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New Day Saturday

UVA Suspect Arrives in Virginia; Obama: U.S. Leading Fight to Destroy ISIS; FBI Investigates Beheading in Oklahoma; U.S. Jets Strike ISIS Targets in Iraq, Syria; Chelsea Clinton Gives Birth to Baby Girl

Aired September 27, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Edging toward the 7:00 o'cllock hour, here in the Northeast -- I guess we're in the Southeast.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Christi Paul, and I'm clearly still trying to wake up on a Saturday morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Me, too. It's all good.

I'm Joe Johns in for Victor Blackwell.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: So glad to have you here.

JOHNS: I'm real glad to be here, too. It's wonderful to be in the Southeast.

PAUL: Yes, we love it.

All righty. Listen, we began with this story, it's hard to absorb this one. A beheading on American soil that is sparking new fears of an ISIS copycat attack. The FBI's investigating whether this man, there he is, Alton Nolen, may be linked to radical extremism, after he beheaded a co-worker. This was near Oklahoma City.

JOHNS: Nolen was fired just before this deadly rampage got started. Witnesses say he had been trying to convert colleagues to Islam.

PAUL: Now, on Oklahoma highway trooper is speaking out about her run- in with Nolen four years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. BETSY RANDOLPH, OKLAHOMA HIGHWAY PATROL: In a split second, he exploded out of the car, hit me in the chest and pushed me back. I lifted my hand up thinking my finger was gone it hurt so bad. My fingers had gotten tied up in the chains. I wish I would have killed him, you know? I never -- I was never afraid of him, or I would have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Wow, this morning. Nolen is in the hospital in stable condition. Police plan to question him once he comes out of sedation.

CNN's Martin Savidge has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALLER: It sounds like he's running around out here.

DISPATCHER: OK.

(GUNSHOT)

CALLER: And that -- that's a gunshot.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Horror in Oklahoma. Police say a knife-wielding man stormed the offices of Vaughan Foods in Moore, killing the first person he saw, 54-year-old Colleen Hufford, first stabbing her, then cutting off her head.

SGT. JEREMY LEWIS, MOORE, OKLAHOMA POLICE: He encountered the first victim and began assaulting her with a knife. He did kill Colleen and did sever her head.

SAVIDGE: According to police, the suspect then began attacking a second woman when he was shot and stopped by an armed company executive, Mark Vaughan, son of the company's founder, who's also a reserve sheriff's deputy, officials credit his actions with preventing more deaths.

LEWIS: It could have gotten a lot worse. This guy definitely was not going to stop. He didn't stop until he was shot.

SAVIDGE: Initially, the attack was described as a workplace dispute. Thirty-year-old Alton Nolen, seen here in a mugshot from a previous arrest, had just been fired by the company that day. But the police investigation has turned up some red flags, causing some to wonder if there may be more to the attack. Authorities believe Nolen converted to Islam and tried to convince others at work to join him.

LEWIS: After conducting interviews with co-workers of Nolen, information was obtained that he recently started trying to convert some of his co-workers to the Muslim religion.

SAVIDGE: Recent calls by the Islamic State asking sympathizers to strike back inside nations now part of the coalition out to destroy the terrorist organization have law enforcement agencies across the country on alert, looking for so-called lone wolf threats.

The FBI is now investigating Nolen's social media footprint, trying to determine if this vicious, deadly rage was inspired by Islamic extremism. Meanwhile, in Moore, residents would rather focus on Mark Vaughan, the company exec who put his life on the line for his employees. He's been given a promotion from COO to H-E-R-O -- hero.

Martin Savidge, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: No doubt about it.

Martin Savidge, thank you so much. Now, it's still not clear if Nolen's religion had anything to do with

the attacks. But as CNN analyst Philip Mudd points out, the connection shouldn't be ruled out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIP MUDD, CNN ANALYST: My guess is we have an emotional deranged person fired from his job. He's seen TV, he's seen something on the Internet about beheadings, and he's decided this is the way to act on the thoughts he has about his firing. What I think that was irrelevant -- if I'm the FBI now, I'm on the edge of my chair, we started less than a week ago in Iraq and we have a beheading in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All right. Let's talk about this with CNN law enforcement analyst and former assistant FBI director, Tom Fuentes.

Tom, so good to see you this morning. Thank you.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Christi.

PAUL: First off, when you see all the information that we've had thus far, do you believe this was an ISIS `copycat attack?

FUENTES: I think it's too early to tell at this point. I agree with Phil Mudd. We don't know, do we have a jihadist, do we have a garden variety psychopath who have these violent tendencies, and then saw beheadings on the videos that we've seen from ISIS and heard about the attempt beheadings like in Australia, their case, and the recent beheading in Algeria.

So, you know, we don't know but it's very, very possible, especially when we hear reports from witnesses and employees at the company that he was trying to convert other employees to Islam. So, the FBI is going to have to, in addition to his social media pages, check e-mail, interview all other colleagues, friends, neighbors, people who have known him over the years to see if this is the possibility that he converted and suddenly decided that he was going to do this for the cause of ISIS.

PAUL: Yes, we know that he is in the hospital in sedation, in stable condition. But once he awakens, they'll be questioning him. What leeway do they have, tom, to question him when he's in the hospital, in some sort of condition.

FUENTES: Well, the problem, in the hospital like that, they're not going to be able to question him. And anything he says, he can claim later. He can recant later saying he was under medication, didn't know what he was talking about. And he has to make a knowing waiver of his rights later if they want to continue to interview him.

They will be able to try to interrogate him under the emergency provisions which allow the FBI to try to find out if there's anybody else involved in this, is he alone. So they'll have a little leeway with that, but not a lot. They'll know a lot about him even before he even opens his mouth, because they'll be able to, again, talk to everybody that knows him. Any social media, other e-mails, phone calls, contacts. So, they'll have a lot of knowledge about him.

PAUL: Well, we know that law enforcement is on high alert obviously, Tom, not just because of the attacks, but because of threats made by ISIS. What kind of warning signs could authorities look like in times like this, when it comes to possible lone wolf attacks?

FUENTES: Well, the problem is authorities can't read people's minds, but the people closest to these people might be able to see an indication that something might be coming. The person increasingly makes statements if they're watching television together and they see an ISIS video and the person says that's great, I support them. Or starts to give indications to other people, and those people then contact the police, contact the FBI and say I think this is person is contemplating maybe joining ISIS, or joining the cause here.

And this is the biggest fear that the authorities have always had in these cases, is that it's not just the foreign fighters or the U.S. fighters that have gone over or have gone back or will come back, it's people like him that are already here see something on TV and want to do it. And, again, we don't know if he's a regular, if I can say that, psychopath or if he was inspired specifically for the cause of ISIS.

PAUL: Sure. If he was determined, you know, by revenge for this firing, or if it was something else. Tom Fuentes, we so appreciate your insight, as always, sir. Thank you for being here.

FUENTES: You're welcome, Christi.

JOHNS: Very, very disturbing case.

PAUL: Oh, my gosh.

JOHNS: Unbelievable.

The FAA has charged an FAA contractor in connection with the fire that left thousands of flights grounded in Chicago and had a rippling effect across the country. Police searched Brian Howard's home yesterday, they said he sent a Facebook message to a relative warning of what he was about to do.

PAUL: Yes. Howard apparently is accused of setting up fire in an air traffic control facility near Chicago. Now, when firefighters arrived, they found him lying on the floor, slicing his throat with a knife. He is now charged with felony destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities and the fire disrupted as Joe was referring to here, more than 2,000 flights at this point, some travelers say they may be stranded until Monday.

So, if you are watching from us the airport today we wish the best for you.

JOHNS: And we're going to talk a little bit more about that right now.

Mark Murphy joins me on what's become a travel nightmare for thousands of people, Mark's the travel expert, the author of "Travel Unscripted."

Mark, OK, we've seen chaos, frustration, even tears by these stranded passengers. Could it really stake until Monday for the airlines to get everything back to normal?

MARK MURPHY, TRAVEL EXPERT: You betcha, you know why? Because you have this ripple effect. That plane that was going to take off yesterday morning and go to London, pick people up in London, bring him to New York, end up in New York, go to L.A., that's the ripple effect. And it literally will take 72 hours.

And this happens ever time we have weather issue or we have airport delays or cancellations, it creates a ripple effect across the entire airline system and affect cities -- could affect you traveling from London, just in that example. So, it has a big, big impact.

JOHNS: All right. Let's take a look at an image from FlightAware, showing aircraft flying over the Chicago area just yesterday. How is it that one guy -- just one guy, one guy, can put an FAA tower into such chaos.

MURPHY: It's called being a nut job. And unfortunately, he's a contractor. He had access to the facility. And if people want to do evil, they can certainly do that.

The good news is, they caught the fire right away. It did damage this forward radar control, and therefore, they had to shut everything down, because they've got to be able to bring those planes in safely. Those things can happen, why this guy was working there, why they didn't catch that, there were some issues potentially in his past, we just don't know at this point. And I think that's conjecture at this point. But we may find something as they investigate this guy.

JOHNS: So, it's really too late to help those travelers who have already had their flights delayed. Nonetheless, can you give us some sense of what they can do to avoid this happening next time?

MURPHY: OK. First, I'd say, book with a travel agent, because if you booked with a travel agent as this went down, you would have probably been rerouted. So, for instance, you were in Chicago, maybe you could have driven up to Milwaukee and gotten rebook on a different airline out of Milwaukee. Maybe you could have driven farther to get where you needed to go.

For instance, there's an example of somebody who missed a cruise, because they're not going to get out, and that's another tip, make sure if you got a departure like a cruise departure for your family, don't go the day off, go a couple days out, enjoy a free cruise stay and then you'll make sure that you actually get where you need to go.

JOHNS: Mark Murphy, all good advice, thanks for that.

MURPHY: Thank you, Joe.

PAUL: All righty. So, think about this -- we're two days right now to the day after she vanished. We have some new developments we want to share with you in the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham this morning.

JOHNS: And an NFL quarterback narrowly escapes this twisted wreckage that used to be a pedestrian bridge. We'll tell you who.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Fourteen minutes after the hour. Welcome back to NEW DAY.

It's a busy day of news. Here's your "Morning Read."

PAUL: Yes. First of all, U.S. warplanes launch new air strikes last night on ISIS targets in Syria. The attacks were aimed at so-called targets of opportunity, such as vehicles and tanks. Well, in today's weekly address, President Obama is touting U.S. leadership in the ISIS fight after the British parliament yesterday voted to join U.S. efforts in Iraq.

JOHNS: A suspect in the disappearance of a University of Virginia student is now back in that state. Jesse Matthew was taken into custody Wednesday in Texas. Matthew is the last person seen on surveillance video with 18-year-old Hannah Graham, before she vanished two weeks ago.

PAUL: In business news, Ford says it's recalling 850,000 cars because of a risk of a short circuit that could prevent air bags from deploying. The automakers said it's not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the problems but it affects model include 2013, 2014, C-Maxes, Fusions, Escapes and Lincolns MKZ.

JOHNS: In sports, this was a scene after a truck crashed into a pedestrian bridge in Detroit early party, just moments after the Lions quarterback drove underneath it. According to "Bleacher Report", Matthew Stafford was on route to an early morning practice when he narrowly escaped that collapse. Wow.

PAUL: And for your weekend forecast. Go ahead, wake up, stick your head out the window, see what it's like where you are. But the CNN weather center is warning of severe thunderstorms, possible flash floods and tornadoes if you are in the desert southwest. It may finally be fall elsewhere. But summerlike temperatures, they are hanging around from the Great Plains to the Northeast. So, enjoy it while you can.

JOHNS: While more European nations are joining the coalition against ISIS in Iraq, it doesn't seem to be stopping the enhancement in Syria. This is new video into CNN. ISIS is battling Syrian Kurds for control of the strategic city of Kobani right near the border with Turkey.

Christopher Harmer is a senior naval analyst with the Institute for the Study of War. Also joining us, CNN military analyst, Colonel Peter Mansoor. He served as an executive officer to General David Petraeus during the surge in Iraq.

Colonel Mansoor, can Iraqi and Kurdish forces take on ISIS successfully in Iraq? And do you think Syrian rebel forces can do it across the border?

COL. PETER MANSOOR (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it's much more likely that Kurdish and Iraqi forces will be successful in ejecting ISIS from Iraq. But it's going to take a long time. As we saw recently, Iraqi forces got overrun in a base near Fallujah.

You know, the good news is at least they fought this time. They didn't just give up like they did in Mosul in June. But it's going to take time to train them, get better leadership in there. We're talking months and years, not just days or weeks. So, this is going to be a long campaign.

On the Syrian side of the border, it's much more problematic. There just isn't a lot of good options there for the United States. We're training the Free Syrian Army to the tune of about 5,000 fighters a year. That's not a lot. And, you know, we're going to have to bide their time and do what we can. But the ground troops in Syria that are going to defeat ISIS remain problematic at best at this time.

JOHNS: Not a lot of people and a lot of work to be done.

Colonel Mansoor, listen now to what Iran's president told CNN about those airstrikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSAN ROUHANI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The aerial bombardments have more in a form of a psychological operation rather than succeeding in the eradication of terrorism. We must pay particular attention to social activities, cultural activities, financial and economic activities, as well as the educational side in every country, so as to address the root causes of the problem.

So, again, the aerial bombardment campaign is mostly, I would say a form of theater, rather than a serious battle against terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Form of theater. Christopher Harmer, do you agree with that?

CHRISTOPHER HARMER, SENIOR NAVAL ANALYST, INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR: Well, it pains me greatly to agree with anything the Iranian president has to say, but fundamentally, he's correct. I would say that the air strikes so far are tactically spectacular, strategically irrelevant.

The real problem we face in Syria is the fact that the moderate rebels are under severe pressure both from ISIS and the Assad regime. And as long as those two groups are squeezing the moderate rebels between them, there's really no path to success. As the Colonel Mansoor pointed out, out troops right now is only about 5,000 moderate Syrian rebels per year. We've got to increase that dramatically, we've got to give them better weapons, better training, better access to American intelligence.

There's just no way this is going to have an end, unless we got someone there on the ground that we can trust to take the fight to ISIS. Now, as he said in Iraq, I believe that both the Peshmerga in the north and the Iraqi military in the south, those are decent high- quality military organizations circumstantially with American air power and with American leadership, I think they can push ISIS back.

But in Syria, it's a whole different ball game and right now it doesn't look good for us.

JOHNS: Colonel, what about the possibility that ISIS is adapt to get air strikes? That the fighters are actually sort of blending into the population, but they're learning and they're figuring out how to handle this?

MANSOOR: Well, there's no doubt. I mean, war say series of actions, reactions and counteractions. And now ISIS has taken the first set of air strikes against it, it is certainly dispersing its forces, embedding itself with the population, trying to make itself less vulnerable. That's easier to do with the fighters than with the equipment.

So, what I think what we'll see over the upcoming weeks and months is the ISIS will become less well-armed because it's equipment will be destroyed. But it will still be around, to eradicate it, you have to get boots on the ground to go in there and root it out of these cities and that's going to take quite some time.

JOHNS: Now, a British member of parliament has actually called ISIS an imaginary army. What's the response from both of you to that, starting with Chris Harmer?

HARMER: Well, this imaginary army is 5-0 against all the other armies that it's facing. So, this imaginary army has defeated the Syrian army, Jabhat al-Nusra, the Peshmerga, the Iraqi security forces in Hezbollah. Every time ISIS goes head to head against another military organization they win.

So, those big threes not imagine. Those are real. Now, those aren't strategic victories. ISIS hasn't completely won its battle or the war, but it's won a lot of individual battling. So, this army of ISIS is categorically, clearly, at the tactical level better prepared than the Peshmerga or the Iraqi Syrian forces or Hezbollah. So they are the best fighting forces in the region right now.

JOHNS: Colonel, what do you think about this imaginary army?

MANSOOR: This match imaginary army has succeeded in taking over about a third of Iraq and Syria. So, you know, those are really effective ghost soldiers, if will you.

JOHNS: All right. So, one last question here very quickly. An al Qaeda affiliate in Syria may have been working with the Yemeni-based al Qaeda group. There's also been this beheading of French mountain climber in Algeria by an ISIS-linked group. So, are we seeing now a sign that global terrorists are uniting?

Chris Harmer, I should start with you.

HARMER: Certainly, yes. We have seen some global movement towards the ISIS brand, if will you. Unfortunately, I think the real problem at least in Syria is a lot of the moderate rebel groups are frustrated that United States is attacking ISIS and Jabhat al Nusra, but not the Assad regime.

The original enemy of the moderate rebels was the Assad. So, their frustration, Syrian rebels' frustration is why are we allowing Assad a free pass?

JOHNS: Do you agree with that, colonel?

MANSOOR: Well, Assad is actually the least of our worries right now. The fact is this administration wanted to sign al Qaeda's death warrant after the killing of Osama bin Laden. But what we've seen is al Qaeda core is still relatively intact. It's been a credit significantly in Pakistan but it's worked elsewhere.

The Kobani group is part of al Qaeda core. And, you know, we struck it in Syria, but it was there to take advantage of the safe haven created by the civil war. So al Qaeda is alive and well. And, you know, we're going to have to hit it wherever it is.

JOHNS: Colonel Mansoor, Christopher Harmer, thanks to both of you. And you can go to CNN.com/ISIS, to find out more about the terror group on our Web site.

PAUL: All righty. The first jury deadlock. Now another jury is hearing a case of a man accused of murdering a teen over loud music. And they're doing so today on a Saturday.

JOHNS: And Chelsea Clinton is now a mom. She tweeted out the good news and you'll hear all the details in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: You have to wonder what this transition is like -- Hillary and Bill Clinton are now grandparents.

JOHNS: Unbelievable.

Their daughter Chelsea tweeted out the good news to her followers.

CNN's executive editor politics, Mark Preston, is following that story for us.

Mark, the Clintons -- how are you doing?

MARK PRESTON, CNN EXECUTIVE EDITOR, POLITICS: Good morning, Joe.

JOHNS: Good. The Clintons have been very excited about their grandchild, tell us what they've been saying. PRESTON: Well, Joe, you know, they certainly have been talking about

it publicly, in many way pressuring their daughter. She's been very explicit in that. But I think every child can say that about their parents. There's always that pressure about having a grandchild.

Well, Chelsea Clinton had a child on Friday. She sent this news out just after midnight. Let's take a quick look what the she had to say. She put this out by social media, a new way to get some news at right now.

But as she says here, "Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky. Her husband is the son of congresswoman and a congressman who had served from Iowa as well as Pennsylvania. But we don't know any more details other than that about the baby.

You know, there's been a lot of speculation about how this might play politically for Hillary Clinton, if she were to run for president. And I think that it's pretty clear Hillary Clinton is going to run or president anyway. And the berth of this baby is just a very private family matter.

PAUL: Well, I'm sure that they'll make it some what public. Everyone wants to see the baby, and they want to know, but it is curious to wonder how it might affect her running if people see her differently now as a grandmother. Who knows?

Mark Preston, we so appreciate you being here. Thank you.

PRESTON: Thanks.

PAUL: Sure.

JOHNS: There's been an agonizing two weeks for the friends and family of missing UVA student Hannah Graham. Could they soon learn more answers now that the prime suspect is back in Virginia?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Mortgage rates are down this week. Here's your look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: So grateful for your company this morning. Half past the hour, I'm Christi Paul.

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Joe Johns, in for Victor Blackwell.

Now, five things to know for your NEW DAY:

Number one, George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin are expected to say I do later today. Yesterday, the couple and their A-list friends arrived in Venice, Italy. They were whisked away in a speed boat and headed to the luxurious Cipriani Hotel. PAUL: Number two, testimony resumes in just a few hours in the so-

called loud music retrial. Several witnesses have already testified saying Michael Dunn shot and killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis over an argument of loud music that was blaring at a Florida gas station. Dunn said he shot Davis because he thought the teen had a gun. A jury back in February found Dunn guilty of second degree attempted murder but they deadlocked on the murder charges itself. So, that's why we are back to square one here.

JOHNS: Number three, a former teacher has been resentenced for raping one of his high school students, Stacey Dean Rambold who at first was given 31 days for his crime is now going to serve 10 years for raping a freshman in his business class. The 14-year-old victim committed suicide before the case went to trial.

PAUL: Number four: the FBI is trying to determine now whether a man with ties to Islam carried out an ISIS copycat attack by beheading his ex-co-worker. This was a gruesome rampage, took place as you see the suspect here, Alton Nolen was terminated from his job. Nolen tried to convert some of these colleagues to Islam.

JOHNS: Number five, those U.S. fighter jets have been in the skies over Syria and Iraq against striking ISIS targets. In Syria, they've actually destroyed ISIS vehicles, a checkpoint and other so-called targets of opportunity. Meanwhile, the ISIS militants are advance, on a Syrian city known as Kobani. Syrian Kurds are trying to hold them off but they're running low on weapons and ammunition.

PAUL: This is plain frightening and frustrating.

More than 2,400 tips and still no sign of accomplished University of Virginia student Hannah Graham. She disappeared two weeks ago after leaving a dinner with friends.

JOHNS: This morning, the prime suspect in her disappearance, that's 32-year-old Jesse Matthew. He is waking up in a Virginia jail after being processed overnight. Police say they believe Matthew was the last person with Graham before she vanished.

Let's bring in CNN's Jean Casarez. She's on the ground there in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Jean, good morning. So good to see you. Do we have any indication that he is talking to police at all?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they questioned him, which they can do because this is a missing person's case. And I know they questioned him in Galveston when they went on to the scene and arrested him. I'm sure there are many more questions based on where is Hannah? Do you know anything?

But we don't know if he answered that. But what we do know is he spent the night at the regional jail. The jail tells me he's in segregation, alone. And he was offered two free phone calls when he was booked in, which he passed on, didn't want to call anyone. He's sleeping on a mattress on the floor. There are no facilities in his jail, so if he has to use the restroom they take him out and he's probably getting breakfast right about now.

But, you know, the focus of this community, it's on Hannah. And this is going to be a big weekend, because the regional emergency management center, the center that gets all the dispatch calls and the tip line, they're even bringing in more operators from Fairfax County, Virginia, this weekend, all to get the tips that people are calling in. Those tips then go to the police. They scan them. And if they believe they are credible, then they take search and rescue and officers and investigators out to see what they can find.

You know, the police chief in this community is not already asking people to call the tip line. He's also asking realtors to be on the look out and landowners. But realtors are saying they're in. They want to find Hannah, too. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SABINA HARVEY, REALTOR: All of us have vacant listings, I don't have any farm properties, but still, there are still corner that someone could hide something. So, I came and looked around. We're all just trying to find her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now, you know, police confirmed they have no idea where Hannah is. They have not found her cell phone. They have not found her clothes. They have not found her.

Remember, this is an abduction charge. Kidnapping is what he's being held on there. There is a possibility that she is alive. Kidnapping has nothing to do with murder at this point. We do believe they are still waiting on the forensics. They have told us, they have not let us know what those forensics tell us, tell them from the car and the apartment that they searched.

But at this point, his initial appearance in court won't be until Thursday. Why? Because the courts are closed, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because of an important conference they have in Charlottesville.

PAUL: All righty, Jean Casarez, thank you so much for the updates. And we'll keep you posted as well.

You know, also straight ahead, what a bizarre incident at Chicago's O'Hare airport. It triggered cancellation of more than 2,000 flights.

JOHNS: We're checking in to see when things are going to get back to normal out there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Forty-two minutes past the hour.

And President Obama says America is leading the world in this fight to degrade and destroy ISIS. JOHNS: And he's lining up more coalition partners as U.S. airstrikes

pounded ISIS targets in eastern Syria overnight. CNN's Erin McPike joins us from the White House.

Now, Erin, is the president talking about ISIS in his weekly address this morning?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joe, and Christi, he is. And in that weekly address, President Obama is making the claim that the U.S. is leading the charge on a number of fronts, that's Russian aggression in Ukraine. It's Ebola and climate change.

Here's how he framed U.S. leadership in the fight against ISIS. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people of the world look to us to lead, and we welcome that responsibility. We're heirs to a proud legacy of freedom. As we show the world this week, we are prepared to do what is necessary to secure that legacy for generations to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Now, of course, we're just a little over a month away from the midterm elections. So, of course, he has to show strength for his party -- Christi and Joe.

PAUL: All right. Well, we know that Britain, Belgium, Denmark, they're joining this coalition against ISIS. And they're going to send warplanes, but they're limiting them thus far to Iraq. Is there any indication the White House is anticipating they will join the fight in Syria, or that the White House is disappointed by the fact that they haven't yet?

MCPIKE: Well, Christi, at this point, there are five Arab nations that are helping the United States with respect to Syria. And in general, the U.S. is saying that they're happy with any help that they're getting. It is a growing coalition as you mentioned. There are more countries joining every day. And right now, there are over 50 countries in this coalition, and right now, they're happy with that.

JOHNS: Erin, how carefully have they gamed out this notion that there are going to get boots on the ground, especially over in Syria? The administration certainly agrees that air strikes aren't going to do the job. But how realistic is it to expect these other people to come into play?

MCPIKE: Well, Joe, at this point, President Obama has doubled-down on what he's saying, that there will be no American troops on the ground. Of course, they are there in security and advisory roles. But no American troops on the ground in Syria.

What they're saying is that they are relying on local troops. That's troops from the region. Still no American troops.

However, we did hear this week that General Martin Dempsey said if he has to change that and make a recommendation, he'll do that.

JOHNS: Great.

PAUL: All righty. Erin McPike, we thank you so much.

Now, look, we know how the world has come together at this point to battle ISIS in Iraq and in Syria, specifically.

JOHNS: Right. Ahead, what's being done to combat a potential attack right here on our own soil.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: All right. Let's talk about the terror threat on American soil right now. We learned this week, ISIS was not the only target of airstrikes. The U.S. also went after the Khorasan group. That's an al Qaeda group that officials say was actively plotting attacks in the United States as well as elsewhere in the West.

As to whether that strike wiped out that threat, here's what Pentagon spokesman John Kirby had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We can't say with great confidence today as you and I are talking that we know definitively that we disrupted and completely derailed that plot that they were working. But again, we're working through the analysis as best we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All right. Joining us now, CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.

Juliette, thank you for being here.

So, while the military is looking to quell the threats in Iraq and Syria, I'm wondering how strong handle do we have on people here in the U.S. that may want to do harm?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, we've obviously increased surveillance in the United States. That includes both at the borders when people are coming in or they're leaving and then, of course, across mostly urban areas.

That doesn't involve necessarily spying. It involves law enforcement and community members working together to figure out what's going on in their communities. We have a population of over 350 million people. There are always going to be individuals who identify with causes who are sociopaths, who are violence, who might believe they are part of the terrorism, but still can cause, you know, violence as we've seen, for example, in Oklahoma. PAUL: Right. So, how do we identify people who are, you know, really

radicalized, and people who might be sympathizers?

KAYYEM: So, there's a couple of means, obviously some includes surveillance, social media, border and travel. But a lot of it -- and the lessons we learned from Europe as well as in the United States over time, also involves community engagement. It involves working with communities of interest, religious institutions, to give them the tools to identify people who may have become radicalized and also to limit radicalization.

Well, we have a problem here, it is not an epidemic. It is not like what we've seen in European countries, for the most part, we have seen communities work together to ensure that there isn't radicalization and we need to just keep up that effort.

PAUL: How do you think they might attack us if they are here in the U.S.? I mean, we're used to, say, suicide bombers when it comes to al Qaeda. Does ISIS -- I mean, do they do something differently that we need to be aware of?

KAYYEM: Well, I think the fear with ISIS and even Khorasan they have both, actually more particularly Khorasan they have the intent and the means, that's why we started the military action. You know, it could -- successful terrorist attack could take many forms. It does not have to look like 9/11. But in particular, al Qaeda likes the spectacular gesture so to speak, something that is visual, that is we can see and that causes a lot of harm. It may not be 3,000 people but as we've seen a focus on airlines and airports, is of particular sort of significance for them. And that is why the military action is important because as I often say, a delayed terrorist attack is a success.

In other words, if you can delay, disperse, it takes them longer to unify and plan, and then you just sometimes -- it's keep pushing it until you can actually end the threat.

PAUL: So, let me ask you this: how threatening are fighters or sympathizers, individually here in the U.S., say, as opposed to fighting in groups?

KAYYEM: So, the lone wolf, you know, attacker as we like to call them, will not be able to plan a spectacular attack as we saw on September 11th. But the psychological impact would be significant. So, you can imagine and the scenarios are limitless, you know, attack in a shopping mall or elsewhere, and so you know, while we want to focus on the big attacks we also have to brace ourselves that there is always a potential for radicalized people to do something that will have violent impact in the United States.

That's why we do surveillance. That's why we do intelligence. But that's also why we prepare a law enforcement, emergency managers to respond in a way that protect as many as possible.

PAUL: Very good. CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, we appreciate your insight today. Thank you. KAYYEM: Thank you. Good morning.

PAUL: Good morning.

JOHNS: Chicago O'Hare's Web site says 1500 flights are still canceled after a bizarre incident. We'll tell you what happened and when you can expect things to get back to normal.

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PAUL: All righty. That's not smoke that you're looking at. Ash from Mt. Ontake, west of Tokyo, at least three people were injured when this volcano erupted. There were about 150 hikers in that area when it happened, too. We do know at this moment rescue crews are trying to move them to a safe position. We certainly hope so.

Some flights have resumed in Chicago after police say an employee at a nearby air traffic control facility started a fire and tried to commit suicide in the basement.

JOHNS: The facility had to be shut down which then triggered more than 2,000 flight cancellations.

PAUL: So, if you are watching us from the airport, you have our sympathy no doubt. Jennifer Gray, I know, has been watching this.

What, 1,500 flights are still cancelled?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And that was updated about nine hours ago. So, probably more now, you know? This has created just a ripple effect across the country because planes couldn't get in or out of Chicago, and so then planes couldn't get to other cities so folks there have been missing connections, so this is trickled down and this is still going on today.

We've been watching. This is the misery map, rightfully so. We've been watching this all morning long. Started out with about three cancellations early this morning, and now we're up to 43 already. And that is going to continue to grow throughout the day. Also causing delays in D.C., New York, Detroit, even here in Atlanta, even Miami into south Florida.

So, this is going to continue throughout the day. And, guys, this is our flight aware map. You see the planes coming and going into Chicago, out of Chicago, and we're starting to see a little bit of activity. But just because of all of the backlog yesterday, it is going to be trouble today, and even possibly tomorrow.

Flights were grounded for a very long time. So, you can imagine it's going to take a while to get this caught up.

PAUL: Good heavens. All right.

JOHNS: Wow. Thanks, Jennifer.

GRAY: All right. PAUL: We have so much more news that we need to talk to you about this morning.

JOHNS: The next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

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JOHNS: A horrific crime right in the heartland. An Oklahoma man accused of beheading his ex-coworker. Now, the FBI wants to know -- who is he and why was he allegedly trying to convert people to Islam?

PAUL: The skies as we said are busy this morning, a lot of passengers, I know you're still stranded at airports, this is from coast to coast after yesterday's traffic nightmare starting in Chicago. We are getting some new information about the man behind it all for you this morning.

JOHNS: And, there is a new Clinton in the world this morning. Bill and Hillary officially grandma and grandpa.

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