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Amtrak Restarts Service after Train Derailment; Positive Train Control Technology Mandated for Amtrak by Congress; ISIS Takes Iraq City of Ramadi; ISIS Operative Killed by U.S. Special Ops; 9 Killed In Waco, Texas Biker Gang Shooting; ISIS Making Gains Despite U.S. Raid in Syria. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 18, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Our coverage begins with CNN's Jean Casarez. She is live at New York's Penn Station. Jean?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. It's quite a morning here at Penn Station because late last night Amtrak tweeted out that this morning at 5:30 service would resume. That first train would go out, and it did at 5:31. And they let us go down there when the first train was leaving so we saw it. Not that many people on the train, but passengers said they were excited. It was very needed.

I spoke to one man who says he has to go to Washington, D.C. several times a week and he was spending $1,200 round trip to fly there last week. He was very relieved, a little scared, he said, but he was ready to go.

The northeast corridor is the most traveled train area of the country, over 750,000 passengers a day. Amtrak's cost to the economy, $100 million. So you can see how happy they were.

The CEO of Amtrak did release a statement. We want to show this to everybody. He said "The safety of our passengers and crew remains our number one priority. Our infrastructure repairs have been made with the utmost care and emphasis on infrastructure, integrity, including complete compliance with federal railroad administration directives."

Now, just a minute ago, the first train that came from Philadelphia to Penn Station, New York, passengers just un-boarded it just a minute ago. But that train was ten minutes late in leaving, 30 minutes late in arriving. So that may take everything down so it's a little late today. But the main thing, Chris, is Amtrak northeast corridor is up and running today. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Late is better than unsafe, that's for sure. And to balance out what the head of Amtrak said, they don't have the positive train control in place yet, and that is what Congress mandated. They have until the end of the year.

Now, specifically train 188, FBI experts are in Philadelphia to examine damage to the train's windshield. They are testing the idea that an object may have hit the train just before it derailed. For the latest on that we have CNN's Erin McLaughlin in Philadelphia. Erin?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Here near the crash site we have seen the first trains go by in a sign that life is returning to normal. But the investigation continues and the mystery has deepened. Today the FBI is taking a look at a fist-sized circular mark on the left-hand side of the train's windshield. The NTSB has continued to investigate the possibility that some sort of projectile struck Amtrak 188 prior to the crash.

But there are new doubts about information from the train's assistant conductor. Now, she had told investigators that prior to the crash she thought she heard the 32-year-old engineer, Brandon Bostian, tell dispatch some sort of object struck the train, but the NTSB says it has reviewed all of the radio transmissions from the night and found nothing to suggest that.

Meanwhile, new information from the train's black box. Evidence suggests that Bostian manually pushed the train's throttle forward, which could have caused that deadly acceleration. The question is why. Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right, Erin, thank you so much for that.

So let's discuss all of this with Miles O'Brian, CNN's transportation analyst and science correspondent for PBS. David Soucie is also with us, CNN safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector. Good to have you on this Monday, gentlemen.

David, I want to talk about this notion of a projectile hitting the train's windshield. There were reports that there were other trains in the area that were hit by some sort of projectile. Is that even possible as a cause of this crash given what you know?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: You know, I'm not seeing any kind of correlation between the two. The only possibility is that it was a distraction at the wrong time. But he had time to think about this. This wasn't something that would have been a sudden, oh, my gosh, I've been hit by something. Let's push the throttles forward. I just don't see it, Michaela.

PEREIRA: How about you, Miles? Would there be any reason to believe that one would lead to another?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: You know, it feels like a red herring. The NTSB is sort of steering us away from it. However, if it did startle him in some way, perhaps there's a link. A lot of times these accidents offer a series of seemingly disparate events that lead you to the accident. Maybe this is part of it.

PEREIRA: Interesting. All right, so we know that the Federal Railroad Administration has ordered Amtrak to take some additional steps. And I think we have a full still of some of the things they are asking for. Install automatic train control on the northbound trains, we know that there was that on the southbound train route. Analyze all curves in the corridor for risk and increase maximum speed signage for engineers. David, if you wouldn't mind giving us a quick primer difference

between in layman's terms, if you will, between the automatic train control and positive train control? Is that something you can do, because I think it might be a sticking point for some people?

SOUCIE: Positive train control includes an element which is the communication based signaling. The signaling systems have been in place since the 1800s, and the way they do it and the type of signals and what they mean.

[08:05:02] Communication based signaling would actually have direct input into the automatic train control. So they group those together as positive train control. So that's what they are talking about when they talk about automated train control.

PEREIRA: So the question is, why hasn't that been there? Are you understanding, is this money? Is this Congress dragging their feet? Why isn't it on this corridor? We know how heavily trafficked it is.

SOUCIE: We know that the Amtrak is on schedule, according to their director, is on schedule to meet the positive train control requirements of Congress by the end of this year. Now there's also in Congress -- yes, but they are also pushing a bill in there right now that would allow Congress to extend that. I doubt anybody is going to vote for that at this point.

PEREIRA: And Miles, aside from the technical aspect, you say that a human factor could be changed inside the cab. You believe that a second engineer might be a relatively easy fix?

O'BRIEN: Why not have a second set of eyes in the cab there? I have often wondered why there's a single individual there. There are safeguards built in the system. They have a dead man switch in case somebody lost consciousness which would cause the train to stop. But having said that, it's always better to have a second crew member. We don't have cabooses on trains anymore. We've cut back. This is all about money, Michaela. It always is.

PEREIRA: It always is about money. And we know that money would be spend to maybe look at some other technology. What about cameras? David, we have cameras in the cockpits in airplanes. Why not a camera in the cab? Why not a voice recorder? We have learned, the three of us together, you've taught us so much about the aviation technologies, but what about on these trains and these locomotives? Couldn't the engineers use some of those devices to help them keep the train safe?

SOUCIE: Absolutely. Remember all those things you just mentioned are accident investigation tools. The cameras in the cabin, all the things that we talked about just now. What it would help, as Miles said, I agree 100 percent there should be another set of eyes in front because that's the way they are going to control this type of event from mistakes happening.

PEREIRA: I want to pivot now to the world of aviation. Miles, we know that you have, the two of you been very part of our team coverage of missing MH-370. It's almost hard to believe, Miles, 14 months since that jet liner disappeared. We understand the search zone of 2,300 square miles, they are expecting to finish that by this month. They found everything but the plan. They found a 19th century shipwreck there. What else are you hearing about how long the search could go?

O'BRIEN: Well, they are talking about doubling the size of the zone, so this could rock on for quite some time. Certainly another season lies ahead. It's getting to be bad weather down there, as we know. It's just a reminder that this Inmarsat technology, the satellite technology, which they are able to kind of suss out the direction of the aircraft, it wasn't designed to position the aircraft. It's a communication tool. And the fact that we even got to the southern hemisphere, the southern ocean, was really an active engineering prowess. But it's very inaccurate, and that's why this process is taking a long time.

PEREIRA: And David, final thought for you, 14 months since it went missing. The hope is we have learned some things, that changes have been made. We know both of you have made your own calls for advanced technology to be used in these jetliners to make them more advanced. We have the technological capability. It's just not in use. Have we made any progress? Have you heard any word of that?

SOUCIE: We actually have. ICAO, right now in the International Civil Aviation Organization there's great progress moving forward for airplane tracking. It's never fast enough. It couldn't be fast enough. It needs to be there right now. So the World Aviation Forum and other bodies are working directly together with ICAO to try to push these things forward, get them implemented. The good news is the airlines are actually work towards it as well.

PEREIRA: That's fantastic news because oftentimes we don't learn from our lessons. When you have that many lives lost, you hope there is something learned for sure. All right, David Soucie, Miles O'Brien, always a pleasure to have you with us. Thank you, gentlemen. Chris?

CUOMO: You talk about technology in planes, here's another disturbing question. Can our passenger planes be hacked and controlled remotely? The FBI is investigating a computer expert's claims that he hacked into an airplane's in-flight entertainment system and from there took control of the jet's engine and made the plane fly sideways just for a moment. CNN's Evan Perez is in Washington with more, and this has a lot of people upset this morning, Evan, if it's true.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Chris. Chris Roberts is the name of a cyber-security researcher who says modern planes have a huge vulnerability from hackers. Robert says there's a security hole in in-flight entertainment systems aboard three times of Boeing aircrafts and one model made by Airbus. He says hackers can actually take control of these aircraft, and now the FBI says it's investigates him for potential computer crimes aboard flight. This is according to a search warrant application filed in court. [08:10:07] Now, Roberts told the FBI in February and March that

he's hacked into planes while in flight up to 20 times, including once making a plane do a lateral move. Now, no one has verified whether Roberts actually did any of this and he's not been arrested. Boeing says there's no actually danger, quote, "In-flight entertainment systems on commercial airlines are isolated from flight and navigation systems."

And Roberts himself now says that the FBI has it all wrong. Over the weekend he tweeted, quote, "Over the last five years my only interest has been to improve aircraft security. Given the current situation I've been advised against saying much." Chris, the investigation by the FBI is continuing.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I'll take it here, Evan, thank you for that. We'll watch that story with you.

Overseas, thousands of civilians are fleeing the Iraqi city of Ramadi now that it's been overrun by ISIS, the terrorists using armored bulldozers and nearly a dozen suicide bombings to send Iraqi forces into retreat. Officials in the U.S. and Iraq are vowing now that the fight for the city is not over. CNN's complete coverage of the fall of Ramadi begins with senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The key question is how can that fight back really begin? The Iraqi prime minister has called on Shia militia, thousands potentially, not known for their particularly gleaming human rights record in the battlefield to play into that fight because it's Iraqi security forces who were routed over the weekend by that substantial advance by ISIS. And 13 suicide bombers, bulldozers use to clear away the defenses into that city center. Nearly a million people used to live there, 8,000 fleeing just now, 500 dead at least in the fighting of just this weekend. It is a vital strategic hub in Anbar province where over 1,000 U.S. soldiers lost their lives during the Iraq War, and it covers a third of Iraq's territory. But the question really being, after coalition airstrikes have in the last 24 hours delivered 19 separate blows to that particular area to try and hold ISIS back, does the U.S. recognize at this point how complex it will be to retake that area? Here's what John Kerry had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: It is possible to have the kind of attack we have seen in Ramadi. But I am absolutely confident in the day ace head that will be reversed. Large numbers were killed in the last few days and will be in the next days because that seems to be the only thing they understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: But it is a substantial damage to the narrative that Baghdad government was trying to push forward, that they would next retake Anbar. They are on the back foot here, losing significantly. It was their most elite special forces that appeared to leave their positions, and the question will now be, were they inadequately resupplied? Did they simply flee the place they had been defending for weeks if not months? And how did Baghdad not see this coming? ISIS Had been quiet in the past month, but it's clear they had this up their sleeve. Now the U.S. and its allies in Baghdad who are reaching out to Iran for help too have to try and clean up this mess. Back to you.

CUOMO: It's very clear that nothing will happen quickly, that's for sure. Nick, thank you very much.

So while Ramadi was falling a top ISIS commander was dying in Syria at the hands of U.S. Special Ops, the secret raid reportedly netting valuable intelligence on ISIS in the process. So let's bring in our CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty. What do we know about the raid and what do we know about this intelligence?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, the administration is characterizing this kill as a significant blow to ISIS, and the National Security Council, they say that the man they refer to as Abu Sayyaf, he was a senior ISIS leader, someone who would have a role in overseeing their oil and gas operations. And his wife, Umm Sayyaf, was captured at the mission site. She's now being detained and interrogated. Senior administration officials say that she might have some information on ISIS' hostage operations.

Now U.S. officials say there was a lot of intelligence reams of data that was also recovered at the site, including a computer, which could have valuable information, they say, on how ISIS operates, how it earns its money, and how it communicates. But of course there are still a lot of questions still unanswered about this mission. One at the most basic is what Abu Sayyaf's real name actually is, and of course the question of weighing the risk here in this mission versus the reward, what intelligence the U.S. will learn. And that is the exact question that some lawmakers, Michaela, are already starting to question on Capitol Hill.

PEREIRA: Alright, Sunlen, thank you for that.

Also breaking overnight, a marine has been killed in Hawaii after a training exercise went terribly wrong. The Marine Corps says an aircraft made a hard landing and caught fire during a training exercise in Dulles Station Oahu on Sunday.

[08:15:00] Twenty-two marines were on board at the time. One was killed, the rest were injured. Their injuries range from minor to critical. The Marine Corps says that accident is now under investigation.

CUOMO: Nine bikers killed over the weekend in Waco, Texas, during a shootout between rival gangs. Nearly 200 people are in jail this morning and they are facing charges.

CNN correspondent Nick Valencia is live in Waco with the latest. What do you know?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Just in the last few minutes, police announced that 192 people will be arrested as a result of yesterday's shootout here in Waco, Texas. All of them will be charged with engaging in organized crime, some will face capital murder charges.

Meanwhile, police tell me that there are ongoing credible threats against their life. They say that they are prepared for whatever happens next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SGT. W. PATRICK SWANTON, WACO POLICE: These are very dangerous, hostile biker gangs that we are dealing with.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Erupting in broad daylight, close to 200 members of rival biker gangs broke out in a deadly fight Sunday. First fists, chains, a club and knives, escalating into a fierce gun battle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was really, really scary. We didn't know if somebody was going to come back.

VALENCIA (voice-over): 100 miles south of Dallas in Waco, Texas, at a Twin Peaks restuarant, as many as five criminal motorcycle gangs started fighting over a parking issue, according to police. You can see some of the groups' names, like the Cossacks, on the back of their jackets.

The gang meetup, known to police for weeks, members of the SWAT Team, were already monitoring the scene when the brutal fight began.

SWANTON: We were in marked cars, they knew we were here. It mattered not to them. That tells you the kind of level of people that we're dealing with.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Police also exchanging fire with the bikers. The parking lot filling fast with law enforcement officials to secure the scene. At least nine are now dead and nearly 20 more injured. Some customers and employees taking cover in the restaurant's freezer.

SWANTON: There are a lot of people, a lot of innocent people could have been injured today.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Police say they recovered more than 100 weapons at the scene. A frightening indication that this may not be the end to the deadly rivalry.

SWANTON: We have been getting reports throughout the day that bikers from out the state are headed this way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Police say the threat is not against the public, but against the police officers here protecting this area. Even still, out of an abundance of caution, they say Twin Peaks will be closed for the next seven days. This strip mall also closed to the public. Michaela.

PEREIRA: A dangerous situation there. Alright, Nick. Thanks for letting us know the latest.

Some frightening video of a freight train colliding with a bus in Atlanta. Check it out. Half the bus was sitting on the track. Seconds before the crash, you can see passengers get up and head for the door as they barely just make it off in time, leaving the bus driver, the only person on the bus, when it crashed. He was knocked out of his seat but was able to get up and essentially walk away. Really frightening stuff. Six people were taken to the hospital for their injuries.

CUOMO: Wow. Last week it was a truck and a train. Now it's this one.

PEREIRA: I know.

CUOMO: Holy cow.

PEREIRA: It's really upsetting. Now we have video of these things.

CUOMO: You have to respect that he got everybody out, he was in there and luckily, the driver is okay as well.

When we come back, ISIS is now in control of a key Iraqi city. It's called Ramadi. It fell to terrorists this weekend after they carried out mass killings of Iraqi soldiers and civilians. So what does this mean? What is going on in the War against ISIS? Are we winning, are we losing? What's the coalition's fate, ahead.

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[08:22:13] CUOMO: A major victory or a step forward, however you want to look at it. One way or another, it was a good day for ISIS in Iraq. The key city of Ramadi falling to their fighters. Meanwhile, U.S. officials are assessing a trove of intelligence, they say, after a special forces raid killed a key ISIS commander in Syria.

Let's figure out the up and down on these two developments here. We have counterterrorism analyst Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and CNN military analyst Major General James "Spider" Marks.

General, start with you. Give us some perspective. ISIS took this big city, they wanted it, they have it, it means that the coalition is losing. Fair assessment?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.): No, it doesn't mean the coalition is losing. What that means is the coalition has essentially acknowledged that they are not in the proper position, they're not aligned appropriately to resist ISIS in Ramadi.

To ISIS, Ramadi is important only because it allows them some freedom of movement. But also bear in mind, Chris, by taking Ramadi, ISIS now has to control it, they've got to provide some form of governance. How long they are able to do that, who knows.

What's significant is that when ISIS has the momentum, they choose where and when they want to exert themselves. That's what Iraq has got to do with coalition support, is to break the back of ISIS momentum. That's what we're really talking about here.

CUOMO: The general often says to me that every time they take land it's now a test for them to show whether or not they can govern it, because that's what they say they want, so sometimes it's a mixed blessing. On the other side, you have Secretary of State John Kerry who said every country in the region is against them. They are all fighting against what he is calling Daesh. That kind of is a vote of no confidence also. If everybody is involved in fighting and they are still gaining ground, isn't that a problem?

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: It absolutely is. The fall of Ramadi, let there be no mistake about it, it's a major setback for coalition forced. I agree with the general that it doesn't mean the coalition is actually losing. If you look at what - ISIS' trajectory, it's on a downward spiral right now, although one worry is still extraordinarily dangerous.

But this is a big setback, not just because they captured new territory, but also because Ramadi was the birthplace of the what was called the Sahwa, or awakening movement, in 2006. This was the Sunni tribal movement that helped to push back ISIS' predecessor, al Qaeda, in Iraq.

And a lot of countries are still looking to Sunni tribal engagement as a major factor, a major tool that they would like to use to push back ISIS. If so, we should watch for the kind of slaughters that are occurring on the ground right now because it's really dangerous. It's going to have tremendous strategic implications.

CUOMO: So staying with you, what was going on in Syria at the same time that this was happening in Iraq was that the U.S. intelligence forces, Special Ops, say that they took down a big target. Are they right? Is it a big target and this trove of intelligence, do you buy into it?

[08:25:02] GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Yes, I think it is a big target. It's not just Abu Sayyaf, who is the individual we focused on, but the press reporting indicates that there were actually four different important ISIS leaders there, which means that they were probably in some sort of meeting. One of them was a deputy war minister, another one was a deputy communications minister.

The kind of information that you're going to get from Abu Sayyaf includes, for example, presumably who is smuggling out oil via the black market and who they are doing business with. If the U.S. follows this up and really punishes those individuals, it could either do significant damage to ISIS' ability to sell oil or it could also raise the cost for ISIS of doing this, such that they aren't able to get the same kind of money that they are used to.

CUOMO: Follow the money and often you wind up getting where you want to be. General, play on the irony that it will be a woman, the wife here, that ISIS is so intent on degrading and demeaning their position, but the wife may wind up being the key to the intel. Tell us about that.

MARKS: I think she probably will be. The fact that Abu Sayyaf now is gone is probably good news, but what the Special Operators were able to take out of there is some pretty significant intelligence that really is going to lead us to what the revenue channels are that allows ISIS to fund the activities that are ongoing right now.

What we hope has happened, as a result of that, is there's now a new target list of potential targets where our operators can go after these various locations that have been having financial and revenue dealings with ISIS. If we can cut that off, we've really - and that's what -- We have really eliminated ISIS' ability to maintain momentum, a I was just discussing earlier. And it really keeps those lines of operation -- the United States military operates on lines of operations and financial is one of those. If we can degrade that, that's a really good solid step that's the foundation for everything they try to do, if we can degrade that.

CUOMO: And what names and understandings the wife can provide could be instrumental there as well. I know that's why the intel community is excited about this.

Let me ask you something else about intel that's in the news right now, Daveed. You've got the Patriot Act expiring in relevant parts. You have this new one coming up, the hot button issue, Section 215, which deals with surveillance that captures American communications.

Are you worried about the pendulum swinging too far the other way in favor of restricting privacy and the ability to gather intelligence or you think you'll be okay anyway?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: I think it's a very hard set of issues. There's certainly intelligence value to capturing mass communications. There also are tremendous privacy implications. This is something that I think we, as a country, haven't yet worked out. Where do you strike the balance? I think it's not easy to do. The pendulum is going to swing in one direction and another before we work out what security and privacy and the increased pervasiveness of technology into every aspect of our lives. That's being a very intimate thing means in the 21st century.

CUOMO: So General, how do you sell it to the American people? Because we keep hearing the threat is worse now. It's harder online. We need more tools, not less tools. How do you sell it to the American people who do not want big brother to dominate American life?

MARKS: That truly is the challenge. Our security is paramount. That's why we structured a government to begin with. That's why our founders said we have to protect these rights that we have, we've got to be able to sustain our ability to provide for the freedoms that we can enjoy. But the issue really is there will be more tools, Chris, as you

described. There will never be fewer tools. It's a matter of maintaining this ungoverned common, as what we call the internet. There are essentially no rules that exist in there. There are rules that exist in every other common in space, spacey (ph) ground, but not in the internet. Yet, we have incredible freedoms, we're always going to enjoy those freedoms, but there -- it must be an acknowledgment there will be a shutting down of some of that access as our vulnerabilities increase accordingly.

CUOMO: It won't be lost on our audience that the right involved here, privacy, not one that's found specifically in the Constitution but one that has certainly evolved here and is held very dear by the American population. General, thank you very much. Daveed, as always.

Michaela.

PEREIRA: Alright, Chris. Jeb Bush talking same-sex marriage. The potential Republican candidate leaving no room for interpretation. Will his views on matrimony help or hurt his chances of winning the White House?

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