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New Day Saturday

JFK Airport Begins Ebola Screening Today; Council Urges U.S. To Save Anbar; Japan Braces For Damaging Winds, Rainfall; Protests Today Demand Justice For Brown; U.S. Airports Taking Steps to Prevent Ebola; Microsoft's CEO Withdrew His Comment Payment Inequality; Twitter Claims Submitting Information to Government Violates First Amendment; Fitness Trainer for People With Various Physical Conditions is Nominated for CNN Heroes

Aired October 11, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to you. We're so glad to have your company. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 6:00 here on the East Coast. And a major change in the fight against Ebola this morning.

PAUL: Yes. One major U.S. airport is actually stepping up the fight against it, the airport specifically.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And this one is the New York JFK International Airport. It's the very first airport in the country to begin these enhance Ebola screenings. Next week, four other airports will join JFK in targeting passengers travelling from target countries. We know them Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia.

PAUL: The goal is to stop anyone with possible symptoms of the deadly virus from getting past the airport gates and into the general public, of course.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Alison Kosik has more for us this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new line of defense in safe guarding the U.S. from the threat of Ebola. Five U.S. airports beginning today with New York's JFK International screening passengers who arrive from affected countries in West Africa.

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: We're stepping up protection for people coming into this country and for Americans related to travel.

KOSIK: The additional protection includes checking passengers for symptoms, asking them questions about their travel history, and taking their temperatures with noncontact infrared thermometers.

FRIEDEN: We expect to see some patients with fever and that will cause some obvious and understandable concern at the airports.

KOSIK: That heightened concern already on display this week, when a U.S. Airways passenger apparently joked, "I have Ebola. You're all screwed." Un-amused, crews in full hazmat gear stepped on board before granting the all clear.

Another incident last week at Newark resulted in CDC teams boarding a United Flight after concerns a passenger was showing symptoms. Health officials now say it was not Ebola.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Of course, I'm concerned. I don't think there's anybody in the country who's not concerned about the situation with Ebola. We're not ready at the airports yet, but we will be.

KOSIK: U.S. Customs and Border Protection will take the lead conducting exams in designated areas and onsite CDC public health officer will step in at the first red flag. Officials say the overall impact of the new airport procedures should be minimal.

The CDC estimates about 150 people from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea enter the U.S. through these five airports daily. JFK is the pilot for the new process. Newark, Washington Dulles, Atlanta and Chicago O'Hare will implement measures in the coming week.

FRIEDEN: Until this outbreak is over in West Africa, whatever we do can't get the risk to zero here in the interconnected world that we live in today.

KOSIK: Alison Kosik, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Now, to the war on and being fought by ISIS, and we've got some breaking news this morning. The provincial council in Anbar, the province there in Iraq is calling for urgent intervention by the U.S. to save Anbar.

This is happening as fighting is intensifying on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border. A top official warns that Iraqi forces are, quote, "up against the wall in Anbar Province," just west of the capital of Baghdad.

Now Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says there is a lot of uncertainty there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Anbar Province is in trouble. We know that. United States and coalition partners are helping and assisting the Iraqi Security Forces, the Peshmerga, the Kurds. As I have said, the president has said, all of our senior officials have said, this is a difficult effort. It is going to take time. It won't be easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, the U.N. fears an all-out massacre is possible in Northern Syria, in the city there that ISIS continues to push into Kobani. They're now entering the heart of that city.

CNN senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman joins us now from Baghdad. I want to get you on this breaking news, Ben.

The deputy head of the provincial council is asking the central government in Iraq to carry out an urgent and immediate intervention asking the government, the U.S. government to send in ground forces. Put that into context, and give us the latest.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, keep in mind, Victor, that Anbar is the biggest province in Iraq, right next to Baghdad. We spoke with these provincial officials who say that at this point, ISIS controls 80 percent of the province, areas, in fact, just about 10 miles to the west of here.

Now, I spoke to the head of the provincial council in Anbar just a few minutes ago, he told me that according to their intelligence, ISIS in the last few days has dispatched as many as 10,000 fighters from Syria and from Mosul in Northern Iraq, in preparation for what they believe is an offensive in the area.

Now the deputy head of the provincial council who I also spoke with this morning told me that yesterday he met with the American ambassador to convey this urgent request to the United States. He said the American ambassador promised weapons, promised training, but made no commitment to send ground troops to Anbar.

Now, it's important to keep in mind that over the last basically week and a half, two weeks, that ISIS has gradually gained control of many major towns in Anbar, including the town of Hitt, which fell in the middle of last week.

There really is just one town that's firmly in government hands that's Hadithah on the Euphrates River, but essentially with the exception of just a few towns, ISIS controls, as I said 80 percent of the province -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about another town, Abu Ghraib, which is not far from the airport outside of Baghdad there. Is there a real concern that ISIS will be able to take Abu Ghraib and that airport?

WEDEMAN: Well, we were in Abu Ghraib just a few days ago. It's important to keep in mind that it's one of these classic guerilla warfare situations. We saw -- we were there by day. There are police checkpoints, army checkpoints.

But we were told at night, the army and the police go back to their bases, back to their barracks, and at night, ISIS essentially controls those areas. Now Abu Ghraib is just about 8 miles from Baghdad International Airport.

We saw that unlike a few years ago, during the height of the insurgency when planes would go corkscrew landings into the airport. Now, they seem to fly over and into the airport in a normal manner. We understand that there are a lot of defenses around the airport. That's the U.S. Apache helicopters are based. So they do have electronic countermeasures. So the fact -- the possibility of Baghdad airport falling is not great at the moment.

As far as Abu Ghraib, it's a very sort of gray situation, typical of many areas around the Iraqi capital. And if that provincial official I spoke to is correct, and 10,000 fighters from ISIS have come to Anbar in the recent days that definitely should be cause for concern -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Ben Wedeman, there in Baghdad. Live for us on the breaking news this morning. Let's get into this from other angles and deeper here with Will Geddes. He's the managing director of the security firm, International Corporate Protection.

Also joining us is CNN military analyst, Col. Rick Francona. Colonel, I want to start with you, first, your reaction to this breaking news of the council urging the U.S. to get involve, intervene here, and help to save Anbar?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: This underscores what we've been hearing from other senior Iraqi leaders. They just have no confidence in the Iraqi army. The leader I talked to the other day said the army has basically evaporated. They don't trust it.

They need something to stop the momentum of ISIS. They were hoping that the airstrikes were going to break that momentum, evidently it has not had that desired effect and so now we see the realization that they need help.

PAUL: All right, Will, we know that Anbar is so close to Baghdad and you have to wonder do you believe that perhaps ISIS has already infiltrated Baghdad in some way, and if ISIS gets into Baghdad, how dangerous is that?

WILL GEDDES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE PROTECTION: Well, you've got two very good points there. The first of which is what we are seeing now, certainly in terms of the advancements of ISIS.

I think a few weeks ago, certainly a few months ago, we wouldn't have felt that it was confident to say that ISIS wouldn't even dense the perimeter or the boundaries of Baghdad.

But what we're seeing with Kobani and certainly what we've seen in the capture of other key and critical cities and towns is that ISIS are very, very well structured. It's kind of an erector set.

The Iraqi army is demoralized. They're under resourced. They're really motivated. There is no real structure there in place. You haven't got a consolidated effort to really combat ISIS. We've seen this progressively.

As we saw when they took Mosul, inevitably, ISIS has actually done advanced reconnaissance, sent people into the town to actually determine exactly where the weak points were and what positions they can hold.

I think your point about have they infiltrated Baghdad already, I think hardly probably likely.

BLACKWELL: Colonel, Pentagon spokesman, Admiral John Kirby, said this week that we should now be stilling ourselves for the reality that Kobani will fall to ISIS, possibly other areas in Syria, parts of Iraq.

Is the province, is Anbar, one of those areas that the U.S., the U.K., this coalition should accept will fall or should the U.S. respond to this call and send in some troops or some greater assistance?

FRANCONA: Well, that's a big one. OK, Kobani is probably going to fall because it's the remaining outpost on the Turkish border, and there's really no way to save it, absent the Turks going across that border.

So unfortunately, I think it's only a matter of time before ISIS takes Kobani. Now over in Anbar Province in Iraq, you got a different situation where you actually do have ground forces, although as we've discussed, they're not being very effective.

I think right now, it's just not politically possible for the United States to try and insert any kind of combat forces into the area. Although if you look at this from a purely military point of view, that's probably what it's going to take, some force like that.

Because although the air power has blunted the momentum, it certainly hasn't stopped and what we were hoping to be able to give the Iraqi army, the Iraqi Security Forces time and space to stand up, get their command structure in order and go back on the offensive.

We're not seeing that. So the situation is, as Ben pointed out, it's getting worse and worse.

PAUL: Will, we've been watching this for weeks as, you know, the U.S. and everybody have been saying, somehow ISIS will stop. I think everybody agrees this group is underestimated, ISIS, in terms of their power and their ability to be so prolific at this point has been.

Do you think it's inevitable that U.S. troops are going to have to go in to stop this at some point, in some way, or a coalition of troops, not just U.S. troops? Is it possible to do it without them?

GEDDES: I think progressively, no.

FRANCONA: Will?

PAUL: Yes, Will, I'm sorry about that.

GEDDES: I think progressively, though, there will need to be ground troops. I think we all agreed we saw this on the horizon. I think inevitably, with the lack of resource and capability within both the Peshmerga and also with the Iraqi army. They just do not have the resilience. They're not robust enough. But they're dealing with a very unconventional guerilla war force. The ISIS members are not just using conventional military tactics here.

There are reports coming back obviously from the Peshmerga especially in the fact that they are using a lot of VBIEDs or vehicle born improvised explosive devices.

They are using a lot of suicide bombers in their advancements. So you have a very determined army that is -- that we're up against, and ultimately, I just don't feel confident that the Iraqi National Army are capable of potentially holding them back.

BLACKWELL: We'll continue with this conversation, of course, throughout the morning, Colonel Rick Francona, Will Geddes, thank you both very much.

Of course, the concern this morning, the breaking news, a request from the provincial council there in Al Anbar Province that ISIS now controls 80 percent of this province.

If they get the other 20 percent, they'll control from Raqqa in Syria, all the way outside of Baghdad.

PAUL: Right. Which is so frightening, because if they get to Baghdad, who knows what could happen at that point. We're going to have more with both of those gentlemen and other experts throughout the morning. Do stay with us. They're going to be back within the next hour.

Meanwhile, Japan is getting ready, my goodness, for a monster storm this weekend. That's expected to bring heavy winds, rains, flash floods.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's 17 minutes after the hour and there is a monster storm heading towards Japan this morning. There's also another storm that's barreling toward Eastern India.

Let's bring in CNN meteorologist, Alexandra Steele. Alexandra, Typhoon Vongfong is no longer a super typhoon but still very powerful, right?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. This was a super typhoon on Wednesday and one point, the strongest storm on earth since Haiyan of last year. Remember, Haiyan last year in the Philippines killing 6,000 people.

So it is still powerful, no question about it. Here it is, of course, we're talking about Japan. This is it, Vongfong, maximum sustained winds were at 100. Now if this were to get to 115, here at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, it would be the strongest since 2009.

I don't think. It's going to get there though and let me show you why. So here is the storm, what so key about this typhoon is how big the center of circulation and how big the eye is.

Right now Okinawa, this is the rain, so really the worst of it is actually happening right now. The eye wall is moving over. What's happening, you can see this is Sunday at 4:00 local time. So what this means, Atlanta time, it's 4:00 in the afternoon.

In Japan, it's 12 hours later so it's 4:00 in the morning. So what's happening is, this massive eye wall is coming overhead so skies are clearing out, so they think it's OK. But luckily, though, the back side of this storm is essentially weakening a lot so the winds will be the biggest deal with this storm.

I just want to give you a little perspective of what Okinawa looks like, it's about 167 miles long and it's between about two and seven miles wide at some point.

And of course, there are seven military bases there, about 1 million people, 80,000 U.S. residents, all the buildings there are certainly built for typhoon code. So everyone, the bases have shut down. Everyone is being told to go home.

And you can see it's very narrow apart. But it's very crowded, you guys, as well. The streets are windy. There are a lot of things there, and it's busy, and everybody has been told to go inside, certainly, that know what to do because this happens there.

BLACKWELL: All right, Alexandra Steele, we'll continue to keep an eye on that as they build down that storm, thank you so much.

PAUL: Meanwhile, peaceful protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, they braved the rain yesterday to demand justice for Michael Brown. They're due out again today, you know why? Because there is another fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white officer that's refueled this community's anger. We're taking you live to St. Louis next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It's 23 minutes past the hour right now. Today in St. Louis, protesters are planning to march through downtown. Why, you wondering? They're demanding justice for Michael Brown and an end to police violence.

And the reason it is happening now, this weekend, is because just a few days ago there was a killing of another black teenager by another white officer. This is what sparked frustration.

Take a look at the scene from last night in nearby Ferguson, hundreds of people were out, they met police who were in riot gear, threatening to arrest anyone who so much touched an officer.

Peace prevailed though on the first of a four-day, quote, "Weekend of resistance" that is focused on Brown who was not armed when he was shot dead two months ago.

Stephanie Elam is reporting this killing of Vonderrit Myers is breeding as much controversy as Brown's? (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (voice-over): A remembrance and candle light march last night in Ferguson, Missouri, for Michael Brown. A far different scene than what happened just two days ago when angry protesters rallied over the shooting death of another black teenager, Vonderrit Myers, killed by an off-duty white police officer in St. Louis, Missouri.

SYREETA MYERS, MOTHER OF VONDERRIT MYERS: I'll never get to see him again. Talk to him, see his big smile. Get his big tight hugs.

ELAM: The parents of Vonderrit Myers sat down with CNN. They talked to us from their family church likely to be the same place they will eulogized him in coming days.

SYREETA MYERS: I'll never have get to feel him again. My life is empty now. My life is empty.

VONDERRIT MYERS, FATHER OF VONDERRIT MYERS: They took my son and destroyed his life, and now they're trying to destroy his character. And I'm not going to allow it to happen.

ELAM: This is news surveillance video obtained by CNN, the 18-year- old seen here minutes before the shooting was wearing a black printed t-shirt. The family attorney says no gun is seen beneath Myers' clothes. Police say the officers noticed something suspicious and confronted Myers.

CHIEF SAM DOTSON, ST. LOUIS POLICE: There was a physical altercation between the officer and suspect. The suspect comes out of a gray hooded sweatshirt. Runs off the hill towards the officer, fires at least three shots towards the officer, at which point, the officer defends himself and returns fire.

ELAM: St. Louis police say a .9-millimeter handgun was recovered at the scene. Ballistics tests are still pending. Myers they say, was known to police, but was out on bond for a previous gun-related offense.

This incident comes nearly two months after Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer. Vowing never to forget, protesters have been gathering for the start of a "weekend of resistance."

The Brown family is calling for peace. While we respect every citizen's right to free expression, it is our hope that those coming to Ferguson to protest the shooting of our son this weekend do so peacefully and lawfully, a strong message from a family that has already lost so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And here in St. Louis and Ferguson, they're preparing for more marches here today. There's one that should come through downtown St. Louis where we're standing right now, not far from the arch, it's supposed to start at 10:00 a.m. local time today. Again, after there were zero arrests last night, many of the people organizing this are hoping it's the same story again tonight.

PAUL: All righty, Stephanie Elam in St. Louis for us there. Stephanie, thank you so much -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, thank you, Christi.

Supporters in two more states are celebrating big victories for marriage equality this morning. We'll tell you which ones became number 27 and number 28 to say "I do" to same-sex marriage.

Plus, this is just terrifying, a horrible accident at an Arkansas zoo when a boy falls into a big cat enclosure. We'll tell you what happened here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Thirty-one minutes past the hour. Now, we're so glad for your company. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Let's start this up with five things you need to know for your "NEW DAY." And we have to start with the breaking news involving the war on ISIS. The provincial council in Anbar, Iraq, is now calling for urgent intervention by the U.S. to save Anbar. Of course, this is happening as the fighting is intensifying on both sides of Iraqi-Syrian border. A top U.S. official warns that Iraqi forces are, quote, up against the wall in Anbar province. That's just west of the capital of Baghdad. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says there's a lot of uncertainty. We're going to have much more on this throughout the morning.

PAUL: Number two, North Carolina becomes the 28th state where same- sex marriage is legal. Late yesterday, a federal judge struck down the state's 2012 ban. It wasn't long before couples started lining up right there to say "I do."

BLACKWELL: Number three, they now served together on the Supreme Court, but back when Elena Kagan was working in the White House Council's office she recommended John Roberts to defend then president Bill Clinton against claims of sexual harassment by Paula Jones. Roberts's now chief justice was in private law practice at the time. This tidbit was mined from thousands, I think 10,000 documents, this trove of Clinton era records just released to the public.

PAUL: Number four, a U.S. Army unit at Fort Carson in Colorado is still unlocked down this morning because of an investigation into stolen property notes. It's not clear what kind of property was allegedly taken. Up to 750 soldiers are affected by this order, though. A spokesman says, this kind of lockdown prevents soldiers from returning home and instead, it keeps them on duty, working and says, this is uncommon.

BLACKWELL: And number five, such a sad story, this - a little boy is in critical condition after falling into the jaguar exhibit at the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas. He's three years old. He was visiting the zoo with his father and his grandfather. Witnesses say he fell about 15 feet or so and was then attacked by two jaguars. Zookeepers used fire extinguishers to ward off those big cats while one of them climbed into the cat pit and rescued that child.

PAUL: Well, this morning in New York, the roll out of a new strategy to keep Ebola from coming into the United States. So, if you're flying into JFK airport from countries hard hit by the virus, you're going to have to have your temperature taken to check for a fever which is one of the symptoms of Ebola. This is the first of five airports, though, that will be implementing this system. The question is, will it work or is this just an effort to calm the worried public. Joining us now CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, Mary, good to see you this morning.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, good to be with you.

PAUL: Thank you. So, first of all, how effective do you think the strategy will be?

SCHIAVO: Well, it will be somewhat effective, quarantines have been effective literally since, you know, since the middle ages. And that's one of the tools that governments use to keep people who are potentially ill from infecting, you know, the rest of the population. And the CDC does have the legal power. There are federal laws that give them the power to inspect and to check people and to quarantine them if necessary. So, they do have the power to identify and then quarantine.

However, there will be a lot of false positives, and there will be a lot of issues concerning who is really sick and who has Ebola or who doesn't and who is potentially a carrier. Because as we know, we're about to head into that biggest travel season of the year, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and meeting up with flu season in the United States. So it's a big order that they have to meet, but something has to be done. We can't trust the health of the American public on a few people checking temperatures in three African countries. That would be ridiculous.

PAUL: So, what would you think? What will the procedure be? I mean if they do determine that somebody might be at risk, are they then sent somewhere else within the airport to get a further screening?

SCHIAVO: Yes, they have a quarantine -- actually, they have quarantine rooms in many airports, not just these five where they're setting up these first inspection stations for potential Ebola carriers. But they have quarantine rooms in many airports. No, we have 547 airports in the United States. And about 162 international airports. So, there are a lot of places, and I think 106 ports of entry. So, literally at any of those places someone could enter the country.

But since now we have good abilities in terms of tracking passengers from around the world and checking passports to allow changes - after September 11, 2011. We don't have to rely on the honor system, everybody's saying well, we have to rely on people telling us where they've been? No, we can check the passports. And so, with these five starter airports, if you will, it's going to get about 95 percent of the people, they believe, will be traveling from West Africa. So, with that in mind they are hoping that they can do it.

But we got to keep in mind the numbers, we're talking about 150 people a day. We may have depending upon what day of the week it is, as many as 18 to 20 million people traveling in the United States. So, hopefully, they'll be able to catch them. Some will slip through the cracks, though.

PAUL: Already. Mary Schiavo, we appreciate your inside on this. Good to see you this morning. Thank you.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Well, did you hear about this one - if you have it, people are going to be talking about it all weekend, the CEO of Microsoft managed to offend women all over the world when he said that if women don't ask for raises at work, they receive, quote, good karma. Trust the good karma to deliver that raise. We'll talk about that.

(LAUGHTER)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Chang was just 17 years old when he became the youngest male player to win a grand slam singles title at the French Open in 1989. Following a 15-year career, the tennis hall of famer is now relishing the next chapter in his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been getting married to Amber and having two kids now, you know, it changes so quickly. And it puts a lot of things in perspective, actually. You know, you think that for the tennis player, I mean tennis is really the life. You know, everything you do as a professional tennis player revolves around preparation for tournaments, and training, and traveling, and all that stuff. But when you have a family and you get married, it's just -- you know, you're thinking yourself, while tennis is important, it's nowhere near as important as this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Seriously. CNN's Laura Siegel has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christi, Hey, Victor, well Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has withdrawn a comment he made about paying equality that landed him in hot water including the suggestion that women who don't ask for raises, earn good karma. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SATYA NADELLA, CEO, MICROSOFT: It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along. And that I think might be one of the additional superpowers that, quite frankly, women who don't ask for a raise have. Because that's good karma, it will come back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: Guys, I should mention a couple of things: these statements were made at a women's tech conference. The moderator immediately disagreed. She said not being aggressive, not asking for a raise has cost her tens of thousands of dollars. Now, Nadella later backtracked.

And let me read you what he tweeted after the fact. He said "I was inarticulate with how women should ask for a raise, our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not need because of a bias. He also sent a memo to employees that said "Women and men should get paid equally, and if you think it is - raise, you should just ask." But let's look at the reality. Women make $11,000 less than men a year, according to census bureau data. And what people were reacting too, here, if you take a step back, the solution needs to come from the top leaders. These are the people that really need to be in tune, which is probably why these comments fell flat. Christi, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Probably. Laura Segall, thank you so much.

PAUL: So, in other words, I want your paycheck.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: OK, let's talk about Twitter, shall we?

BLACKWELL: Oh, yeah, they are suing the U.S. government, Twitter, and they are doing so over a surveillance laws. How much information from your social media account can the government request? And how much of it is really private. You need to know this, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: 13 minutes to the top of the hour, this morning, we're following breaking news. The provincial council in al Anbar province in Iraq is calling for urgent intervention by the U.S. to save Anbar. And this is happening as the fighting is intensifying on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border. A top U.S. official warns that Iraqi forces are, quote, "Up against the wall in Anbar province." And that's just west of the capital Baghdad. Defense secretary Chuck Hagel says there's a lot of uncertainty. Now, we'll take you live to that volatile region, coming up at the top of the hour. Christi?

PAUL: Hash tag lawsuit maybe? Twitter wants to tell its users when the government requests information about them. And how much information is requested. So, they're suing the Justice Department, which doesn't want to give out specific information, obviously, about searches. Twitter says that violates its First Amendment rights. The Twitter vice president says "It's our belief that we're entitled under the First Amendment to respond to our users' concerns by providing information about the scope of U.S. government surveillance, including what types of legal process have not been received. We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad and exact ranges." HLN Contributor and professor of a political science at Hiram College

Jason Johnson is with us now. We're always so glad to have you here.

JASON JOHNSON, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

PAUL: So, what does this mean, you know, to you and me, and as regular, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram users?

JOHNSON: All right, so, let's say you're going to Target, you're going to Walmart. And you give them information, you are always saying, wait a minute, are you guys going to sell this to an advertiser? Am I going to get a bunch of things in the mail? That's kind of what this is. You know, Twitter is saying, look, the government is asking us for all this information. We have to give it to them. But our users don't know what it's being used for. And we have the right to tell the people who sign up for Twitter what the information is being used for. And that's why they are suing the government - the government says you can't tell anybody.

PAUL: What information would be in say, yours or my social media profile that the government wouldn't know already?

JOHNSON: Well, there's a lot of things, for example, your political beliefs may or may not be something that you express on Facebook. Let's say you tweet an inappropriate joke. Let's say you say something or you hash tag this. And that ends up getting you a flag and it goes all the way up the guide post in Homeland Security and one day you get stopped at an airport. Those are the kinds of things that literally can happen if the government is following all of your information from Twitter. So, Twitter is saying, look, the public should know about this if this information is being asked for. And the government said, well, you can tell them how many requests we make, between zero and 999. And so, Twitter is like, that's not specific enough for our users.

PAUL: Would this hinder, do you think, in any way, I mean we know that the government uses social media to try to target terrorists ....

JOHNSON: Right.

PAUL: And people who really do need to be under the microscope?

JOHNSON: Right, well, that's the thing. It's not going to hinder that process. What Twitter is concerned about, is sort of doing the crab trolling thing, when they just - the government just wants everything and wants to dig through our personal business. Because the reality is, if you're looking for terrorists, if you're looking for pedophiles, if you're looking for domestic terrorists, the government already has the ability to track that kind of information.

PAUL: OK.

JOHNSON: But asking Twitter to give up sort of private information, that's where the real concern comes in.

PAUL: OK, so talk to me about - if Twitter wins, what happens, if they lose, what happens?

JOHNSON: So, if Twitter wins the case, then every single month, for example, they may have the promoted tweet where they say look, this is what the government has asked for. They've asked for information in this area, they've asked for this much data. They've asked for this much metadata. If they lose the case, we continue not to know. Now, a lot of Americans don't care. They are like, I don't really care anything about Twitter.

PAUL: Yeah, a lot of people say, look, if I don't have anything to hide, what the heck?

JOHNSON: Exactly. We never think we have anything to hide until we get stopped. We never thought we were doing anything wrong on our taxes, until the IRS audits us. So, what Twitter is trying to ...

PAUL: Very good point.

JOHNSON: Yeah. Twitter is trying to keep us safe from problems that may end up happening down the road. And Google and LinkedIn have done similar things.

PAUL: So, is there anything that we just as users of social media need to keep in mind?

JOHNSON: Yeah, this is election season. This is a perfect time.

PAUL: Right.

JOHNSON: If you're on Twitter, anyway, I encourage everyone, hey, tweet about this particular issue, tweet your local member of Congress and say, hey, look, you know, we're in favor of Twitter being able to publish information. Talk to the Department of Justice you can add hash tags to any of your communication and make the public away, make the government away that this is something that you want to see happen. That you support Twitter.

PAUL: All right. Jason Johnson, so glad to have you with us. Co- catch a flight.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: I don't want to tell people where you are going.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: But he's going to a wedding. He's looking forward to it, Victor.

JOHNSON: Former students.

BLACKWELL: All right. It must be something night. Everybody - about it.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: Thank you both.

We've got a lot of news to tell you about this morning, let's get to this morning read. Right now, U.S. military troops are on the ground in Liberia to help fight off the spread of Ebola. Teams have been tasked with building isolation centers for infected health care workers. And President Obama has authorized up to 4,000 troops to West Africa. And since last month, service members have been assisting with housing, and medical and logistical means.

The entire football season has been cancelled at a high school in New Jersey. Now, six teens from the team are in police custody for allegedly sexually assaulting younger classmen in vulgar and extreme hazing. The coach and officials were not coming on details of the abuse. But it may have gone on for a year.

Business news now. If you've noticed cheaper prices at the pump, so have I. Most people have. Across the country, oil prices have plunged. On Friday. Oil dropped below $84 a barrel for the first time since 2012. But hold off on the celebration, because experts say the lower than usual prices have been triggered by a shaky global economy. So, some concern there.

In tech news, cybercriminals may be planning to leak hundred us of thousands of stolen snap check photos and videos this weekend. A release that will include child pornography. The photo sharing app is adamant that its servers were not hacked, but business insider reports said at least one-third party site with access to a database at Snapchat images, was in fact broken into. Images sent through Snapchat app disappear after just a few seconds making it a popular tool for sending nude images. Half of its users are teenagers between 13 and 17. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Each week, we're shining a spotlight on the top ten CNN heroes of 2014.

PAUL: Yeah, and when this week, we learned about the lack of access to fitness training faced by those with a disability in his city. He got to work the best way he knew how. Meet Ned Norton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED NORTON: When I'm running, I feel limitless. Being in motion makes me feel free. When you're really pushing yourself, that's when you really feel alive. But there are millions of people around the world that are facing severe physical limitations. They can't be independent, they can't live their lives. I spent years training Olympic athletes, football players, body builders one day, a young guy spinal cord injury came to the gym asking for help. At first, I didn't know what to do, but just work together, you make tremendous progress. Take a breath, reach out, reach out. Bring it back. Before I knew it, my phone rang off the hook. People asking for help to bring it up. So I opened a gym designed to fit their needs.

Ready to go to work? UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Yes.

NORTON: For the past 25 years I provided strength and conditioning training for people with disabilities plus -- stretch up -- nice job -- people come to me when they are at their lows. Up, up, up. Hold it. Bracket.

You come to the gym and all of a sudden, you have a natural support network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 1971, I broke my back, and I've been in a wheelchair ever since. Thanks to Ned, I keep my upper body strength at a maximum. I've been able to live a full life.

NORTON: I never worry about what they can't do. I worry about what they can do.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I can do it, Ned.

NORTON: Yes, you can. Good job.

NORTON: I'm building them up, building them stronger so they can go out and live life like they're supposed to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: So, go to CNN Heroes.com to vote for Ned or one of the other nine nominees for hero of the year. They are going to be honored at CNN Heroes, an all-star tribute that's hosted by our own Anderson Cooper. It's Sunday, December 7.

We've got so much more news to get to you this morning for you, too.

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