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Transcript: CBS News contributor Sam Vinograd on “Face the Nation,” June 16, 2024
The following is a transcript of an interview with CBS News contributor Sam Vinograd, a former Homeland Security official, on “Face the Nation” that aired on June 16, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by Samantha Vinograd, a former top counterterrorism official at the Department of Homeland Security under President Biden and she is now a national security contributor here at CBS. Good to have you back, I’d like to have you help us digest some of what we talked about with this arrest of these eight individuals who made it all the way from Central Asia through the southern border, and were arrested this past week by the FBI and ICE. There was no derogatory information found on them when they were scooped up initially. How thorough is the vetting done by federal border agents?
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD: Well Margaret, let me put vetting in context, I was responsible for screening and vetting policy at DHS, every individual encountered at our borders is vetted. What that means is individuals’ identities are run against certain data sets or watch lists of terrorism related and other derogatory information. However, the vetting is only as good as the underlying content in those watch lists. And I do believe that we have under-resourced foreign terrorism related intelligence collection, analysis, and distribution in a way that is adversely impacting the quality of those watch lists themselves. We do have gaps when it comes, for example, to information on bad actors in Central Asia. So today, I am less concerned about an individual on our watch list somehow sneaking through our southern border than I am about a bad actor who is unknown to us. And that’s why we need to urgently prioritize deepening intelligence partnerships, with, for example, countries in Central Asia, and ensuring that we are fully exploiting all of the intelligence that had been collected to date on bad actors, their travel patterns and more.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And when you say under-resourced, Congress controls the purse strings and the allocation of that, including Chair Turner’s committee would have a voice in that, correct?
VINOGRAD: Yes, that is true. At the same time, the federal government has made decisions about other intelligence priorities, for example, great power competition with China and Russia has taken resources away from foreign terrorism priorities like ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and I do believe has led to somewhat of a mis-assessment of the objectives of what had previously been viewed as regional affiliates of ISIS, like ISIS-K, ISIS-Khorasan, which we now assess, does have really global ambitions rather than staying focused on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And- and you raise an important point there that we have just to connect for people, we no longer have a presence in Afghanistan and the intelligence capabilities we once did when there was a military presence on the ground. So those surrounding countries that we’re talking about whether it’s Tajikistan or Uzbekistan, those are the places you’re talking about ISIS-K emanating out of, right?
VINOGRAD: Well, we did lose what we call battlefield intelligence when we withdrew from Afghanistan and Iraq. We also know that ISIS has really leveraged a global franchise model, if you will, where they have built up regional affiliates. For example, in parts of Central Asia, ISIS-K is a regional affiliate in that part of the world. But what we are now seeing is these regional affiliates conducting attacks in an ever expanding geographic scope. What that means is we need more and better intelligence on individuals in these areas, because they do seek to do harm. In Europe, we had a worldwide threat advisory a few months ago issued by the State Department, as well as potentially here in the homeland.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You had the State Department and explained that the US and Turkey were sanctioning three individuals who had ties to ISIS-K and a network of human smugglers trying to bring people here to the US. That brings us back to the southern border. You know, how much of a vulnerability is it?
VINOGRAD: Well, Turkey has been a relatively uneven counterterrorism partner but has recently stepped up and taken some very important action to number one sanction individuals who may pose a terrorism related threat, and try to address some known facilitation routes for human smugglers. Our southern border does present a security risk when it comes to bad actors trying to gain access to this country. To address the risks at our southern border, we need to ensure that federal agents are appropriately resourced. We need to ensure again that we have the right intelligence feeding our watch lists. So we know what to watch out for and we need to disincentivize individuals from trying to come here in the first place.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So does- given that the President just had this executive order that may be challenged in court, but trying to shut down asylum and crossing the border. Does he also have the authority to shut down travel from these areas of concern and specific countries?
Could he–
VINOGRAD: Well–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –do that?
VINOGRAD: Well, just to clarify, the President isn’t trying to shut down asylum at the border, he is trying to restrict asylum between individuals’ ability to claim assignment- asylum between ports of entry- entry, which is slightly different. The President under Section 212(f) of the Immigration Nationality Act does have the authority to restrict entry of certain non-citizens under specific circumstances. Mr. Trump did previously use that authority during COVID. That is the authority that President Biden is relying on in his latest executive order.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Could he direct it more narrowly towards these areas of concern? I mean, why is it that the information you’re saying that feeds those watch lists is so poor when it comes to a country like Tajikistan?
VINOGRAD: Well, President Biden again, could try to use this authority to restrict the travel of certain non-citizens under various circumstances. He could choose to take that route, I do think it would be challenged in court like this current executive order is, but by the same token, I think it’s critical that he works, and I know the administration is doing this, to deepen intelligence cooperation with these countries. So for example, last summer, we did have this threat stream that you mentioned emanating from Uzbekistan, and that led to a deepened intelligence and law enforcement partnership between the United States and Uzbekistan. There have been for example, removal flights of Uzbek nationals back to Uzbekistan, I do believe the same approach is being taken with Tajikistan but that will take time. And simultaneously, we do have Customs and Border Protection and ICE who have broad discretion to make operational changes at the border to, for example, detain all individuals from these countries rather than, for example, releasing them into the homeland.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Sam, always good to have you here.
VINOGRAD: Thanks.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be right back.
Washington — Two weeks after setting a nationwide deadline for removal of lead pipes, the Biden administration is imposing strict new limits on dust from lead-based paint in older homes and child-care facilities.
A final rule announced Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency sets limits on lead dust on floors and window sills in pre-1978 residences and child-care facilities to levels so low they can’t be detected.
Paint that contains lead was banned in 1978, but more than 30 million American homes are believed to still contain it, including nearly 4 million homes where children under the age of 6 live. Lead paint can chip off when it deteriorates or is disturbed, especially during home remodeling or renovation.
“There is no safe level of lead,” said Michal Freedhoff, EPA’s assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention. The new rule will bring the United States “closer to eradicating lead-based paint hazards from homes and child care facilities once and for all,” she said.
The EPA estimates the new rule will reduce the lead exposures of up to 1.2 million people per year, including 178,000 to 326,000 children under age 6.
Lead is a neurotoxin that can irreversibly harm brain development in children, lower IQ, cause behavioral problems and lead to lifelong health effects. It also affects other organs, including the liver and kidneys.
The new rule, which takes effect early next year, targets levels of lead dust generated by paint. Currently, 10 micrograms per square foot is considered hazardous on floors, and a concentration 10 times that high is considered hazardous on window sills. The new rule brings both of those levels down to no detectable lead.
The proposed rule also would reduce what level is allowed when a lead-abatement contractor finishes work on a property where lead has been identified as a problem. These levels would be 5 micrograms per square foot on the floor and 40 micrograms per square foot for sills.
Individuals and firms that perform abatement work must be certified and follow specific work practices. Testing is required afterward to ensure dust-lead levels are below the new standards.
Environmental justice and public health experts called the EPA rule long overdue, noting that lead poisoning disproportionately affects low-income communities and communities of color.
“We can all breathe a little easier now that the EPA has significantly lowered its dust lead standard to protect children,” said Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, a New York-based advocacy group.
Shepard, who serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, said public health experts have long understood there is no safe level of lead in a child’s blood, yet New York state leads the nation in cases of children with elevated blood levels. Black children in Harlem living below the poverty line are twice as likely to suffer from lead poisoning as poor white children, she said.
The U.S. government has gradually been reducing the standard for what counts as poisonous levels of lead in children’s blood, with the most recent change occurring in 2021. But the EPA rule marks an effort to take more proactive action.
“When you are relying on the blood lead level in children to indicate whether there is lead in the environment, we are basically using the children as canaries in the mine,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, a Boston College biology professor who directs the school’s Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good.
The National Child Care Association said when the lead rule was proposed last year that it could hurt many financially struggling child-care centers – especially those in low-income neighborhoods, where the facilities tend to be older. Without appropriate federal funding, the rule could push small, local child-care centers to close, the group said.
Earlier this month, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $420 million in grants to remove lead hazards from homes, including HUD-assisted homes. Additional HUD grants will continue to be available to help with lead paint removal, the White House said.
An Indiana man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 1975 killing of a 17-year-old girl who was found dead in a river after she failed to return home from her job at a church camp.
A Noble County judge sentenced Fred Bandy Jr., 69, on Tuesday to a life term with the possibility of parole in Laurel Jean Mitchell’s August 1975 death. The Goshen man was convicted of first-degree murder this month following a bench trial.
A message was left seeking comment from Bandy’s attorney Wednesday.
He was charged along with John Wayne Lehman, 69, of Auburn, Indiana, last year in Mitchell’s killing. Lehman was sentenced to eight years in prison this month after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.
Mitchell was found drowned in the Elkhart River on Aug. 7, 1975, the morning after she failed to return home in North Webster, about 140 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
WTTV
Although Mitchell’s cause of death was ruled as drowning, police say the autopsy report suggested that she “had fought for her life,” so police initiated a murder investigation.
Prosecutors charged Bandy and Lehman in Mitchell’s killing in February 2023, nearly a half-century later.
Lehman said in an August deposition that Bandy raped Mitchell and drowned her. Lehman denied participating in the rape or the murder and said his fear of Bandy kept him from trying to stop the crimes, The News-Sun of Kendallville reported.
According to a probable cause affidavit, investigators said they believed Bandy and Lehman “forcibly, deliberately drowned” Mitchell after taking her to the river in Bandy’s car.
A DNA profile was obtained in recent years through testing on Mitchell’s clothing, which was saved along with other evidence collected in 1975. According to the affidavit, Bandy voluntarily provided a DNA sample in December 2022 to state police, and testing determined he was 13 billion times “more likely to be the contributor of the DNA in Laurel J. Mitchell’s clothing than any other unknown person.”
The DNA testing came after three people who were teens at the time of Mitchell’s killing tied Bandy and Lehman to the crime based on incriminating comments they had made about her death, the affidavit states.
CBS affiliate WTTV reported that because Bandy had to be sentenced by 1975 standards, the potential outcomes were either life with the possibility of parole or the death sentence, prosecutors said. The state’s death penalty as of 1975 was later declared unconstitutional, ruling out that option.
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New Zealand airport with 3-minute cap on farewell hugs “surprised how much global interest” there’s been
Wellington — A New Zealand airport has imposed a three-minute limit on farewell hugs, sparking a worldwide debate over how long to cling on for a cuddle. Bosses at the international airport in the southern city of Dunedin say they were surprised by the viral response to their new rule in the car drop-off zone.
“To keep things moving smoothly, we’ve installed new signage, including the ‘Max hug time 3 minutes’ sign,” said airport chief executive Daniel De Bono. “It’s our way of being a little quirky and reminding people that the drop-off zone is for quick farewells.”
“And don’t worry,” added De Bono, “just a 20-second hug is enough to release oxytocin and serotonin, the happy hormones that boost well-being, so three minutes is plenty of time to say goodbye and get your dose of happiness.”
Sarah Soper/AP
People who want a longer hug can use the parking lot, where the first 15 minutes are free, he added.
The hug restriction made headlines worldwide — and prompted a divided online response.
“I’m just glad there’s no minimum hug time. A ‘see ya soon’ suffices,” one woman commented on the airport’s Facebook page.
“Hug Police!? This is just weird! Hugs are proven to have many benefits not to mention mental health,” said another poster.
The small airport, which was used by fewer than 1 million passengers last year, said it had imposed the hug time limit in September, with little initial reaction.
“We have just been surprised how much global interest there has been,” said the airport’s marketing and communications executive, Sarah Soper.
