Obama’s Effort to Train Syrian Rebels to Fight ISIS Won’t Work: CIA

President Obama on Tuesday told coalition military officials from around the world that they’ve had some “important successes” against ISIS, though they face a long-term campaign with many ups and downs.

There are 60 countries in all taking part in in the U.S.-led efforts to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the ISIS terrorists who have overrun large sections of northern Iraq and Syria since last summer. So far, the campaign has been very much a mixed bag, “with the Islamic State losing control of territory in some places while making gains in other,” reported The Washington Post.

Related: The Merger of ISIS and al-Qaeda Could Cripple the Civilized World

The campaign will have “periods of progress and setbacks,” Obama said during Tuesday’s meeting of top military officials from the U.S. and 21 other countries during a strategy session at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

Yet a couple of new reports from The New York Times suggests that Obama’s overall strategy for ultimately toppling the Islamic jihadist organization may be highly flawed – and that the U.S. may face even more formidable challenges from ISIS than it thought:

First, an internal CIA study strongly suggests the president’s plan to train moderate Syrian rebels to fight ISIS likely will not work and is just the latest of many failed efforts by the U.S. to arm and train foreign forces to combat American enemies. The report, which is still classified, was commissioned in 2012 and 2013, when the Obama administration was deliberating about whether to intervene in the Syrian civil war against President Bashar al-Assad.

The CIA study, presented in the White House Situation Room, documented a sorry rate of success in these tactics throughout the CIA’s “67-year history – from Angola to Nicaragua to Cuba,” said The Times. Arguably the biggest fiasco was the 1961 Bay of Pigs operation in Cuba ordered by President John F. Kennedy, in which CIA-trained Cuban guerrillas mounted a doomed invasion to fight Fidel Castro’s forces. And President Ronald Reagan suffered a major humiliation in the 1980s when the CIA tried and failed to topple Nicaragua’s Sandinista government by secretly supporting the contra rebels.

After nixing airstrikes on the Assad regime, Obama in April 2013 authorized the CIA to begin a program to arm and train moderate rebels at a base in Jordan. Obama recently decided to expand that mission with a much larger base in Saudi Arabia to train “vetted” rebels to fight ISIS in Syria.

Obama has been adamant about not deploying U.S. ground troops to Syria and Iraq to fight ISIS – so-called “boots on the ground” -- and insists it’s up to the Iraqi Army and moderate Syrian rebels to take on that onerous assignment. But the study found that the CIA was “even less effective when the militias fought without any direct American support on the ground,” said The Times. The only exception was “when the CIA helped arm and train mujahedeen rebels fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan during the 1980s.”Read More >>

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Dallas Ebola patient traveled on Frontier flight from Cleveland; Airline contacting passengers on flight

CLEVELAND, Ohio-- The second Texas nurse confirmed with Ebola in Dallas traveled by air from Cleveland to that city on a Frontier Airlines flight two days ago and may have been contagious at the time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the airline. The CDC is now working to notify the 132 passengers on the flight-- Flight 1143.

The healthcare worker was visiting family in Akron from October 8th to October 13th, according to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH).

"As of right now we do not have a case of Ebola in Ohio, but we are going to be working  to identify any close contacts that the individual was in contact with in the state," said Dr. Mary DiOrio, ODH's state epidemiologist. ODH is working with the Summit County health department right now to identify contacts in the Akron area, but may contact other area health departments as well, she said.

DiOrio did not have information about whether the healthcare worker was showing symptoms while in the state. The airline said the passenger was not showing "symptoms or signs of illness" while on the flight. The nurse, who provided care for Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, was identified by family  as Amber Vinson.

"We would recommend that anyone who has had contact with an individual with Ebola and they have symptoms, that they be in contact with their doctor at that time," DiOrio said.

According to health officials and the airline, the nurse traveled to Cleveland from Dallas on October 8th, and returned to Dallas on Frontier Flight 1143, which had 132 passengers and landed in Dallas at 8:16 p.m. central time on October 13th.

The next morning, the nurse went to the hospital with a low-grade fever and was isolated within 90 minutes, according to the CDC.
Here is the CDC's statement:

"On the morning of Oct. 14, the second healthcare worker reported to the hospital with a low-grade fever and was isolated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that the second healthcare worker who tested positive last night for Ebola traveled by air Oct. 13, the day before she reported symptoms.

Because of the proximity in time between the evening flight and first report of illness the following morning, CDC is reaching out to passengers who flew on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth Oct. 13.

CDC is asking all 132 passengers on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth on October 13 (the flight route was Cleveland to Dallas Fort Worth and landed at 8:16 p.m. CT) to call 1 800-CDC INFO (1 800 232-4636). After 1 p.m. ET, public health professionals will begin interviewing passengers about the flight, answering their questions, and arranging follow up. Individuals who are determined to be at any potential risk will be actively monitored.

The healthcare worker exhibited no signs or symptoms of illness while on flight 1143, according to the crew. Frontier is working closely with CDC to identify and notify passengers who may have traveled on flight 1143 on Oct. 13.  Passengers who may have traveled on flight 1143 should contact CDC at 1 800-CDC INFO (1 800 232-4636)."

Frontier Airlines added this statement:

"At approximately 1:00 a.m. MT on October 15, Frontier was notified by the CDC that a customer traveling on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth on Oct. 13 has since tested positive for the Ebola virus. The flight landed in Dallas/Fort Worth at 8:16 p.m. local and remained overnight at the airport having completed its flying for the day at which point the aircraft received a thorough cleaning per our normal procedures which is consistent with CDC guidelines prior to returning to service the next day. It was also cleaned again in Cleveland last night. Previously the customer had traveled from Dallas Fort Worth to Cleveland on Frontier flight 1142 on October 10.

Customer exhibited no symptoms or sign of illness while on flight 1143, according to the crew. Frontier responded immediately upon notification from the CDC by removing the aircraft from service and is working closely with CDC to identify and contact customers who may traveled on flight 1143.

Customers who may have traveled on either flight should contact CDC at 1 800 CDC-INFO.

The safety and security of our customers and employees is our primary concern. Frontier will continue to work closely with CDC and other governmental agencies to ensure proper protocols and procedures are being followed."

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Monster storm that stretches from the coast of Spain to Canada threatens to wreak havoc on both sides of the Atlantic.

• A giant storm with hurricane force winds was seen swirling eastward across the Atlantic Ocean, NOAA indicated 
• It is expected to lessen in strength, but parts of the United Kingdom may experience 'stormy conditions'
• Two other storms are also barreling across the Atlantic Ocean - Hurricane Fay and Hurricane Gonzalo
• Gonzalo has already battered the West Indies - downing trees, flooding streets and destroying buildings - and could become a category four storm as it heads towards Bermuda
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  A monster comma-shaped storm stretching across nearly the whole North Atlantic is threatening to wreak havoc on both sides of the ocean.
  Video of the massive storm was released by the National Weather Service Ocean Prediction Center (NWSOPC) to YouTube as hurricane force winds developed at its center creating waves as high as 50-feet.
  But it is only one of three huge depressions currently filling the ocean, with Hurricane Fay and Hurricane Gonzalo also barreling towards land.
  Gonzalo has already battered islands across the West Indies, with images revealing destroyed boats, down trees and debris strewn across beaches in Guadeloupe, Saint Barthelemy and Saint-Martin on Tuesday.
  Now the storm, which could reach a category four today, is poised to hit Bermuda later this week with sustained winds of more than 110 miles per hour.
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  On the move: The giant storm is seen across the Atlantic Ocean, with two other storms, Hurricane Fay and Hurricane Gonzalo, below
  
  

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  Joining forces: Another satellite image taken on Wednesday shows Hurricane Gonzalo, lower right, as it heads towards Bermuda
  
  

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  Danger: Red near the center of the storm indicates hurricane force, according to NOAA 
  The Washington Post reported Tuesday that 'the storm rapidly intensified between Sunday and Monday. Its central pressure dropped 46 mb in 24 hours (from 1002 mb to 956 mb) – a textbook meteorological bomb. Late Monday, the storm’s pressure likely bottomed out around 948 mb which is comparable to levels in many category 3 hurricanes'.
  Pressure went up again slightly, the newspaper reported, but said that '[g]raduated weakening is forecast over the next few days before it likely brings stormy conditions to the northern British Isles Friday into the weekend'.

There were 50-foot waves because of the storm, Mashable reported.

Much further south, Hurricane Gonzalo gathered strength moving over open water away from the eastern end of the Caribbean, and forecasters said it could become a powerful category 4 storm Wednesday as it headed toward Bermuda.

Authorities on some of the smaller islands buffeted by Gonzalo said at least one person was dead and two were missing. Dozens of boats were damaged and power was knocked out in the Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten.

Satellite shows hurricane MONSTER storm expected to hit UK

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Destruction: Destroyed buildings can be seen along the beach of Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe on Tuesday after Gonzalo swept through

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Wreckage: The storm picked up even more strength as it left Guadeloupe (pictured) and could become a Category 4 storm

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Shaken: A woman walks past damaged trees in Orient Bay on the French Caribbean island of Saint Martin on Tuesday. Three people are missing at sea after the hurricane Gonzalo swept through the French Caribbean islands of Saint Barthelemy and Saint-Martin

The storm had top sustained winds of nearly 125 mph (205 kph) and was centered about 705 miles (1,135 kilometers) south of Bermuda late on Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was moving northwest at 13 mph (20 kph).

The center said Gonzalo could become a category 4 hurricane during the day while it takes a path that would take it near Bermuda on Friday. Category 4 storms have sustained winds of at least 130 mph (209 kph) with the potential to cause catastrophic damage.

'Folks in Bermuda are going to need to start paying attention to this thing,' Dennis Feltgen, a National Hurricane Center meteorologist, said by phone.

Bermuda's government posted a hurricane watch for the British territory, urging islanders to keep an eye on the storm's progress.

Officials said flights departing Bermuda on Thursday, Friday and Saturday were fully booked.

Gonzalo was blamed for the death of an unidentified elderly man who was aboard a boat in St. Maarten's Simpson Bay Lagoon, which looked like a ship graveyard Tuesday with several masts protruding from the water.

Acting Coast Guard Director Wendell Thode said 22 of the 37 boats destroyed by the storm were in the lagoon.

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Havoc: A picture shows damaged utility poles in the aftermath of the hurricane Gonzola on October 14, 204 on Saint Martin

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Floods: Streets are flooded following hurricane Gonzola in Marigot on the French Caribbean island of Saint Martin on Tuesday

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Aftermath: Residents survey the damage in Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe after the hurricane swept through on Tuesday

'Most of the boats that are destroyed are completely under water,' he said.

Authorities were searching for a man last seen on a dinghy near the French Caribbean territory of St. Martin and another man last seen standing close to a harbor in St. Barts, said Matthieu Doligez, general secretary of the prefecture in St. Martin.

Amy Arrindell, vice president of the St. Maarten Zoological and Botanical Foundation, said the St. Maarten Zoo was heavily damaged but no animals escaped or died. She said trees were uprooted, the petting zoo was destroyed and the animals' enclosures were flooded.

'There is major damage to the structure,' she said. 'It is total devastation.

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Pentagon Warns of Immediate National Security Threats From Climate Change

Rising sea levels, hotter global temperatures, wildly fluctuating precipitation patterns, and more frequent extreme weather systems will likely intensify global instability, hunger, and poverty. These events could very well lead to acute food and water shortages, an explosion of pandemic diseases, waves of destitute refugees, and violent conflagrations over dwindling natural resources — a likelihood that should be viewed as an immediate threat to America's national security.

Those are the sobering themes of a new report on climate change, authored not by scientists or environmentalists, but by uniformed personnel at the US Department of Defense.

"The loss of glaciers will strain water supplies in several areas of our hemisphere," US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday during a visit to Arequipa, Peru for the Conference of the Defense Ministers of the Americas. "Destruction and devastation from hurricanes can sow the seeds for instability. Droughts and crop failures can leave millions of people without any lifeline and trigger waves of mass migration."

'It's not a political issue for the military and hopefully that will be reflected in how policy-makers approach the problem.'

The report — the 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, which was released during Secretary Hagel's visit to Peru — proposes steps America's armed forces should take to identify and plan for the impacts of global climate change. It comes as NASA announced on Monday that September 2014 was the hottest September on record, making it increasingly likely that 2014 will become the warmest year ever documented.

"For the first time the Department of Defense is significantly engaging with the implications of climate change, specifically what to do now in terms of adapting to a new global threat," Andrew Holland, senior fellow for Energy and Climate at the American Security Project, told VICE News.

Holland says the report is not revolutionary. The Pentagon has been assessing the potential impacts of climate change for many years. What is novel about the roadmap, he says, is its emphasis on climate change as an immediate national security concern, one that should be discussed in the present rather than the future tense. And, he said, the document presents climate change as a risk not only to military personnel and equipment but to the well-being of the nation as a whole.

Study says East Coast might see tripling of flood events by 2030. Read more here.

It remains to be seen what — if any — influence the report will have on America's political class, much of which defers to the Pentagon on many issues but has resisted policies for cutting greenhouse gas emissions or preparing for rising oceans and warmer temperatures.
Francesco Femia, co-director at the Center for Climate and Security, told VICE News: "It's not a political issue for the military and hopefully that will be reflected in how policy-makers approach the problem."

'The politics of climate change are so weird right now.'

This sentiment is shared by Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who co-chairs the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change and has been an outspoken advocate for federal action aimed at addressing global warming.

"Our military leaders have for years warned of the serious threat climate change poses to our national security," Sen. Whitehouse told VICE News. "The military's new climate adaptation roadmap presents another opportunity for Republicans in Congress who deny or ignore climate change to reassess their priorities. They face a simple question: Do they trust the big polluters, or do they trust our nation's military sworn to defend us from harm?"


Holland said the Pentagon report is unlikely to be a trans formative political moment in the near-term. He added, however, that retired and active duty military personnel have begun to speak out over the past several years about climate change, which is having an impact on otherwise skeptical audiences, albeit not yet within the Beltway.

"The politics of climate change are so weird right now," Holland told VICE News. "I'd like to think that having real, credentialed national security voices talk about the threat of climate change would make a difference. But I just don't know if it's trickling up yet to politicians and policy-makers."
"For them," Holland added, "climate change is still an energy problem rather than a national security problem."
Follow Robert S. Eshelman on Twitter: @RobertSEshelman
Image via Flickr


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Purdue professor says Ebola 'primed' to go airborne

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The first case of Ebola transmitted between patients in America has experts across the country reviewing safety protocols.

At Purdue University, Dr. David Sanders has been studying the virus since 2003 – specifically how this particular Zaire strain of Ebola enters human cells.

While the virus has thus far only been shown to be transferred via bodily fluids, Sanders argues that it could become airborne."It can enter the lung from the airway side," Sanders said. "So this argues that Ebola is primed to have respiratory transmission.

"We need to be taking this into consideration," he continued. "What if? This is not a crazy, 'What if?' This is not a wild, 'What if?'"

Sanders said the longer the virus spread and mutates, the more likely airborne transmission will become. He also said that's why it's critical to suppress the outbreak in Africa to prevent a worldwide spread.

Sanders said it's impossible to know how many Americans could contract Ebola, or how much longer this outbreak could last. But, he said, the danger is still very low for the average American.

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Texas dept.: 2nd person tests positive for Ebola

BREAKING NEWS: Second healthcare worker tests positive for Ebola in Texas

    Worker cared for Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas
    Reported a fever yesterday and was immediately isolated at the hospital.
    Health officials interviewed patient to quickly identify potential exposures.
    Nurse Nina Pham is currently being treated for Ebola at the same hospital
    CDC has blamed 'breach in protocol' that lead Miss Pham to catch the virus.

A second healthcare worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has tested positive for Ebola.

The worker was one of 76 medical staff who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas, the first person to die from the deadly virus on U.S. soil.

The unnamed member of staff reported to Texas Presbyterian with a fever on Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the hospital.

Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to identify any contacts or potential exposures and have said that those people will be monitored.

Some 125 people are being monitored - 11 with definite exposure, 114 with possible exposure. 

The CDC said in a statement today: 'An additional health care worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimize the risk to health care workers and the patient.' 

Nurse Nina Pham, 26, was currently being treated for Ebola after becoming infected with the disease while caring for Mr Duncan at Texas Presbyterian.

Miss Pham, a Texas Christian University nursing school graduate, is in isolation at the same hospital. She was reported in good condition on Tuesday after receiving a blood transfusion from Ebola-survivor Dr Kent Brantly.

The nurse was reportedly in good spirits and had spoken to her mother via Skype.

The 26-year-old was one of a team of 76 medical staff who cared for Mr Duncan, 42, after he was diagnosed with the virus following his arrival in the U.S. from Liberia.

Despite wearing protective gear that included gowns, gloves, masks and face shields while caring for Mr Duncan, the nurse became the first person to contract the disease in the U.S.

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) Dr Thomas Frieden has blamed a 'breach in protocol' of infection control lead Miss Pham to catch Ebola.

The newly-infected healthcare worker was part of the team treating Thomas Eric Duncan

Mr Duncan arrived in Texas from Liberia on September 20. He began showing symptoms of Ebola three days after his arrival and was admitted to Texas Presbyterian Hospital on September 28. He died on October 8. Presbyterian's chief clinical officer, Dr Dan Varga, said all staff had followed CDC recommended precautions – 'gown, glove, mask and shield' – while treating Mr Duncan.

On Monday, the CDC said that a critical moment may have come when Miss Pham took off her equipment.

An immediate review has been launched into the procedures and equipment used by healthcare workers.

Dr Frieden added that the case 'substantially' changes how medical staff approach the control of the virus, adding that: 'We have to rethink how we address Ebola control, because even a single infection is unacceptable.' 

Ms Pham was diagnosed after admitting herself to hospital on Friday when her temperature spiked - one of the first symptoms of the deadly virus.  Her treatment has included a blood transfusion from recovered Ebola patient, Dr Kent Brantly, 33, and she is receiving experimental drug brincidofovir, or CMX001.

It was the third time Dr Brantly has donated blood to an Ebola victim after medics discovered he had the same blood type as previous patient Dr Nick Sacra and NBC cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, who is still being treated. 

Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever which has no proven cure, has killed more than 4,000 people in West Africa since an outbreak that began in March.

The World Health Organization has called the outbreak 'most severe acute health emergency in modern times'.

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