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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Security Level Raised; Atlanta Plane Crash Press Conference. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 08, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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


[12:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: NFL, the Ray Rice saga. Where Bill Simmons goes next will be a huge, huge deal.

That's all for us. Thanks for watching. "Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

We've got breaking news this hour right across the country. First, the threat level raised at all United States military bases in the United States due to the concern that's growing over the jihadist threat here on the continental states.

Also, we've got live pictures for you happening now from the funeral of NYPD officer - of the officer who was killed in the line of duty. That funeral underway in Seaford, New York, and there are 30,000 officers in attendance.

And we're taking you live to Atlanta, where a plane crashed on a major highway. Four people dying and there is a significant effect on the ground. We're going to update you.

And then there's the president, President Obama, expected to speak live any moment now from the Nike headquarters in Oregon and it all has to do with trade over the Pacific, the pros, the cons and who in that room is affected most and then, of course, right across the country, what does it mean for the American watching at home.

To the first breaking story, the security level at all United States military bases, again, in this country, in the United States, raised. An official telling CNN that the four-star admiral who oversees all bases in the continental United States, it's called North Com, the Northern Command, well, he went ahead and signed an order that raises the force protection level to Bravo, which the military defiance as a response to an increased and predictable threat of terrorism. That level was raised last night. Our Barbara Starr, the Pentagon correspondent, with me now live.

So tell me why we're there and where we were before we ended up at Bravo.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ashleigh. The classified order signed last night by all accounts over the

concern of the threat of violent homegrown extremism. This is what U.S. military officials are telling us.

Now, look, let's be clear, it comes hours after FBI Director James Comey told reporters there might be thousands of people in the United States online with ISIS supporters becoming adherence to this ISIS extremist ideology and that it is becoming increasingly difficult to track these people. All of this, of course, only highlighted by the attack earlier this week in Garland, Texas, at that cartoon contest for the Prophet Mohammed. Certainly the problem had been out there, but a lot of attention now being focused on it, and Comey talking about how hard it is to track these people.

None of this lost on the U.S. military which, of course, exists in towns and communities across this country. They are part of the American fabric. Were they aware of all of this? Yes. It's not that sudden. But the issue is not that there is a specific and credible threat at this time, but there's a growing concern about it. And one U.S. official saying, look, we feel this is a prudent measure to take right now at military bases.

What are you going to see? You're going to see more vehicle checks, more I.D. checks, the possibility of more armed personnel at gates and posts, keeping an eye on things. But they feel that it's necessary at this point. One official saying, this is the new normal with this threat of violent extremism. I mean what these -

BANFIELD: So, Barbara -

STARR: I was just going to mention -

BANFIELD: Yes, but, before you move on from that point, when you just listed out those things that we are likely to see at those bases, at the same time the spokesperson for North Com is saying, we seek to be unpredictable. So is this just a rotating series of systems that they'll change up or will there be actually something new?

STARR: Well, this is exactly the point I was about to mention. What they are saying is, they want to be random and they want to be unpredictable in these security measures because they feel that is their best advantage against potential attackers who may be eyeballing bases. You don't want to have a pattern of security. This is basic security 101. You don't want people to be able to predict what your security measures are and then they can war game against it essentially.

So it will be unpredictable, it will be rotating, it will be random, just as it is here at the Pentagon every day, but you're going to see an awful lot of it. They want to be seen out there. They want people to know that they are out there with security personnel and trying to keep would-be attackers off guard.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And we've been at this normal - when we say new normal, we've been at this normal before because on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, we were at this level, but at that time was it really considered to be very temporary?

STARR: You know, it's like we're hearing now, no one knows how long this will last. And it may not be visible exactly when it all goes away. Part of this is also certainly a very public message that the military is sending to Americans, to military families, that they're going to keep their personnel safe and also to would-be attackers that they have their eyeballs on them and they are watching for any potential ill will against military personnel.

[12:05:20] Hard to say when it will ever go away. Hard to say if it will go away. But for now, the message very clear that they're going to up security and that we may see some very visible changes and there may be some changes that we don't see.

BANFIELD: All right, I want to bring in a couple of other guests who can weigh in on this extraordinarily important topic. I want to get Michael Weiss in here. He is the co-author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror." Also former Navy SEAL Jonathan Gilliam is with us. Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona is also joining us, and former CIA operative Bob Baer. Some very smart voices to lend to this - you know, this conversation.

I think, gentlemen, when you see something like this and you see a color coded threat level increase, it sends a pretty nervous jitter throughout the nation. But I'm going to start with you, Bob Baer, should the nation be this concerned to hear that military bases have to be on a higher alert or isn't that just sort of what we've been expecting all along as ISIS has ramped up its propaganda?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Ashleigh, I think things are getting worse. And we can draw it back to the Middle East, the conflict there, and the American participation in these various wars from Yemen to Iraq. We are definitely a target and the Islamic State has come out and said uniformed military personnel are a target. I think what's new in this - we've been getting a lot of chatter for years about potential attacks - is these two guys in Garland, Texas. It may seem insignificant attack on the face of it, but the fact that two people got automatic weapons, are willing to die in an attack, tells us the game has changed and the military's absolutely right to take precautions because they are at the top of the list.

BANFIELD: Colonel Francona, if you could weigh in on the fact that this is - this is something that the European command has been dealing with since last year. They raised their threat level. And I think it - I think they've gone to the point where they don't even let uniforms off the base unless it's some sort of formal event. But effectively they have to go, you know, they've got to go in informal dress anywhere they go to be safe anywhere in the European command. Is that what we're looking at here as well?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: They're probably going to issue guidelines of what you should do on and off base just to lower your profile. Remember, a lot of these people live on the bases. These are small American cities. They've got shopping centers, churches, gymnasiums, everything you would find in a normal American city. So not only do you have to secures the access to those bases, you have to ramp up security on the post itself. So this is going to be a big operation for the security forces of all of the services.

I think it's prudent and I think they've needed to do this for some time because, as Bob said, and I don't think we can underscore this enough, it only takes a couple of guys with a couple of rifles to create a big event. And that's what they want. They want that significant, emotional impact.

BANFIELD: And as you say, Colonel Francona, these are big - they're like cities. They are extraordinarily highly trafficked. There are people going on and off the base at all times who are not just military personnel. There are the families, there are the service providers to those bases, et cetera.

Jonathan Gilliam, I want to get you to weigh in on what this is going to mean for Americans who may have some crossover with these bases, whether they, you know, traffic near to them, whether they have friends and they visit. Is there a different kind of behavior that's needed because God forbid, now that we have a higher threat level, someone gets shot because they're acting like idiots outside of a base.

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER NAVY SEAL: Right. I think everything that the colonel and Bob were saying there is absolutely spot on and leads into this. You know, again, I've been talking about this all day, this event that happened in Garland, Texas, that Pamela Geller went out and tried to exercise her free speech. But we have to realize, they don't have to kill anybody to have a successful terror attack. Terrorism is a tactic just like dropping a bomb is a tactic. And if they can put terror or at least fear or something into the population where they start to react differently, that's successful.

And what bothers me, though, is, why does the public need to know that the military is ramping up their security? See, this is the problem that we have. These standards where they have to tell everybody what they're doing because what happens is, is if a terrorist thinks, well, I was going to attack that base, but now I don't think I will, that's where the surrounding communities that you're talking about become a target, because you can tell very easily where military families live.

BANFIELD: Sure. It's pretty simple.

GILLIAM: (INAUDIBLE).

BANFIELD: And the fact that you just brought that up, the telegraphing of this new normal, when we come back after the break, Michael Weiss, I want you to think through this answer for me, is this, in your estimation, a reaction to the constant drumbeat of the ISIS propaganda and is perhaps the telegraphing of at least a new normal some of the counter efforts at propaganda against what they think they maybe can carry out and that the toughening of the outer skin might be a defense against that? We're going to ask that after the break. [12:10:12] But in the meantime, we're also going to take you to the president, who is going to be speaking live on the West Coast. You can see a lot of pomp and circumstance set up in Beaverton, Oregon, where there's something called the TPP. Might have been hearing a little bit about it lately. It is a trade pact, very much like NAFTA. Remember that 20 years ago? Free trade, folks. Sounds great, but is it? The president sure thinks so. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Want to show you some live pictures right now. The nation remembering the end of World War II in Europe, and this is how we're doing it. This is in Washington, D.C., folks. It's a flyover. And if you squint, you will recognize those are vintage aircraft. In fact, they represent about 50 different kinds of aviation technologies that advanced throughout the war and this is the 70th anniversary, the end of fighting in Europe. Sometimes referred to as the VE Day. The Arsenal of Democracy is what they're calling this event. It's a commemoration that will last throughout the day, but it's great to see that and thank God some clear skies so you can actually get a make on some of those fantastic aircraft. Obviously on the ground being much better to take a look at how different the evolution of those fighting aircraft were.

[12:15:03] I want to take you back to our breaking news as well, a growing concern of a jihadist threat in the United States prompting U.S. military bases to do something they haven't done in a while, they're raising the security conditions. I want you to keep in mind the change is not tied to a specific, credible threat. The officials are doing this, they say, as part of a prudent measure and that could mean more checks of vehicles entering bases and 100 percent identity checks of personnel, and some things you may not notice as well as they're saying they don't want to telegraph what this new normal is going to be for the sake of national security.

I want to bring in my panel. They've been here for the duration of the program so far. Michael Weiss is a CNN contributor and co-author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror." CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona is with us as well. Bob Baer, CNN intelligence and security analyst is there. And also Jonathan Gilliam, former Navy SEAL, former FBI agent and not only that but also air marshal and police officer. You have a big resume there, my friend.

I want to go to you, Michael Weiss. Before the break I asked you that question, what we're seeing now, this raise to Bravo level security threat at military bases just in the continental United States. I want to be clear about that, although it is higher in other commands.

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.

BANFIELD: Is this, in your estimation, a reaction to the constant drumbeat of all of this propaganda, of all of these announcements from ISIS that we got people all through your United States and we're going to wreak havoc upon you and terrorize you and yada, yada, yada, or do you think it is something more specific when you see something that significant?

WEISS: No, I think it's more general. I mean there's a sort of dizzying level of confusion about where the next attack is going to happen. And let's just go through the last say six months. ISIS hackers have hacked into the Cent Com Twitter feed. They did what's known as docsing (ph), which is they published the home addresses of retired military officials, where they live in sort of suburban communities in the United States.

The first way that we got to know this horrific group, or at least this latest incarnation, was the beheading of James Foley. And if you listen to the - the sermon or the speech they make him give before they cut his head off, he talks about how his brothers in the U.S. Air Force and his brothers dropping bombs on Muslim countries and he's the real agent of James Foley's death.

The way they - that ISIS sees this is, killing an American soldier, it's soldier for soldier. They would love nothing better than to inflict casualties or fatalities. One of the other methods they -- some of their wannabes, including those Uzbek and Kazic guys that were rounded up in Brooklyn two months ago by the FBI. Another method that they suggested was, why don't we just join the U.S. military and work the way up the ranks and then perpetrate a Ft. Hood style massacre.

BANFIELD: That's a great point and actually you were just saying that to me during the break.

And, Colonel Francona, can you weigh in on that, this notion that the infiltration of the military should be something that we are very cognizant of, the possibility, the plausibility. And by the way, what kind of training might our service members be getting now that we know it's a real possibility and it may happen again?

FRANCONA: Yes, this is a subject - it's very sensitive when you start talking about questioning the integrity or the loyalty of people serving in uniform, but it's something commanders have to do. For years we've looked at counter intelligence. You look at your other service members and looking for somebody that might be a spy. Now we have to carry that to see if someone might be an ISIS sympathizer, some sort of jihadi.

It happened once already with Major Hassan. It could happen again. So this is something that the commanders have to do. So it's just not physical security, it's not access to the bases, it's also looking at the people in the military and making sure that one of them is not going to become a sympathizer. Very, very difficult to detect. Very, very hard to stop.

BANFIELD: OK. We're going to continue this conversation after the break as well.

In the meantime, I want to just remind you that the president is getting ready to speak in Oregon and also there's going to be a lot of discussion about trade, but I think many people are looking at that podium and wondering if there will be some reference by the commander in chief to what has happened to the terror threat levels in North Com, that's Northern Command, all of the military bases around the United States.

And as we go to break, I also want to show you some of those live pictures that we were showing you. Oh, rats, the plane flyover is over. It was such a great visual on a nice clear day in D.C. but - oh, we got one left. And a chopper too. Anyway, it's really something to see on the 70th anniversary of the end of fighting in Europe and World War II. VE Day remembered by this antique vintage aircraft war - fighter aircraft flyover in D.C. Glad to be able to at least get to the last of them. Back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:23:08] BANFIELD: Live, breaking news. I want to take you to Atlanta. This is DeKalb County Police giving a press conference. That's Cedric Alexander, a frequent guest on this program, who is speaking of the four who were killed in a plane crash on I-285. Let's listen in.

CHIEF CEDRIC ALEXANDER, DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: Along with Sandy Springs, DeKalb Police, Dunwoody Police and, of course, Georgia State Police and a number of other agencies that assisted in this - assisted in this incident.

It is an ongoing investigation at this point. As you just heard from the chief, there were four victims that were extracted from the wreckage here moments ago and we don't know any real specifics as to what occurred, how it occurred. We do know that the plane did take off from PDK around 10:10 this morning. And at that point everything is still up for investigation.

So a lot of questions we're not going to be able to answer for you because, one, we don't know. It's very early in the investigation. And, two, of course, a lot of that - questions that you might want answered in part are going to be pretty much the responsibility of the NTSB. So they are beginning their investigation. They are here on the scene and we're all working collaboratively together to try to get this expressway opened as well too.

We also know that there are some schools that are in the adjoining area that are going to be letting out some time this afternoon, so we are coordinating with Superintendent Mike Thurman. I would say to parents and residents that's out there, please pay attention to your phones and e-mails because you may get information from the schools as to a time you may need to pick your kids up depending on how soon we can open this expressway up. So some adjustments may be made in terms of assisting, getting these kids home who would be affected by the road here.

As you know, 285 is a very well-traveled highway. This piece of highway at this point, being shut down, is affecting traffic throughout the entire metro area. So we're going to try to get it open as quickly as we can.

[12:25:06] Thanks a lot, everybody. That's all we have to give you. Have a good day. Thank you.

QUESTION: Cedric, can you tell us about (INAUDIBLE)?

ALEXANDER: No more than what you pretty much seen from your footage there. (INAUDIBLE) is that it appeared to certainly crashed into the wall there. It was a very sad scene. But that's all we can tell you at this point.

No one was hurt on the ground. This truck right here that you see, the red truck, we understand it may have got clipped when it was coming through at the same time that the aircraft was descending before it crashed into the wall, but there are no injuries on the ground reported other than the deaths.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

ALEXANDER: It is quite remarkable considering the fact 285 around that time in the morning that it was not any more tragic than what it already is.

Thank you all very much, guys.

BANFIELD: So you're just seeing Cedric Alexander, who is the deputy chief of public safety in the DeKalb County Police and they're just updating some of the information on that plane crash on I-285. You know what, let's listen in to that next official to see if there's further details.

CHIEF JOHN KING, DORAVILLE, GEORGIA, POLICE: (INAUDIBLE) now redirected traffic off the ramps to relieve some of the pressure off of 285. We're working very closely with all the jurisdictions Dr. Alexander listed. Hero units, DOT, and we're in the process of trying to, you know, get as quickly as we can get the NTSB to help us determine at least - we will probably open up the westbound lanes initially. We'll have to get that area clear of the debris and document all the evidence there. We'll probably clear westbound and then we'll probably work on the eastbound.

QUESTION: Can you talk about your office (INAUDIBLE) first ones who got here? Can you talk a little bit about it? They must have been here just seconds after it happened (ph).

KING: They - we - our officers saw the smoke and heard the impact. They were close on 285 so they responded, two of our officers. And then also a Chamblee (ph) officer responded that were close by. So we were here within - less than a minute. And then all the other - all our other partners started arriving shortly after.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

KING: Yes. Unfortunately it was just - it was just too hot.

ALEXANDER: OK, thanks a lot, guys.

KING: Thanks.

BANFIELD: So, John King, the DeKalb County police chief, wrapping up some of the other details, but critical to this story is that this was a single engine piper PA-32, four people on board. We've learned that three who are killed were male, one was a female. We heard Cedric Alexander announce that all of the victims have actually now been removed from the wreckage and that they still don't know how this happened. Schools letting out later on today. Trying to deal with what that's going to cause in this heavily trafficked area. If you know Atlanta, I-285, where this crash happened, is a busy, busy commute and they shut down both lanes. You know, both directions. So hopefully they'll be able to get that investigated and come to some kind of resolution on what happened. It clipped a tractor trailer on the way down, though, crashed into the concrete median and very luckily no motorists injured on the ground.

A lot of breaking news. A virtual smorgasbord of breaking news today.

We've got the president, who's still waiting to speak in Oregon about the TPP, the Trans Pacific deal, the free trade deal that is raising a lot of consternation and a lot of celebration, depending on who you are, what you are, and what you do for a living.

That and, of course, the threat level now force protection Bravo at United States military bases. So you're at the level yellow. Does that mean anything different for you as a civilian and what does it mean for our men and women in uniform? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)