Transcripts For WCBS CBS This Morning 20160322 : vimarsana.c

WCBS CBS This Morning March 22, 2016

Near busy subway stop. The latest reports say that at least 21 People Killed dozens wounded in the attacks. There are helicopters flying over head, ambulances racing to and from the airport. Witnesses said they heard gunshots and people shouting as been informed here in havana this morning about what u. S. Officials say appear to be at least two explosions, one at the metro and one near the airport. Many of the president s very top security advisers, including susan rice are here with him, and theyre continuing to update the president about what theyve learned. Theyve already been in contact with belgian authorities, and have planted stay in contact now, we are expecting to hear a. M. He was already scheduled to speak in a National Address to the cuban people, and we do expect for him to have to comment on these developments, and the latest of what we are hearing. Now we also know that the state department is still trying to track down these reports, and account to the safety of americans. There have been a few reportedly that. The u. S. Embassy so far is gathering information. They are in lockdown and they are telling americans in the area to stay where they are, to shelter in place. Its worth noting that brussels is home to a number of very key diplomatic missions, including the military alliance at nato. Now, as for what happens next, with the president , whether he continues on with his agenda, there havent been changes that we know of yet from the secret service. As i said the president s supposed to speak. Attend a baseball game here in cuba as part of his diplomatic outreach. We dont know yet if the secret service will allow him to go through with it. But so far, no major changes to his schedule. All right, Margaret Brennan thank you. We should also note that security is beefed up in other european cities this morning after that brussels attack, and theres likely to be a similar response in major cities here in the u. S. Were in washington following that part of the story. Jeff good morning first question however, any increased level of threat attacks here in the u. S. . Well, no. According to u. S. Officials that weve contacted this morning there is no threat against the u. S. , and the u. S. Posture remains the same at this time. The state department is still assessing whether there are any americans injured in these attacks, and u. S. Officials are tracking the situation in belgium, and theyre trying to assist where needed as they there has been enhanced cooperation since last novembers attacks in paris, and coordination is primarily in sharing intelligence to help track suspects down. And were going to see that again in this situation. Expect to see stepped up security here at home today. Its a precautionary show of force in places like new york city where police are now stationed in front of the belgian consulate in manhattan this morning. The nypd is ramping up security on mass transit around city landmarks, as well. Bridges and tunnels. When it comes to the d. C. Metro system, it is, were told there increased security and visibility of Police Following an attack like this. Even if it happens overseas as it did this morning. There are no reported threats to the u. S. At this time, as i mention, and the terror alert level has not been increased. And by the way, tsa administrator landed in brussels this morning. He is safe, were told the department of Homeland Security airports across europe, and we suspect thats why he was there in belgium today. The airport in brussels is not a major u. S. Airline hub in europe, but some u. S. Companies are concerned for their employees, as you might imagine. The airport attack was located in the checkin area reportedly near the American Airlines area. American airlines has released a statement this morning saying, in part, all of our employees and contractors are accounted for with no reported injuries. Delta and United Airlines also issued statements this morning saying their employees are safe. Some flights have been diverted to other airports, to amsterdam, for example, and upcoming flights to brussels have been suspended. Gayle . All right thank you very much. Cbs news Senior Security contributor michael morale is a former cia Deputy Director hes in washington. And juan is with us from salt lake city. Good morning to you. We had a statement from the belgian Prime Minister who says what we feared has happened, we were hit by blind attacks. Can we call these blind attacks when they were on a heightened security alert . And that this comes three days after the arrest of abdeslam . Where they said they were expecting more attacks . I had two reactions to what happened this morning. One is, its a reflection of how large how compartmented, how sophisticated the isis terrorist capability is in europe. After the first attack the investigation showed that these individuals had sophisticated bombmakers. They had bombmaking locations. They used cell phones individually, one at a time, so they couldnt be tracked. They had forgery capabilities to use passports to move back and forth between syria and iraq in europe, so very sophisticated capability. Today. The other, i think, is the fact that this this particular attack, i believe, was something that they had in train, something that they had worked out that they accelerated given the arrest of Salah Abdeslam last friday. He was probably aware of this. They were probably concerned that he was going to talk to up. Those are the two things that struck me this morning. Michael, what does it tell you, too, about their choice of attacks. The train station and the airport . They want to attack places where they create the most fear. Right . So where people congregate, where people congregate every day and go about their daily lives, at airports and in subways is the Perfect Place for them to conduct an attack because it creates the most fear. Juan zarate, why are belgium and france such shot spots right now . Longstanding pockets of radicalization outside of paris, outside of brussels. We focused a lot at cbs on the molenbeek neighborhood. These are decades worth of radical individuals whove been drawn to some form of the ideology that isis is now espousing. The problem, of course, now, gayle, is you have the isis accelerant. Isis is now motivating actors, and as mike indicated, now training them in sophisticated ways of operating. Training them in syria and iraq, then deploying them back. The one thing thats shocking to me is that youve had in the wake of the paris attacks, yet another sophisticated, coordinated attack right under the noses of european authorities, when they understood that there were these plots unfolding, and networks that were planning attacks. Keep in mind, gayle, that belgian authorities had shut down the subway in november of last year precisely because they were worried about this kind of one brussels transit spokesman is now saying that the casualties at the metro station are 15 dead and 55 injured. That again is just at the metro station. This does not include the casualties at the airport. This attack happened in brussels, juan, but the french president this morning said the whole of europe has been hit. Is he right . Hes absolutely right. And the french have talked about the fact that they feel that theyre at war. And these are scenes that are reminiscent of a wartime environment. Unfortunately. And this is a problem for europewide. A problem for counterterrorism and intelligence officials who have to share information to understand these networks that are operating across borders rather fluidly. Pockets of radicalization, all of these countries that are contributing to the potential threat, and certainly a problem moving forward as authorities try to ferret out other cells and activities that may be a in places like france and the uk. And so this is a europeanwide problem and u. S. Authorities are going to try to do everything to help, and certainly to try to uncover what may be unfolding in the coming days. All right juan zarate, thank you so much. Now lets bring in a reporter at politico europe who was outside the maalbeek train station when the explosion started and joins us now on the phone. Tell us what you heard. So i was actually outside of the station after the explosions started. Not quite at the time that it happened in the aftermath. I saw people being taken out of the station and being put down outside of the station on the main street in brussels that cuts through the brussels quarter, the european quarter. They were being covered in sheets. It was very difficult for police and ambulances and fire trucks to get through because of a rue de la waue is a oneway street and it was actually wounded. There were people Milling Around outside of the station. They had been moved on one side of the station around about 15 to 20 meters back and were filming what was happening. It was a chaotic scene. I dont know if people realized what had happened at that point. And now the street has been cleared. Its not being accessed by traffic except emergency services, and people are still walking around, still allowed to get around in the center of town but theyre not allowed close to the station. Victoria, it really took everybody off guard. You said you had warning from your employer, because after they had had the report from the airport you were told do not get on the metro. That. Is that correct . It seems to be the case. The metro was not shut down. First probably around 45 to 50 minutes the metro was still running, the trains were still running so people were catching public transport. We decided, made a decision within my reporting team to try and avoid the metro at all costs because we thought that it was not entirely unforeseeable that there would be another attack and if it was going to come it would come in this area because this is the area where all of the eu politicians are. There were reports that after the attack at the metro station sometime later there were controlled explosions, likely set off by the police. Did you hear those . Yes, we are hearing that, that there was some suspicious packages found in the vicinity of the european quarter, and elsewhere around brussels. We hear that there were controlled explosions, there have been, i believe, unconfirmed reports at this point of several explosions, in fact. Zoya, how would you describe the atmosphere on the treat . Right now i think people are a little bit shocked. Coming because this has been happening within europe for awhile now. The terror attacks have been coming more and more frequently it seems. Certainly in brussels, given that we had the brussels lockdown and the heightened terror level around about november when the paris attacks happened. People are in shock that this happened unlike previous brussels attacks the targets were very much a broader stroke of targets. So people at the airport, people on trains. I think people are shocked that this is finally seeming to get the average, everyday belgian, as well as the people who may for example, journalists and others who have been attacked in previous cases. To affect and scare the average everyday person. What can you tell us about the area where this happened . The train was actually the train blast occurred is in the center of tune. It is where the european institutions, the European Commission and the European Council are located one stop away from those places. Within roughly a 500 meter walk. On the other side of rue de la loi is the center where the u. S. Embassy is. There are several embassies around the station. So this is right in the heart of the quart erer where youve got diplomats, eu folks in general. So it really is the heart of the european quarter of brussels. It very much was meant to target the people who work in the eu institution. A very important point, the eu has been critical in terms of the refugee crisis. Nato has been critical in terms of the fight against isis and terrorism. We should also note as zoya has shock and concern and now what european governments. At this hour the french Prime Minister saying we are at war. We have been subjected for the last few months in europe to acts of war. So, Europe Clearly after the attacks in november, in france, 130 people dead. This morning now, it has spread to belgium, with reports of at least 21 People Killed at this hour. Dozens wounded. 11 dead at the airport. And 10 dead at a metro station. We are continuing to follow this breaking news here at cbs news. You had the french president saying we are at war. But you have the belgian Prime Minister also saying we feared what has happened. We were hit by blind attacks. Which is raising many questions this morning, considering that this attack happened days after the arrest of abdeslam, and they feared, authorities had feared that there were going to be more attacks, and the country was on high alert. Let me bring michael back in. Where did Security Forces security and investigators go from here in terms of dealing with isis . How does this how does this change what they do . Lets look at this objectively, anthony. Isis goal is two fold. One is to maintain their safe haven in iraq and syria, spread their ideology, spread their caliphates to other parts of the world. And then secondly, to conduct attacks in the west that create fear, possibly to drive us out of the middle east. Thats those are the two things they want to do. If you look at the first one, were having some success shrinking their caliphate in iraq and syria, but they are growing rapidly in the west of the world. Probably have more territory today, around the world, than they did at any time. And, theyve conducted now bernardino, and now in brussels. Right . Theyre winning, and were going to have to find additional approaches to try to undermine them. All right michael thank you so much. Were going to have much more ahead on this mornings brussel terror attacks. News. 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Sound of faucet turning on sound of water running sound of water running sound of teeth being brushed sound of water running sound of teeth being brushed is she after our liquid gold . Oh, she better not be. Our claim runs straight down to the glutn free stuffin. Its gluten. Theres gold in them thar shells. Liquid gold. rebecca ive struggled with depression. I thought i needed cigarettes to cope. I was able to quit smoking. And then i started running. Now, i feel a lot better. announcer you can quit. Make delicious recipes that are lighter in calories and added sugar when you use splenda no calorie sweetener. Think sugar, good morning first we are following breaking news from brussels, the belgium capital is on terror alert this morning after deadly explosions at a major train station in a Brussels Airport. Security is heightened, cbs2s is live at kennedy airport. Good morning, chris, there is no specific threat against the u. S. At this time. The threat level has not been increased here at jfk airport you can see that passengers are being picked up by their family cars are able to move freely here. Taxicabs also able to get into the airport. I checked the departures and arrivals list. Everything seems to be operating as normal. Although there will be no flights into or out of brussels of course because of this terrorist attack. The nypd says they will be stepping up patrols. There are security members here but security managers are not much different from what we would see on a normal day. Here at jfk airport it seems that passengers are aware of what happened of course, but things are operating as usual. Live at jfk airport, magdalena daris. Mayor de blasio and Police Commissioner prattton will unveil a plan to stop the growing number of slashings across the city. We will have much more on this story coming up today on cbs2 at noon. Now lets get over to john with your forecast this morning. It is chilly out there. Weve got beautiful skies but air temperature readings as low as 23, and you look at the right now in the 20s. To 54. Another number you may be dealing with, that pollen count is up today really high over the next few days. We are going to be warmer tomorrow. Chance of a shower overnight thursday into friday. Chris. Okay john, thanks so much. Im chris wragge. Well be back with another local update in about 25 minutes. After this. Welcome back to cbs this morning. We are continuing our coverage of a series of explosions today in the capital of belgium, the countrys Prime Minister says that the country was hit by blind attacks. Now the blast rocked the Brussels Airport and a busy subway station. At least one explosion was caused by a suicide attacker. In total at least 30 people are reported killed. But the total is expected to rise. And we are talking about dozens more who have been wounded. An image on twitter shows the devastation on a subway car that was hit by one of the explosions. It shows how the blast ripped People Living in brussels have been told to stay where they are. Charlie dagata is at the citys airport. Charlie, good morning. Good morning. We have news just in. This is according to belgian media, that the royal palace of brussels, the official residence of the king and queen has been evacuated in response to this Terror Threat. Belgian prosecutors confirm two locations where explosions struck this morning. At least one of those is

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