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New Day

Ebola-Infected American Arrives in U.S.; Interview with Major General Gary Volesky of 101st Airborne Division; FBI Director: A Dozen Americans Fighting for ISIS in Syria

Aired October 06, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Why wasn't he given the experimental drugs that saved the others treated in the U.S.?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Terror threat. The FBI director speaks out on just how dangerous ISIS is on the homeland. How many Americans does he believe are fighting for the terror and can they track them all?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

CAMEROTA: And good morning again, everyone. Welcome to NEW DAY. It's Monday, October 6th, 8:00 in the East. I'm Alisyn Camerota, alongside with Chris Cuomo.

Great to be with you.

Breaking overnight: a freelance NBC photographer infected by Ebola is now back in the U.S. for treatment. Thirty-three-year-old Ashoka Mukpo is the fifth American with the deadly virus to be transported to the U.S. His especially equipped jet touching down in Maine for refueling overnight and now on its way to Nebraska.

The prognosis looks grim for Thomas Eric Duncan. According to the chief of the Centers for Disease Control, the Liberian man is not receiving any of that experimental medicine as he clings to life in a Dallas hospital, and that's because all of the doses are gone.

And this morning, we're learning that the United States is now considering beefing up screenings at major airports to prevent a domestic Ebola outbreak.

Our coverage of this international health crisis begins with senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen in Dallas.

Elizabeth, thanks for being back with us. What's the latest there?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest that we know is that Thomas Eric Duncan is in critical condition. And as he fights for life inside this Texas hospital, officials are trying to keep the disease from spreading here in Dallas and trying to keep the disease from coming to our shores once again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: People are scared.

COHEN (voice-over): This morning, CNN has learned U.S. officials are considering new screenings at airports to detect passengers arriving by the CDC itself.

Lawmakers are now calling for the U.S. to halt flights from Ebola's stricken nations to America.

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: Just want to do everything we can to prevent this awful epidemic, this awful disease from coming further into the United States?

COHEN: A step the CDC says goes too far.

FRIEDEN: If we make it harder to fight the outbreak in West Africa, we actually increase our own risk.

COHEN: This as the condition of Thomas Eric Duncan who arrived in the U.S. by plane September 20th advances from serious to critical. The Ebola patient is now fighting for his life after being diagnosed almost a week ago in Dallas. On Friday, Duncan's family was relocated to an undisclosed location, quarantined until October 19th. Their apartment is finally being sanitized. They had lived in the home six days after he was diagnosed.

BRAD SMITH, VP, EBOLA SANITATION CREW: Anything that's in there. It will be completely stripped from carpet to curtains, to all belongings.

COHEN: Over the weekend, authorities found the last of the 48 people they say may have come in contact with Duncan in Dallas after a day long manhunt, including this man Michael Lively who rode in the same ambulance after Duncan last Tuesday. Lively escorted to the hospital in full surgical garb, a mask covering his face. All 10 high risk patients, mostly health care workers, have shown no symptoms as of it.

This as the fifth American to contract Ebola arrives back in the U.S. from Liberia this morning.

The father of Ashoka Mukpo, an NBC freelancer, told "The Providence Journal" newspaper he still has the fever, but his spirits are very good. The freelance journalist will be the second Ebola patient treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He'll be transported through a remote area of the airport, away from the terminal and public areas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Earlier on NEW DAY, Dr. Thomas Frieden, the head of CDC, said they're considering all possibilities for screening at U.S. airports, still trying to come up with a plan. It's not clear why months into this outbreak, they're still trying to figure out what to do -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes, it's obviously very complicated. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for that update.

CUOMO: Now, as Alisyn was saying, Thomas Eric Duncan is in a very difficult fight to stay alive in a Dallas hospital n. And his homeland of Liberia, the Ebola outbreak is spiraling out of control.

So, let's go live to Monrovia and bring in Nima Elbagir. Nima retraced Duncan's steps, even visiting his home and closest friends.

Now, this is very important to do, because it's all about contact. And what did we discover?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESONDENT: Absolutely, Chris. It's all about tracing that broader contact. Thomas Eric Duncan is just a piece of the puzzle. It is almost becoming an outbreak within the outbreak.

We spoke to the sister of Marthalene Williams, the Ebola victim, the teenage Ebola victim we should say who passed from the virus, that Duncan is believed to have contracted Ebola from. She told us nobody knew she had Ebola including Duncan. And he got on that plane to the U.S. not knowing that she had died from Ebola. And nor did any of the hundred or so other people that have been confirmed to have either touched her body or come in contact with Williams while she was alive.

This is almost becoming an outbreak within the outbreak. Nine people in addition to Thomas Eric Duncan here either dead or dying, Chris, after coming into contact with Marthalene Williams. It is just absolutely heartbreaking.

And it gives you a real sense of what Dr. Tom Frieden, the head of CDC has been saying all along, that until the outbreak is contained here, no one anywhere around the world, whether in the U.S. or across Africa will be safe from this, Chris.

CUOMO: That's an important point to keep making, Nima, because especially in the U.S. people are concerned with where they live. But we have to look at what the true source of Ebola is and we have to fight hardest there.

Thank you for the reporting. Stay safe. We'll check back in with you.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, Chris.

Joining us now is Major General Gary Volesky. He is the commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division, and he is leading the Joint Forces Command in Liberia.

General, thanks so much for being with us. We know you're exclusively with us this morning. Thanks so much for taking the time.

MAJOR GENERAL GARY VOLESKY, COMMANDING GENERAL, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: Thanks for having me.

CAMEROTA: OK. You will be deploying two weeks with 700 troops we understand. What are you doing today to prepare?

VOLESKY: All of our soldiers that are going to deploy are in the process of conducting some pretty deliberate pre-deployment training to prepare ourselves for the environment we're going into in Liberia.

CAMEROTA: OK. We understand that as of the latest figures, there are 3,458 infected people at last count in Liberia. The CDC says that number doubles every 15 to 20 days, meaning by the time you get there, there will be 7,000 infected people with Ebola.

Is there anything to do in the next two weeks to try to contain this?

VOLESKY: Well, I would tell you what we're doing to prepare ourselves to support the lead federal agency that's USAID. We're looking at medical providers that are going to go train health care providers in Liberia to help address that situation. We're also going to deploy some capability engineer-wise, so that we can build this treatment, these Ebola treatment units to help USAID and the government of Liberia help contain that virus.

Additionally, we're training soldiers to make sure they're protected or have the knowledge they need to protect themselves from becoming infected. So, that's what we're doing here at 101st.

CAMEROTA: And let's talk about that, because Rear Admiral John Kirby of the Pentagon said that he does not expect any of your troops or U.S. troops, there might be a force between 3,000 and 4,000 in West Africa, he doesn't expect them to be around sick patients.

How will you avoid being around sick patients?

VOLESKY: Well, again, we're supporting the lead federal agency USAID. And there's, as you know, a large number of other people also supporting that effort.

As we go build Ebola treatment units and train health care providers, we're facilitating that through other partners there. So, I don't expect that soldiers will be in those vicinities where there are infected -- people that have been infected with Ebola.

CAMEROTA: He also said, Rear Admiral Kirby, that you won't be working in high risk areas. Again, explain how to us how you differentiate in Liberia, between what the low risk area and a high risk area at this point.

VOLESKY: Well, again, the Ebola treatment units that we will be building, I mean, we have to take those and build from the ground up. So, there aren't going to be patients there. We'll turn those facilities over to those that will run them once they're constructed.

The training center that we're building is not in the infected area to train health care providers. So, we will take all the appropriate measures to make sure that we've protected ourselves as well as continue to support the USAID led effort.

Again, our soldiers are going through some pretty intense training here. We got professionals coming to tell us about Ebola. So, the soldiers can recognize the symptoms and take appropriate actions to prevent themselves from acquiring this disease.

CAMEROTA: So, in other words, they will be trained to take their temperature several times a day. Beyond that, what's the training?

VOLESKY: Well, to recognize the symptoms. And again, there are leaders as well out there ensuring that our soldiers are adhering to those and not taking actions that could cause them to acquire this disease.

And so, we aren't going to be out there with the patients themselves. We're not going to be treating people that are infected. Again, our mission is to build Ebola treatment units to help the government get these folks the treatment that they need, and to train health care providers that we'll be getting after the training for them.

CAMEROTA: General, there was a disturbing article in "The New York Times" about the shipping container that is sitting in a dock at Sierra Leone. It has in it protective gloves, gowns, stretchers, linens, face masks, protective suits, all -- a whole array of medical supplies that are needed in West Africa. But it's sitting on the dock because the country's governments aren't able to kind of disseminate this stuff the way the U.S. can.

Will you be involved in any of those efforts, to try and to get needed supplies to people?

VOLESKY: We bring some unique capabilities as you know, that we will support USAID in their efforts to really address the holistic piece of containing this virus.

As you know, the infrastructure in some areas is limited. And so, we'll work with USAID to get those necessary supplies where they need to go. But again, we bring capabilities, but we're not the lead federal agency, as you know, like we have been in previous operations. So, we'll do what we can to support USAID and really get whatever they need where they need it.

CAMEROTA: Well, we know you'll do your duty as you always do. Best of luck, General Gary Volesky. Thanks so much for taking time for us.

VOLESKY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Michaela who has our headlines.

PEREIRA: I sure do. Thanks, Alisyn.

"Show mercy", those words from Abdul-Rahman Kassig's parents in a plea to ISIS to release their son. CNN is now using Peter Kassig's Muslim name in a show of respect for his family. The 26-year-old was captured by the terrorist group last October while spearheading a humanitarian effort for Syrian refugees. Continuing the 113-year-old tradition, the Nobel Prize announcement

kicked off yesterday in Sweden. Today's winners, John O'Keefe and May-Britt Moser and Edward Moser were awarded the Nobel Prize this morning for their accomplishments in medicine. Announcements for physics, chemistry and economics will take place later this week. The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded Friday.

Michael Phelps, the swimmer, taking a break from the pool to get some help. The Olympic swimming champ was charge last week with driving under the influence on I-95 in Baltimore. Phelps telling his followers on Twitter, he will attend a counseling program to help better understand himself, adding, quote, "Right now, I need to focus on me as an individual."

And I thought you need a little sweetness today. Check out this video, trending on YouTube. A toddler showing off pretty impressive skateboarding skills without little help. Some person commented, does that look like Tony Hawk? When you look closely, it does not actually. It looks a bit like him. I don't buy it. But he wasn't mentioned in the clip. But, look, the kiddo is having a blast.

CAMEROTA: How is he staying on the skate board?

PEREIRA: Well, there's gravity, and then the arm, and then the hand. Were you talking about the man?

CAMEROTA: No, I'm talking about this child.

PEREIRA: Isn't it great? It's really cute. I just thought we need a little sweetness after all the news.

CUOMO: Now, who was filming that video? Do you think it was the mom? Or mom too scared? Although the father is obviously a pro. He's amazing.

Would you shoot that video or would you be too busy hitting your video with a broom?

CAMEROTA: Well, if I was married to that guy who knows himself around on a skate board --

CUOMO: Knows what he's doing.

CAMEROTA: -- I'd be happy to --

PEREIRA: Where's my broom? I'd hit you.

CUOMO: I saw you ride it in this morning.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Oh, my -- wow!

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: He laughs and he drinks because it's an awkward moment. CUOMO: That was good, that was good. Come on, you know you liked it.

You wish you had turned it on me.

CAMEROTA: I don't think she likes it.

CUOMO: I don't want to go to break because I know it's not going to be good.

PEREIRA: Not going to be good.

CUOMO: But I must. That's the job.

And we'll leave you with this question: just how many Americans are fighting with ISIS? And what can we do about it? According to director of FBI, not much. Stunning words from James Comey, the head of the FBI. We're going to bring you them after the break. Hopefully, y'all will still be here.

CAMEROTA: I doubt it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS: How many Americans are fighting in Syria on the side of the terrorists?

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: In the area of a dozen or so.

PELLEY: Do you know who they are?

COMEY: Yes.

PELLEY: Each and every one of them?

COMEY: I think of that dozen or so, I do. I hesitate only because I don't know what I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Maybe that's the most important part of the quote from FBI Director James Comey on "60 Minutes". He goes ton say he can't keep those dozen out of the country if they have valid passports. The best he can do is monitor them.

Meanwhile, ISIS is now threatening to kill another Westerner, this time a converted Muslim, medic and former U.S. soldier Abdu-Rahman Kassig.

In a letter to his parents he writes, quote, "I'm pretty scared to die."

Let's bring Philip Mudd. He's a CNN counterterrorism analyst and former CIA counterterrorism official.

Let's start with news here, Mr. Mudd. And thank you for being on NEW DAY as always. The head of the FBI does say I don't know what I don't know. He's saying a dozen. The Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel tells CNN it's probably about 100.

Which is it? How many people from the U.S. are fighting for ISIS or do we just not know?

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I suspect we don't know. But you've got to look at cutting the numbers a few ways. One is the number of people we can confirm are in the fight. The second, the Hagel number might be the number of people who might have gone over. We don't know if they're involved, for example, in humanitarian operations out there. So, I suspect 12 is a solid number has identified or confirmed in the fight. That's already, by the way, in my world a pretty high number.

CUOMO: And I want you to explain as to why. But also, want you to give us some confidence that we should believe these are working together effectively. They're not even on message at the top. What does that mean about how they are on the field?

MUDD: I wouldn't worry about what's going on in the field. You sit down every morning, get a consolidated picture across agencies of who's gone, in other words, which Americans are off in the fight -- when those kids come back home, FBI working with local and state police to follow them around.

So, despite what the leadership of the organization is saying in terms of differing numbers, what I saw in terms of coordination behind, especially after 9/11 because we had so much activity. That sort of forces cooperation in the field.

CUOMO: ISIS is not new. It's been in your world many years. It's been in the media for years. Beheadings changed everything, certainly on U.S. soil, no question it ramped up media urgency.

You take the beheading -- obviously, they're just unmitigated tragedy, but you take them differently many context and think we shouldn't get so worked up seeing them as the pivot point. Why?

MUDD: I think obviously, we got -- it's a tragedy for the families. But if you look at the history of the jihadi movements, what you're talking about is groups that grow too extreme over the course of time -- and I'm talking about over the course of five years, 10 years, 20 years. Over the course of time, the extremism in those groups limits ability to recruit within populations. You see how many Syrian Kurds are leaving. You see how many Kurds in Iraq are fighting ISIS.

Over time, I suspect the tribes in these areas are going to say, we're intimidated by ISIS, but we're not going to take this anymore. That's why there's differences between the al Qaeda guys of yesterday and the ISIS guys of today. The Al Qaeda of yesterday say, look, we've seen this movie. It doesn't work.

CUOMO: So, as horrible as they are, you look at them as also a signal the group may have gone too far. And hopefully this is hurts them and shows as a sign of weakness. That would be good. It also leads to another perception problem, just as the beheadings create aid sense of urgency.

There's also perception of Islam. And people especially in the United States are really grouping everyone of the faith as if they were somehow predisposed to violence.

Give us clarity on what you understand about who the threat is and why.

MUDD: We're looking at a group that has, what, maybe 20,000, 30,000 people. There's 1.6 billion people who are Muslims around the world.

I've lived in the Muslim world. It's a faith that talks about peace and treated me well when out there.

You know, I'm a counterterrorism analyst. I understand why people see this as a brutal religion. But you're talking about a sliver that's hardly measurable when you compare to 1.6 billion people. What's happening here is the fight for the heart of Islam, though. It is not finished yet. That is, do we want to return to an era 13 centuries ago that was pure era in Islam or do we want to modernize?

These guys that we're seeing now in Iraq, ISIS, are anti-modernists. They want to return to the past. I don't think they will be accepted long term.

CUOMO: But your message is: don't blame the faith, blame it's perversion. And more specifically, the people who are perverting the faith.

MUDD: Sure. If you look at the attitudes across -- this is from polling data. The attitudes across the Middle East, in places like North Africa, Jordan, Turkey, et cetera. The views of ISIS are wholly negative. You're talking about a small number of typically youth going there to fight. I'm not saying there isn't some, you know, half a percent, 1 percent, one tenth a percent that's interested in this.

But the overwhelming population, the people who don't appear on the news, number one don't agree with beheadings and number two don't agree with ISIS. They're terrified by it.

CUOMO: So, we're a couple of weeks into bombing now, three weeks into bombing and people are asking, what, ISIS still exists? They're still advancing? Haven't we won this war yet?

What do you say?

MUDD: This country has incredible attention deficit. Let me tell you tell something.

CUOMO: What did you say?

MUDD: The average life span -- this country has -- don't mess with me, Chris.

The average life span of an insurgency is about 10 years, give or take. And this is looking at dozens of insurgencies over time other. Religious-based insurgencies tend to last longer, because people who are inspired by religion will never go home as opposed to people who are inspired by economic disparities or inspired by ethnic differences.

So, we're a few weeks into this. ISIS is a few years old. Their roots go back a decade or more. If you go by those averages, we're looking at another decade or so. So, don't ask why we haven't made progress in 10 days. That's like a blink of an eye in the world of counterinsurgencies.

CUOMO: I was reading something this weekend that said, hey, as long as you have same socioeconomic conditions in these places where you have the extremists, as long as you have political exclusion in those places, you will have extremism. No amount of military will ever changed that. You've been making that point well, every opportunity you get on CNN.

Professor Philip Mudd, thank you very much for joining us as always.

I got you good on that about the ADD, though. That's got to sting. That's got to sting as a counterterrorism --

(LAUGHTER)

MUDD: That hurt. That hurt. I will retaliate.

CUOMO: I know, and you are not the guy to get in this fight with. I don't know what I was thinking.

The other big story of the day, of course, is Ebola. According to the head of the CDC, there is no danger of large scale outbreak. Is that true? And where's the confidence in that come from? You're going to hear from the CDC chief, ahead.

Plus, a breaking point in Hong Kong. How long will protestors stay there? And how long will the government stand for it locally and in China? The threat of violence is getting ever closer. We are live on the ground with the very latest. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: We have breaking news this morning. The NBC cameraman who contracted Ebola in Liberia is back in the United States now. He's on his way to get emergency treatment in Nebraska.

And later today, President Obama will meet with the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss the latest efforts to contain Ebola. This comes as the administration and CDC are considering stepping up screening for the virus at U.S. airports.

I asked Director Thomas Frieden about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Are you considering enhanced screenings at U.S. airports for people travelling in from Ebola stricken countries? DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: We're

looking at all options to protect Americans, because that's our number one priority. We do that 24/7. The first thing we did was to implement control measures in every airport in West Africa. Every patient who leaves, every person who leaves has their temperature monitored.

The patient in Dallas had temperature of 97.3 when he left. He didn't become ill for about four days after he arrived.