ROOM-01
Warns Against Imposing 'Religious Tests'; South Korean Military
Accuses North of Major Cyber-Attack. Aired 5-6p ET - Part 2>
But the second audience was Donald Trump and the American people. A full-throated case for values that he feels are embedded American values that are worth fighting for or that, in fact, make us stronger and not weaker. So there were two audiences for this speech.
BLITZER: And Jim Sciutto, you've covered it. I've covered it. We've all covered these eight years of President Obama. His critics point out take a look at the region: North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia. They say, "You know what? It's a lot more tense, volatile, dangerous today than it was then."
SCIUTTO: No question. Listen, the Middle East is a mess. And Syria, here's an example. If you look at the Obama legacy, what was the Obama foreign policy vision as encapsulated by them? It was don't do stupid stuff. But substitute the word for stuff. That was the formula. The idea being that you can make situations worse by intervention, a lesson of the Iraq War. et cetera.
But of course, you look at a place like Syria and lack of intervention can also leave horrendous problems. Refugees, you name it. Chemical weapons use.
So in addition to being a valedictory speech, it was also a rebuke of Donald Trump's at least proposed altering of the course. But the fact is, when you look at those big issues, those big interventions, I don't know that Donald Trump has articulated that he's going to be that different. Right? I mean, he's talked a lot about standing up, being tougher, negotiating better deals, et cetera. He's not talking about a military intervention on the ground in Syria. He's not talking about--
BASH: Just the opposite.
SCIUTTO: Just the opposite, in fact, not talking about a greater investment of troops on the ground even in Iraq. Even though, you know, criticizing Obama for bringing those troops out. So what are the major adjustments we're going to see from Donald Trump? I don't think it's clear.
BLITZER: Mike Rogers, until recently you worked on the transition team for the president-elect. How do you see it?
ROGERS: I think what they're going to do, Wolf, is they've got a more of a screw driver approach to this. You're not going to see the 101st Airborne Division getting deployed to Syria and Iraq. I think they know that's a disaster.
But the rules of engagement have been hindrance to us. And it's interesting. If you talk to foreign leaders in the region, they have started to walk back and say, "Listen, we're a little nervous. We're not sure either but we look at it as a huge opportunity to rebuild the coalition and have U.S. presence with our special capabilities forces with new rules of engagement. It sounds complicated, but that little adjustment can go a long way to more progress.
BLITZER: Dana, you wanted to make a quick point.
BASH: Well, that's a great point and obviously an insight, because you were on the transition.
But I just also remind people that, in the campaign, Donald Trump talked really tough about Pakistan, for example. Then it seems, according to what the Pakistani government released, breaching diplomatic protocol, was a quite different tone in private. So I think that is just a reminder, like things on the domestic side, on the international front, what he said in the campaign and the way a President Trump will act as commander in chief, to be determined.
BLITZER: And he's negotiator, and he always wants to bargain from a position of strength.
Everybody, stand by. I have much more coming up.
A note to our viewers: be sure to watch tomorrow night when CNN's Fareed Zakaria talks with President Obama about the triumphs and the struggles during his time in the White House. CNN special report, "The Legacy of Barack Obama" Wednesday night, tomorrow night, 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Coming up, South Korea blames Kim Jong-un's regime for a cyber-attack on its military. How big of a threat does North Korea pose to the U.S.? Plus, will controversy force Donald Trump to reconsider his choice of a retired general to be his national security advisor?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:42:23] BLITZER: New tonight, South Korea says some of the nation's most sensitive military secrets have been exposed by North Korean operatives.
Our Brian Todd is tracking these late-breaking developments for us. What's the extent, Brian, of this cyber-attack?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, tonight Kim Jong-un's army of hackers appears to have done a real number on South Korea's military. They've reportedly tapped into secret military documents and could have forced South Korean commanders to rewrite operation plans.
And tonight we've learned a key American military battery might also have been targeted.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Tonight Kim Jong-un's hackers accused of a major breach of military secrets. The South Korean defense ministry says North Korea hacked its military's secure computer network. It's part of South Korea's new cyber command.
JAMES LEWIS, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: That was sort of the back-bone of the South Korean military, and they probably got access to a lot of sensitive information. Maybe including some of the information on the missile defense activities the U.S. is taking with South Korea.
TODD: According to the Yanhap (ph) news agency, military documents, including confidential information, have been hacked, potentially forcing South Korea's military to rewrite operation plans.
Kim's army of hackers, said to number as many as 6,000, work for North Korea's notorious Reconnaissance General Bureau, including an elite unit called Bureau 121, built up by General Kim Yun-cho (ph) a former body guard for Kim's father and grandfather.
They've previously targeted a South Korean nuclear power plant, hacked the smartphones of top South Korean officials and allegedly carried out North Korea's only direct attack inside America, the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment in the fall of 2014.
Analysts say Kim's cyber army is good at grabbing hacking tools from the criminal black market and breaking into hard targets.
LEWIS: When you look at them, they don't have an I.T. industry. Some days they don't even have electricity. So it's hard for them to build this kind of thing. But the North Korean leadership, both the current Kim and his father, put a big emphasis on I.T., on hacking.
TODD: The report of a cyber-attack comes at a time when the U.S. And South Korea are bracing for another possible provocation from Kim Jong-un. A time of political transition in the U.S. and political turmoil in South Korea. The country consumed by a corruption scandal with president Park Geun-Hye likely to resign or be impeached. She worked to impose sanctions on North Korea. Now both countries could be changing leaders simultaneously.
BRUCE KLINGNER, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: One would think Kim Jong-un would take advantage of not only the weakness of the South Korean government but the transition of the U.S. incoming Trump administration. North Korean defectors have said that North Korea acts against the new presidents to train them like a dog.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: And experts say Kim Jong-un may really benefit from the next South Korean President who is likely to be more left-leaning. That president, they say, is likely going to be a lot less tough on Kim Jong-un than Park Geun-hye has been. They'll be more likely to give aid to North Korea, to resist America's deployment of an anti-missile battery in South Korea, and overall, could be just easier for Kim Jong-un to intimidate -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian, recently there've also been some very possibly disturbing images coming from North Korea's nuclear bomb test site. What are you learning?
TODD: That's right, Wolf. U.S. officials recently telling CNN there's been some digging at the Punggye-ria nuclear test facility where North Korea has tested their nuclear bombs. One U.S. official tells us it includes some digging out of a tunnel previously used in a nuclear test. Now, this could be just maintenance, but it also could be a sign that they are preparing for another nuclear bomb test, maybe sometime around President-elect Trump's inauguration.
BLITZER: That would be on January 20th. All right. Thanks very much. Brian Todd reporting for us.
Let's dig deeper on this developing story with the former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, CNN National Security Commentator, Mike Rogers. Congressman, actually, we're getting some new information right now. I want to take a quick break. We'll absorb that, then you and I will discuss much more right after this.
MIKE ROGERS, FORMER CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Sure.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:50:57] BLITZER: We were tracking some very disturbing developments on South Korea right now, where a major cyberattack by North Korean hackers has reportedly exposed military secrets. Let's get some more from CNN's National Security Commentator, former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers.
Congressman, how troubling is this North Korean hack that we're now reporting? ROGERS: Well, it's troubling in this sense, their capabilities have ramped up very significantly. The Sony attack that many Americans were aware of where they actually broke into Sony, destroyed data -- that's a disruptive attack -- and stole data really showed us that they had this capability. By the way, they bought it off the deep and dark Web. They didn't engineer it themselves.
So since that date, they've been getting better. So they've showed now that they can get into phones. They can get into computers in South Korea. We've seen them attack a bank in South Korea to try to do destructive attack, to try to cause some harm. And now what you see with this, it shows that the breadth of their ability to use cyber as an aggressive weapons set is growing, and that's why so many of us in the national security space are concerned.
BLITZER: But don't they understand there could be retaliation? If they launch a cyberattack like this, the U.S. or others could launch cyberattacks against them, effectively shut it down?
ROGERS: Well, yes. We have, certainly, capabilities to do it, but you have to remember, only a third of the population of North Korea has electricity, so the damage that you can do is limited. And their ability to shut off their -- they control their internet, the United States doesn't. Eighty-five percent of the networks here are private sector networks, so it poses some challenge.
We do have capabilities, but remember, this is the other piece of this, Wolf. Very aggressive and they're using it, cyber. They also, about eight months ago or so, fired off missiles from submarines that they claimed could be intercontinental ballistic missiles, meaning the provocation is on all fronts. It's the ability to launch a missile from a submarine.
The fact that that looks like they're preparing for a nuclear test, another round, they're going to have 100 nuclear weapons within the near future. Within the next 20 years, people believe. They have some now. They think they can have as many as 100. This is what we're worried about. It is irrational in the way they're using their military and intelligence service.
BLITZER: Because Trump national security team has been told, apparently, by the U.S. intelligence community, North Korea now represents the top threat to the U.S.
ROGERS: Well, they're certainly going to do some act of provocation. They're showing that. So they know that during a transition, and normally, holidays -- they're very good about finding American holidays or other things like these transitions -- where there is a lame duck President, he is leaving, and you have a President-elect that's going in who doesn't have a lot of foreign policy experience, that's just an opportunity for our adversaries.
So I'm hoping that the national security team is getting together and starting to function like a national security council already because they're going to deal with the consequences of some provocation from North Korea. BLITZER: Mike Rogers, thanks very much for that update.
ROGERS: Yes, thank you.
[17:53:54] BLITZER: And coming up, Donald Trump practices the art of the deal, coming before cameras to announce a Japanese investment that is supposed to produce 50,000 jobs in the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:59:28] BLITZER: Happening now, breaking news. Towering deal. President-elect Donald Trump announces a giant investment by a Japanese company to create new American jobs, and he says it's only happening because he won the election. Does Trump deserve the credit, or was it a deal that was already planned?
Blasting Boeing. Donald Trump takes to Twitter to lash out at the American plane maker saying costs for a new Airforce One are out of control and that the order should be canceled. Why is he publicly attacking a U.S. company that employs thousands of people?
Back on stage. Trump is about to hold a rally on his "Thank you" tour and he'll introduce his pick for Secretary of Defense, but General James Mattis will need special action by both Houses of Congress before he can be confirmed.
(Byline: Wolf Blitzer; Sunlen Serfaty; David Axelrod; Dana Bash; Mike Rogers; Michelle Kosinski; Phil Mudd; David Axelrod; Jim Sciutto; Dana Bash; Mike Rogers; Brian Todd)
(Guest: Jason Chaffetz; Mike Rogers)
(High: Donald Trump announces a deal with Softbank that will create 50,000 jobs but gives few details.President Obama speaks out against imposing religious tests on people entering the country. The South Koreans have accused the North of hitting them with a massive cyber- attack.)
(Spec: Donald Trump; Employment & Unemployment; Business; Asia; Politics; Nuclear Weapons; Weapons)