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Possible Havana Syndrome Incident Delayed Harris Flight to Vietnam; Pentagon Updates Afghanistan Withdrawal amid Stream of Terror Threats. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 25, 2021 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: Right now, Vice President Kamala Harris is in Vietnam pushing ahead on a short trip to Asia, this after her flight from Singapore to Vietnam was delayed yesterday following a report of a possible incident of what's known as Havana syndrome at the U.S. embassy in Hanoi.

The mysterious illness first emerged in Cuba in 2016. U.S. officials reported an increase in the number of suspected cases earlier this year. They're alarming. Victims report dizziness, nausea, headaches, head pressure, some have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries. It's serious. It seems to be expanding.

Joining me now to discuss is James Giordano. He's a Neurology Professor at Georgetown University Medical Center. He's also Director of the Institute for Biodefense Research. He's advised the U.S. government on neuroweapons.

I mean, it sounds like science fiction, Mr. Giordano, but this is happening.

[10:35:04]

They don't have an official explanation yet but they have a theory. Can you explain what that is?

JAMES GIORDANO, NEUROLOGY PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: That's correct. I mean, it's almost science fact seems stranger than fiction. The theory is that there's some form directed energy device that can be aimed with selected targeting that then produces these disruptive effects. So, at this point we're thinking the device is either an ultrasonic device, a microwave device, some combination of both.

SCIUTTO: And the intention to injury or the intention to steal data from a device, but it also injuries, as sort of collateral damage?

GIORDANO: It could be both. It could certainly be both. There may be an injurious artifact and the initial intent to surveillance and/or that there's a combined intent of both surveillance and injury, or that it's simply a disruptive effect to induce injury and some (INAUDIBLE) of disablement as well.

SCIUTTO: You've been advising the State Department on this issue going back four years now to 2017. And you shared documents with us adopted from what we should be clear was unclassified information that you previously provided with the Pentagon. You've examined the possibility, you find the most possible or probable causes are, as you say, ultrasonics, electromagnetic pulsing. I mean, what does this do to people?

GIORDANO: Well, it could be two things. I mean, the ultrasonics have been known for a while to be able to produce a variety of effects. For example, it creates imbalances within the inner ear and those disruptions can then vertigo, confusion. But one of the things we also recognize is that ultrasonics can do also induce something called the cavitation effect, in other words, little bubbles that can be produced in almost any fluid medium, including the fluid of the inner ear, which can then be translated to the blood supply to the brain, which then produces something very similar to decompression sickness, which may have long-term structural and functional implications.

Microwaves, on the other hand, work a bit differently. And the way they essentially work is that the brain is really nothing more than electrochemical organ, and microwaves can then disrupt the electrochemical integrity and break up the network connectivity that's so important to brain function.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. Well, listen, Doctor -- sorry, I call you doctor, but, James Giordano, we appreciate the work you're doing on this. A lot of folks out there suffering and they need answers. We're going to continue to follow the story.

I do want to bring our viewers now live to the Pentagon where Major General Hank Taylor is briefing on the latest on U.S. evacuation efforts from Afghanistan.

MAJ. GEN. HANK TAYLOR, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, JOINT STAFF REGIONAL OPERATIONS: -- as efficiently and safely as possible. In the past 24 hours, we exceeded the previous 24-hour flight departures and evacuated number of passengers nearing the previous day's record. Yesterday, 42 U.S. military aircraft, of which were 37 C-17s and 5 C- 130s departed with approximately 11,200 personnel. Combined with our 48 coalition and allied partners, with those departures, an additional 7,800 personnel left Kabul. That is 90 flights total yesterday that left the Kabul airport. That has accounted for 19,000 evacuees now safely out of Afghanistan within a 24-hour period.

Since the U.S. and coalition forces began the evacuation to date, approximately 88,000 have safely departed from Afghanistan. Every 39 minutes yesterday, a plane departed Kabul airport. These numbers are a testament to the hard working and brave service members carrying out this mission.

In cooperation with the State Department, I can also tell you that there are more than 10,000 people currently at this time at the airport awaiting departure. This is a snapshot in time, and as we said yesterday, we'll continue to change as more people are able to come onto the airfield and as flights depart.

As I said yesterday, in order for this throughput to remain steady, we depend on capacity and efficiency of our intermediate staging bases and safe havens. We are appreciative of the support and rely on our allies and partners in this global endeavor.

In the UCOM AOR, six flights will transport about 1,800 vulnerable Afghans from Germany to the United States today. In addition, approximately 2,000 more will arrive, in this case, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is scheduled to receive approximately 13 flights.

Since August 20th, UCOM has assisted approximately 10,000 vulnerable Afghans and evacuees for transit to onward locations.

[10:40:09]

You'll likely hear more details today at planned press scheduled with Mr. Kirby and planned for General Walters later today.

Several thousand evacuees have arrived in the United States so far and will continue to do so. In the past 24 hours, five flights landed at Dulles International Airport with approximately 1,200 passengers. As part of this process, these individuals completed biometric vetting and screening in accordance with the FBI, NCTC and customs and border control standards, all directed by the Department of Homeland Security. We are working around the clock to provide safe, sanitary and appropriate receptions and processing at all of our locations throughout the world.

We know you have questions about our current timeline and intent for departure. Our mission remains unchanged. For each day of this operation, we have carried out the direction of the president and the secretary of defense. Until that mission changes, we will continue to put forth our maximum effort to safely evacuate as many people as possible, and we will keep you updated.

Lastly, I want to give you a short update on Haiti. The Department of Defense and U.S. Southern Command continue to be in full support of USAID as the lead federal agency. The USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance Team has been on the ground since the beginning and we've been supporting them since then, as have a lot of our allies and partners working with international community to identify points of need.

This lifesaving aid and assistance mission is where DOD's unique capabilities, specifically in airlift and logistics are engaged each day to get that lifesaving aid where it needs to be rapidly. As of late last evening, JTF Haiti has conducted over 364 full-spectrum missions, both with the DOD assets and the United States Coast Guard, which have assisted and saved lives and delivered over 163 pounds of vital aid as of late yesterday. Thank you.

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning everybody. Just one more note and then we'll get to questions. I think you may have seen now we have released the secretary's memo with respect to mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19. He has determined after careful consultation with medical experts and military leadership and, of course, with the support of the president, that mandatory vaccination against the coronavirus disease, COVID-19, it is necessary to protect the safety of our service members and our force.

Mandatory vaccination will only use COVID-19 vaccines that receive full licensure from the Food and Drug Administration in accordance with FDA-approved labeling and guidance. Mandatory vaccination requirements will be implemented consistent with DOD immunization program instruction 6205.02, in other words, the existing structure and regulations that govern policies and procedures for managing mandatory vaccination across the force. This is consistent with the department's efforts to ensure the safety of our service members and, again, to maintain readiness of the force.

With that, we'll take questions. Bob?

REPORTER: John, thank you. With regard to Afghanistan, I wonder if you could give us a sense of what the evacuation endgame is likely to look like or expected to look like in terms of the sequence of events over the last, say, three, four, five days? Will the U.S. need to have sort of exclusive use of the fields and the apparatus to execute the final flights?

KIRBY: I'll ask the general to probably be more specific than me, Bob, but what we anticipate happening in the last couple of days, we will -- so, first of all, we will continue to evacuate needed populations all the way to the end if we have to and we need to. If you're an evacuee that we can get out, we're going to continue to get you out right up until the end.

But in those last couple of days, we're going to try to preserve as much capability as we can at the airport, as you might imagine.

[10:45:05]

So, in those last couple of days, we will begin to prioritize military capabilities and military resources to move out. That doesn't mean that if you're an evacuee and you need to get out, that we're not going to try to get you out, but that we will have to reserve some capacity in those last couple of days to prioritize the military footprint leaving because we want to be able to keep it there as long as possible to do the job that it's intended to do.

REPORTER: The charter flights, for example, would be finished earlier. And when you refer to military resources, are you talking about American only?

KIRBY: I'm talking about primarily U.S. military troops and equipment. We are now and have been working with our allies and partners to help them withdraw their people and we'll help them withdraw their forces as well.

REPORTER: Right to the very end, or you have to do that earlier?

KIRBY: Well, look, I mean, obviously we want to preserve as much capability as possible. Some of that capability is not ours. Some of it is our allies and partners. So there will be a balance there. And it will be up to the Admiral Vasely to determine how he strikes that balance in terms of making sure he has the maximum capability for as long as possible.

So there will be a transition more towards getting military assets out as we get closer to the end. But, again, we're going to continue to work the evacuation mission right up until the last day.

TAYLOR: I think what I would add for the great answer Mr. Kirby gave there is, as you've seen in the last three days, the complexity and the amount of aircraft moving in and out. So, the capability to continue to sequence and plan for the actual requirements that leave on a daily basis is going to be made on the ground. But as you've seen, we have that capability to manage quite a lot of throughput and be able to put the right things on those aircraft as they come in and as they leave.

REPORTER: John, who is guarding the U.S. embassy right now? Who will guard after the U.S. military pulls out? Are there any contingencies? Do you have an agreement with the Taliban?

And in terms of the airport, do you have an agreement with any NATO allies, like the Turks, to keep the airport open after the U.S. military pulls out?

KIRBY: So, as I understand it, I know there's no military assets guarding the embassy compound. The U.S. embassy is operating out of Hamid Karzai International Airport. As for the Turks, they're still on the ground at the airport assisting in this security mission that we have there. I won't speak for their intentions one way or another going forward, but there's not going to be -- when the mission is over and when we are leaving the airport, the airport will not be the United States -- our responsibility anymore. So, how it gets managed going forward will be something that the Taliban, who are now in Kabul, will have to manage them on their own and I assume with the international community. But that won't be an American responsibility.

REPORTER: And just one more. How many individuals on terror watch lists have been screened or found at any screening points either in Qatar, Ramstein or in the U.S.?

KIRBY: I don't know. We'll have to take that question and get back to you.

REPORTER: Thank you, John. Thank you, general. On behalf of the Afghan people, thank you very much for your hard job and good job actually.

KIRBY: Thank you.

REPORTER: And Afghan people, they are happy, but some of them, that they are not eligible for SIV visa, P1, P2, but still they have a serious problem. They are not in Kabul. They are hiding. They move from one place to the other place. And they contact with me, like more than a hundred people contacted with me saying, what can we do? And I say I'm nobody to do something. Is there any plan from the State Department or from the Pentagon, because they're under target of the Taliban? The Taliban yesterday, the spokesperson, Mujahid, said that why United States make a problem for us. We are not allowing the people to leave Afghanistan, now they're in like in jail.

On the other hand, Taliban is not just one group. There are different groups, like five groups, and a lot of people there and their problem but they're not eligible for those visas.

[10:50:04]

Is there any possibility and any other option for them to be safe?

KIRBY: Nazir (ph), I can't speak for each and every Afghan who wants to leave and is dealing with their own individual circumstances to get out. We know there are a lot of desperate people who want to leave, and that's why we are working as fast as we can. And you saw the numbers that we continue to be able to get out. We're working as fast as we can to get out American citizens, special immigrant visa applicants and vulnerable Afghans, and we continue to work at this.

I can't begin to give to try to give you specific advice on what these individuals ought to do. I certainly encourage them to reach out to the State Department. But from the Pentagon's perspective, we're doing the best we can, as fast as we can to move as many people as we can out on any given day. But I'm not able to -- and I know my answer is unsatisfying, and I apologize for that. But I'm not able to speak to our ability to reach out and touch every single Afghan that wants to get out. And believe me, we're very mindful of the plight here and we're trying the best we can to alleviate that.

REPORTER: Thank you. I want to follow up to what Jen was asking about. You said that there won't be a military presence guarding an embassy. So, post-August 31st --

KIRBY: At the embassy compound. She specifically asked about the embassy compound, which we're not operating out of right now.

REPORTER: Post-August 31st, after that date, can you just explicitly say there will be no U.S. diplomatic presence, U.S. diplomatic presence post-August 31st?

KIRBY: I can't speak for that. That's a State Department issue.

REPORTER: And then to follow up, there's been reports that an ISIS -- that somebody who was affiliated with ISIS got on one of the flights. What's going on with that?

KIRBY: Yes. I mean, I've seen similar press reporting on this. I just don't have anything to update you on that. I don't have any information. What I should have said to Jen, that's really a better question for the Department of Homeland Security, but we'll see if we can track down something for you. I'm not trying to evade it. I just don't know. We're doing the best we can to manifest people on these flights and get them out as fast as possible.

There is screening being done not by DOD but by DHS, immigration, intelligence officials are doing the screening for people as they go on for onward flights. We're really focused on trying to get as many of these individuals out.

REPORTER: And then one last one, just the same question I had yesterday. Have there been any air extractions in Kabul, any additional ones since the two that you guys have told us about? And have there been any efforts outside of Kabul to extract Americans and at-risk Afghans?

TAYLOR: Yes. So, last night, during the period of darkness, there was an operation to be able to go out and safely evacuate evacuees back into Kabul. They're at HKIA. And they're safely there preparing to be evacuated.

REPORTER: So when you said -- was it in Kabul and then they brought them into the airport or was it --

TAYLOR: It was outside of the airfield, outside airfield in a way that -- and we were able to bring them back to Kabul safely. And they're preparing for evacuation.

KIRBY: Back to the airport.

TAYLOR: Airport, to the airport, yes.

KIRBY: It was inside Kabul. David?

REPORTER: Was that a helicopter operation?

KIRBY: It was.

REPORTER: Can you tell us how many?

KIRBY: We're not going to provide specific details, less than 20. I'm not going to provide additional details.

REPORTER: So, can I ask -- that wasn't the question for me. Yesterday, it was reported that the withdrawal had already begun and several hundred troops had already come out. And you pushed back on that saying that these were people whose functions were no longer needed. But all withdrawals sort of began with pulling out non- essential personnel first. Why shouldn't we view that as clearing the decks for the hard core withdrawal that is going to come here?

KIRBY: Yes, that's a great question. And I wasn't pushing back on headlines that said withdraw. I was simply trying to describe what happened without hyperbole. So, let me just back up. What happened was the commander on the ground, Admiral Vasely, in trying to manage time and space at the airport, determined that it was the prudent thing to do to let several hundred troops leave the airport.

[10:55:12]

Some of these troops did come in with the troops that were added for the non-combatant evacuation, the 5,800. Some of them were troops that were already there at Hamid Karzai International Airport before any additional troops flowed in for the non-combatant evacuation. And as you know, David, we were still in the process. Before there was a need to do a non-combatant evacuation, we were still in the process of a drawdown at the airport, the previous plan, by the end of the month. And so some of the troops that flew home yesterday were in that tranche, and so they were very much a part of the original drawdown plan.

And Admiral Vasely saw fit that there was some others that he believed that he didn't need there at the airport anymore even though they had flown in with the plus-up for the NEO. And these are headquarter staff personnel, some maintainers and some other enabling forces who either had completed their mission and were already scheduled to go, as I said, even before there was a non-combatant evacuation, and others who Admiral Vasely determined that their mission was complete, he didn't need them anymore. And, again, time and space are a premium at the airport. He has the authority to make that decision.

So, I wasn't pushing back on the fact -- the withdrawal has been going on since April 14th when the president announced it. I wasn't pushing back. I just wanted to make it clear that we hadn't pushed some button and said, go retrograde now. We still have on the ground about 5,400 of the 5,800 that we reached at the maximum. And Admiral Vasely has the authority to manage in a prudent way his force management on the ground.

And I haven't gone to the phones and I want to make sure I don't forget that. Jeff Shogul (ph).

REPORTER: Thank you very much. From talking to military groups, it is evident that the Taliban are still blocking Afghans from gaining entrance to Hamid Karzai International Airport. And even when Afghans make it on to the airport, there have been instances where they have been escorted off due to paperwork issues. So, I'd like to know what steps is the U.S. government taking to make sure that Afghans do have safe passage to the airport, and under what circumstances are Afghans with valid visas who are admitted to the airport ultimately escorted off of the airport grounds?

KIRBY: Jeff, it's difficult for us to answer that here at the Pentagon when we're not at the gates and on the ground at the airport. What I would tell you is a couple of things, and I recognize that no process is perfect and that the -- I'm not disputing at all the accounts that you're relaying here today, that there may be hiccups and problems. We certainly recognize that.

But let me just take a couple of steps back and tell you how this is working, and we've talked about this before. We have consular officers now, there's more 30 at the airport stationed at the gates with American troops who are helping them do their job of processing individuals as they come in, checking credentials, making sure that they are who they say they are and that they are in a valid group that were trying to move onto the airport grounds. Outside of that, the Taliban have set up checkpoints. We've talked about this before.

And we are in daily communication with Taliban commanders about who we want to see get in and what the credentials are, what they look like, what's valid. And that communication happens literally every day. We have been nothing but open with the Taliban about who we expect them to let in. Again, we fully recognize that not every step of this process is in our firm control and there are going to be instances where it doesn't work as advertised. But I can tell you that there isn't a single day that goes by where Admiral Vasely and General Donahue aren't working this in a very personal way with Taliban authorities outside the airport.

Let me go to another one on the phone. Tara?

REPORTER: Thank you for doing this, John.

[11:00:00]

Yesterday the president mentioned, also, that he was calling upon the department to create contingency plans in case the number of Americans and Afghans that still need to get