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Army Secretary: Shooter Was Undergoing Mental Health Treatment; Should We Have Cameras In The Cockpit?; S&P 500 Has Closed At New Highs Eight Times So Far This Year

Aired April 03, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: So they're going to look at all of these issues about behavior and what was noticed. One of the most interesting things perhaps since the 2009 incident at Fort Hood is the military came to understand it didn't have enough assessment of soldiers when they came home from deployment about whether they might be indicators if you will they could engage in violent behavior.

There was an effort to try and work on that and in post deployment evaluations really get a better look at their mental health situation was. Again, for this soldier he was only in Iraq four months at the very end of the war. So we do not know if any of this -- he wasn't in combat. We don't really know if any of this was even tied to his military service per se.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, we've hit the top of the hour. So I'm going to take this opportunity now to say good morning to all of my viewers. I'm Carol Costello. I want to recap right now. For the second time in five years, Fort Hood has been attacked by one of its own. The first incident was back in 2009. You remember when Major Nidal Hasan shot and killed 13 people.

Well, just yesterday tragedy struck again at Fort Hood. We just heard from the Secretary of the Army John McHugh and the chief of staff, General Ray T. Odierno. They were scheduled to appear before the Senate Arms Services Committee hearing, but that took quite a different turn.

Going back to what happened to Fort Hood yesterday, three Army personnel killed and at least 16 others were injured. The shooter, Army Specialist Evan Lopez. He was confronted by a female military police officer. After that, he took his own life.

All of this took about 15 minutes after the first shots were fired. This morning, three victims remain in critical condition. We don't know yet if the shooter knew his victims, but he did opened fire inside of one of his units command buildings.

Here's what we know about Evan Lopez. He had two deployments, one to Iraq. He served as a truck driver. He did not serve in combat. He did not suffer any injuries. He did spend nine years in the National Guard in Puerto Rico. He was currently undergoing treatment for mental health, depression, anxiety, sleep problems. He was seen last month by a psychologist or a psychiatrist, but nobody saw any sign of possible violence within him. The weapon he used, it was a.45-caliber handgun. This man lived off post background check shows absolutely no sign of extremism. At this time, terrorism is not suspected. Some sort of mental health issue obviously is.

So let's bring back in our panel. Brooke Baldwin is live outside of Fort Hood, CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Star is in Washington and CNN military analyst, Major General James "Spider" Marks in New York. Brooke, I want to start with you. Set the scene at Fort Hood.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Sure. So I'm standing just outside of the main entrance here at Fort Hood. We have not had access to folks on base. We are now learning now as we just listen from the secretary of the army, Secretary McHugh, a little more about this shooter here from not even 24 hours, 34-year-old Ivan Lopez.

What we just learned and I know Barbara Starr went over this. What jumped out new to me according to the secretary of the army, when he was deployed in Iraq for those four months back in 2011, he was a truck driver. No knowledge of TBIs, traumatic brain injury. Not involved in combat. We do know that he was transferred here to Fort Hood in February with his wife and young daughter.

We know the question is why would he do this? We know that he had been suffering according to folks here, you know, depression and anxiety, was undergoing possible checks for PTSD. But just to be clear and we need to be cautious in reporting this. It has not been said that he was in fact suffering from PTSD. We do now after Barbara made the excellent point that jumped out to me that he was on some prescription drugs including Ambien.

But General Marks, I'd like to throw out a question at you if you are still standing by, because I was talking to an army major this morning who was actually based at Fort Knox. He was in the parking lot. There was a shooting at Fort Knox some time ago. His two points to me. Number one, to reiterate what General Odierno was saying, one, the preparedness and readiness of folks responding to this was excellent because of changes made after that horrific incident with Nidal Hasan in 2009.

But to his point, this man had been in Iraq four months and just wasn't quite sure that anyone should jump to conclusions about this man suffering PTSD. I'm curious your thoughts on that.

MAJOR GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Brooke, you're spot on. It's far too soon to determine whether he was suffering from PTSD. In fact the doctors in the process were about to reach a conclusion in terms of what his state and how they would describe the condition that he had. PTSD might have been one of those conditions. He was not there yet.

In fact what I would say is this is an example of where the process worked. The soldier came forward and said I think I have a problem. Whether it's related to the deployment or not, he came forward. He said I think I have a problem. The army embraced him and said we're going to help you work through that thing.

In other words the army and all the military wants a positive outcome from any type of an engagement they have with one of its very precious resources, which is a soldier and that soldier's family. So the fact that he had come forward and the fact that the army was looking at him demonstrates to me that this guy really had some issues.

He was able to conduct this heinous act and do this in a way that location and process that was frankly working well. There are a number of gaps that we're going to have to uncover.

COSTELLO: General, I want to talk about those gaps because it seems strange to me. Because General Odierno said in the last hour that the new rules put into place after Hasan went on his shooting spree worked. Yet this man did approach military, did say he was having problems. He did see a psychiatrist. He still managed to buy a gun. He still managed to take it on post and kill three people. So something wasn't working.

MARKS: Absolutely, Carol. The frustration is that he was in the process. He had not been diagnosed. There had not been a finding that he would have popped up on anybody's list that would have precluded him from buying that weapon. That's the challenge. The issue I'm looking at right now is this individual moved to Fort Hood within the last couple of months. He was in the process before he was moved.

In terms of the continuity of care, it would have made better sense. I'm not second guessing the Army, I never will. But it's important to ask why was he moved permanent station? Why was he moved from wherever he was before to Fort Hood while he was in the process of being evaluated and arguably in the most delicate type of medical evaluation and challenge that we have? The indicators are not always as clear as they can be.

COSTELLO: All right, let's talk more, Barbara, about how this man got this gun on post, right? Because you are not allowed to carry guns on post. He lived off post, right? So he bought the gun and he managed to get it past. You have to go through security even if you are a soldier, right, to get into Fort Hood. He had this weapon. So what's the answer to that?

STARR: Well, look, Carol, I mean, there are several threads here. Fort Hood, tens of thousands of people go in and out of those gates every day. If they have a permit that allows the sticker in your car window that allows you to go through. The reality is your car is not going to be searched. The assumption is you are engaging in legal behavior for this to be a functioning military installation like any essentially public space in this country. People have to be able to come and go. Not everybody is going to be stopped.

If he had a concealed weapon then for sure they -- that's how he got it on post. He wasn't waving it around as he went through the gate God forbid. It's clear that this was a series of acts that he undertook, which they did sort of the practicalities of how a military installation works and any soldier would be very well aware of them. I think there are three threads here. One is the issue of how he acquired the weapon and whether it was known --

COSTELLO: He bought it legally.

STARR: -- well, those are the gun laws in whatever jurisdiction he bought it in. So it's how he bought it. Would anybody have known about his mental health issues? How he purchased it. Getting it onto Fort Hood in concealed fashion. What the military knew about his mental health --

COSTELLO: But the military obviously knew about his mental health condition. They knew he saw a psychiatrist. They knew he was trouble sleeping. They knew he was on medication.

STARR: Not clear they knew he had a weapon, Carol. You know, we can go --

COSTELLO: I'm talking about preventing someone with problems from buying a weapon. I know we don't have the answer right now. I'm trying to this parse that out.

COSTELLO: We do not, Carol, because that is an issue of gun control law in this country, not an issue of security on military bases.

COSTELLO: I understand. And I know, Brooke, that you talked to some people on base about the issue of carrying guns on the grounds of Fort Hood. What did they tell you?

BALDWIN: Yes, if I can just chime in and Barbara, if you can help me understand this, but from what I understand, I mean, if you're lawfully carrying a gun and living on or off post. In this case the 34-year-old was living off post. You can be living on post and legally have a firearm. You could bring it on post. You just have to keep it in the privacy of your home. You have to as we just heard, they want you to register it with commanders. Help us understand if one were to buy a gun perfectly a-OK mentally and want to take that to their private residence on post here or elsewhere in the country, that's perfectly legal is it not?

STARR: If the gun is registered, it can vary slightly from base to base, but the rules are very strict. Personal weapons owned by any military member, if they are going to take them on a military base, they have to be registered.

BALDWIN: Let me add one other point --

COSTELLO: All right, I'm going to have to take a --

BALDWIN: Sorry, Carol.

COSTELLO: No, go ahead, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just quickly with the army major, I asked him if he thought you should have these fire arms on base? He said no. He said I love to hunt. I have my own private license. I keep it at home. I think most people within the army that are his colleagues would agree they don't want to be driving around on post with these weapons.

COSTELLO: Thanks so much. Brooke Baldwin, Barbara Star, Major General Spider Marks. I've got to take a break. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Following the disappearance of Flight 370, Malaysia Airlines is stepping up security in the cockpit putting into place new rules for its pilots, never allowing the pilot or the first captain to be alone at the controls. But could adding cameras in the cockpits keep our flights safer? CNN's Stephanie Elam investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As pilots guide commercial planes across the skies, everything they say is recorded. Unlike of modes of transportation, we can't see what's happening at the controls. Cameras have shed light on accidents like when the bus driver was caught on surveillance camera texting just before rear ending an SUV. Cameras are also keeping an eye on train conductors and now the mystery surrounding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has reenergized the debate of putting cameras in the cockpit.

MIKE KARN, PRESIDENT, COALITION OF AIRLINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION: The information they're deriving right now from the aircraft exceeds anything from other transport industries.

ELAM: Mike Karn of the coalition of Airline Pilots Association says cameras would be intrusive.

(on camera): Why not put cameras in the cockpit of commercial airliners?

KARN: I want the pilot worried about flying the aircraft and the second thing is current technology allows you to monitor so many more parameters of the aircraft that it's not necessary. You are going to know the altitude, the speed, the configuration, everything mechanically about that aircraft.

ELAM (voice-over): In 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended the Federal Aviation Administration require airlines to record electronic images, data that would be included in two data redundant cockpit data recorders. One in the front of the plane, another in the rear. In the last 14 years that recommendation has gone nowhere beyond being a suggestion.

JIM HALL, FORMER NTSB CHAIRMAN: This information would be limited to accident investigation use and otherwise would not be available for viewing by anyone.

ELAM: Jim Hall was chairman of the NTSB when the recommendation was made. After the investigation of several crashes, found there wasn't enough cockpit data to determine what went wrong.

HALL: Cameras would not be on the face of either of the pilot or the co-pilot. They would focus on the instruments and on the manipulations that are made.

KARN: We constantly see the edging more towards taking away the privacy from the pilots. We are performing our job up there. I would rather be focused on doing my job than what people are seeing.

ELAM: Yet Hall sees passenger's safety as a higher priority than pilot privacy.

HALL: I hope we don't wait until we have a similar incident involving a United States airline and United States citizens to take the action that's necessary to provide for the safety and security of the traveling public.

ELAM: Stephanie Elam, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So let's talk about this. I want to bring in Martin Savidge along with Mitchell Casado. Mitchell is a flight simulator instructor and pilot, and also David Funk, a pilot and former international captain for Northwest Airlines. Welcome to all of you.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So David, first question, do we need cameras in the cockpit?

DAVID FUNK, PILOT: I don't think so. You know, when the NTSB put forward that rule 12 years ago, the number of aircraft flying with old technology data recorders was quite high. Today with literally hundreds of hundreds of data points every single system on the airplane continuously reporting to the data a recorder what has been going on.

First you have to recover the data recorder at the crash scene. That's obviously the problem with the Malaysia Flight 370 mystery. Anything you see from the flight deck isn't going to tell you anymore about what was going on with the aircraft at the time of the crash. Not only excessively intrusive, when you figure 13 million hours of 777 flight time with two fatal accidents, the NTSB is leaning toward pilot error over in San Francisco and now the Malaysian Flight. It doesn't make any sense.

COSTELLO: Mitchell, do you agree?

MITCHELL CASADO, PILOT TRAINER: I do agree. I think that with all the information they can link from the CVR and the FVR at this point, a camera is not going to add that much. I can't see that it would hurt, but I don't see -- it's a waste of money if they're just looking -- like he was saying cost benefit is not there.

COSTELLO: So David what if --

SAVIDGE: Mitchell has been under scrutiny. I was going to say Mitchell has been under scrutiny by a television camera three weeks straight for everything he does. Not the same as being in the real cockpit. After a while, the camera is not something you're aware of.

COSTELLO: David, I was going to ask you, what if you could see what was on the camera on the other side of the cockpit door. Would that be helpful?

FUNK: It would be nice to have a camera to look back in the cabin from a security standpoint, post 9/11 environment. We have view windows. The flight attendants can communicate by voice and frankly what's happening in the back of the airplane in an incident or emergency is less of a concern to the captain and rest of the pilots, the other pilot on the flight, than it is to basically fly the airplane.

Our job is get it safely from A to B. In an emergency, I don't want to think, do I need to look at the back? I want to fly it to the ground safely. There's clearly negatives that aren't worth in my mind -- the cost benefit isn't there. Doesn't pass the smell test.

COSTELLO: So Mitchell, going back to what Martin was saying, would a camera in the cockpit distract you?

CASADO: I wouldn't say it would distract me. I mean, as a pilot you're focused on the high speed environment on the jet. You're not thinking about other things other than flying the airplane. But the benefit of having it there in case of accident I don't see it.

COSTELLO: David Funk, Mitchell Casado, Martin Savidge, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, friends and families of Malaysian Flight 370 are stuck in limbo hoping their family members are found safe, but probably knowing they won't be. We'll have their stories ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We'll get back to our special coverage in just a moment. First a check on top stories. Chile's president is touring. Overnight the 7.6 magnitude aftershock jolted the coast. Chile's fault lines have seen increase in activity lately. Geologists warn a larger quake could be on the horizon.

Forty seven million are on the path of severe weather and possible tornadoes. The threat from Texas to Indiana. The National Weather Service is working to determine if this was caused in St. Louis by morning twister. The warning is expected to continue throughout the afternoon.

Both the S&P 500 and the Dow hit record highs as the opening bell rang this morning. What's up with that? Can the rally last? Let's head to the floor with Alison Kosik. Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. One trader I talked to with earlier said it's air that is holding up the rally. Others saying, it's optimism, but there is a whole lot of optimism. When you look at the Dow, it's trading at a fresh record high. The S&P that had a record high too and has a lot of people talking about yet a new level for the S&P, 1900 and why not, you look at bold market now. It's been running for five years.

The S&P 500 has tripled in value during that time. What's up for the sudden turn around for stocks? A lot of it many believe we are in the middle of a spring thaw after brutally cold temperatures in the winter that slowed the economy down. Those temperatures coming up, economic data getting better.

Manufacturing numbers, factory orders, car sales are all doing better. All hopes are riding on the job report tomorrow for March. The expectation we'll see 200,000 or more were added for the month of March. If we get that good number, that would be the first time we got that high number, since the fall and many believe it is the spring thaw that things may be churning back to normal -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I hope so. Alison Kosik, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, how could a deadly shooting happen at the same post nearly five years later? More on the Fort Hood investigation coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)