Tightening Airport Security; Concern Over Vetting Of Airport Workers; Vetting Airport Workers for Security
BLITZER: The possibility that a bomb brought down that Russian airliner with 224 people onboard is causing increased concern among officials in the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, officials there, they're working to try to address vulnerabilities involving the nearly 900,000 workers at American airports. There is some suspicion that a bomb was put on that metro jet flight by an insider at the Egyptian airport in Sharm El Sheikh where the aircraft made its final takeoff. Our Aviation and Government Regulation Correspondent Rene Marsh is joining us now. Rene, we're talking about almost a million workers only here at the United States of about 450 airports. What exactly are Homeland Security concerns right now?</s>RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVT. REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, in my conversations with several people who are involved with aviation security, they are all saying the same thank, the major concern is that insider threat, the individual at these airports, the individual who works with an airline who has that unfettered, secure access to the airport, as well as the aircraft. Now, I spoke with one congressman, John Katko. He's the chairman of the Transportation Security's subcommittee. He says, and in his own words, "we simply do not know enough" about the close to one million airport workers at U.S. airports across the nation. He's really pushing for better vetting of these employees. And we just heard just this month the head of the TSA even telling Congress that there is work to be done as it relates to the insider threat. Now, one U.S. official shared with us this information saying that the information that is collected, when it comes to vetting these airport workers, is essentially the same sort of information that's collected from passengers who are looking to get pre-check clearance at security checkpoints. And some find that very disturbing. I can tell you, Wolf, there is legislation that has been proposed. It's passed the House. that legislation would essentially call for more physical screening of these airport workers when they arrive on scene at work, as well as recurring background checks. It's passed the House but it has not passed the Senate.</s>BLITZER: All right, Rene, thanks very much. Joining us now to talk about airport security and the Department of homeland Security is the Texas Congressman Will Hurd. He's a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. He's also on the committee on Government Oversight. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us. Are you convinced at this point it was a bomb and that it was ISIS related, either ISIS or some affiliate of ISIS?</s>REP. WILL HURD (R-TX), HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY CMTE.: Being convinced 100 percent is difficult, but it looks like it was ISIS. There's still reviews ongoing. But we should treat it as such. And this would be a - a significant departure from ISIS' tactics and techniques in the region. And it's even more reason that we should be focused on them and stopping them in Syria and Iraq.</s>BLITZER: And the assumption is that they had an insider at that airport in Sharm el Sheikh that planted that bomb, assuming it is a bomb, on that aircraft.</s>HURD: That's one of the scenarios that's being discussed. I don't think technical issues have been ruled out as if somebody put it in baggage and it - and it got through. We don't know the answers to that yet, but that's something that I know TSA is going to be look at very closely, as well as airports around the world. An important thing to note is, you know, what happens at an airport like in Sharm el Sheikh versus what happens in - in Washington, D.C., or somewhere else is very different. And TSA is increasing their screening of luggage that's coming from key regions overseas. And the House passed legislation earlier this year saying that every airport needs to go through and review the security access controls. You know, where can their workers get access to into the sensitive areas of an airport?</s>BLITZER: Because there's almost, as we said, nearly 900,000 workers at 450 airports in the United States. Does more need to be done right now?</s>HURD: I think we could always do more. I think we could always do more to continue to protect the American people. And protecting against that insider threat is - is a very difficult thing to do. Additional screenings of the workers that are working there is important. And then also making sure we know where our workers have access to in these areas. And technical measures as well.</s>BLITZER: If it was ISIS or some ISIS-affiliated group, why would they go after a Russian airline with 224 people on board, almost all of them were Russians? Why would they target Russia? Was it - was it a - was the attack designed to hurt Russia or designed to hurt Egypt, for example, or send a broader message?</s>HURD: I think, you know, the design was to hurt Egypt I think more so than Russians. But here's one of those areas where ISIS' information campaigns are pretty significant. Nobody's talking about how ISIS is killing innocent people. They're beating their chest on social media saying, you know, they're taking the fight to the bad guys, but they're killing innocent folks. That message needs to - need to get out there to folks that are trying to combat them.</s>BLITZER: You spent nine years in the CIA as a clandestine officer. You understand intelligence. Social media, this whole social media, these guys are recruiting, ISIS, a lot more supporters now as a result of the murder of these 224 people, which is hard for us to understand. Why is this so attractive to them?</s>HURD: Look, we can't think about this problem through our own mindset. It's a different world. When I was chasing al Qaeda in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, al Qaeda would do something called night letters. They would write a letter and leave it on the doorsteps. Now ISIS is hitting tens of millions of people a day leveraging social media. They're encouraging, saying come to - come get a sense of adventure. Get off the - the couch and stop playing video game and come do the real thing. But the reality is, is that if a young man is going to fight with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, they're more likely to get a bomb dropped on their head than they are to find a sense of adventure.</s>BLITZER: All right, is the U.S. up to this mission because ISIS clearly, and al Qaeda, they're good on social media. Has the U.S. and its allies stepped up to the plate?</s>HURD: We haven't and that's what we need to do a better job. Department of Homeland Security has created a new coordinator for CVE, that's countering violent extremism, but it can't be the U.S. government alone to do these things. It has to be a whole - all of our partners, our Sunni Arab partners in the region, non-state actors need to get involved in this process. But we also need to take the fight to them on the ground. The intelligence - our intelligence posture in Syria and Iraq is not where I think it needs to be. We can use the example of Afghanistan from 2001 as a model, and we need to work closer with groups to stop ISIS on the ground.</s>BLITZER: Congressman Will Hurd, Republican of Texas, thanks very much for coming in.</s>HURD: Thank you, sir.</s>BLITZER: The Republican presidential candidates, they're getting ready for their fourth debate tonight. We're going to take a closer look at what to expect. The chairman of the Republican Party, Reince Priebus, he's standing by. We'll discuss what's going on when we come back.