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CNN NEWSROOM

U.S. Strikes in Somalia; President Obama's Foreign Policy Woes; FBI, Apple Now Investigating Celeb Hacking; The Risk of Synching Your Devices; U.S.: Detainees Are A Top Priority

Aired September 2, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I do have a lot of news. Have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, terrorists targeted.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: The leader of al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane, and his deputies were holding a meeting of their top commanders.

COSTELLO: Breaking overnight, a secret U.S. drone strike in Somalia, the Pentagon launching missiles and a mission.

So why are we attacking an al Qaeda offshoot when ISIS is such a clear threat?

Also, hacker hunt. Nude pictures stolen from celebrity phones, the FBI now on the case. PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Agents will be interviewing

the alleged victims and will likely be in touch with Apple in an effort to find out who the hacker or hackers are.

COSTELLO: The mystery man hacker reportedly called "Original Guy" on the run this morning.

Also --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've got to go.

COSTELLO: Wage war. A nationwide protest, civil disobedience, demanding to double their salary to 15 bucks an hour.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't want handouts. We don't want pity. We just want everyone to understand our reality.

COSTELLO: Let's talk, live in the NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

New this morning the U.S. military launches clandestine strikes and the target is thousands of miles from the hot spots that have dominated the headlines in recent weeks. A regional governor in southern Somalia says an apparent drone struck a small village held by the terrorist group al-Shabaab.

That militant group linked to al Qaeda carried out the brazen dayside attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya last September, killing more than 60 people.

You remember that. The U.S. military offensive comes just a day after al-Shabaab fighters disguised as government troops laid siege to a prison where dozens, possibly hundreds of their comrades are being held.

Our global affairs correspondent Elise Labott joins us now from Washington.

So, Elise, the president is taking heat for not taking decisive action in Ukraine and Syria, so why Somalia and why now?

LABOTT: Well, Carol, as officials say, you know, they're kind of sensitive to that saying look, we can walk and chew gum at the same time if you will, and they've been watching al-Shabaab for some time. As you just said they pose a growing threat to not just the region but the world as al-Shabaab is planning attacks outside the United States, outside Somalia, and senior U.S. officials are telling me listen, we had a target of opportunity that presented itself, this meeting of the leader of al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane, and some of his top commanders.

They were actually meeting in this rebel-held village where the strike took place to talk about this growing -- this offensive, how to fend off this offensive by the Somali military and the African Union and they were all meeting and this target of opportunity presented itself.

And Carol, they don't present themselves that often so they're constantly watching. This is a continuing threat and they -- and they saw the target and they went after it.

COSTELLO: All right. Elise Labott reporting live from Washington this morning.

President Obama is not just facing critics on Capitol Hill, he's also taking heat from everyday Americans. A "USA Today"/Pew Research Center poll shows widespread dissatisfaction with the president's handling of crises in the Ukraine and in Middle East. More than half of Americans feel the president is not tough enough on foreign policy and national security.

It is the quandary much of the country remains divided over America's exact role in the world, the same poll shows 39 percent of Americans feel the United States does too much in helping to solve the world's problems. Thirty-one percent say the United States does too little.

So let's head to the White House now and CNN's Michelle Kosinski. Michelle, today the president leaves for Europe to shore up alliances

and meet with fellow members of the NATO military coalition. Tell us more.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Carol. And you know, NATO no longer has that identity crisis that everybody was talking about. Well, that was back before Russia suddenly effectively invaded Ukraine, and now there's talk about expanding NATO membership, and building a rapid response military force.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI (voice-over): How is President Obama ending up in the sleepy Baltic capital of Estonia this afternoon? Just take a look at its neighbor, and Russia' unceasing actions down the road in Ukraine. And suddenly this added on meeting with leaders of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is at the heart of what the NATO alliance is for, as the White House put it, to reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defense.

Now once again just as we commemorate the start of World War II, NATO matters. Ukraine is looking to join. NATO's secretary-general is proposing creating a rapid response military force ready for emergency defense in 48 hours, something the White House supports.

This summit now will also look at what to do next about Russia, as Europe draws up new sanctions. Yet another crisis looms to be discussed by the West and that is ISIS. With thousands of foreign fighters, with Western passports currently fighting in Syria, Britain's prime minister now with Europe has vowed to act.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: A firm security response with the military action to go after terrorists, international cooperation on intelligence or uncompromising action against terrorists at home.

KOSINSKI: President Obama at home, while airstrikes on ISIS in Iraq continue, had a bit of a rough, long weekend in the press following those words on Syria.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't have a strategy yet.

KOSINSKI: With some head-turning reaction from both parties.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: The Russian bear is encountering the Obama kitty cat.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: He's very cautious, maybe in this instance too cautious.

KOSINSKI: The president has made clear he is loath to use military force unless it is well thought out and will work, has repeatedly emphasized the need for a strong international coalition on both Russia and ISIS. Now this NATO summit has plenty on the table.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KOSINSKI: Yes. Like it or not NATO has plenty to do now and among the goals of the summit will be assessing the effectives of the international response to both Russia and ISIS, and seeing what more can be done -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Michelle Kosinski reporting live from the White House this morning.

Checking some other top stories for you at seven minutes past the hour.

Jury deliberations begin today in the trial of four former Blackwater guards who killed 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007. At issue is whether they were justified in opening fire. The guards say they acted in self-defense after coming under attack by militants but Iraqi witnesses say the guards fired without provocation.

Police in Ferguson, Missouri, are starting to wear body cameras. Most of the cameras were donated by security companies following the shooting of that unarmed teenager Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson. Ferguson's police chief says body cameras could have made a difference in the investigation into Brown's death. Yesterday a group calling for Officer Wilson's dismissal blocked traffic briefly along Interstate 70 in Missouri. The traffic stoppage took place despite a request by Brown's family calling for a delay.

A Delta flight was diverted overnight because of a fight over leg room. Call it recline rage. Seriously. Witnesses say an argument started when a woman who was knitting decided to recline her seat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This woman who was sitting next to know knitting actually, just tried reclining her seat back. The woman behind her started screaming and swearing and then the flight attendant came over and that exacerbated what was going on, and then she demanded that the flight land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, so if you're keeping track this marks the third time in eight days that a flight was diverted because of arguments over a few inches of leg space. Delta says they rerouted last night's flight out of an abundance of caution and they apologized for the inconvenience.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the FBI is working to figure out how hackers got access to nude photos of some of Hollywood's biggest stars. What investigators think happened and is your data safe? We'll talk about all of that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kim Kardashian had their pictures leaked, and she's furious, because she wanted to leak them herself. Kim says -- (LAUGHTER)

Kim says the pictures were taken back in the day when she was desperate for attention. So I'm thinking, yesterday maybe?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, yes, yes, that's funny, right, except it's really not. Because the whole concept of leaked photos, naked photos online is creepy. It's sick. As you know, some creep hacked into hundreds of personal photos, nude photos of celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton. And then that creep posted them on what's known as the a-hole, the asshole of the Web, 4chan, a Web site so dark the "New York Times" called it the "ninth circle of hell."

The FBI along with Apple is now investigating the hack. Oddly this crime has stirred up another kind of conversation, though. In a now deleted comedian Ricky Gervais wrote, quote. "Celebrities make it harder for hackers to get nude pics of you by computer by not putting nude pics of yourself on the computer."

But Lena Dunham begs to differ, tweeting, quote, "The don't take naked pics if you don't want them online argument is the same argument as the she was wearing a short skirt of the Web. Ugh."

OK, so truthfully I am torn. You have every right to take nude pictures of yourself and share them with your loved one, nothing wrong with that. You have a right to privacy, too. But as mama always told me take a nude picture off yourself, give it to someone else and you lose control of your own body.

So let's talk about all of that with CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter and entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I love your mom. First of all.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: My mom, she is a wise -- she is a wise woman. But it's a double edged sword. Like I can understand you wanting to take a nude picture of yourself because as you said, Nischelle, during the break, you know, I'm' grown woman. I can do anything I damn well want, right?

TURNER: Exactly. You know, I actually land squarely on the side of Lena Dunham in this argument and I -- when I starting hearing this yesterday I was kind of surprised when people were saying, well, if you don't want nude pictures out there don't take them. Well yes, but at the same time I don't expect some, you know --

COSTELLO: Creep.

TURNER: -- disgusting, right, hacker or creep.

COSTELLO: Pervert. TURNER: Pervert. To steal my nude pictures and do whatever with. I

don't expect that at all. But I will say, there is a little bit of, you know second thought of oh, God, maybe I shouldn't have done that and celebrities are probably having that second thought today. But I do feel like it's a blaming the victim thing.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDNET: The focus should be on the creep. The focus shouldn't be on the victims. Since when are men up in arms about people taking nude photos?

I've seen these anchors on television on another network that shall remain nameless saying what Ricky Gervais said. And I thought, why are these men on TV saying don't take nude photos? That's a first time I've ever heard a man say that.

So, there is some hypocrisy here. I also think there is an expectation to privacy that we're concerned about and understandably concerned about, and the interest shouldn't be don't do it because it won't be secure. The answer should be -- make this stuff more secure, have a safer, stronger password.

COSTELLO: I was actually thinking about this and it's a form of sexual assault really. That's really what it is.

TURNER: Well, you're right it is. It is, because you're exploiting a woman's body for everyone to see without her consent. So I think that you're correct in that resolve.

And I agree with Brian, my thought when I saw all this was not even so much for oh these poor celebrities but what do they have for every person like you and me out there? What information do they have of mine? What information do they have of yours?

I almost got hacked the other day. My bank just contacted me and said someone tried to login to my -- and get to my bank. Yes, you know, several times.

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: My credit card a few weeks ago for the same reason.

There are businesses at stake, because if people don't trust the Cloud that emerged over our heads in the last few years, if we collectively don't trust it, then a lot of the business plans start to go, start to fall apart. I don't think that's going to happen. That is the risk.

COSTELLO: Going back to the original premise, though, the fact is you can't trust the internet, and you can't trust your privacy on the Internet. Everybody knows that, right?

STELTER: But shouldn't you be able to and take steps to make it better?

COSTELLO: But you can't right now, it's just a fact, right? So maybe the old-fashioned way is better, take the Polaroid, put it in an envelope and send it snail mail baby, right? TURNER: I like that idea.

COSTELLO: Maybe that's the answer.

TURNER: Or just go in person. Just go over in person. Why not?

STELTER: Real world, we're not virtual reality?

TURNER: How about that.

COSTELLO: We could talk about this forever. Thanks so both of you, Nischelle Turner, Brian Stelter, I appreciate it.

Of course, you can't talk about hacking without talking about how easy of it is to have your online information available in all kinds of places. In our sync up world, what's on your phone is also on your tablet, your computer and so on, and that's not always a good thing.

CNN tech correspondent Samuel Burke live in London with more on that side of the story. Good morning.

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: Carol, your files are supposed to be available anywhere, any time. The Cloud is supposed to make life that much easier. Sometimes, it makes it that much harder.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURKE (voice-over): It pops up when you least expect it, and certainly when you least want it. Those risque photos that, that job- seeking resume, the text message you'd rather no one else read.

This is where the accidental sync can happen, you think you're in the privacy of your own home texting, Googling, Facebook messaging, you put in one thing here and the Cloud has it show up in another unexpected unwanted place.

Take Apple's iMessage, you're sharing with friends and photos from last night's wild party, iMessage can simultaneously display what you're sending on all your other devices which, of course, you may have left out your prying eyes -- iMessage may be dangerous but it gets worse.

LESLIE HORN, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, GIZMODO: I think photo stream gets people in the most trouble because it's something that's there on all of your devices and if you're saving photos, they're all going to come to your photo stream. So, it's pretty easy to forget that they're there.

BURKE: In this era of apps syncing your content and even your Web browser asking you to login, a simple search can come back to haunt you.

Back at home, you Google something personal on your laptop, the next day that search appears on your work computer. In this world, where you never quite know what or where something will pop up, there's one piece of digital etiquette we should abide by. HORN: So, if you were showing me a photo and you hand me your iPad,

I'm going to look at the photo and I'm going to hand your device back. Don't swipe.

BURKE: Because in the era of the accidental sync, you'd never know what will pop up next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURKE: So, Carol, right now, go to your phone and make sure this isn't happening to you. Check out your iCloud photo stream, go to photos on your iPhone and instead of clicking camera roll, click my photo stream and check all the photo there is. You may have deleted them from your device, but they could still be on the iCloud and could be hacked that way. You might just want to turn off iCloud on your phone all together.

COSTELLO: I think I'll do that.

Samuel Burke, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Coming up in the next hour of THE NEWSROOM, we will answer your questions on the cloud and if your data is truly safe. So, send your questions to me @CarolCNN on Twitter and Facebook.com/CarolCNN on Facebook.

Also still to come in the NEWSROOM: the three Americans detained in North Korea are pleading for a high-profile envoy to help them out. We'll hear from the State Department about that option, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: U.S. officials are saying they will do all they can to secure the release of three Americans detained in North Korea. Kenneth Bae, Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle gave separate interviews from CNN's Will Ripley yesterday, each man urging the U.S. to send an envoy to help them get home.

Will Ripley took the cell phone picture as his team was diverted by North Korean minders from covering a story on sports diplomacy to a secret location for those interviews.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki appeared on CNN's "NEW DAY" last hour and was about sending a high profile envoy to North Korea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: I'm not going to rule out options here but I think it's important for people to understand that there have been a range of steps that we've taken. We have had an offer on the table to send Ambassador King to negotiate and discuss the release of these individuals, that trip has been canceled in the past.

We're going to do everything we can. But I think it's also important for people to understand we're not going to outline all of that public, because our on objective is to bring them home. And sometimes that means we can't tell you everything that we're working on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Kenneth Bae's family is, of course, desperate for his release. Back in February, Bae's family talked with Reverend Jesse Jackson to see if he could help. Jackson said yes but as of right now, it's a no go.

Reverend Jackson joins me now live.

Good morning, sir.

REV. JESSE JACKSON, PRESIDENT, RAINBOW PUSH COALITION: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Did you reach out to North Korea back in February about Kenneth Bae?

JACKSON: Well, as a matter of fact, Carol, several times we have written the Swedish embassy in North Korea, through our State Department, making moral and humanitarian appeals to North Korean leadership to release at that time Kenneth Bae. We said we are willing to go to North Korea to engage in the conversation about releasing him on humanitarian grounds, after all, he has been there two years, he is a sick man, and does not represent any harm to that government.

So, so far, those appeals have not been responded to.

COSTELLO: You heard what Jen Psaki says. The U.S. sent an envoy a few months back, but then North Korea rescinded the offer. Why did it do that?

JACKSON: Well, I do not know but things do change. If we take the mantra that "leave no American behind" as in the case of Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan, then these are three Americans we could not leave behind.

So, things may have changed since February. For example, this outstanding CNN interview with the three who are held hostage is obviously a gesture but, of course, by making it directly to our government, they raised the stakes, that is, they want to trade some kind of consideration.

The case of Bergdahl, they traded five Taliban prisoners for Mr. Bergdahl. In this case, the discussion since it would be official in fact, give us something as basic as the nuclear program, the relationship to North Korea, the annual missile testing versus our annual and the Korean basin, we -- it's a little different now because of the direct appeal to the government.

COSTELLO: Do you think the United States should play?

JACKSON: Absolutely. I think that the option is to leave them there. The president had been on a lot of attack about the ISIS situation, but is appeared to be laid back. The fact is maybe he's not telegraphing his punch. You cannot do

foreign policy on live television. If he telegraphed his punch, we'd never have gotten bin Laden, for example. But, maybe while he's given the appearance of being laid back, there's vigorous activity going on the ISIS crisis, for example.

And here in the case of North Korea, I'm sure, because I've met with State Department officials are working diligently. The reason we want to try to go outside is because sometimes we have a humanitarian plea in not through the government. I think what North Korea has done now is to raise the stakes by saying, send an official envoy, that can only come you think through the president. I would not want to go in this circumstance unless I was going as an envoy for the president, because it would be undercutting our foreign policy (INAUDIBLE) the right way.

COSTELLO: All right. Reverend Jesse Jackson, thanks for your insight. We appreciate it as always.

Coming up in THE NEWSROOM: the U.S. military strikes a terrorist group and it's not ISIS and it's not in one of the hot spots dominating the news. We'll talk about why the United States decided to target al Shabaab in Somalia, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)