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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Threats to U.S. Cyber Security; Former NFL Fiancee Comes Forward to Talk About Domestic Violence; Doctor Dies Of Ebola After Testing Negative; Pope Francis Headed To Philly In 2015

Aired November 17, 2014 - 16:30   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Also in our national lead -- hackers infiltrated the computer networks at the U.S. State Department and the timing of this revelation could not have been any more awkward. It was around the same time that President Obama was shaking hands with Chinese President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend when what are widely suspected to have been Chinese and/or Russian cyber terrorists impacted the State Department's e-mail system, as it was shut down to investigate and plug security holes after, quote, "activity of concern" was detected.

This latest attack comes on the heels of attempted cyber attacks on systems at the White House and other U.S. government agencies raising the question, is the government's most important information adequately protected from our enemies? And is the government's response time quick enough?

For more on that, we turn to Shawn Henry, former executive assistant director at the FBI for cyber investigations, now president of CrowdStrike, a security technology firm.

Shawn, how are hackers able to get access to the State Department and White House and other government servers, all of these attacks in less than a month?

SHAWN HENRY, FORMER EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: Yes, you know, when you're talking about some of these large networks, attackers actually have a relatively easy time getting into networks. They send malicious code through an e-mail. Sometimes they enable people to go to a Web site. And when they click on that Web site, their browser is exploited because there are malicious codes set on the Web site. The hackers know, the attackers know the activities and the actions that the users use. And they are very, very clear on how to breach those networks.

TAPPER: Once they breach them, what can they get access to?

HENRY: When these networks are breached, what they're looking for, it's likely an intelligence collection operation. They're looking at who's talking to whom, they're looking at how a U.S. policy is being developed, they're looking at new initiatives that are under consideration. Anything that they can get that will provide them with some advantage at the next level of trade talks, at the G-20 discussions.

They're looking for some advantage. How can they collect intelligence against the United States of America they can use for their personal gain?

TAPPER: You would think the U.S. government would have firewalls or whatever to stop it, that they would have adequate security. How can it be stopped?

HENRY: You know, the U.S. government has security. They have firewalls. But, again, the sophisticated adversaries have capabilities that exceed our capability to defend. This is not something we are ever going to be able to prevent entirely. We have to learn to better detect and respond. Now, in this case, maybe we are getting better detection, that they've identified this and they've responded. But the U.S. government had a cybersecurity policy that was initiated back in 2007. It was comprehensive, it included all agencies within the government and it was specifically to help prepare the government to protect all of its sensitive data. It cost the taxpayers billions of dollars. There are still parts of it that are in place, but much of it is fallen apart over the ensuing years.

TAPPER: How concerned do you think the White House is about the White House hack and the State Department hack?

HENRY: I have some concerns about the president of the United States shaking hands with the Chinese president. This - perhaps he had a sidebar conversation. I think that this is something that has to be front and center. I think the fact that the Department of Homeland Security just a couple of weeks ago said that industrial control systems have been breached with malware and some of that malware has been attributed back to the state of Russia. These are the systems that control our most sensitive power plants, our machinery, manufacturing plants, incredibly important. And we have to take a stronger stand as a nation to ensure that our adversaries don't cross that red line.

TAPPER: All right. Shawn Henry, thank you so much. Appreciate it. As it's always turning out to our sports lead, new allegations of special treatment for an NFL player accused of abuse. The woman is now coming forward to say her fiance beat her while she was pregnant. And hours later, the football player in question was driven by a police officer straight from jail to the Miami Dolphins' training facility. She'll join me with her story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to "THE LEAD." I'm Jake Tapper.

Now, for our sports LEAD, a shock yesterday for at least three NFL teams, federal drug enforcement administration agents conducted surprise inspections as part of the investigation at the claims made by former players that medical staffs for the teams, specifically the San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle's Seahawks, illegally gave their players prescription drugs to keep them on the field. There were no arrests. The search has come at a time when the NFL is already under fire for players allegedly benefiting from a judicial system that too often looks the other way at NFL stars' criminal acts. Most infamously with domestic abuse.

Former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice, of course, being exhibit "A." Rice's initial two-game suspension was changed to indefinite once the elevator beating video came out in full which brings us to the saga of Kristen Lennon and her former fiance Phillip Merling who at the time played for the Miami Dolphins. Lennon story reveals not only questions, about how the NFL treats these incidents, but how police do?

And she joins me now live from South Carolina. Kristen, thank you so much. I know this is not easy to do. And I thank you for your strength. This detail that I found most shocking when I read it in " The New York Times," after Merling was arrested for beating you, when you were two months pregnant, he got treatment, that you and others say, that others wouldn't have. The sheriff's office released him out of back door to help him dodge reporters. The police commander drove him to the Dolphins training complex, but then came perhaps the most egregious offense. The police commander drove him to your house, even though a judge had ordered him to stay away from you. That must have been awful.

KRISTEN LENNON, FORMER FIANCEE OF NFL PLAYER PHILLIP MERLING: I packed up within six hours.

TAPPER: Just because - you just couldn't trust you were going to be safe at your house?

LENNON: Yeah. I couldn't trust that. I didn't want to be there when he got back.

TAPPER: We just got a statement from the Broward Sheriff's office in Florida. They say, quote, "The actions of the deputy had no bearing on the domestic violence case more than three years ago. The deputy was investigated for violating agency policy and was disciplined." They don't condone preferential treatment of public figures. They want to make clear that this was in 2010 during a previous administration, but for you, this must have been awful. You must have felt like the police who are supposed to be protecting you were favoring the abuser.

LENNON: Right. I mean I just had to take matters into my own hands and get out of Florida as soon as possible.

TAPPER: Now, you say the NFL didn't reach out to you. Do you think the league knew that he had been arrested and charged?

LENNON: Yes.

TAPPER: And what do you think that the NFL should have done?

LENNON: In that situation?

TAPPER: Yeah.

LENNON: The - what he needed was not necessarily jail time. He needed other type of help. Seriously, he needed psychological help. That's the best thing that they could have did for me was to give him help.

TAPPER: Now, I believe the prosecutor called for you to testify or the local judicial system called for you to testify but you were in another state at that point and eight months pregnant. Did you try to get some relief so you could testify at a different time - that seemed unreasonable to me that they would ask you to come when you were eight months pregnant?

LENNON: I don't believe that they knew I was pregnant. I'm not sure what they knew. They just summoned me to court. But it was not possible for me to go. And no other options were given to me. So, that was it.

TAPPER: It was very brave for you to leave him, go to another state and start your life anew. What's your message to other women out there, or men, who are suffering and surviving domestic abuse?

LENNON: It wasn't brave. It was - I just didn't have no other choice. I wasn't going to let my children grow up in anything like that. It was my only choice.

TAPPER: You sued to get child support but the emotional and physical abuse regrettably continued. Have you ever gotten any help or any response from the NFL?

LENNON: No. And it has not stopped since 2010. It has continued all the way until now. It has not stopped.

TAPPER: What else is going on? What else is happening?

LENNON: It's continued harassment. He's not left me alone. Since that incident.

TAPPER: Have you told law enforcement?

LENNON: I've called law enforcement several times. On several different incidences.

TAPPER: In light of your case and all the other high-profile cases like the Ray Rice case, do you think the NFL should be getting more involved?

LENNON: Yes, I do.

TAPPER: You mentioned that you thought that your former fiance should have had psychological counseling. What else do you think the NFL should be doing?

LENNON: As far as domestic violence cases or as far as --

TAPPER: Yes. LENNON: Their players -- well, the best thing that they can do is to

help the player in any way that they -- because the player is directly associated with their significant other.

TAPPER: And what would your message be for law enforcement because we've heard of other incidents where teams have a close relationship with local law enforcement and that maybe -- there are often allegations of special treatment of the players because of that relationship. What would your message be for the Broward sheriff or any other law enforcement?

LENNON: I believe these things happen all the time. I just don't think that they should give special privileges to people just because of celebrity status or whatever that may be.

TAPPER: Kristen Lennon, we thank you so much for being so brave to share your story, to come forward. I know that other people will find the strength to escape situations that they are in because of you. So thank you so much.

LENNON: You're welcome.

TAPPER: Coming up next, another death from Ebola here in the United States as an infected doctor dies just hours after arriving at a hospital in Nebraska. Why did he die when so many others here have lived?

Plus, Pope Francis headed to my hometown, Motown Philly. But in between bridging the great divide between Ginos (ph) and Pets cheesesteaks, will he visit Washington D.C. at the request of one of D.C.'s most powerful lawmakers?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. In more "World News," the death of the second Ebola patient here in the United States is raising new concerns about the accuracy of those tests used to detect the virus.

Dr. Martin Salia was a surgeon based not far from me in Maryland. He contracted Ebola while working with patients in his native Sierra Leone. He started showing symptoms about ten days ago. But his initial tests came back negative.

Doctors in West Africa reportedly even cheered those test results and gave him a celebratory hug. But when his health started to further deteriorate, Salia was tested again and the second test came back positive.

Salia was flown out of West Africa to Omaha where he received treatment in Nebraska Medical Center's state of the art bio- containment unit. Doctors there say they gave it their all, but regrettably it was not enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. DANIEL JOHNSON, DIVISION CHIEF, CRITICAL CARE ANESTHESIOLOGY: We really, really gave it everything we could. All modern medical therapies were provided. We wish there could have been a different outcome. But I'm also proud of the team for what they were able to try.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining me is Gavin McGregor Skinner. He is an assistant professor for Public Health Preparedness for Disasters and Emergencies at Penn State University. How common is it for one of those tests to return a false positive?

GAVIN MACGREGOR-SKINNER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS, PSU: It's not common, Jake. This raises a number of red flags. The technology we use for testing for Ebola virus is called polymerase chain reaction or PCR.

Now PCR detects extraordinary small amounts of Ebola virus in the blood. We know you don't develop symptoms until you have significant amounts of Ebola virus in the blood.

So if we're getting negatives now, we have to look at the quality of the tests, the accuracy of the tests. We have to have a look at the procedures in that laboratory and it raises a number of variables where we need to react very quickly to find out why we got this negative result.

TAPPER: Yes, I said false positive, obviously, I meant false negative. Given the possibility of these false negatives and this is not the first one we've heard like this.

There was the other doctor, Nancy Writebol, who had a similar experience where she tested negative and then it turned out she did have Ebola.

Do you think given the fact that this is not so uncommon, that the current CDC guidelines for voluntary isolation for health workers is enough?

SKINNER: Yes, I do because again we have not been back to Liberia or Nigeria treating Ebola patients unless I'm symptomatic. I'm under what's called controlled movements. If I develop symptoms and I'm going straight away to the public health authority for help and I want to get to a hospital.

So I know I don't want to die from Ebola. So I'm not symptomatic, I'm not at no risk of spreading Ebola. If I am symptomatic, I have to get to hospital urgently.

TAPPER: You say Dr. Salia's case was not managed well in West Africa. What should have been done after his test came back negative?

SKINNER: Well, this is a really interesting point. Again, we have to look at one of those protocols and procedures, but also look at the management of their health care workers on the ground. He was sick. He had symptoms.

We believe on November the 7th, he was tested and that test came back negative. But then he wasn't tested again until November the 10th. We know when patients came to Emory University. We were testing those patients every day.

I know with my team in the field, if anybody got sick, I would want them to be tested every day if they were symptomatic. We have to start understanding that, yes, those guidelines we've had that were written years ago need to be revised and look at this how to protect health care workers. If they're symptomatic, we keep testing every day.

TAPPER: Any symptoms at all, test every day.

SKINNER: Symptoms of fever, body ache, vomiting and diarrhea.

TAPPER: The only other person to die of Ebola in this recent outbreak in the United States is Thomas Eric Duncan. What makes these two cases different from the other cases of Ebola that we've had here in the United States where the people have survived and been cured?

SKINNER: I think that's really important, Jake. If you look at the big picture, we know of 14,000 cases that we know of in West Africa, 9,000 have survived, 5,000 have died. Now we know that Mr. Thomas Eric Duncan went to hospital on a Friday, went home and went back on a Sunday and his symptoms have deteriorated.

He'd gone from fever and ache and fatigue to now he had vomiting and diarrhea by the Sunday. We heard when Dr. Salia came to Nebraska, that he had kidney failure. He had respiratory failure. He had advanced stages of Ebola disease.

Remember this Ebola disease liquefies the body's organs and causes multi-organ failure. Early detection saves lives. I've seen it for myself. The later we get these cases, the higher the chance they are going to die.

TAPPER: So test frequently and treat as early as possible. Dr. Gavin Macgregor Skinner, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

When we come back, he'll stand on the stairs made famous by Rocky Balboa. The pope confirming rumors that he is planning a visit to beautiful Philadelphia. And one Vatican insider says it could include a surprise nobody's expecting. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. The Buried Lead now, will it be a trip to the Liberty Bell, or cheesesteaks, or a visit to South Street? We'll just have to wait and see what Pope Francis does once he stops in Philadelphia on his first trip to the United States as head of the Catholic Church.

The pope will be here next September for the World Meeting of Families. It's an international event that's been around for more than two decades and seeing as how this pope isn't one to shy away from crowds or controversy, he could use the meeting to take on everything from gay marriage to immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: The Holy Father is visiting the city of brotherly love. Pope Francis confirmed he'll be in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families in September.

DONNA CRILLEY FARRELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES: The Holy Father will celebrate mass on the Ben Franklin Parkway in front of the art museum. We've talked about some of the numbers and we expect that they will be staggering.

TAPPER: Organizers say they're planning on crowds of at least 2 million people to line the boulevard leading to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where, of course, Rocky Balboa famously charged up the steps. Wherever Francis goes, massive crowds and surprises have followed.

He often shuns personal safety to be closer to people and he is not afraid to go off script. In May, he bolted to say a prayer at the walls dividing Israel and the West Bank, causing something of an international scene.

While liberals and moderates have welcomed this new pope's message on hot button social issues, conservatives point out the church's teaching remains unchanged. The pope's announcement today came during on interfaith conference at the Vatican on traditional marriage. The U.S. trip will focus on similar themes.

REV. THOMAS ROSICA, ENGLISH ASSISTANT TO HOLY SITE PRESS OFFICE: We know that the family is under attack, and he's coming not to rally troops to be become crusaders, but he's coming to encourage those who are in marriage and feel assailed from all sides, I'm here to support you.

He's not coming to condemn those who have failed, to condemn those who are living in other unions or relationships that are not traditional marriage. He's coming to give people hope.

TAPPER: The Vatican says the details and other possible stops for this trip are still being hammered out.

ROSICA: There was always the element of what I call the Franciscan surprise. But I think we have to be open to that. Many things are at plate.

TAPPER: Another possible step for the pope, maybe the U.N. General Assembly in New York. There, Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolen has been publicly angling for a big apple papal visit.

It just so happens that the trip will coincide with the annual meeting of world leaders. But the Philly visit will be a big boon for the Latino Catholics, who have propelled the church's growth in the U.S. MIGUEL DIAZ, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE HOLY SEE: I think it brings something to the table as a lot of the American pope that others may not have brought.

TAPPER: Francis has made immigration and border issues a key part of his papacy. All that makes many observers wonder if Francis will travel to the U.S./Mexican border as key American bishops did earlier this year where they celebrated mass through the border fence.

But for now, all eyes on Philly, no word yet on whether the pope will try to broker a peace accord between warring cheesesteak shops.

TAPPER: Still no word on whether the pope will take up an offer from House Speaker John Boehner who has invited the pope to address a joint session of Congress.

That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. I now turn you over to Brianna Keilar, she is sitting in for Wolf Blitzer right next door in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Brianna.