking their time and it's turned into chaos with eight dead that we know of. This is still developing. There's a hostage situation. And we know that you're going to follow this.

Atika Shubert, thank you so much.

Well, this Islamist threat coming as the Obama administration makes its case for the war on ISIS. We have a live look now at the House Armed Services Committee hearing that is happening right now. That's Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

Also the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, testifying today as well.

Again, they are asking Congress to authorize the use of force against terrorists.

And let's dig a little deeper on this now. I want to bring in our guests. We have Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, he's a CNN military analyst. We have Josh Rogin, he's a CNN political analyst and columnist with the Bloomberg view.

But let's begin with our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns.

Do we have a sense, Joe, of what we're expecting to hear today and if this is going to be different than what we've heard recently?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, I think it is going to be a little different. The secretary of Defense, as you said, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appearing before the House Armed Services Committee once again to discuss not only that authorization of use of military force against ISIS but also the DOD request for a budget for 2016, the fiscal year.

And this is while the world is a very dangerous place. You see what's going on in Tunisia. You see what's going on in other places around the globe. One question is whether the administration even needs an AUMF from a Congress as it's called or if the open ended one that Congress gave the administration of President George W. Bush in 2001 is going to suffice.

At the last hearing on use of force held in the Senate last week is any indication, the administration can expect a lot of skepticism because members on the right think the president's draft resolution ties his hands in the fight against ISIS by ruling out ground troops and including a three-year expiration date.

Some on the left are opposed to giving the president anymore authorization for war period. They are also worried about mission creep and there are big questions about the regional chess board including Syria and Iran.

Now back to you --

KEILAR: Colonel Francona, you look at that, very well laid out by Joe Johns, the different issues at stake here on the right and the left. What kind of difference can the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Defense secretary make today and what are your concerns about this authorization?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Both the secretary and the chairman have to lay out what the strategy is and what the plan is and now an authorization of military force would fit into that. I think the concern among the military that I talked to is that the resolution as drafted will be too restrictive. It ties the hands of the administration. What they want is the flexibility to do what the president orders them to do.

If there's a time limit, then we've seen how time limits hurt us. We saw it in Iraq. We're watching it happen in Afghanistan. You can't give an end date to when you're going to stop using military force. So the military wants the flexibility to do what they need to do. The draft resolution ties their hands so I think the concern is not that we have an authorization, it's that we have a good authorization.

KEILAR: And Josh, you're really seeing this play out. You know, a lot of this is playing out so much politically because of where the American public is and because it seems like to say boots on the ground is taboo for so many Americans whether they are Democrats or Republicans.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Exactly. There are two main political dynamics here. One is that the Republican leadership in the House and the Senate is not enthusiastic about forcing its rank-and- file members to vote to endorse a war that the president has been engaged in for over six months and that most Republicans believe is not going as well as the administration claims. So that puts them in a tough position.

Also, this authorization would be for three years which means it would affect the next president into 2018.

[10:20:01] And so GOP presidential candidates are looking at this and they are saying why should we have our party endorse restrictions that are not only going to put limits on what President Obama and his administration can do, but what the next president could do.

And while boots on the ground is a political third rail right now, in 2018, that might be a different story. We see the polls moving slowly but surely as the problem gets worse. So there's a large incentive for Republicans but also for Democrats to do exactly nothing and there's a possibility that Congress could actually fail to pass any authorization at all.

At that point the president will have maintained his flexibility but will be able to blame Congress for not providing the authorization which may be the best case scenario for him personally.

KEILAR: Amazing. You say the best case scenario for him personally maybe for Congress to do nothing.

ROGIN: Exactly.

KEILAR: Well, I mean, you know what, though, I feel like, you know, you've been around Washington enough you sort of get used to that.

Josh Rogin, thanks so much. General Francona -- Colonel Francona, thanks so much. I promoted you. My apologies. And Joe Johns, thank you so much to you as well.

Now still to come, authorities say that this man who is a U.S. Air Force veteran and the mechanic for American Airlines tried to join ISIS. Up next, we'll tell you how officials foiled his plan.

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KEILAR: Chilling details about the first American military veteran accused of trying to join ISIS.

[10:25:02] Later today Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh will be arraigned in New York federal court. U.S. authorities say the 47-year-old Air Force veteran was trying to cross into Syria to join the terror group but his plan was foiled by the Turkish authorities.

Among the evidence against him, a laptop computer with Internet searches like borders controlled by Islamic state, as well as ISIS propaganda videos. And officials say that Pugh had a chart of the Turkey-Syria border that showed ISIS controlled areas. The former airman had previously worked as a mechanic with American Airlines.

Let's bring in CNN's Miguel Marquez.

This is one where a lot of people are very much alarmed. This was someone who worked for the U.S. and for an American airline.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He raised his hand and said that he was going to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. Now authorities here, Brianna, saying that he was trying to undermine it in recent -- in recent years, in recent months even.

Look, this guy has a long history. He was in the Air Force back in the '80s, '86 to '90, he served as an Air Force mechanic. In '98, officials say according to the documents he converted to Islam. In 2001, he had worked for American Airlines and at the time expressed interest in support for Osama bin Laden, which one of his colleagues then reported to the FBI. In 2002, he had expressed interest in fighting in Chechnya as a jihadist in Chechnya.

In '09 and '10, he worked for a U.S. Military contractor called Dyncorp in Iraq working on U.S. Military or -- you know, U.S. government planes in Iraq during the war there amazingly enough. In 2014, he departed the U.S. for Bahrain. It is not clear whether he worked for another U.S. contractor at all. He says that he did. The contractor told "The Washington Post" that at least for one job he was not hired for it.

In 2015, he was picked up trying to cross the border, Turkish officials say, into Syria. Turkey sent him back to Egypt, Egypt then deported him back to the U.S. When he got there he was arrested. On that computer as well was a note to his wife, his Egyptian wife. In part it read, "I am Mujahidin, I am a sword against the oppressor and a shield for the oppressed. I will use my talents and skills given to me by Allah to establish and defend the Islamic State."

He promised his wife that if he was successful he would either martyr himself or he would have victory and they would -- he would bring her to the area that is now Syria where the Islamic State is operating. He's meant to be arraigned here in federal court in Brooklyn shortly. He's expected to plead not guilty -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Are there any -- were there any, looking back, that we know that authorities have said, red flags? Any warning signs?

MARQUEZ: Well, certainly the fact that he worked for an American Airline, expressed support for Osama bin Laden to a colleague, that that raised suspicion with the FBI at the time. That he then went on to express that he wanted to work as a jihadist in Chechnya to colleagues as well, that he was at least looked at to some degree, and then applied for contractor jobs with Dyncorp, and perhaps other contractors in the Middle East, working on planes that may be carrying sensitive information or sensitive U.S. personnel on there.

I mean, there are all sorts of possibilities here. He was -- he was a mechanic but somebody even in low level position could do a heck of a lot of damage if they were interested in doing that -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. They certainly can. It is a position of trust.

Miguel Marquez, thanks so much.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

KEILAR: And we have breaking news just in now to CNN. According to Reuters, all of the hostages in the standoff between Tunisian authorities describe as Islamists and police there in Tunisia, all of the hostages have been released. This after, according to reports there coming from Tunisian officials, eight people were killed.

Let's get now to Atika Shubert. She has been following this over the last couple of hours as it has been developing.

Tell us more about what we know now, Atika.

SHUBERT: Well, it appears, as you pointed out, that Reuters report that the hostages have been released. We're also seeing now local media reports from Radio Mosaique, saying specifically that the gunmen have been killed.

Now we have not been able to independently confirm that but we are trying to get those details. It's still quite a fluid situation. In the meantime, as you point out, eight people have been killed in the attack inside the museum. A number of them foreign tourists. The speaker of French parliament has actually said that one of them may be a French tourist. We are still trying to confirm that detail as well.

It now also appears that dozens of people have been injured and taken to nearby hospitals. We don't know how severely wounded they are in this attack. But we do know from hospitals that they are currently being treated there.

[10:30:13]