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Military Blimp Gets Loose. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 28, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:02]

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It has lost altitude. They don't know that it's landed. They don't know how low to the ground. They're trying to get as much information as possible as we speak.

But these dragging cables, the tethering cables that came loose are causing a problem, apparently, in the area. They are really asking the public to stay away from anything that they see that is related to this.

At this hour, the U.S. military is talking to the Pennsylvania National Guard, to the state police, to local law enforcement in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, again, Northeastern Pennsylvania, to try and get as much manpower on this situation as they can, one, to ensure public safety first and foremost, but also to secure the site.

This is military equipment, classified technology. They don't -- they want to keep it under U.S. military control. So, again, what we're looking at is an evolving situation. It's now descended. It was at 16,000 feet. It is getting low to the ground. We're told the U.S. military did not take any action to bring it down.

There's been no shoot-down. But it has lost apparently a good deal of altitude and it is causing these problems in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Again, I can tell you that NORAD very adamantly asking the public in that area, stay away from the site if they see any of this -- Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just quickly, Barbara, when you're reporting the power outages in Northeastern Pennsylvania, how widespread? Do we know?

STARR: Well, we're just getting some word of that here at CNN from local power officials. I think they're now trying to assess it.

And I'm going to be very clear. These are very first reports. But if this thing is dragging these cables behind it, you could surmise that perhaps these cables are going to go through perhaps -- again, we don't know -- more than one set of power lines.

So this is going to be a concern. But we're endeavoring to get the latest information from those local officials in this area of Columbia County in Northeastern Pennsylvania, get the latest assessment directly from them on exactly what is happening on the ground -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Barbara Starr, thank you so much for the latest there.

Speaking of Columbia County, I actually have Dwayne Prosceno, the Central Columbia School District officer, individual, who's on the phone with me now.

Dwayne, can you hear me?

DWAYNE PROSCENO, CENTRAL COLUMBIA SCHOOL DISTRICT: Yes.

BALDWIN: Dwayne, so I understand you yourself have seen the blimp?

PROSCENO: Yes.

BALDWIN: Can you tell me how high it appeared to be flying? Low to the ground or pretty high up there?

PROSCENO: No, it actually seemed like it was coming down. It was coming right down the highway with the ropes dragging, hitting the power lines.

BALDWIN: You actually saw the ropes hitting the power lines yourself?

PROSCENO: I didn't actually see the power lines, but I saw the ropes down. And it was barely above the tree. I would say 100 feet or so.

BALDWIN: Did it appear to be -- no, please continue on.

(CROSSTALK)

PROSCENO: Yes, I saw -- it looked like it was partially deflated. It was a pure white blimp with the ropes hanging down. And at first, I thought it was going to come down on our school grounds, but then the wind took it a little bit northwest. And it started to head away.

BALDWIN: Cruising along pretty slowly?

PROSCENO: Yes.

BALDWIN: OK. All right, so, Dwayne Prosceno in Columbia County there in Pennsylvania.

Mary Schiavo, let me go to you. Let me bring you back in, our aviation analyst here.

You're hearing Dwayne and also Barbara's reporting that the tethers or cables or whatever you want to call it -- this is why I was asking somebody what the blimp looked like, because I was wondering about the tethers. It sounds like they're he said right around the tree line, and then if there are these outages now being reported by Barbara in terms of electricity, and the fact that it's decreasing in altitude, this thing eventually has to go hit the ground.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It does. And it's actually probably fortunate that it is down and going to hit

the ground because those tethers aren't like ropes. They're heavy cables, and it was designed to keep this aloft because this was part of the system that was designed to give the United States information about incoming air traffic, incoming missiles, et cetera. And it was down. Remember the guy who tried to land on the Capitol grounds last spring?

BALDWIN: Sure do.

SCHIAVO: It was down that day. It's a highly controversial program. Hasn't worked well. But it's very sensitive and they have got to recover the equipment. So if it can get on the ground without harming anyone, and it's very heavy because it's radar equipment. It's not like a balloon. It's got a lot of stuff in it.

If it's down and comes down without harming anyone, it's the best of all possible scenarios for the defense contractors who are responsible for this. But it can be still very dangerous because you can't predict where it's going to go. It's going to go with the wind.

[15:05:02]

BALDWIN: So, then, if we're talking about sensitive material within this blimp, are we to presume then DOD will likely have someone on the ground tracking where this blimp is going and the second it hits the ground they're in there to grab whatever it is they need?

SCHIAVO: They should, but I think that the local officials, the local police will there to get it first and will safeguard it. It is a matter of defense security. The fact it hasn't worked well is a separate issue. But it is a national defense issue and the Defense Department basically is reduced to being a balloon chase team at this point. But they do have to get it and they do have to get it back, because this was something like a $2.3 billion program that has never worked well.

But you don't want this stuff exposed to anyone who could give up any of our defense secrets. Yes, they're going to try to go get this posthaste and I'm sure the local police will take care of that, securing it.

BALDWIN: Mary Schiavo, thank you. Stand by.

Tom Sater, let me just bring you back in because in terms of weather in this part of the country, it's nasty, isn't it?

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It sure is. Big changes, though, Brooke. Originally reported at 16,000 feet, half the height at which planes fly at 30,000, 35,000, but now images coming in show it below the cloud deck.

And maybe that is helpful to get this system down to the ground. The rain for the most part is light to moderate, but leaving Aberdeen and through Pennsylvania, it has been steady. Now, originally, when it was reported at 16,000 feet, we looked at those winds at that level, and that would carry it to the northeast, maybe across areas of Northern New Jersey and onward. It's only moving, we believe, less than 30 miles per hour.

However, got something else to show you, Brooke. We're getting reports -- and this is not yet confirmed -- that possibly southwest of Scranton, maybe there was a landfall in the town of Bloomsburg. Now, when you look where Aberdeen is, Bloomsburg is almost due north, possibly a little westward.

That makes sense if it was to follow the rain shield northward instead of those winds at 16,000 feet to the northeast. Now, again, it's unconfirmed, but we have had pictures from the Bloomsburg area where obviously it's not that high at all. So this is a massive, of course, blimp that is drifting slower than 30 miles per hour, and if it's below that cloud deck, it's going to be even slower with the rain hampering its movement.

But, again, it's interesting, not following winds to the northeast, but if it's well lower, of course, below the cloud deck, north to the northwest. Again, that is about, oh, some distance from the Scranton area to the southwest, so very interesting. We're working to confirm that if it is on the ground, which would be very good news if it landed in a safe area.

BALDWIN: Right. Right. Not confirmed yet. We're on it, trust me. Tom Sater, thank you. Mary Schiavo, thank you as well.

We have now gotten our first bit of video of the blimp. We will share that with you coming up.

Also, more breaking news from the Capitol Hill, the soon to be presumed U.S. speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, big day for him and the Republicans.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:12:25]

BALDWIN: All right, back to our breaking news, back to the blimp.

I have Mike Kucharek on the phone with me, spokesperson for NORAD, as this is a U.S. military balloon, came loose, as we have been reporting, from its moorings around lunchtime in Maryland, somewhere over Pennsylvania. Some reports of power outages. There's a report of some of the cables, the tethers hitting some of the power lines in that neck of the woods.

Mike, tell me about this blimp.

MIKE KUCHAREK, NORAD: Well, good afternoon, Brooke.

What we can tell you now is that at approximately 12:20 today, the JLENS surveillance system aerostat detached from its moorings. Right now, we're getting reports that as of 2:25 Eastern, the surveillance system aerostat was located in the vicinity of Columbia County, Pennsylvania.

We are working very closely with local, state and federal officials, to include the Pennsylvania Emergency Operations Center, to ensure, number one, public safety and, number two, to ensure the safe recovery of that particular aerostat.

BALDWIN: How concerned are you? And, by the way, we have been looking at the video, and we will play it again here. This is the first bit of video we have all seen here. This is somewhere over Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, the blimp there in the skies. I know it's kind of -- video is sort of all over the place. But you see what we're talking about.

How concerned are you as far as these cables dragging? I was talking to someone who saw -- saying they were dragging just above the tree line and hitting power lines.

KUCHAREK: So, we are concerned, obviously. We are concerned both from an infrastructure and a public safety -- and I think public safety is the number one concern for us.

We are asking the public that if they are in the vicinity, obviously, the cable could be problematic. The blimp itself is about two football fields' long. So we are asking the public to notify local law enforcement officials as this aerostat kind of descends and does what it's doing, based on what the weather conditions are there, and to actually please stay away from this particular aerostat.

BALDWIN: And, Mike, can you just help us understand? In talking to different people, hearing about intelligence within this balloon, radar equipment, what does it do?

KUCHAREK: So, right now, it is part of a NORAD exercise. It was designed to provide us an enhanced surveillance capability within the national capital region.

[15:15:00]

It was designed to provide us about a 340-mile over-the-horizon look at incoming air traffic, high-speed and otherwise, and it also provided us a 360-degree view, which in the past we did not have.

Now, that said, the integrated air defense system within the national capital region is very robust, has been upgraded and continually tweaked since 9/11. And, Brooke, I can assure you that the national capital region is -- through the NORAD integrated air defense system is in place working and will continue to provide defense of United States and the national capital region.

BALDWIN: I am sure. I do not doubt that. Mike, how often does the blimp get released to fly?

KUCHAREK: So, I can tell you, while it will be part of the investigation, this was not a planned release. It was never designed to be released. It is tethered by a 10,000-foot cable on most days, weather permitting

and then wind conditions obviously being a factor. So it can be up and down, but it was -- it's not intended ever to be released. And, again, we don't know the particular cause at this time, but we're certainly waiting to see what the investigation will bring to light.

BALDWIN: Will you be looking into whether or not it was intentionally untethered?

KUCHAREK: Well, obviously, I'm not going to speculate, but I think we have to look at all potentials. I'm sure that the investigation would bear that out.

BALDWIN: If it's never meant to be flying, it's got this 10,000-foot cable, how often would you untether it for it to be up, not flying, but be up and be in use? All the time?

KUCHAREK: Well, it -- well, again, conditions dependent, weather, wind.

BALDWIN: Sure.

KUCHAREK: And it's -- again, it's a 10,000-foot-long cable, so you're talking almost two miles. It is continually moored and attached to that cable. So, depending what the investigation shows, this was never intended to be released from the tether.

BALDWIN: Sure. Understand that it is decreasing in altitude. Perhaps it will just land hopefully in a rural area and not bother anyone. But do you think it should be shot down?

KUCHAREK: No, ma'am. I think we're in a monitor situation at this point. It is deflating as we speak. It is releasing some of its helium. I don't -- no, that's not an option at all.

BALDWIN: Can you deflate it remotely? Is that a possibility?

KUCHAREK: So, that is a possibility.

BALDWIN: Oh, OK.

KUCHAREK: If it was attempted, or -- at this point, it's going to be part of the investigation.

BALDWIN: All right. Mike, thank you so much. I had a lot of questions. I appreciate all your answers. Best of luck to you there with NORAD. Thank you.

Quick break. You're watching CNN. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:40]

BALDWIN: We are back with our breaking news. Yes, if you are now just joining us, we are still following this

blimp. It's on the loose. Again, this is a U.S. military blimp. It's about -- we just heard -- two football field lengths. It is massive, and it's somewhere over the skies in Pennsylvania. It broke loose from its cables right around noon in Maryland, and we just talked to someone from NORAD.

Sort of fascinating, talking about what its use is, but it has this 10,000-foot cable. It's not actually ever supposed to fly. And the one possibility as far as bringing this thing down, as he said, they can deflate it remotely. He would prefer not to have it shot down, as we have been talking to people who have spotted this blimp.

As you can see, this is the first bit of video. It is losing altitude, so they're hoping perhaps it can land somewhere rural and the local authorities can get whatever intelligence and sensitive material that lies within this blimp.

That said, I have Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, who is joining me now, who can talk a little bit more about what this blimp is, its use is.

General, this is an aerostat blimp. And you're familiar with these because of, what, using them overseas?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes.

We have used these in Iraq and Afghanistan, Brooke, over the last couple of years. They are a great piece of tech. It's called an aerostat. JLENS, which you heard the individual from NORAD say before, stands for Joint Land Elevated Network Sensor.

These things do a whole bunch of stuff. We used to have some of these aerostats over all of our bases in Northern Iraq, as an example. They can see 360 degrees. If you put a forward-looking infrared radar on them, you can see in the dark. And it goes out quite a distance.

I don't want to say how far of a distance, but you can see people moving around on the ground miles away and track their location and what they're doing and all sorts of things. Truthfully, Brooke, I'm embarrassed to say it, but we had about 17 of these in Northern Iraq, and during my 15 months there in 2007 and '08, we lost three of them.

BALDWIN: No kidding.

HERTLING: One of them floated into Iran.

[15:25:03]

So these tethers break often. They give you great capability when you use these things for intelligence collection, and it sounds like that's what they're doing as part as homeland security or this NORAD exercise over the nation's capital.

But when you lose them, they float away. Now, over the desert, that's not too bad. But over the countryside of Pennsylvania and Maryland, where you have a lot of power lines, it could get a little sporty. And it sounds like that's what's happening today.

BALDWIN: If we're talking about -- this is a big deal because, if we're talking about these cables, as you point out, three came untethered in your time in Northern Iraq, you know, and we're reporting some power outages in Pennsylvania because these tethers or, as it was explained to me, it's almost a cable, it was dragging over some of these power lines, and yanking people's electricity.

HERTLING: Right. Well, it could certainly short out electrical cables.

What those cables do, they not tether it to a mooring station, but they also provide data from the cameras on board or the other sensors on board down the cable to the ground station. And that's what gives you the intelligence. So, yes, I'm a little bit confused, though, because we're talking about this thing flying at 16,000 feet. Those cables are not that long.

BALDWIN: Ten thousand feet.

(CROSSTALK)

HERTLING: And as it breaks free of the mooring, and that can be caused by winds or malfunctioning of the cable itself or even just a broken cable, because it's being pushed around in the air, this kind of stuff happens.

But the data you get from it is pretty good data and you get great intelligence. So it will cause problems. I heard the individual from NORAD say that you can remotely deflate them.

BALDWIN: Deflate it, right.

HERTLING: I don't have that same experience. We could not remotely deflate.

You can't -- you could shoot them down, certainly, but when you take a look at the balloon itself, that's heavy Mylar fabric that's around that balloon. That could cause damage just wherever it lands.

So the best way to deal with this is just to monitor it, watch it float, and it will eventually lose the helium inside and land somewhere. That's what happened to our balloons in Northern Iraq.

BALDWIN: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, we talk wars. We talk conflicts. And, today, my friend, we talk blimps on the loose. I really do appreciate your expertise and calling in.

(LAUGHTER)

HERTLING: We talk balloons, Brooke. It's great, isn't it?

BALDWIN: Thank you.

HERTLING: Every day is a holiday and every meal is a feast.

BALDWIN: There you go. Appreciate it so much.

This is serious, though, because what -- I just got handed a piece of paper. Apparently, 20,000 people are officially without power in the Bloomsburg, PA, area. This is according to folks with the electric company there saying that there are reports that the blimp hit power lines in this area and they're going to the scene to investigate that.

Again, blimp still on the loose, we're on it. We will be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)