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CNN NEWSROOM

Source: "Inconsistencies" In Ebola Protocol; Massive Blasts Rock City Under Siege; ISIS Within 8 Miles Of Baghdad Airport; Budget Cuts Impacting Ebola Response

Aired October 13, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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


ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, new airstrikes in Kobani, Syria, sending smoke and debris rocketing hundreds of feet into the air. The new offensive as ISIS also threatens a province on Baghdad's doorstep. Leaders there begging for U.S. boots on the ground.

The CDC calls it a breach of protocol. New details on the first person to contract Ebola inside the U.S., a nurse wearing protective gear now diagnosed with this deadly virus.

And some shocking video you just have to see to believe. A man pops out of a subway grate, chucks a smoke bomb into this restaurant. Now the NYPD is looking for this guy who they say escaped back down the hatch.

Good Monday morning. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello this week. Glad to have you with us. Let's get right to it. CNN is now learning from a source that there were some inconsistencies in protocol that may have something to do with why a Dallas nurse has now contracted Ebola.

The CDC has specific guidelines for health care workers for how they put on and remove protective gear when it comes to dealing with patients with highly infectious diseases like Ebola.

Now the affected nurse cared for Thomas Duncan, the man who died from Ebola last week. Now this new case has thousands of health care workers all across the country calling for better training.

The CDC is planning a nationwide training conference call tomorrow and the World Health Organization says of more than 4,000 Ebola deaths during this recent outbreak, one in 20 have been health care workers. So that tells you why training is so important.

Let's talk more about this latest case. I'm joined by CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

First to Elizabeth in Dallas there, what more can you tell us about these reported inconsistencies in protocol there?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: An official tells me, Ana, that there were inconsistencies in the type of protective gear that was used and also there may have been inconsistencies in the procedure that was used to put that gear on and take it off.

It's especially important things be followed to a "t" for the taking off part because you're now taking off gear that has become contaminated so concerns about those three things, the type of gear, the putting on and the taking off.

CABRERA: All right, Sanjay, the question of proper training definitely comes into play with this first case of the health care worker in the U.S. getting Ebola so let's listen to concerns from nurses that they're expressing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATY ROEMER, REGISTERED NURSE: We're seeing that caregivers who are not being adequately trained are being blamed and -- we're hearing that they have not followed proper protocol when we have been asking our hospitals throughout the country to provide us with training that allows us to ask questions with training about how to put on the proper and optimal level of personal protection equipment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Sanjay, what do you think needs to be done? Why is Ebola different?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously it's concerning to hear what this nurse is saying and that they just don't feel comfortable. They don't feel like they've gotten training with Ebola specifically.

Now, I will say that most hospitals have infectious disease protocols, whether it be Ebola or other pathogens, their isolation units that exist in hospitals before this happened, but to the extent that Ebola is different only in that I guess, it's less forgiving.

When you do proper infectious disease protocol, you keep infected bodily fluids off of you. That's the point, whether it's Ebola or something else. With Ebola, even a small amount of the infected bodily fluid if it gets on your skin in any way can cause an infection.

It's highly infectious in that regard, not highly contagious. So even like we heard in Spain, the nurse may have had an itch, slight thing hit her face with a contaminated glove, that could potentially be a source here.

As Elizabeth was saying, at the point you're taking off your gown, if you reach around trying to take the glove off, but your bare hand touches part of the outer part of the glove that could be a source. So these are the things that need to be hammered and clarified, I think.

CABRERA: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

We have some breaking news we need to get to now in the Turkey/Syria border, again, breaking news at the Turkey/Syria border, some fresh explosions within the last few seconds.

Our Nick Paton Walsh is there in Kobani. CNN's senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, is live in Baghdad. Nick, let's start with you, what are you seeing right now?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, just over that hill in the last few minutes or so we heard what we think now is about the eighth explosion according to a recent CENTCOM press release to hit Kobani since Sunday and today.

Another blast heard just now. I should just warn you, we're seeing Turkish police moving towards this particular stage. At this time of day they tend to clear people away from the hill here. Many of the Kurds come to watch over the fate of Kobani.

But it's been a very busy day inside that town. You can see just now another plume of black smoke coming up from behind the brow of that hill. That's important because the targets they're hitting at this later stage of the day are to the west and to the south.

The targets they were in fact hitting earlier on today. I say that's key because that simply means that ISIS are, in fact, closer towards what used to be the Kurdish side of the town than they were at the beginning of the day. So it has been a particularly successful day for Kurds trying to defend the city -- Ana.

CABRERA: Any idea if these airstrikes are making a dent in the fight against ISIS there?

WALSH: Well, just by the sheer size of the explosions we've been seeing, and I'd say four or five, really, which probably were airstrikes that we've witnessed so far today. The CENTCOM press release quite vague as the precise timing of the strikes, they must have caused significant damage to what they said were ISIL buildings, vehicles, even a convoy at one point.

We don't know what that's doing, though, to the battle on the ground. We do know for sure that the Kurds are running low on ammunition, running low on individuals, too, frankly.

And if you also bear in mind, too, a scene we saw earlier on today, we don't know who they were, but there was a clear corridor of about 50 men, didn't appear to be armed, mostly male what from what we could see from this vantage point who were moving what should be the Kurdish side to the ISIS-held side of the city.

As say, we don't know what they were doing but it was bizarre to see that number of people on the move. Frankly, quite so orderly during that level of fighting -- Ana.

CABRERA: Nick, I see off gas mask in your hand. Do you feel safe?

WALSH: It's fine here. The main threat is the Turkish police who have now begun driving around the area here, the hill where, as I say, many people are here to watch what's happening in Kobani. They've begun driving around now in their armored vehicles. I say police they may be the military here. But the tactic they normally have is to try to get everyone to move on and those who stay behind get tear gas fired on them. It's just fascinating to see today, Ana, really, the level of ordnance that's been dropped inside Kobani and that constant sound of jets overhead.

And what we think we've seen is probably five airstrikes since we got here around about 9:00, 10:00 this morning showing really that no matter how the coalition talk about how the town will probably fall to ISIS, they are willing to use substantial ordnance to take out ISIS targets inside it or perhaps try and change the dynamic of the battle on the ground.

It's not really looking, I have to say, that good for the Kurds. It's hard to tell precisely what's happening and the reports are mixed, but by each day that passes it seems trickier for them to hold on to Kobani -- Ana.

CABRERA: Given the location, right along the border with Turkey, there has been growing pressure for Turkey to take aggressive action, an aggressive stance against ISIS in Kobani. Any word on whether Turkey is making plans to perhaps take some military might to ISIS?

WALSH: Mixed messages. There have been suggestions in the American media, U.S. officials reported, said, on television that they thought there would be substantial Turkish support for the ability to train, equip the moderate Syrian opposition inside Turkey.

There've been, frankly, friends of the moderate opposition for three years since the civil war started so not much of a surprise there. The more sensitive issue they've talked about is the potential to use U.S. attack aircraft to use military bases inside of Turkey.

That's been pushed back by officials inside of Ankara, the Turkish capital, in the past hours or so. There is obviously talks under way, a deal perhaps to be struck, maybe preemptive comments out of Washington. But the key pressure is for Turkey simply to push in and somehow try and take control of this conflict zone here.

That's obviously something they're very reluctant to do. Frankly, I think it's a non-starter. They consider the Kurds fighting inside there against ISIS to be a terrorist organization. They're unlikely to want to militarily assist them at all.

And they've been living with the chaos of ISIS next to them for months now, over a year in many ways. We went to one Turkish town where you can see ISIS held territory through a fence and talk to people who live inside it.

This is nothing new for the Turks, but they want to intervene, if they do with their own rules with their own conditions and goals clearly in sight -- Ana.

CABRERA: Hopefully it's not too little too late by then. Of course, ISIS is advancing not just there in Syria where Nick is, but also in Iraq where Ben Wedeman is and, in fact, ISIS, we've learned, has moved within eight miles of the Baghdad airport.

Ben, how big of a threat is this and any movement in Baghdad to prepare for a fight?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's important to underscore that those elements of ISIS that are so close to the Iraqi capital on the outside are really small elements. There are no indications that the group is launching some sort of large frontal assault on the defenses of the city.

But what we're seeing in Anbar Province to the west of here is much more serious. Today ISIS was able to overrun and take control of an army base to the northeast to the town of Hitt, which is about just under 100 miles to the northwest of here.

There apparently the Iraqi Army abandoned their positions. They report, they claim however that before they left they were able to destroy all the equipment and ammunition that they couldn't take with them.

But this really means that there's one last major military installation within the province, an air base. That is it. That's the only real military base left that hadn't been taken over by ISIS in the province, which is now at least 80 percent under the control of ISIS.

Now, we did hear over the weekend the head of the provincial council appealing for the deployment of U.S. ground troops in Anbar Province. That same individual being quoted in the local media as saying if assistance doesn't come from the central government, from the Americans, that Anbar province will fall within 15 days -- Ana.

CABRERA: Ben, you mentioned that military base that was now abandoned by Iraqi Security Forces there is in the Anbar Province. So here we go. We see Iraqi forces again retreating because of ISIS. That's got to be a huge boost in morale for ISIS, but also does this mean that the coalition and the U.S. perhaps has been overly confident and continues to be in the Iraqi military's ability?

WEDEMAN: When people speak frankly here, U.S. officials, Kurdish officials, Iraqi officials, they are quick to admit the shortcomings of the Iraqi Army. And we hear anecdotal stories, for instance, that in many front-line units of the Iraqi Army that the soldiers pay their commanding officers out of their salaries so they can go away.

They can basically return to their homes, maybe back to jobs in the city to avoid serving on the front line. There's massive corruption within the Iraqi military. There is incompetence, incompetence that we've seen going back to June when the Iraqi Army fled Mosul, the country's second-largest city, in the face of a much smaller and more poorly equipped ISIS force.

So endemic problems within the Iraqi Army. Some of the senior officers have been removed. The United States says it's sort of pushing to retrain people, possibly hoping to get better qualified officers to be assigned, but it is a herculean task. And the problem is, time is running out, ISIS is gaining more territory. And the question is, can the Iraqi army and the Shi'a militias that have been mobilized to defend Baghdad and other areas, can they be brought up to snuff before it's too late -- Ana.

CABRERA: Right. And after the loss of the blood and treasure by the U.S. there in Iraq, I think we're hoping to hear they've got it together there on the ground. Not good news, what you just reported. Ben Wedeman and thanks to Nick Paton Walsh as well in Syria. Do stay safe.

Still to come, has the CDC been doing everything right in the fight to curb the spread of Ebola? Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania says budget cuts may be getting in their way. He joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Concerns are growing over the first case of Ebola transmission in the U.S. The infected nurse seemed to have taken all the precautions needed to protect herself. She wore a mask, a gown, a shield, gloves, but still somehow she got infected with the deadly disease.

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey is joining me now. Senator, last year I know you passed into law a pandemic preparedness bill. You've been outspoken about the need to fund public health agencies.

The head of the CDC says this infected nurse possibly breached protocol, perhaps while removing parts of her gear. If that's the case, do you believe more funding or training could have been able to stop the virus from spreading in the U.S.?

SENATOR BOB CASEY (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, Ana, I don't think there's any question that we've got to invest more in public health. It's not simply this year's budget versus last year. This has been happening for many years now.

It was exacerbated by the sequestration, the across-the-board cuts. So at a minimum we should consider funding it to the level that the authorization is. It's authorized. Meaning this particular program, the hospital preparedness program, it's authorized at $375.

This year's budget has it at $255. I don't know what we're gaining for a cut of -- a reduction of $120 million. We should fully fund it. In fact, I think we should go above $375 so that every hospital has every resource that they need to do the planning, to do the drilling.

And all of the -- have all of the materials that they need to be able to confront this because cutting budgets when it comes to public health is a bad idea.

CABRERA: You know, we did do a quick fact check ourselves. From 2004 to 2013, we do know that about a billion dollars was cut from the general budget over that nearly a decade when it comes to health care funding. But I guess the larger question is, that would have even made a difference in terms of the U.S. handling Ebola patients when we haven't seen the disease and had to fight this disease in the past?

CASEY: But, Ana, I'd like to just err on the side of making sure the resources are there. We're having nurses express concern about their preparedness. We're having hospitals saying that they need more resources and I think we should err on that side.

There's no question, though, negotiation that, even if you have limited resources, nothing is -- nothing can take the place of a lot of drilling. And there's some good stories written about that. You can't just depend upon resources. You've got to do the drilling and the practicing that is necessary.

CABRERA: Do you think public health officials are now making the right moves in trying to fight or curb Ebola?

CASEY: There's no question that the response at least at this one hospital has been deficient and we've got to make sure that we're urging, continually urging every hospital to follow the protocols, to do as much preparation and drilling as possible.

So that if someone presents themselves at an emergency room in a hospital, then that hospital is fully prepared. But I do think the United States Congress has to take responsibility for a program that needs a lot more funding.

CABRERA: Can that happen sooner rather than later?

CASEY: I think it can. We're going to be in the next fun weeks casting votes on next year's budgets. We have an opportunity in Congress to get this right. But those who have embraced sequestration should rethink that.

So many politicians in Washington think across-the-board cuts is a good idea. It's a very bad idea and I think if we want to continually have problems in this area, in public health. Today it's Ebola. Tomorrow it will be something else unless we make the right investments.

CABRERA: So if you're investing more money, Senator, where are you going to make cuts?

CASEY: Well, there are a lot of places you can cut, but in the federal budget when you're talking about adding, as I think we should add this year, at least $120 million if not more, I would argue for more, there are plenty of places to cut.

These kinds of dollar amounts in the federal budget aren't even rounding errors. This is very easy to come up with this money. Now if it's tens of billions that's another story, but this is very easy to come up with these dollars and it's proof positive why sequestration is really stupid for budget planners and for legislators to vote for. We're seeing it over and over again whether it's in defense or non- defense, but especially when it comes to public health. Sequestration is a bad idea. It should be repealed and it should never be enacted again.

CABRERA: I think a lot of your colleagues would disagree with you that it's easy to make cuts to invest this money. But Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, we'll be watching to see what happens. Thanks so much for your time.

Still to come, Snapchat images may have been leaked as many as 100,000 photos and videos stolen. CNN's Laurie Segall is following this story.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ana. Snapchat promises your photos will disappear, but bad news for users many of those photos may be reappearing in hacker form. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Photos sent on Snapchat are supposed to disappear quickly after they're sent, that's why it's called Snapchat. But some of those photos and videos may be circulating in the dark corners of the web today.

Cyber criminals have reportedly hacked a third party app that now allows users to save their snap and those images could even be pornographic. CNN tech correspondent, Laurie Segall is joining me now. This doesn't sound good.

SEGALL: It absolutely doesn't especially when you look at the average age of Snapchat users. These are younger users, under 18. So if you have images of people sending each other a naked photo they thought was going to disappear, we're looking at child pornography.

But we had hackers a couple days ago talking about how they gained access to these stolen photos. Snapchat has come out and said "our servers were not compromised." They said it happened through another third-party app.

There have been rumors about something called Snapsave, which essentially if I were to send you a photo it would automatically save that photo without my knowledge which is problematic.

Now they're threatening to release the photos. They say they have around 100,000 photos, videos. So it's a bit of a waiting game and very problematic when you look at the age of the users which are younger.

I should mention, Ana, this is a company valued at $10 billion. Their whole premise is that if I send you a photo, it will disappear and we should talk about there are third party apps that enable you to save photos without my knowledge, which we're beginning to see with the latest hack.

CABRERA: Is that a hole in Snapchat? SEGALL: You know, it's not a hole in Snapchat, but it could be a hole in the business in general. Is Snapchat at fault? Not necessarily, but if their whole business is running on the idea of privacy and there are third party apps in the app store that allows you go-to-get around that, it has to be addressed.

CABRERA: It's a good eye opener for consumers for sure. Thank you so much, Laurie Segall.

Still to come, ISIS gains ground in Iraq and prompts a new warning on U.S. soil. CNN's Pamela Brown has a sobering security alert issued by Washington.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Ana, there's been an uptick in calls by ISIS online to launch attacks against U.S. government officials. Coming up, we'll tell you who those targets are.

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