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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Community In Shock Over Tyshawn Lee's Death; New Scrutiny For Airport Worker Screenings; 6,600 Federal Felons Freed On November 1; 148 Probation Officers Hired To Handle Cases; SeaWorld To End Orca Show In San Diego. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired November 10, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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

DEANDRE HAWTHORNE, COMMUNITY LEADER: ... more than when cops are involved. But when black kill black, we need to see black lives matter here in Chicago.

[12:30:10] RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So we have the mayor on the inside, and we know a congressman is inside of this funeral. But there's been a larger conversation just about the idea of when is this community going to get fed up.

A 14-year-old was shot days later after the 9-year-old was shot. A lot of people are looking for answers in a city where over 2,000 people have been shot so far this year.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is just so distressing. What you just held up, you know, this is only a few days after he was out for Halloween presumably.

Ryan Young, thank you for that.

Coming up next, the growing belief that bomb brought down the Russian airliner. It could bring significant changes at airports near you. And not just around the world, but right where you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:22] BANFIELD: The prospect that a bomb brought down Metrojet Flight 9268. A prospect still unproven, but strongly suspected by U.S. and British intelligence, well that is focusing a lot of attention on one official calls the back window of aviation security. And that is airport workers.

In the United States, airport workers are vetted once when they're hired. And they're hired by TSA contractors who work for the individual airports.

The standards are just about the same as for say you or me if we applied for the TSA pre-check program that lets us kind of not skip the line, but we don't have to take our shoes off, and the lines a little shorter.

After that, the workers is pretty come and go at will in some of the most sensitive areas of airports and hangers and tarmacs and pretty much anywhere a plane goes. CNN's Rene Marsh joins me live now from Washington.

You know, the obvious question Rene would be, wow is that changing now that we're talking about the 99.9 percent

certainty and some people say that it was a bomb that brought down the plane in the Sinai, because we had a big problem here on 9/11 that should've given us that intelligence that we needed to be safe. Why would it take something in Egypt like this for us to pull up our bootstraps if we are even doing 1it?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ashleigh, this issue about this potential insider threat is something I'm hearing a lot about from a lot officials, specifically, those that are very involved in the aviation security right here in the United States.

I spoke with one congressman who has been looking at this issue for quite some time, and he says, "Look, we just do not know enough about the close to 1 million airport workers who have this access to the most secure parts of the airport."

He is really focusing on the vetting process right here in the United States. He has some concerns, I can tell you that his authored legislation that would number one it would increase the number of background checks that happened when these airport workers are hired.

So beyond their hire date, there would be reoccurring background checks, this legislation would also call for increased physical screening of these individuals as they show up for work at these various airports. Just to make sure that things are on the up and up. But even the TSA will say that this is a concern that insider threat because these are trust, this is what their upholding the trusted population and they have unfettered access and you just do not know when things go wrong.

It is really hard to tell when someone is going to make that turn. So that is the TSA's number one concern at this point. Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: All right, Rene, thank you for that, Rene Marsh reporting for us from D.C.

You know, on paper this looks pretty solid. The airport operator collects the applicant data and then a TSA contractor then reviews and hands off to the FBI. The FBI runs the fingerprint and the background checks, what could possibly go wrong?

Let's just think that one through with the next guests because they say plenty could go wrong David Soucie, he's a Former FAA Investigator now a CNN Safety Analyst, and Paul Cruickshank, is the CNN Terrorism Analyst.

So guys, I was looking through some of the stuff that we as travelers don't typically know about from all the folks working at the airport.

And David, I will start with you if I can. The airports use the TSA contractors to do these background checks. The terrorism basis is the immigration status, the criminal histories and all of that. But effectively, the TSA is really relying on the airports and their systems. I think we all sort of thought it would have had to have been the federal government or the Homeland Security or somebody really serious, who was sort of at the helm of all of this extraordinarily important security stuff.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: You know, Ashleigh, it comes down again to my money is, it seems to always. But the fact is the TSA, if they take responsibility for that, they have to pay for it. So what TSA has said, is here's some limits, here's what we need to have. But you guys have to do it, it's on your budget, it's on your time.

And that's were the first part of the problem starts. But the second part is the fact that they may do these criminal history record checks when they get hired.

And as what's mentioned just earlier they're going to continue to do this now, that's the plan to going forward. The problem is TSA doesn't have the authority to say were the limits are? What's the litmus test?

[12:40:03] They can do the records checks, find some wrong. But they don't have the authority to say "We'll that's too bad" or "This is good, this is a good guy or this is a bad guy or good girl or a bad girl." Let's get rid of that and let's just say there is a limit, but TSA doesn't have the authority to say that, to say that who can be and can't be approved. They say we did the check.

BANFIELD: Yeah, it sort of defying logic when I saw that the TSA isn't even authorize receive all the categories of the terror watch list which seemed odd to me. But maybe when it comes right down to it Paul, anybody can be radicalized if you would think at any stage sort of stage of his or her life as we have witnessed here in the United States, it has happened.

So if you get your prechecker, you get all clear and then say two or three years later, you've been working at the airport job and you have, you know, you read some bad propaganda, shouldn't it really come down to going through magnetometers that are even more stringent than say the passengers. I mean these guys are going right up to the belly of the plane, they're going right into the catering areas, they're going under the plane, into the -- and all over the place, I don't get it. Why is it that it's not just very, very secure at the airport regardless of what your background check says about you?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Ashleigh, that's exactly right. I think they're going to be taking another look at who gets access to what parts of the airport. Obviously, people first coming into the airport as a security perimeter there but then that sort of different layers of -- within the airport some areas they are more sensitive than others.

Obviously, the closer you get to the plane the more sensitive that is, the closer you get to baggage handling, after screening the more sensitive that is. And they'll be taking another look at all of that. And receiving the parts in the U.K. back in 2010, by U.K. intelligence agencies uncovered evidence that the baggage handles at Heathrow Airport were some of them was sympathetic to Al-Qaeda in Yemen. Also some of the screeners have sympathies towards Al-Qaeda in Yemen. And Al-Qaeda in Yemen were looking to leverage that perhaps plot an attack.

So we've seen it in the west before, and they'll be taking another look at all of these security aspects, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: All right, Paul Cruikshank, thank you David Soucie, thank you as well.

It is hard to believe guys that the U.S. is considered the gold standard when it comes to this kind of security around the world.

Coming up next, now that more than 6,000 prison inmates are suddenly back into society because of President Obama's push for their early release. Where do they turn and how do they fit in? How do they find work? How do they find their way?

A lot of interesting information coming your way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:47:12] BANFIELD: More than 6,000 nonviolent drug offenders are getting reacquainted with society after what maybe the largest one time federal inmate release on record.

Many of them are headed to Texas and to Florida and Iowa under the new guidelines that reduce sentences of drug felons, again, nonviolent, in hopes of reducing all of that prison overcrowding across the country.

CNN's Jean Casarez spoke with one man who got back his freedom but he's already facing challenges disconnecting from his past.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For some federal felons across the country these last few months have been focused on new beginnings.

TEQUAN WALKER, FORMERLY INCARCERATED: It was fear, it was happiness, it was anxiety.

CASAREZ: TeQuan Walker is one of the offenders just released early into the new federal sentencing guidelines. He gained his freedom last week end.

Walker pled guilty in 2013 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.

Was it easy money?

WALKER: Yeah, it wasn't that easy, it wasn't that easy, I went to jail for it.

CASAREZ: Sentenced to 51 months for this nonviolent felony. Walker went into a drug treatment program in prison.

Did you make the decision in prison, what type of life you were going to leave when you got out? WALKER: I made the decision the moment I was sentenced.

CASAREZ: Michael Fitzpatrick is the chief probation officer for the southern district of New York, the largest probation office in the country. He is in charge of over 100 probation officers who are supervising the release of offenders back into the community.

MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, CHIEF U.S. PROBATION OFFICER, SOUTHERN DIST. OF NEW YORK: How is your adjustment been so far since you've been out?

CASAREZ: A job they don't take lightly.

FITZPATRICK: We have a group of very talented probation officers who are out there assisting them in their transition back to the community.

CASAREZ: Nationwide, 148 additional probation officers have been hired a mere 2 percent increase.

FITZPATRICK: A lot of them is -- now you're working with that person, you're trying to give them the skills, you're trying to teach them how they can make better decisions.

WALKER: I just made out of poor decisions. And I think that my main reason for getting involved was just straying away from positive lifestyle, and hanging around the wrong people.

CASAREZ: And those old associations have already come calling.

Let's say some people from the old gang find out you're out.

WALKER: Oh, they know I'm out. They see me. And it is about the way you carry yourself. You know, if I carry myself as if I miss this place or I miss being around them, then they're going to invite me. But once they see like they already see that I'm past that, you know, it's about staying away.

CASAREZ: Staying away from the bad and being grateful for the good. But despite all of the good comes one extremely big hurdle.

[12:50:03] Walker was convicted in his past of what some maybe surprised to know is a violent felony, possession of an unlawful firearm.

WALKER: I hope that does not hinder me in my movement forward. I have no victims.

CASAREZ: Although Walker knows it may present challenge, his passion and priority is to be given a chance to earn a living and then chart the course for his 5-year-old son.

WALKER: My way of breaking the cycle is to be there for him, and that way I feel like I put morals in him at a young age, and he'll be a better decision-maker than I was.

CASAREZ: Jean Casarez, CNN New York. BANFIELD: Coming up next, two years after CNN had a documentary "Blackfish" on the air highlighting killer whales suffering in captivity, SeaWorld says they are going the end the Orca entertainment shows in San Diego, but what's really behind this move? Up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:13] BANFIELD: With the news that killer whale shows are officially over at one of SeaWorld's theme parks, the big question is what comes next? Starting next year the company says that the theatrical shows will end, and something called a new Orca experience will debut in 2017 with what is being called a strong "Conservation message."

But for now, the theatrical shows will continue at SeaWorld's other parks in Orlando and San Antonio. All of this coming after SeaWorld faced abuse allegations, and tremendous backlash after the film "Blackfish" aired on CNN showing how killer whales respond in captivity. Focusing on an Orca that caused the death of a trainer in Orlando, Florida. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you look into their eyes, you know somebody is home.

DAVE DUFFUS, WHALE RESEARCHER: There are an animal that possesses great spiritual power and not to be meddled with.

LORI MARINO, NEUROSCIENTIST: All whales in captivity are all psychologically traumatized. It's not just Tilikum.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you were on a bathtub for 25 years, don't you think you get a little psychotic?

JOHN JETT, FORMER SEAWORLD TRAINER: The industry has the vested interest in spinning these that sells a lot of Shamu dolls. It sells a lot of tickets at the gate.

HOWARD GARRETT, ORCA RESEARCHER: There is no record of an Orca doing any harm to any human in the wild.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: After the documentary aired. SeaWorld attendance drop and the stock prices fell, and the company battled back against the claims saying, "Blackfish is billed as a documentary, but instead of a fair and balanced treatment of a complex subject, the film is inaccurate and misleading."

I want to bring in Tim Zimmerman who is an Associate Producer and co- writer of "Blackfish" and notwithstanding the response from SeaWorld after "Blackfish" has aired, this is happened. And they decided to scale back what they called the entertainment, you know, programing involving Orca's. How do you feel about that? TIM ZIMMERMAN, CO-WRITER, "BLACKFISH": Well, I guess it shows that the public in the end decided to believe "Blackfish" more than it was believe in SeaWorld. But SeaWorld obviously not giving up on killer whale entertainment or captivity or breeding, but what significant I think that this is the first time after spending millions to fight "Blackfish", to try to shaping public opinion, SeaWorld is basically acknowledging that public sentiment specially in California is turning away the classic Shamu circus show. So they're tweaking the show, and they're hoping that tweak will bring crowds back, and if doesn't I think they're going to keep evolving the whole model, and eventually I think the U.S. probably, killer whale shows are will come to an end.

BANFIELD: But we don't know what the "Orca experience" or more natural experience is suppose to entail, we don't have those details yet, but one thing for certain, and I don't have to tell you. You're an expert on this. You can't just take these whales and release them into the wild. So what are you proposing would be best solution for these whales?

ZIMMERMAN: Well, that is true. These killer whales are the 24 killer whales that SeaWorld has in the U.S. are going to spending the rest of their lives at SeaWorld I think if they're not shipped abroad to new parks in Asia or the Middle East. The big changes if SeaWorld ever says they're going to stop captive breeding, that when we know they will give up on the idea of killer whale captivity, and killer whale entertainment. And I think that what people are really waiting for to see whether SeaWorld agrees to do that at some point under public pressure.

BANFIELD: And I know that some have said that perhaps a better solution to keeping these whales in the facilities they have currently would be to have a sea sanctuary or sea pen of some kind, and just wondered, is it -- can they do that, could they theoretically could they get any revenue from the public, is there anything you can actually see if you wanted to sort of experience an Orca hike a zoo- like learning experience and if there are so-called sea pens?

ZIMMERMAN: Well, I think in theory, they could do that, finding the right sites and organizing permits would be a challenge. So it's possible to do, I think that you're right that the issue would be revenue. I don't think SeaWorld sees that as the way to earn money with its killer whales, who're enormously valuable. I think the show that they're talking about in 2017 in San Diego, will be more like a zoo-like show or a zoo like experience where they talking about wild populations and conversations.

But for the killer whales themselves obviously that's not a big change in their experience and for people who don't believe killer whale should be in swimming pools or big tanks. They're not going to stop putting pressure on SeaWorld so that completely change the model and get rid of killer whales all altogether.

BANFIELD: Tim, thanks for being for us. Appreciate talking to you.

ZIMMERMAN: Sure thing. BANFIELD: Tim Zimmerman joining us live and by the way CNN films is going to air "Blackfish" on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time so be sure to watch the documentary film right here on CNN.

[13:00:06] Thanks for watching everyone. Nice to have you with us today. Stay tuned. My colleague Wolf starts right now.