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THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

Britain Raises Terror Threat Level; Russia Denies Invasion of Ukraine; Ebola Outbreak Growing

Aired August 29, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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


JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: ISIS has the British so concerned, they're raising their terror threat level to severe.

I'm Jake Tapper. And this is THE LEAD.

The world lead. All that separates the U.K. from the U.S. is a seven- hour flight. The British are warning that a terrorist attack is highly likely over there. So what risks do we face over here?

Also, Vladimir Putin either does not realize that the rest of the world has eyes or more likely he just does not care, Russia still denying it is invading Ukraine as it is invading Ukraine, according to NATO and many others.

And this has been the worst week of the worst Ebola outbreak ever. U.S. health officials preparing to test a vaccine in the United States as we witness the biggest weekly jump in cases yet.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We will begin, of course, with the world lead; 35 million Americans will be traveling this Labor Day weekend, according to AAA. That's the highest number in six years. So pack the kids in the car or board your flight or take your seat on the train and don't worry too much about terrorists from ISIS committing an atrocity on U.S. soil, according to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, who are, they say, unaware of -- quote -- "any specific credible threat to the United States homeland from ISIS" -- this despite the British government raising the alarm about ISIS within its own borders.

Let's get right to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, what exactly are the British saying?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the issue, Jake, on this holiday weekend. The question, why is London so worried and Washington is not?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): Two leaders with very different public messages on ISIS, British Prime Minister David Cameron announcing the threat level is raised to severe in the U.K.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to put the cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy yet.

STARR: President Obama not ready to commit to fighting ISIS with airstrikes in Syria, but Britain clearly feeling the pressure that ISIS could strike it at home. The new warning means an attack is highly likely.

CAMERON: The ambition to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and Syria is a threat to our own security here in the U.K.

STARR: Particularly worried because it was a British voice on the tape showing the murder of American journalist James Foley. An estimated 500 people have traveled from Britain to fight in Syria and Iraq, along with hundreds of other Europeans.

U.S. and European security services believe ISIS fighters are back at several locations in Europe, but those cells may not be under direct ISIS orders. Officials won't say where the cells are. U.S. officials say they don't believe there's a cell in this country, but are tracking about a dozen Americans fighting for ISIS overseas.

Just this week, two American ISIS fighters were believed killed in Syria.

MIKE BAKER, PRESIDENT, DILIGENCE LLC: I think our European allies feel a greater sense of urgency. I think they feel as if the threat is closer to home right now, and, for us, it's more of a distant issue.

STARR: For now, the U.S. plans no changes. The Department of Homeland Security says it's unaware of any specific credible threat from ISIS. Some analysts say, however, this is not the time to sit around and wait for what may be an inevitable attack.

BAKER: We need to understand that this is a threat now to our homeland. And we have to start designing a game plan to defeat them as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Counterterrorism officials will tell you that one of their biggest worries in all of this in the United States is some ISIS loyalists staging essentially a lone wolf attack. It's one of the toughest threats to detect -- Wolf -- Jake.

TAPPER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you so much.

The United States and the United Kingdom are of course an ocean away, but air travel makes the whole world feel a whole lot smaller. It would only take seven hours to leave London, where an attack is, according to the government, highly likely, and arrive here in the U.S., where authorities are, as Barbara reported, unaware of any specific threat.

Let's bring in our aviation correspondent, Rene Marsh.

Rene Marsh, when we're going through airports this holiday weekend, will we see increased security?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You will. But the TSA is saying that's a function of it being a busy holiday travel weekend, not because there's a specific threat.

That said, they are doing more. The U.S. tells CNN they are actively tracking known foreign fighters who travel in and out of Syria, but the problem is the unknown fighters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (voice-over): It's an unsettling mix, terror threats during a busy travel holiday, the U.K.'s threat level raised to severe, for fear Westerners fighting for ISIS overseas could fly back home, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it has enhanced security overseas at airports with direct flights to the U.S., but no change so far in the terror alert system.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't anticipate at this point that there are -- that there's a plan to change that level.

MARSH: This summer, following intelligence terrorists were developing more sophisticated bombs designed to avoid airport screening, flyers from Middle East and European airports bound for the United States have had to power up all electronic devices to prove they weren't explosives.

Governments are on high alert for foreign fighters looking to return to their home countries.

CAMERON: We are stopping suspects from traveling by seizing passports. We're barring foreign nationals from reentering the U.K. We're depriving people of citizenship.

MARSH: The U.S. is striking a similar tone after two Americans were killed fighting for ISIS in Syria this week.

JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: We have the prerogative at the State Department in coordination with law enforcement authorities to revoke passports when it comes to a point where somebody is working with a terrorist organization or posing a threat to the American public.

MARSH: The government's no-fly list and law enforcement watch lists are updated and sent to TSA in real time as threats develop, but it's not a perfect system.

MONER MOHAMMAD ABU-SALHA, SUICIDE BOMBER: When I went back to Florida.

MARSH: Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha grew up in Florida. He flew to Syria, trained as a jihadist, then returned to the U.S. He was able to fly again overseas, not to be seen again until he blew himself up in a suicide attack in Syria.

STEWART VERDERY, FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We know something about somebody, they're going to be questioned. The real concern is the sleeper cell, somebody that hasn't -- it has kept them -- they're under the radar.

MARSH: The 14 million Americans taking to the sky this weekend may see heightened security already in place because of the busy Labor Day travel. But more security is being considered, and not all of it will be visible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, the U.S. no longer uses a color-coded terrorism threat system. They stopped that in 2011 because it was confusing and ineffective. The system used now posts alert on the DHS Web site and it sends it out to both the press and social media when there is an elevated threat.

TAPPER: I'm glad you included the bit about the Florida jihadi. It really raises questions how much the U.S. government really knows who's coming and going. Rene Marsh, thank you so much.

The U.S. military today announced it carried out four more airstrikes on ISIS targets in Iraq, but when it comes to dealing with ISIS in Syria, as you heard a few moments ago in Barbara Starr's report, President Obama said yesterday -- quote -- "We don't have a strategy yet."

The president is taking a lot of heat for his phrasing on that. So at today's briefing, our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, asked the press secretary whether the president would care for a do- over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Does he wish he had articulated that sentiment differently?

EARNEST: He was asked a very specific question about whether or not the president would seek a congressional authorization before ordering any sort of military -- military action in Syria.

The president hasn't yet laid out a specific plan for military action in Syria. And the reason for that is simply that the Pentagon is still developing that plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Jim Acosta joins us now live from the White House.

Jim, you gave the White House a chance to try and unring that bell about saying that they lack a strategy. They didn't take it.

ACOSTA: That's right, Jake. No apologies from the White House for what the president had say yesterday. When I asked Josh Earnest about that, that comment from the president,

"We don't have a strategy yet," when it comes to launching airstrikes in Syria, Josh Earnest said it was the media's fault, that members of the media had misinterpreted what the president said. That's the reason why Josh Earnest, the press secretary, went out and did all those interviews with a variety of cable outlets, including CNN.

He was first on CNN trying to explain that about an hour after the president wrapped up his remarks. And Josh went on to say and you heard in that clip you just played, Jake, that he's -- the reason why the president said there is not a strategy for hitting ISIS in Syria is because the military hasn't developed any plans for that.

Over at the Pentagon today, Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, was asked about Pentagon planning for ISIS in Syria and he said -- quote -- "I think that anybody who has any knowledge of the United States military knows that we're ready."

So there's a bit of a disconnect there in terms of what the Pentagon has developed in terms of planning for airstrikes in Syria and all of that raises the question, Jake, as to whether or not there's a debate really going on inside the administration between the White House and the Pentagon.

I asked Josh Earnest about that. He went on to say, while he wouldn't characterize it as a debate, he didn't deny that there's a debate, but he said when I asked if the president is on the same page as his Cabinet, he said that the Cabinet is on the same page as the president. So if there was a debate up until yesterday, Jake, the White House press secretary is trying to say there isn't one anymore -- Jake.

TAPPER: Jim Acosta at the White House, thank you so much.

We will have more on the president's leadership and those comments later in the show.

Coming up next, what's scary enough to make the Brits raise their terror threat level, but vague enough that they cannot quite articulate what it is? We will try to pin it down.

Plus, a secretive organization that can dig into your e-mails has a covert drone program. And I'm not talking about the U.S. government.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to the lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

Sticking now with our world lead. Yellow, orange, red, the United States has long retired our rainbow of fear terror threat alert system that was born out of 9/11.

But, today, the United Kingdom is bumping up their threat alert level from substantial to severe, a rating that means that a domestic terror attack is -- quote -- "highly likely." former Department of Homeland Security and CIA official, now co- founder of the Chertoff Group, a global security and risk management advisory firm.

Chad, let's start with the basics here. What has Prime Minister Cameron so concerned here?

CHAD SWEET, FORMER DHS AND CIA: Well, I think it's clear that they have intelligence indicating a direct and imminent threat. He is leaning forward and I think erring on the side of caution. I know he wouldn't do it lightly. Obviously, it's very disruptive to do that. But at the end of the day, I think he's he erring on the side of caution.

TAPPER: Paul, would it need to be specific intelligence we think these five people are coming into town, or is it just enough of what they know, British accent of the guy who was in that horrific James Foley video, the fact that they know that 500 or so British citizens have fought in Syria, some with ISIS? Is that enough on its face?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Yes, I don't think there's a sort of specific threat stream here or a specific plot that they're looking at. It's more a confluence of different factors. I think the biggest one are these U.S. airstrikes in Iraq against ISIS, this fear that there could be retaliation against the U.K., a very strong ally of the United States.

Also, next week, there's a NATO summit in Wales, the largest gathering of international leaders ever in the U.K. And, of course, it's not lost on British security officials the last time there was a major terrorist attack on British soil, there was a G-8 Summit in Gleneagles.

TAPPER: And that was --

CRUICKSHANK: The London bombings.

TAPPER: The London bombings took place during a similar type of event.

Chad, how hard is it to monitor -- I think a lot of people, myself among them, don't understand how there are all these surveillance and monitoring systems and yet, as we saw in Rene's piece in the previous segment, you have that Florida jihadi. He goes from Florida, fights for Syria, flies back, visits Florida, goes back, does a terrorist attack. He was with al Nusra Front, which is with al Qaeda, still a horrific organization.

Why don't we know, I mean, I know you're not in charge anymore, so not specifically for this guy, but why don't we know more about who these people are coming and going?

SWEET: Well, that's a great question. In the world of "24" or "Homeland," citizens expect this, or post-Snowden, that we're tracking everything all the time. The reality is that we just the volume of travel is such that you can't do that. And one thing we did post-9/11 is we did implement what's called U.S. visit, which is biometric fingerprint capture. Every foreigner coming and out of the United States does have to use that. And as a result, for foreigners, we can, in fact, track those movements.

The thing that's so concerning about this scenario or Western passport or U.S. citizens in particular, that's the hole that the current system can't do other than just through good old fashioned human (ph) and, what we do today at DHS, is human traffic traveling.

CRUICKSHANK: And there's also concern that some of these Brits that we're so worried about, they could just get on a plane to the United States and try and launch an attack here. We saw back in 2006 a transatlantic airline plot, that was an al Qaeda plot where they were targeting 10 planes. They actually were planning to get on planes from the U.K. to come over to the United States, because they don't need visas to do that.

TAPPER: That's one of the interesting point, if you're British, you don't need a visa to come to the United States.

SWEET: That's right. You don't need the visa -- you do have to get fingerprint capture for your first trip. And then the key thing I would flag, though, is what Paul said. At the end of the day, this administration said they're not going to elevate here because the thread over there is incrementally greater with 500 or so Brits estimated, versus about less than 50 U.S. citizens. But the dilemma is all it takes is one. And they're one plane ticket away from an attack on the United States.

So, in this case, especially after the misstep yesterday on the president's comments regarding no strategy, you would think that they might want to lean forward the way Prime Minister Cameron has done and there's significant risks to the president if, in fact, one individual does, in fact, carry out an attack between now and then.

TAPPER: And, Paul, I wanted to ask you, foreign policy magazine is reporting on an ISIS laptop discovered with the jihadist justification for chemical weapons, information about certain biological weapons. Even if they do not yet have weapons of mass destruction, ISIS, and they don't seem to, how close are they? Including biological and chemical weapons.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, one thing aspiring to want to do this, researching this, but quite another operationalizing it, the distribution systems for this kind of attack would be very, very difficult. Al Qaeda has been trying to do this for 20 years and they never got close. But the worry is with ISIS, that they now have a control of a lot of territory, they're cash rich, they have all these recruits coming from the Middle East, some of whom have a scientific background and also, they control cities, whether (INAUDIBLE) and hospitals, al Qaeda when they're experimenting all these kind of stuff, they're in Afghanistan far away from civilization.

TAPPER: As somebody who worked for the Department of Homeland Security, let me just ask you, why can't the United States succeed in getting more action from our Arab allies to go after ISIS? It seems like that -- President Obama talked about trying to get Sunni allies. John Kerry, the secretary of state, is going to go on a mission to do that. It seems in their interests they don't want the Islamic State existing in that part of the world.

SWEET: I think what you're going to see, though, Jake, is you're going to see a step up of collaboration and cooperation to do this. It is a common threat.

The only issue, as you know, is that the region is complex. There are different factions both within the ISIS itself, but also religious, the Sunnis versus Shiites. That's something to watch out for. But I think at the end of the day, to your point, it's going to take a whole of government approach and the United States has to lead the effort.

TAPPER: And, Paul, very quickly -- where are they getting their money from? Is it because they control some of the oil fields?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, that's one of the major revenue streams for them, millions of dollars a day. They burn through cash very, very quickly with all their operations. The warriors have tens of millions of cash reserves. The 9/11 operation, that cost half a million dollars.

TAPPER: Terrifying. Paul Cruickshank and Chad Sweet, thank you so much. We really appreciate your time.

Coming up on THE LEAD: the only thing bolder than Russia's invasion of Ukraine may be Russia's denial of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As many as 5,000 troops flooding over Ukraine's border. And there are photographs to prove it.

Plus, it's been the worse week of the worse Ebola outbreak ever. And now, another country is battling the virus. Is the world doing enough to try and stop it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I am Jake Tapper.

Continuing with world news -- facts are stubborn things, but apparently, Vladimir Putin is a stubborn man because despite hard and fast visual confirmation from NATO in the form of this satellite imagery of Russian troops inside Ukraine, in total, as many as 5,000, according to British officials -- well, Russia still says nyet, they have not invaded. The pictures are fake, they say. They have no involvement in a battle that has now cost more than 2,000 lives.

Our Diana Magnay is in the strategic seaport in the Ukraine.

Diana, if you believe any of that, I have a bridge to sell you in St. Petersburg, of course. How long can Putin's denials go on?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How long is a piece of string, Jake? Vladimir Putin is a master of denials and obfuscation and the West is pretty much come to expect nothing more from him. But they don't seem to have been able to come up with any kind of effective policy response to make him change his course, because sanctions certainly don't seem to be making him change course.

And I think that's partly because no one can quite work out, Jake, what his end game in east Ukraine actually is.

TAPPER: President Putin also compared the Ukrainian troops to the Nazis who stormed Leningrad in World War II. Does that work? Does that kind of propaganda invoking their heroic efforts against the Nazis on the Russian population, on the Russian public?

MAGNAY: Well, for those who watch Russian state media over here and certainly for those, the majority of Russian household who watch Russian state media in Russia itself, the sort of positioning that President Putin puts himself as the guardian angel really of Russian speakers and of the innocent in this conflict whilst Ukraine wages a war in its own people is a message that they firmly believe.

He controls the state media. He can say what he likes. And when you go to Moscow and when you talk to certainly those who still support the rebels on this side of the Russian-Ukrainian border, they do believe that that line although to the rest of us, when you start hearing Nazi analogies to compare with President Poroshenko policies in Donetsk and Luhansk, well, it does really seem a very exaggerated claim -- Jake.

TAPPER: Diana Magnay, thank you so much.

Coming up, we do not know yet what he is willing to do, but we know what he is not willing to do. And now, even some of his fellow Democrats are privately expressing frustration with President Obama's response to ISIS.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)