Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

NASA Rocket Explodes on Launch; Security Stepped up at Federal Buildings; Vinson Grateful to Be Well; Asymptomatic Yale Doctoral Candidate Under Quarantine

Aired October 29, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: You can hear the bystanders, they're saying "Oh god, oh god," because it was so unexpected, what happened. This was an unmanned rocket, we're happy to report, exploding just seconds after lift-off Tuesday night. NASA and the rocket's builder, called Orbital Sciences, are trying to determine this morning what caused this disaster.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It was carrying a $200 million payload. So it's going to raise some new questions about privatizing space, especially when the International Space Station is involved.

Let's bring in CNN's Tom Foreman. He's been following the developments for us live in our Washington bureau. What have we learned?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know, Chris, that this is going to be a very, very busy morning out there. Because they haven't learned much yet.

Last night they were looking at this video, and the Orbital Sciences engineers were saying basically what they could see is that somehow the bottom of this rocket starts disassembling during the takeoff there. Now, that could be a lot of things. It could mean actually a structural failure at that point. It could mean the explosion at the bottom was blowing it apart or a combination of all of that.

What they have to do now and what they are doing at this very hour is spreading out through the marshes there on the Virginia coast, trying to find every scrap of this rocket they can. So they can put it back together, and figure out where the blast began.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have lift-off.

FOREMAN (voice-over): The first stage was just seconds into a four- minute burn when the Antares rocket stalled, fell backward and exploded. Nearly three-quarters of a million pounds of thrust went haywire, and spectators across the bay say the blast shook the ground even there.

J.D. TAYLOR, WITNESS: We felt the concussion. It was a huge blast. It hit us, and it sounded like a sonic boom. FOREMAN: It also clearly shook Virginia-based Orbital Sciences. The

private contractor that built the rocket under a nearly $2 billion contract with NASA now needs answers.

FRANK CULBERTSON, ORBITAL SCIENCES: The investigation will include evaluating the debris that we will find around the launch pad. If you find anything that washes ashore in the local area or came down in -- on your farm, definitely do not touch it.

FOREMAN: No one was hurt in the explosion, but gone in a flash, 1,600 pounds of science experiments on everything from meteors to human blood flow. More than 1,600 pounds of hardware, computers, space-walk equipment; and 1,400 pounds of food for the ISS crew. That does not create an instant emergency, but it will put extra pressure on upcoming missions to reestablish the supply chain to those astronauts in orbit.

And the explosion could create political pressure, too, in the continuing debate over how much space travel can or should be put into the hands of private companies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: Now certainly, an explosion like this could have happened with a NASA-built rocket. But companies like Orbital Sciences and SpaceX, the private companies now doing the contracts for the government, Chris, you are absolutely right, they're very aware of the pressure that an incident like this puts upon their industry. Because there are so many people who still have questions and will continue to have questions about how much we can privatize space -- Chris.

CUOMO: And obviously, Tom, money is a concern. But safety much more so, especially when we're dealing with manned missions. So they have to figure out what happened here. Thank you for keeping us up to date. We'll check back in with you.

We're also following breaking news this morning on security here at home. Why is security being stepped up at thousands of key federal buildings across the nation?

The action follows concern after the lone-wolf attack up in Canada. The chatter about that had been going on for weeks. You remember this incident. It was just last week. Crazy man gets a weapon, kills a soldier. Rushes Parliament Hill in Ottawa and luckily was stopped by the sergeant of arms.

So now Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson calls for a precautionary measure, due to heightened terror threats around the globe. Was it about the globe or was it about here at home? What do we really know?

Let's continue the conversation with Bill Gavin, former assistant director of the FBI's New York bureau. But he also helped out with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But let's also bring in Clark Kent Ervin, former inspector general of the Office of Homeland Security. It's not that I don't like Bill. It's not that his IFB is not working, so Clark, let me just stay with you here.

What is your immediate reaction to this? Do we have specific information about an ongoing threat here at home? Or is this just precautionary?

CLARK KENT ERVIN, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Well, my bet on this, Chris, is I know Secretary Johnson. He's very sober, very reflective, very deliberate and analytical. And my sense is that while there might not be and probably isn't specific intelligence indicating that this particular building is going to be hit on this particular day in this particular way, that there has been in the last week, since the Canadian incidents, an increase in chatter -- web postings, web discussions, intercepted telephone conversations -- indicating that these government buildings, here in Washington and around the country probably are in terrorists' crosshairs.

CUOMO: So what do you do? This sounds good, we're going to increase security. How? How do you increase it?

ERVIN: Well, you know, Chris, people really don't focus on this until something like this happens. But you know, nearly every year -- not nearly every year, literally every year -- there are GAO reports, reports by my former office, the Office of Inspector General, about the agency within the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Protective Service that oversees federal buildings. The White House, the Capitol, DOD, they have their own police forces, and they're elite police forces. And yet, of course, White House famously has been breached recently.

But most federal buildings are guarded by the Federal Protective Service. There are about 950 law enforcement officers full time. But they oversee about 15,000 contract guards, and I was among those four years ago calling for at least looking at federalizing the guard force, because of the importance of security at these buildings.

CUOMO: I read your testimony. It was very compelling. And let me direct the question that you raised to Bill Gavin.

It's good to have you. Sorry about the comm's problem. Good, you can hear me now.

BILL GAVIN, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI'S NEW YORK OFFICE: Thank you.

CUOMO: Federalizing or reorganizing how we keep ourselves secure in different buildings here. One of the problems we saw up in Ottawa, and hopefully, it will be easily rectified, is lots of different agencies involved doing different things, not really coordinated. Do we have that problem here, as well, Bill Gavin?

GAVIN: I think there's a more universality of the way things are handled right now. But I think what's going to happen with the increased security awareness, is they'll change the perimeters of the concentric rings of security at a lot of buildings.

For instance, if people walked into a building and then had security check, perhaps they'll move that checkpoint outside the building or to -- closer to the door and then check it again a second time. So there will be multiple layers of security.

CUOMO: Why make this public?

GAVIN: Well, I think it's probably something that's -- that's necessary in order to have people understand why they're being "inconvenienced," in quotation marks, of course, before they come into any federal building.

CUOMO: But you know, if you think about it, Clark, we seem to be increasingly with these one-off attacks -- forget about organized wars that are going on elsewhere. We seem to be dealing with the deranged. And everything that happens is an encouraging factor to a feeble mind. So do you think that we need to have a different approach in the U.S. to how we give advanced warning of what we're worried about?

ERVIN: Well, you know, it's a very difficult issue, Chris. Of course, famously in the years after 9/11, after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, we had this color-coded alert system. And rightly, it was pilloried, because it was unclear to the public exactly what was expected of them, what the government was doing, why the alert level was raised or lowered.

I think the approach that the department is taking now makes a lot of sense. And that is to calibrate it, to say that we're increasing this with regard to specific targets, namely federal buildings. No doubt because there's specific intelligence indicating concern about them. The measures are going to be calibrated. They're going to be increased or decreased at different buildings, depending on the circumstances. They're going to be constantly assessed and re- evaluated. That's the kind of calibrated way, it seems to me, to strike this balance between security and liberty. I think the secretary has it exactly right here.

CUOMO: And hopefully, it winds up being more than enough to keep us safe going forward. We'll all be watching a little bit more vigilantly now, I'm sure.

Clark Kent Ervin, thank you very much for being on.

Bill Gavin, thank you for being on, as well. We'll have you both back soon, I'm sure.

ERVIN: Thank you.

CUOMO: A lot of news this morning. Let's get you the headlines from Mick.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks so much, Chris. Here we go with the headlines.

The father of one of three Denver girls who attempted to fly to Syria to join ISIS says his daughter was confused and clueless about what her role would be if she actually met up with the terrorists. He tells the Associated Press his daughter and her friends are, quote, "just stupid little girls." Those are his words. He'd like to know who recruited them online. You'll recall those girls were stopped by the FBI in Germany earlier this month and then returned home.

The manhunt for an alleged child rapist is over. This man, Gregory Lewis, was arrested in upstate New York after he crashed his car into a river. Now Lewis had been on the run since September, when he allegedly cut off his ankle monitor and fled Massachusetts following his arraignment. Authorities believe he committed more crimes while he was on the lam, including sexual assault, kidnapping and robbery.

A possible answer in the Kim Jong-un mystery. South Korean intelligence told U.S. lawmakers that the North's enigmatic leader had a cyst removed from his left ankle. This could explain why he wasn't seen in public for about six weeks and was shown hobbling and using a cane to get around. The cyst could have made it painful for him to stand and walk around. European doctors reportedly performed that procedure.

A bittersweet update for you now. Brittany Maynard, who is terminally ill, has checked off the final item on her bucket list, a visit to the Grand Canyon. You'll likely recall, Brittany has brain cancer. She publicly revealed that she plans to take her own life. In fact, Maynard and her family relocated from California to Oregon, one of the five states where death with dignity is authorized. She even set a death date for November 1 but says she may change her mind at any time.

CAMEROTA: So poignant. And seeing those pictures.

PEREIRA: And if you read online, her reports and her blog that she report, it was difficult. She has these reminders all of the time of the battle that she's going through. Even though it was a beautiful trip there, terrible headaches, you know, paralyzed, just...

CUOMO: The negative part of her making it public was there is, of course, this wave of, you know, backlash of people who aren't thinking it through from her perspective, which is often the case. But it really does raise an issue that is a growing problem for us in this country.

PEREIRA: And very well likely challenges your own beliefs. Right?

CUOMO: Especially because she's younger.

PEREIRA: So young, yes.

CAMEROTA: Feel free to let us know what you think. You can find us all on Twitter.

There's lots of news on the Ebola front to share with you. A Dallas nurse is now Ebola free, and she's out of the hospital. President Obama says the U.S. must support healthcare workers who he says are doing God's work in West Africa.

We will also, though, talk to a Yale student who is currently quarantined, despite testing negative for Ebola. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: ... not want to discourage anyone from joining the effort. But that's not slowing the Pentagon's support down for mandatory 21- day quarantines of all military personnel returning to the U.S. from the Ebola zone.

Now Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is reviewing that. He could announce the new policy or maybe a reformed policy as early as today.

A lot to figure out here, so let's bring in Poppy Harlow with the latest -- Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, I know you guys are going to discuss that a lot this hour. But some very good news to tell you. There is only one confirmed case of Ebola in the United States.

This after that nurse, Amber Vinson, was released from the hospital Ebola-free yesterday. A lot of people lauding her as a hero for treating Thomas Eric Duncan. I can also say she wants people not to stop focusing on West Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMBER VINSON, NURSE: I'm so grateful to be well.

HARLOW (voice-over): Praising her doctors at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Texas nurse Amber Vinson appeared before reporters Tuesday, Ebola-free.

VINSON: While this is a day for celebration and gratitude, I ask that we not lose focus on the thousands of families who continue to labor under the burden of this disease in West Africa.

HARLOW: Vinson contracted the virus while caring for deceased Liberian patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, at a Dallas hospital.

She was flown back to her home state Tuesday night.

Backing the CDC's latest Ebola risk guidelines for returning aid workers, President Obama indirectly criticized mandatory state quarantines.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to have new monitoring and movement guidance that is sensible, based in science. America and the end is not defined by fear.

HARLOW: Currently, eight of the nine patients treated for Ebola in the U.S. have recovered. Doctors at Emory say they're learning more about treating patients with fatal symptoms of the disease.

BRUCE RIBNER, M.D., MEDICAL DIRECTOR, EMORY'S SERIOUS COMMUNICATIVE DISEASE UNIT: I think we have changed the algorithm for how aggressive we are going to be willing to be in caring for patients with Ebola virus disease. HARLOW: Still, officials are certain the best way to fight Ebola is

to control the outbreak in West Africa.

That's the agenda for about 1,000 U.S. troops deployed to the region: building clinics and helping local officials contain Ebola at its source.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Powers also in Liberia, demonstrating U.S. support to combatting the virus by visiting the three West African nations hardest hit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: And you know, Alisyn and Sanjay, I know you're going to be discussing this. It is still so important to focus on the 4,900-plus lives that have been lost to Ebola in West Africa.

But hearing yesterday that the doctors have learned that they can take these much more aggressive treatment tactics, and they're working, that is very encouraging news. Eight of nine cases in the United States have been -- have been cured. And it is astonishing just what they've learned in those cases -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. Those are such success stories, Poppy. Thanks for all of that.

So joining us to discuss more on this is Ryan Boyko. He is a doctoral candidate at Yale, and he is currently under mandatory quarantine in Connecticut, despite testing negative for Ebola. Also, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here, our CNN chief medical correspondent.

Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here.

Ryan, I want to start with your story. You are coming to us via quarantine, because about almost 21 days ago you returned from Liberia. You were there helping them set up their new tracing and contact system for anyone who may have come into contact with the virus. At the time did you have any contact with any Ebola patients?

RYAN BOYKO, DOCTORAL CANDIDATE, YALE: No. I was just working on databases and computers and all of that.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, when you came back to the U.S., did you experience any symptoms of Ebola?

BOYKO: So the week after I got back I did have a low-grade fever and some diarrhea. And so I reported that to the physician at Yale Health that I was working with. And -- and so I did go to the hospital to get a test to confirm that I did not have it. And the test did come back negative. Two tests came back negative.

CAMEROTA: Have you been testing every day since then?

BOYKO: I've been checking my temperature twice a day, yes.

CAMEROTA: And are you symptom-free now? BOYKO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Was there a moment where you feared that you might have come back with Ebola?

BOYKO: I -- never serious, strong feeling. Because you know, I studied it some. I know that it really is transmitted by very sick and deceased people and their direct contact with their body fluids. And I knew I had no contacts like that.

And you know, I didn't feel very sick. You know, I talked to a couple people who had had Ebola and recovered or knew people who got Ebola, and they say, you know, when you get it, you know you feel very sick.

CAMEROTA: You know it. When you have Ebola, you know it.

BOYKO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So your symptoms have now cleared. You have been testing negative. Yet you have been in quarantine now for 11 days. Do you understand why you are quarantined?

BOYKO: No. I don't understand. There's just no scientific justification to keep myself or others like me in quarantine.

CAMEROTA: OK. Sanjay, is there any justification? He did have some symptoms.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, his symptoms, they sound like a low-grade fever, from what I heard; 100.2 is what I understand. That doesn't meet the criteria. He didn't have contact with people who had -- who are sick from Ebola, as he mentioned. So he wouldn't have been at risk for that reason. And even if he was -- had some contact, unless he's sick himself, he's not going to be transmitting the virus, so he's not a threat to the public health. So I mean, from a scientific basis, there's no motivation for a quarantine here.

CAMEROTA: Look, we've heard from public officials, they are using an excess of caution, because it makes people nervous when they think that somebody has returned from Liberia, and they have a fever and diarrhea, and they are out in the general public. So they just should be in quarantine for 21 days is what some politicians are telling us.

GUPTA: You know, look. Doctors by nature, I think, are conservative and they operate under this principle of abundance of caution. And I'm a doctor; I do the same thing.

Here is the problem, though. It's not a zero-sum gain. It's not just we'll be an abundance of caution, no harm, no foul, maybe some benefit. You'd like to believe that. The problem is that Ryan and others may be less likely to go back to West Africa, less likely to do this sort of work.

I know the Doctors Without Borders, for example, they go for two to three weeks at a time. Now you're essentially doubling that time period, right? Because three weeks of quarantine when they come back. So it is -- it is a significant thing.

And Ryan is doing contact tracing work out there. They're talking about 10,000 cases a week possibly by the end of the year. That could go up even more if you don't have resources to take care of these people.

CAMEROTA: Ryan, what's your life like sitting in the room where we see you?

BOYKO: Well, I try to keep busy and my work; keep in touch with friends, keep a routine and do some exercise. I woke up a little earlier than usual today. But I've been trying to keep to a routine. Because if you focus on what's happening, I think the walls close in quickly.

CAMEROTA: Yes, we've heard that. And do you feel that this punishment is draconian, and as Sanjay has just suggested, does this make you more reluctant to ever return and do the work that you were doing in Liberia?

BOYKO: So, yes. And not just for my own personal sake. But it's a lot harder to take off work and to be away from other relationships and the rest of your life for six weeks, versus three weeks.

CAMEROTA: So what is your plan now, Ryan? When do state authorities say that you are able to leave your quarantine?

BOYKO: I'm actually supposed to be able to get out tomorrow. And so, I'm going to hug my girlfriend, and I think go out with friends on that night and all of that. And enjoy. And I think this weekend we're going to go see some of the leaves changing.

CAMEROTA: That's great. I bet you're going to have a big party. That's really great that you're going to finally be free.

But Sanjay, I mean, this is happening. He's one of eight people in quarantine in Connecticut right now.

GUPTA: We -- we are seeing this quite a bit. We may see this more and more, and you know, it's one of those remarkable situations. I think we'll look back at this historically and say so we kind of knew the science; we did understand the science. It wasn't that we didn't understand it. It's that this is social fear, and again, this term abundance of caution gets thrown around a lot. I get it. But the problem is there are consequences, prices to pay for it.

CAMEROTA: Great point. Sanjay, thanks so much.

Ryan, great to see you. Give your girlfriend a big kiss tomorrow and have a great time. Thanks for taking time for us.

BOYKO: All right. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO; Here's a question on the minds of many: where is John King? Well here's the answer. He's on the campaign trail this week. He's taking "Inside Politics" to some of the hottest Senate races. This morning he's in the Bluegrass State of Kentucky. That's where Mitch McConnell and Alison Grimes are fighting to the finish. John King will be with us on the show. He has a lot of insight for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA; Good to have you back with us here on NEW DAY. Here's a look at your headlines.

It could be weeks or even months before NASA and its space contractor determine what exactly went wrong when an unmanned rocket exploded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh God, oh God!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That happened just seconds after launch Tuesday night in Virginia. The rocket was carrying some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

More than six months after the horrific ferry sinking in South Korea, another victim's body has been found among the wreckage. Officials say the body was in a woman's bathroom in the center of the boat. The underwater search has been going on since the ferry sank back in April. Nearly 300 people died. Nine remain missing. The captain and three crew members are charged with murder. Prosecutors, rather, say they didn't do enough to save the passengers.

A case of Ebola bullying unfolding in the Bronx. Education officials in New York are confirming that a group of middle school students at I.S. 318 attacked two brothers who recently returned from Senegal and during the beatings, yelled "Ebola" at their victims. The father of the two boys say classmates also refused to play with his sons during gym class. He tells CNN he is determined to find a new school for his children.

If you're like me and probably the rest of the world, you're a fan of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, you'll be sad to learn that January's Golden Globes will be their swan song, if you will.

CUOMO: What?

PEREIRA: Their last time hosting the awards show. Third straight year that Tina and Amy host the Globes. Last year's telecast scored the best ratings in a decade. Poehler says they realized after three years as hosts, there's really nowhere to go but down.