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U.S. Jet Shoots Down "Unidentified Object" Over Canada; Over 28,000 Dead In Turkiye And Syria; New Russian Strikes Across Kharkiv Region; Starlink Limits Ukraine's Use; Near Space Race; Cnn Analysis Of Tyre Nichols Beating Video. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired February 12, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, it happened again: U.S. fighter jets called to shoot down something floating over America.
Though the death toll in Turkiye and Syria is rising, survivors still pulled from the rubble keep hope alive.
And more questions around Elon Musk and SpaceX and what's needed on the Ukrainian battlefield.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We are once again waiting to learn more -- anything, really -- about an unidentified object shot down by a U.S. fighter jet. The order came from U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday. Trudeau said it violated Canadian airspace crossing over in the far northwest area of the country.
The Pentagon said it was first spotted over Alaska on Friday. This is the third time in a week a U.S. jet has shot down something over North America. Here's Canada's defense minister.
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ANITA ANAND, CANADIAN MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEFENSE: It appears to be a small, cylindrical object and smaller than the one that was downed off the coast of North Carolina. There is no reason to believe that the impact of the object in Canadian territory is of any public concern.
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BRUNHUBER: Both of Alaska's senators are praising the military's response.
Republican Dan Sullivan tweeted, "I commend our military, particularly the active duty and Guard forces in Alaska, who've literally have been working around the clock for weeks, tracking and eliminating this unprecedented challenge."
And Republican Lisa Murkowski also commended them and said, "I will continue to encourage maximum transparency so that Alaskans have the greatest possible understanding of what they are and what we are doing, on the front line of our nation's defense, to take them safely out of the sky."
CNN's Natasha Bertrand is in Washington with more on this developing story.
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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau jointly authorized the shoot- down of an unidentified object that was flying over northern Canada Saturday.
The shoot-down was the third time in a week that U.S. fighter jets were scrambled to shoot down an object that had entered U.S. airspace. The object shot down on Saturday over Canada had first been spotted over Alaska Friday night, according to the Pentagon.
And it was ultimately shot down by U.S. fighter jets over Canada after being observed for 24 hours.
U.S. and Canadian officials say it is still not clear what the object is but the incident does come one day after the White House and Pentagon revealed President Biden ordered another unidentified flying object shot down on Friday off the coast of Alaska.
Sources told CNN, for that object, some pilots sent up to investigate it reported that their aircraft centers had been impacted and others said it was not clear how the object was propelling itself.
The Canadian incident comes exactly one week after the U.S. military, also on Biden's orders, shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. It is not clear whether the object shot down Saturday over Canada is related to the Chinese balloon or the object downed on Friday.
But U.S. officials said on Saturday that the FBI will be helping to recover and analyze the debris in all three incidents to try to get a better sense for what these objects were and what they are actually capable of -- Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Earlier I spoke with Iain Boyd at the University of Colorado and I asked him to weigh in on the pilots' claims that their jet sensors were jammed when they approached the object on Saturday.
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IAIN BOYD, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: That suggests that the payloads on these newer balloons are emitting some kind of electromagnetic signals that's under the general heading of electronic warfare.
It's used by militaries all across the world -- and jamming is one example of that. At the very least, it suggests there's a lot of electrical activity on those newer balloons.
BRUNHUBER: So looking at the bigger picture, what's going on here?
Is it all of a sudden China -- we assume these are from China --
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BRUNHUBER: -- is ramping up what appears to be an aerial surveillance campaign?
Or are we now aware of the spy balloons, we're now on the lookout or the public is at least being told about them?
BOYD: I think it's a little bit all of those things. It seems clear the U.S. is now shooting first and asking questions later. I think that's partly because the U.S. and Canada and some of the countries down in South America are probably all on heightened alert because of that first balloon.
So the skies are being watched more carefully than usual. And then obviously in the U.S., there's been mounting political pressure to act more quickly. And at the same time, China's denials, I think, with the multiple balloons and those denials, it's increasing suspicions that there is a campaign of surveillance being conducted here.
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BRUNHUBER: And you can hear my full interview with him in the next hour.
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BRUNHUBER: A top humanitarian aid official from the U.N. said the earthquake that devastated Turkiye and Syria was the worst event in the past century. Martin Griffiths made the remark as he observed the devastation from the quake and pledged more support.
So far both countries have confirmed more than 28,000 deaths from Monday's disaster.
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MARTIN GRIFFITHS, U.N. UNDERSECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: What happened here on Monday, the epicenter of the earthquake was the worst event in 100 years in this region.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Six days since the earthquake struck, rescue workers in Turkiye are holding out hope that they'll find more people alive, even as their chances of survival gets smaller each day.
On Saturday, emergency crews made a few more rescues, including this one, a mother and son, who were trapped under a collapsed building for at least 134 hours. The rescue operation was carried out by international volunteers, including authorities from Los Angeles, who worked for hours to pull out the survivors. Nada Bashir joins us now from Istanbul.
As we saw there, more than 100 hours since the quake hit but people are still being pulled alive from the rubble.
Is that giving some families hope?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, and the rescue effort is continuing but that hope is dwindling, as the days pass by and the chances of finding survivors beneath the rubble is fading.
We're seeing small glimmers of hope. Yesterday a number of people rescued, five days from Monday's earthquake, and now today we're seeing further rescues taking place. We saw a number of remarkable rescues, one where a woman had been trapped beneath the rubble for 132 hours waiting to be rescued.
There was, of course, a huge amount of support around the site; family members waiting, extremely worried for their loved ones. Today we're learning that a 10-year-old girl has also been rescued in the city after 147 hours. This is six days since the earthquake. This is a significant feat.
There is still hope survivors can be found. Of course, that hope is dwindling, particularly in the northwestern Syria. The White Helmets have been leading in that effort and say they have given up hope. They're no longer treating this as a rescue mission but rather, this is a recovery effort.
They do not believe they'll find any more alive beneath the rubble. Hugely troubling new. Of course, there is a question of those who have survived but also impacted by the earthquake, now facing freezing conditions across southeastern Turkiye and northwestern Syria.
Many of those displaced not for the first time but multiple times after years of conflict and war. And of course, the issue of getting aid into Syria has proven hugely difficult, both the logistical challenges of getting aid from across Turkiye.
And although some roads were structurally intact, the roads leading up to it were badly damaged. Now the U.N. says it has managed to get across. We've seen U.N. representatives visiting northwest Syria.
At least 22 trucks were able to push through with the life-saving aid. They did need that support early on. But here in Turkiye you also see the outpouring of support, huge amounts of aid being distributed, sent to the quake zone. [04:10:00]
BASHIR: This has been an international effort. We have seen search- and-rescue teams traveling in from across the globe. They're still traveling in to take part, to offer humanitarian support, the medical support needed for those who have been left homeless by this earthquake.
There are questions now raising about the accountability behind this earthquake. President Erdogan said an investigation is being carried out across the 10 provinces hit. More than 200 public prosecutors have been appointed to oversee this investigation.
A number of people have been arrested in connection with the construction of these now destroyed buildings in some parts of the country over allegations of negligence; some arrested even overseas. One man was arrested in Cyprus, another at Istanbul International Airport, trying to flee to Montenegro.
In Adana, there are at least 62 detention orders that have now been issued. There is a real focus by the government on accountability. I have to say there are also questions being raised about the government itself and whether enough was done to prepare for a situation like this.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Nada Bashir in Istanbul. Appreciate it.
International aid can't come soon enough for rebel-held areas in northwest Syria. Millions there depended on foreign aid before the earthquake hit. Now they could find themselves homeless again, as makeshift camps go up next to the rubble.
Meanwhile flights like this from UAE are reaching government controlled areas and Italy says it's bringing in supplies from neighboring Lebanon.
Aid can be held to the rebel-held territory but won't go to what it deems terrorist groups. There are fears it will cut off supplies to the same people subjected to heavy bombing and other brutal tactics for years.
A California based group, Direct Relief, is sending medical supplies and other key items. They have a warehouse in Santa Barbara that's packed with supplies and it hopes to fly more to Istanbul in the coming days. Here's what it will be used for.
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DR. ALYCIA CLARK, DIRECTOR OF PHARMACY AND CLINICAL AFFAIRS, DIRECT RELIEF: The main issues are crush injuries, hypothermia, a lot of fractures. And so at least within the ICU community, within Turkiye, they're requesting a lot of things for orthopedic surgery, anesthesia, crush wounds, just regular kind of wound management.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile Pakistan's prime minister is praising what he calls "a glorious act of philanthropy." Shehbaz Sharif was deeply moved by a Pakistani, who donated $30 million at the Turkish embassy in the U.S.
If you are looking how to help, you can go to cnn.com/impact and find a list of those working on rescue and relief efforts. Again, that's cnn.com/impact.
Elon Musk's SpaceX company is at odds with Ukraine again. Why it believes its Starlink technology is being turned into a weapon. We'll have more on that. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: A new barrage of Russian strikes on Ukraine. The target was Kyiv region which took fire from an array of heavy weapons. The attack left one person injured and more than 100 residential buildings damaged. David McKenzie joins us from Kyiv.
What more can you tell us about the latest strikes?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, those strikes are part of a relentless barrage of missile strikes into that region of northeastern Ukraine with significant damage overnight.
I think where the real intense battles are happening are in the eastern front in what one Ukrainian force commander calls the Donetsk access. Around Vuhledar, it's highly significant in terms of battle strategy.
You've had the Russians pummeling that town and what looks like significant successes in recent days of the Ukrainians attacking mechanized units that appear to be, in some cases at least on the available video evidence, in disarray.
That is a zone where it is widely believed the Russian forces will attempt a major offensive if there is one. In the last few days, you've heard criticisms from even the Russian sources of the ability of the Russian forces to push through the heavy Ukrainian defenses.
I think in the next few days and weeks, that will be a critical area to watch. But what is tragic, of course, with this attritional warfare, is the amount of losses coming from both sides.
The U.K. defense intelligence saying that, according to them at least, the Russians have seen a greater rate of casualties during this period than any other time of the war, except for maybe the first few days of the conflict. That heavy fighting is not seeing significant gains on either side.
And it seems that Ukrainians are able to stand their ground and have had quite some time to build up their defensive positions there. But I think that will be an important area to watch if there is a major breakthrough by either side.
BRUNHUBER: How have Ukraine's air defenses been coping with that?
MCKENZIE: It seems like they're coping pretty well, Kim. Certainly when it comes to the drones, the Ukrainians seem to have figured out, at least at this point, how to deal with those Iranian made drones. They say they took down at least 20 of them over late Friday into Saturday morning.
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MCKENZIE: And that was part of an intense barrage of missiles that we saw in the early Friday hours. Of course, there is an attempt by the Russians to strike the civilian energy infrastructure of Ukraine in the midst of the winter months.
It seems like they're unsuccessful. One proof of that is, in Kyiv, in the region, and to the south and toward Dnipro, there is no planned power blackouts, which is a significant victory of morale for Ukrainians, who have seen blackouts because of the strikes on their infrastructure.
And the two go together, the successful downing of the missiles and drones and the attempt to keep the power on and keep morale up of the citizens of this country. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: We appreciate the reporting out. There David McKenzie, thanks so much.
Elon Musk's company SpaceX is showing once again how fickle it can be when it comes to Ukraine. Ukrainian troops have come to rely on the company's Starlink technology for their communications.
They praised Starlink as a game-changer. But SpaceX is now drawing a line saying it's limiting how much they can use it to navigate its drones. They say it has provided the technology to keep Ukraine's banks and hospitals running, not to be weaponized.
For more we have Olga Boichak, speaking to us from Sydney, Australia.
Thanks so much for being with us.
First of all, with Russia targeting electricity and communications, what difference has Starlink made to Ukrainian civilians, which was sort of the original intent, from Elon Musk's point of view?
OLGA BOICHAK, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY: Good morning, Kim. Starlink has made a significant difference. We heard about the blackouts. We heard about the deliberate targeting of these infrastructures.
So it is really significant in that aspect. Also another thing we rarely talk about is Russia had weaponized productivity of the occupied territories. So they essentially rerouted the internet connection, the telephone communications through the Russian networks and ISPs and telephone networks, which has weaponized the internet for those who use it.
So when Elon Musk says Starlink is being weaponized, that's not accurate because that is not what weaponization means; it means that internet is turned against those who use it.
Whereas, in this case, this is Ukrainian civilians and military using Starlink for a variety of purposes. They use it to coordinate the delivery of aid, of medicine, of supplies to the outlying territories as well as it's used by the military to translate information into real time to coordinate their maneuvers.
And they use it with the advantage of the so-called network (INAUDIBLE) warfare, where there's a lot of diffuse units exchanging real-time information. It can even be videos because Starlink provides unlimited high-speed internet.
So it allows them to be agile and coordinate their maneuvers. And that is a big difference from the traditional command and controlled, more vertical (ph) hierarchies.
BRUNHUBER: But it hasn't just been used by the military for communications.
It's also been used for their drones in an offensive capability, right?
BOICHAK: That is true. Because the terminals are small, portable, weather-proof, can be mounted on different surfaces, it's possible to mount them on automobiles and on drones.
However, what's significant about Starlink's announcement, that it is not possible at the customer data level to distinguish between civilian and military uses of the technology. Starlink terminals do not have an altitude meter. So it's not as straightforward on their end to really tell these apart.
We're living through an unprecedented moment in history, where these distinctions are being formed. This playbook is not written. So how this line is drawn and by whom is really not a simple question. And it is something that at this point we're all watching. There is no answer to that at this point.
BRUNHUBER: We saw the outcry after Musk a couple of months ago threatened to cut Ukraine off from Starlink.
How much of a worry is it that one man has his finger on this vital button?
BOICHAK: It is concerning. In Ukraine, there are over 25,000 terminals. About less than 20 percent have been donated by Elon Musk in the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The rest, some have been purchased by the government. Some have been donated. Some have been furnished by volunteers.
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BOICHAK: So that's another benefit of Starlink is that this technology is agile. It's possible to quickly purchase it and just deploy it at a geographically remote area; for example, in recently liberated Ukraine territories.
We all saw people in the recently liberated territories gathered around a Starlink terminal and writing messages to their loved ones in Ukraine, telling them they're alive. These are very touching moments. So Starlink is well suited for use in those circumstances.
And of course, it is a huge concern. We know that Elon Musk has lamented the costs that it costs to run Starlink in Ukraine because it's during wartime that the operating costs are high.
But we also know that Starlink is not the only tech company that's operating in Ukraine. And for many technology companies, they have been successfully able to mitigate those risks and, by doing so, they actually made those technologies safer for all of their users around the world.
So right now Starlink's announcement admits these vulnerabilities and it's a question of whether they would be willing to continue investing in the safety of their product. It's a big question of digital sovereignty.
It's a matter of how different governments and different institutions will think of their digital sovereignty and whether relying on private companies is actually a good idea in the long term in the interest of national security.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. It's an interesting issue that we'll have to keep watching. Olga Boichak, thanks so much for being here with us.
For our international viewers, "INSIDE AFRICA" is next. For the rest of you, our news continues. Please do stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
We're hoping to learn more about yet another object shot out of the sky by U.S. fighter jets, the third one in a week. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said the latest was taken down by the U.S. over Canada.
Mr. Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the strike by the country's shared air defense organization, NORAD. It was cylindrical and smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down last week. Not clear yet if the incidents are related. CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House with more on this developing story.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau took a very rare step on Saturday and jointly authorized the shooting down of an unidentified object over northern Canada.
This marks the third time in just the last week where the U.S. has had to shoot down an aerial object over North America. According to the Pentagon, NORAD first detected this latest object on Friday evening over Alaska. As they monitored it, they saw it crossed into Canadian airspace.
The president and Canadian prime minister spoke and decided to follow the advice of their military officials and decided to authorize shooting it down. It was at that time that Canadian and American fighter jets, through NORAD, worked together to try to take down this object, with ultimately an American F-22 shooting it down.
This follows, just one day prior on Friday, when President Biden had ordered the shooting-down of another unidentified, unmanned object near the coast of Alaska.
And just one week prior to that, ordered the shooting-down of that suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of the Carolinas.
Now the White House still and Pentagon still have many questions to answer relating to these last two unidentified objects, including the scope, the size, the origin and what exactly the purpose was -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: Now this latest unidentified objects and Chinese suspected spy balloon were spotted flying in the space above the Earth not normally used by airplanes and satellites. CNN's Will Ripley says this near space is become the new frontier for spying and settling conflicts.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China's new superpower battlefield, 12 to 60 miles above the earth, too low for satellites, too high for most jets. The stratosphere or, as China calls it, near space.
In 2018, the Chinese military's official newspaper said near space has become a new battlefield in modern warfare.
More than a decade ago, Felix Baumgartner's freefall jump from near space captivated the world and may have caught the attention of Chinese President Xi Jinping. As early as 2014, he ordered China's air force to speed up air and
space integration and sharpen their offensive and defensive capabilities. He prioritized development of hypersonic weapons, solar- powered drones and high-altitude balloons, all designed for near-space flight in the stratosphere's thin air.
China's not alone. The U.S. and others are jumping into the near space race. Back in 2012, a CNN camera captured the view from 100,000 feet on a high-altitude weather balloon.
China's suspected spy balloon, which the Pentagon claims was carrying high-resolution cameras and electronic monitoring equipment, could've captured crystal-clear images of highly sensitive areas and monitored military communications, in some ways, outperforming China's advanced spy satellites.
RUSS VAN DER WERFF, V.P., STRATOSPHERIC SOLUTIONS, AEROSTAR: When you have something that's up at 70,000 to 100,000 feet, you can see the horizon for 300 miles. A satellite is pretty expensive to get up there and takes a little bit of planning to launch it. And then you can't exactly change what it does or fix it once it's there.
RIPLEY: Navy divers are combing the waters off the Carolina coast so they can piece together the debris of what China calls a civilian weather balloon.
Unlike these weather balloons launched by hand from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Chinese balloon was massive.
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RIPLEY (voice-over): Some 200 feet tall with a 90-foot possibly solar-powered payload, the size of three city buses.
A source familiar with congressional briefings on the balloon said some components had English writing. It's not clear if they were made in America or another Western country -- Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
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BRUNHUBER: New fallout from the Memphis police beating death of Tyre Nichols. All the cases that the five former officers were involved in are getting a closer look by prosecutors and defense attorneys. We'll have details after the break. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The district attorney in Memphis, Tennessee, will review all prior cases involving the five officers charged in the beating death of Tyre Nichols. A CNN analysis is looking at which beat him and which tased him. We want to warn you, some of you may find the images disturbing. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These five officers that have been fired and charged are essentially undergoing more legal scrutiny. Prosecutors are raising the legal magnifying glass and reviewing all the cases these five officers have been involved in, criminal cases, really since day one of them becoming police officers.
Defense attorneys in Memphis, now going through their own individual cases, seeing if their clients somehow encountered any of the now defunct SCORPION unit. A CNN analysis of the disciplinary documents and four clips of the body cameras, that pole camera, cross- referencing them to see which officer did what in the beating of Tyre Nichols.
How far did they go?
Who tased him?
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ROSALES: I want to bring you back to that first scene, zeroing in on the traffic stop. You can see immediate aggression and violence by police officers. That is Demetrius Haley yanking Nichols out of the car. Haley and Emmitt Martin shouting at times contradictory commands.
Nichols responding, saying he is on the ground, holding up his hands. And then there were physical threats were made against Nichols. And then Haley right here, pepper spraying Nichols right in the face.
The body camera also captured Haley and Martin talking to fellow officers, saying what they say led to the traffic stop in the first place, reckless driving. Listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm talking about --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so we tried to get him to stop. He didn't stop. He didn't stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop. Then he drove around, swerved like he was going to hit my car.
So then I'm like, goddamn, what are we doing?
He pulled up to the rail, like stopped at the red light and put his turn signal on.
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ROSALES: As we're sitting here today, we know that's not true. In fact, their own police chief said there is not a shred of evidence that Tyre Nichols was recklessly driving.
There's no evidence he tried to swing or hit any of the police officers nor that he tried to grab their guns, something that these officers claimed in that body camera footage -- Isabel Rosales, CNN, Atlanta.
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BRUNHUBER: Nicaragua released over 200 political prisoners this week and sent almost all to the U.S. Washington has welcomed their release and is promising to give them medical aid and legal support. CNN's Rafael Romo has more.
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JUAN SEBASTIAN CHAMORRO, NICARAGUAN POLITICAL LEADER (through translator): You can imagine being in a cage for a year and eight months. It's been a very traumatic situation, as you can imagine.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): Juan Sebastian Chamorro is a free man for the first time in 20 months.
CHAMORRO (through translator): I was taken at night without an order. I was taken by the police. They stormed into my house and they took me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
ROMO (voice-over): The Nicaraguan political leader is one of 222 former political prisoners, including an American citizen, who were suddenly taken out of jail Wednesday and Thursday and put on a plane bound for the United States.
KEVIN SULLIVAN, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NICARAGUA: The U.S. government is providing them various types of assistance to adjust their situation here in Washington.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
ROMO (voice-over): Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega denied his country had negotiated with the United States for the prisoners' release. And Washington was very careful to say that the release was a unilateral decision.
NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: The release of these individuals by the government of Nicaragua marks a constructive step toward addressing the human rights abuses in that country. This action opens the door to the discussion of other matters of mutual concern.
ROMO: Most of the political prisoners flown to the U.S. Thursday were captured during a particularly violent crackdown of political opposition leaders and dissidents in 2021, when the president was getting ready to run for reelection.
Among those detained were at least seven potential presidential candidates whose voices were immediately silenced by the regime. With no opposition, Ortega won a fourth consecutive term months later.
CHAMORRO: Our legal case is a blueprint of abuses of the legal system. From the moment of the capture, we were not given the right of defense by our lawyers. We -- I never talked to my lawyer, never talked to my lawyer in private, which is a constitutional right.
And I was sentenced to 13 years in prison without any proof actually.
ROMO (voice-over): After spending years in prison, those released suffer yet another humiliation. When departing, the regime stripped them of their Nicaraguan citizenship.
Then on government media, they were labeled by multiple officials as traitors to the motherland.
But political activist Felix Madeira (ph), who's among the released, said no government action can take away what is rightfully his.
"Being Nicaraguan is in your soul," he said. "No law approved by the national assembly will take away my being Nicaraguan, something that will stay with me until I die" -- Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.
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BRUNHUBER: Still ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll take a bird's eye view on how police and the military are preparing to keep everyone safe during the Super Bowl. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Security has always been a concern for large sporting events ever since 9/11. And this year, extraordinary precautions are being taken before the Super Bowl. Rosa Flores has more from the skies above Glendale, Arizona.
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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What are a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): We're flying about 500 feet.
FLORES (voice-over): -- a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): All clear.
FLORES (voice-over): -- and an F-16 fighter jet doing over Glendale, Arizona?
They're tasked with guarding the skies over Super Bowl LVII.
With nearly 200,000 fans expected for the big game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, security is a multiple agency effort.
FLORES: What types of threats does the FBI prepare for when it comes to the Super Bowl?
AKIL DAVIS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, PHOENIX FIELD OFFICE: Yes, a wide variety. Anything from active shooters to explosive threats, IED threats, the bomb threats, suspicious packages.
FLORES (voice-over): From this operation center, the FBI, alongside more than 40 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, will use these 360-degree cameras to have eyes on every inch of the stadium.
Scott Brown is the federal top official in charge of security.
SCOTT BROWN, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS: I was in New York for 9/11. I've seen the devastating impacts of terrorism on our soil. I am deeply committed, as are all my partners, about making sure that we don't have an incident like that here.
FLORES (voice-over): Sky patrol is in the hands of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations.
FLORES: When your teams are patrolling, what should they be looking for?
JOSE MURIENTE, TUCSON AIR BRANCH, CBP AIR AND MARINE OPERATIONS: They're going to look for anything out of the ordinary, anything from smoke to disruptions.
FLORES: CBP Air and Marine Operations will be able to fly over the stadium during the big game. But no other aircraft will because the FAA will be imposing a flight restriction that's 30 miles wide.
FLORES (voice-over): Those flight restrictions will be enforced by NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, with these Air Force F-16 fighter jets.
MAJOR ANDREW SCOTT, 601ST AIR OPERATIONS CENTER: Since 9/11 we've been able to safely escort out any aircraft that's violated restricted air space.
FLORES (voice-over): NORAD is taking no chances. This KC-135 Stratotanker is part of the fleet on hand.
FLORES: This aircraft can carry up to 200,000 pounds of fuel. There are 10 tanks on board, including some on the wings.
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FLORES: And it can refuel an F-16 midair in minutes. CAPT. ANDREW SEE, NORAD: So it prevents us from having to return for fuel on the ground. So it's absolutely critical.
FLORES (voice-over): The fighter jets refuel from a receptacle that's right behind the pilot.
SEE: And my job as the pilot is just to remain within the basket in a safe, controlled, stable position.
FLORES (voice-over): If the FAA's flight restrictions are broken, NORAD or CBP Air and Marine Operations will engage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): Our role in the event of a criminal event is to bring special response teams to the scene.
FLORES (voice-over): The message from law enforcement to anyone thinking about committing a crime during the Super Bowl is simple.
(LAUGHTER)
DAVIS: Don't do it. You're going to wind up in cuffs.
FLORES (voice-over): Rosa Flores, CNN, Glendale, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Humans aren't the only ones predicting who's going to win the Super Bowl. Bakari, the baby giraffe, at the Des Moines Zoo, has picked the Kansas City Chiefs. Zoo officials say their animals have picked the winners in nine of the last 12 Super Bowls.
That wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM." I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back after a quick break. Please, stay with us.
