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The Situation Room

VA Facing Doctor Shortage?; New Guidance For ICE Vehicle Stops?; Details Emerge on Flydubai Attack. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 01, 2026 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:00:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: As the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says -- and I'm quoting now -- "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press" -- end quote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: There was a lot of applause to your speech. Wolf, really important message there.

And, as you see, along with Anderson Cooper, who introduced Wolf, I was there with our very own Kaitlan Collins to share in this really special moment.

And it was such a huge honor, Wolf. Tell us what it meant to you.

BLITZER: You know, I have been a journalist for a long time and never thought I was going to be inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. It was really a wonderful evening. So many great people were there.

BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: You see Anderson there. He introduced me to the audience, as if they didn't know who I was.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Everyone knew who you were. And...

BLITZER: But it was really nice. It was a special moment.

BROWN: Anderson's intro to you was really nice too. And he talked about what just a kind, good person you are too. And I think that that was really important.

BLITZER: And I thought it was important to talk about a free press.

BROWN: Of course.

BLITZER: I don't know how you feel about it, but I believe in a free press.

BROWN: I would say, especially these last couple weeks, it's pretty important to point out. So...

BLITZER: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Well, congratulations.

BLITZER: It was great you were there and a lot of my other colleagues and friends, family. It was just a special night.

BROWN: Very special, and I was honored to be there, Wolf. Congratulations.

And the next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM starts right now.

Happening now: possible terror by air and by land, two investigations in different parts of the world. We will take closer look at growing threats with former CIA Director Leon Panetta.

BLITZER: Plus -- and I'm quoting now -- "She was in shock." New details revealing what Jane Doe's roommates told investigators one day after the alleged gang rape incident at a Cornell University fraternity house. Her attorney is now speaking out this morning.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we begin with the breaking news. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, now says the man accused of attacking his fellow pilot and trying to crash the Flydubai airliner could have extremist leanings. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The attacker, the co- pilot who attacked the captain, is now being interrogated. But here's what we do know.

First, we know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination. That appears to be something we're gathering from the information, his personal information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We want to warn our viewers right now that these next images from the plane are graphic -- Pamela.

BROWN: They sure are. Let's take a look here. We see the wounded captain wearing an oxygen mask and being cared for. Here it is right here. And you're going to see in just a moment the camera tilt up, and

that's where we see the co-pilot already subdued. The captain is being hailed as a hero for somehow unlocking the cockpit door during the attack, and that allowed passengers to storm in, subdue the attacker, and regain control of the airplane.

We're following all of the latest development here.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Pete, we're also learning more about the weapon used in the attack. What more can you tell us?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: A lot of new information here, including this new detail about the weapon allegedly used inside the cockpit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now says the co-pilot may have attacked the captain with an axe. There have been questions about whether it was the airplane's own crash axe. That is emergency equipment stowed in the cockpit of a Boeing 737, 2.5 pounds, more than a foot long, designed to cut through panels or other parts of the airplane in an emergency.

The flight data tells just how close all of this came to disaster. There's a Boeing 737 MAX cruising normally at 34,000 feet, when it suddenly plunged, and our analysis of the granular Flightradar24 data shows the jet lost more than 16,000 feet in 35 seconds.

Flightradar24 then shows a sharp climb, followed by another dive. Eventually, the pilot's able to stabilize the airplane around 15,000 feet of altitude. And when the airplane landed, you could see there was another serious problem here. A significant portion of the rudder is missing you can see in that photo there.

That's the movable surface on the vertical tail of the plane that controls its movement side to side called yaw. Investigators have not yet said how that damaged occurred, but it was likely with a result of the dive, when the speed increased to near the speed of sound, 700 miles per hour.

The co-pilot, the alleged attacker, has yet to be publicly identified. We do know he was an Omani national who was working for the airline for about eight months. Israel has characterized this as an act of terror, but investigators have not publicly established a motive just yet.

[11:05:00]

Other big developments here, Flydubai has suspended all of its flights to and from Israel. The captain who was attacked, Smit Machchhar from India, he is being treated in Saudi Arabia. The dentist who treated him on board during this terrifying scene said he suffered massive blood loss.

Captain Machchhar has undergone surgery, reportedly in stable condition. So much developing with the story all the time right now, and we're hearing so much from Israeli officials. Still need to establish the motive here, although you clearly heard the Israeli prime minister say he believes this was an act of terror.

BROWN: Yes, just miraculous it landed and all the passengers are OK...

MUNTEAN: No doubt.

BROWN: ... that the captain of the plane is OK. Wow.

Pete Muntean, thank you -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I want to continue this conversation right now.

Joining us, Leon Panetta, who served as defense secretary under President Obama. He is also a former director of the CIA.

Secretary Panetta, thanks so much for joining us.

Let's begin with Prime Minister Netanyahu's claim that the co-pilot, the suspected attacker, had underground undergone what Netanyahu calls radical indoctrination. How significant is that new information?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: If that -- if that information is verified, then obviously somebody who's been indoctrinated as a terrorist, it would -- it would indicate that the person who went on board as a co-pilot was intent on bringing that plane down.

There's a lot to be investigated here, as you know, Wolf, and a lot to be determined. And I'm always cautious about jumping to conclusions, because it really does depend on the ability to investigate and find substantive intelligence that proves who this individual was.

But when you look, when you stand back and realize that another 9/11 could have happened here with a plane going down and all of the passengers killed, there's no question that terrorism seems to be involved.

BLITZER: Yes, most of those passengers were Israelis on their way back to Israel when that incident aboard the plane occurred.

Tensions right now, as you know, Secretary Panetta, are very high across the Middle East. And Prime Minister Netanyahu says investigators will soon know if Iran -- he used the word Iran -- was somehow involved in the attack. What could those findings mean to the region?

PANETTA: Well, there's no question, in a volatile region where a war is taking place, that any finding that Iran could have been involved in a terrorist act like this would, I think, light an additional firestorm of action and reaction throughout that region.

So this is a serious matter. This involved a lot of innocent people on an airliner who would have -- who were diving at one point 17,000 feet in a matter of seconds. It is a miracle, very frankly, that somebody was able to gain control of that plane and bring it safely down for landing.

So, recognizing all of the facts involved here, recognizing where this plane was headed, recognizing the region that we know is at war with Iran, this is one of those additional events that could feed the flames of war.

BLITZER: The British prime minister now says there are, in his words, strong indications Iran was in fact involved in this alleged plot to target a U.K. air base -- this is a separate incident -- that is used by the United States. Iran is denying that.

But you're a former defense secretary. Should the U.S. take action if Iran's involvement in this other case proves to be true?

PANETTA: Well, again, I'm a believer that you have got to determine the facts. You have to determine what the truth is.

And at this point of the game, there's always a great deal of speculation on all sides as to what took place, particularly when the world is confronting terrorism in the Middle East and the United States and Israel are at war with Iran. A lot of conclusions can be jumped to.

But prior to any kind of military action, I think it is incredibly important that intelligence, particularly from the CIA and Mossad and the other intelligence agencies that are involved, be able to substantiate the facts as to who was involved, what was the intent, and whether or not this is a terrorist act, whether or not the events that took place in Britain were in fact a terrorist act.

[11:10:22]

For Britain to indicate that there's some intelligence to that effect, that's important. But, again, I would want the CIA to take a very close look at that intelligence before justifying any kind of military action.

BLITZER: You speak as a former CIA director.

Another sensitive topic I want to get to, the -- I want to ask you about this current defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. He is confirming that the Pentagon is now terminating 20 percent of its generals and admirals by the end of this year. Does that surprise you, given that we are still at war, the U.S. is still at war with Iran?

PANETTA: Wolf, I have a tough time understanding why the secretary of defense in the middle of a war with Iran, a war that isn't going that well, a war in which we have deployed almost 50,000 troops, plus a good chunk of our Navy and Air Force, with very little direction in terms of objective and strategy, where we have depleted our weapons, so that we can't even come to the defense of Saudi Arabia and our others that are under attack.

For the secretary to then go after the chain of command and eliminate 20 percent of our commanders, people who are experienced, who've been in battle, who have earned their promotion and their status, that's a tremendous amount of experience that's involved here, and suddenly eliminate them, absolutely no reason for that to take place while we're still in a period of war.

BLITZER: In his State of the Force Address to troops at Quantico yesterday, Hegseth also underscored his campaign against what he called woke culture. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that, no fanny -- no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals, just warriors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What's your reaction to that?

PANETTA: My reaction is that this secretary ought to be looking at a war that's going badly and determining what is going to be needed in order to bring that war to an end, and have the United States obtain the objectives that were intended.

That's what the secretary ought to be focused on. Instead, he's focused on culture issues, on woke issues that basically can eat up the morale of the people that are working at the Pentagon and are out there on the front lines for the United States of America.

Look, we have the strongest military in the world. The reason we're the strongest military in the world is because we have people from every area of the country, every creed, every color, women. All are part of our military because we are a diverse country, and that is our strength.

And to suddenly undermine the sense that somehow there are those that are woke or what have you, I just think hurts our readiness, undermines morale, and, frankly, is the wrong focus for the secretary, who should be focusing on what we do to bring this war to an end. That's what he should be focusing on, not culture issues.

BLITZER: Yes, and not if troops have beards, for example.

Today, a U.S. cybersecurity firm announced that suspected Chinese hackers impersonated an Anthropic employee and ex-U.S. officials in an espionage campaign. It was apparently aimed at gaining critical insights into American AI developments.

Is this race for AI dominance between the U.S. and China just now beginning to heat up?

PANETTA: Well, this has been going on, Wolf, for a long time.

The bottom line is that China is an adversary. I know they're a competitor in many ways, but they are essentially an adversary. And their effort at intelligence is aimed at undermining the United States. I know the president met with Xi, but the bottom line is that China remains an adversary that will try to do everything it can to weaken America.

[11:15:28]

And so I'm not surprised that they would be engaged in intelligence. that involves AI. I think that's probably been going on for quite a while. I think we have to be very vigilant, not just with China, but with Russia and with other terrorists, with Iran.

We have to be very vigilant right now that, in a very dangerous world, if we aren't prepared to deal with these kinds of threats, it could very well undermine our ability to be able to move forward with the kind of technology that we are going to need in order to have a strong defense and protect our national security.

BLITZER: The former Defense Secretary, former CIA Director Leon Panetta, excellent, excellent points. Thanks so much for joining us.

PANETTA: Good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, breaking news: A new round of astronauts are now on their way to the International Space Station. You see the liftoff right there. They blasted off from Cape Canaveral riding on top of a SpaceX rocket.

During their time on the orbiting lab, the astronauts from NASA, Russia, and Canada will work on experiments meant to lay the groundwork for future missions to the moon and Mars.

And still ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM, what we're learning from a pair of new lawsuits filed against the federal government over the deadly shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.

And, next, new reporting just into THE SITUATION ROOM, new guidance about which ICE officers can conduct vehicle stops. The CNN exclusive is next.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: Now to a CNN exclusive.

New internal guidance we just reviewed reveals that ICE officers will only be allowed to conduct vehicle stops if, if they have completed related training courses.

BROWN: Let's go live now to CNN correspondent Priscilla Alvarez.

Priscilla, what more are you learning? PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have reviewed internal

guidance that really sets out new instructions for ICE officers in how they are to perform vehicle stops, as well as who is allowed to perform them, of course, this coming on the heels of fatal and nonfatal shootings that have occurred in recent months when these vehicle stops are conducted.

Now, let me lay out some of what we are learning from this guidance. The first is that the officers have to have training in one of six ICE training courses to conduct the stops.

Anyone who is with them that has not completed the training can only be there in a supporting capacity and also says that officers must have an agency-issued and activated body-worn camera when they are conducting these stops, and that under no circumstances are they authorized to engage in vehicle pursuits, but, instead, if someone fails to stop their vehicle, to take down their information for further investigation.

It also talks about pinning vehicles. That's another maneuver that we have seen by all ICE officers, including in Austin last month, when there was also that nonfatal shooting of an immigrant that they were pursuing. And it says that they are permitted to do so, but it lays out that that is for the safety of the vehicle and its occupants and the ICE officers that are engaged in this.

Now, vehicle stops have been a source of tension within the administration over recent months. Recall that, after there were two shootings almost back to back this summer, the Department of Homeland Security had briefly put a pause on most vehicle stops.

And that was very quickly overturned by President Trump when he was getting blowback from his political base on that front. And so vehicle stops have been a key tool for the Trump administration as they ramp up their immigration arrests.

But it's also been at the center of many of these controversial clashes and these shootings. So it is notable that now ICE is releasing guidance to its officers that explicitly states how they are to go about these stops, how they are to think about pursuits, and who is allowed to be performing them, again, those who have specific training in vehicle stops.

Now, we have reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We have not received comment from them yet, but this is a significant development at a time when the agency is relying on these vehicle stops to arrest undocumented immigrants in the United States and as against the backdrop of the shootings that have happened and that we have covered here.

Now ICE is being very clear as to how these officers are to move forward when they are doing these stops.

BLITZER: Priscilla Alvarez, excellent reporting, as usual. Thank you very, very much -- Pamela. BROWN: Wolf, new this morning, the Department of Veterans Affairs is

struggling to find doctors and nurses to staff a number of new health care facilities across the nation, and this comes amid these growing concerns about the health care work force.

[11:25:02]

BLITZER: In December, the Department of Health and Human Services warned that the U.S. would experience a shortage of more than 141,000 physicians by 2038.

CNN correspondent Brian Todd is here with us in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Brian, the VA has built or updated, what, about 40 health care facilities in recent years. What more are you learning about their staffing issues?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're really struggling with staffing, Wolf, Pamela.

We have new information now on this clinic in Fredericksburg, Virginia, a brand-new clinic that the VA just opened. It was supposed to be a real crown jewel. It cost more than $350 million to build. The VA touted it as the largest VA health care clinic in the U.S., spanning more than 470,000 square feet, completely state-of-the-art.

But now, 19 months after the ribbon-cutting, the VA is struggling to staff that facility, according to our sources. And some veterans are telling us their care has suffered as a result. According to VA data obtained by CNN, that Fredericksburg clinic has a staffing vacancy rate of nearly 40 percent, which means more than 350 positions there have not been filled.

The VA says it's opened 41 new clinics across the U.S. in recent months. That same data that we obtained shows that roughly half of those new facilities had double-digit vacancy rates as of July. Now, at Fredericksburg, that has translated into hardship for some veterans.

I spoke with one Marine veteran who sought treatment there. His name is Michael Dunlap. He told he told me he's gone through four primary care doctors in the span of a year-and-a-half at the Fredericksburg clinic. They have all quit, he says, just sending him a form letter saying they wouldn't be there anymore.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE DUNLAP, U.S. MARINE VETERAN: You have to start over every time. They can look at your records, but until they talk to you and know you, it slows everything down.

TODD: And you build up a rapport with a doctor, and now you lose a little bit of confidence because now you have got to explain everything all over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TODD: Now, other veterans told us they had problems getting in for initial appointments at Fredericksburg, and one was turned down for urgent care visits, all because of staffing shortages.

Those veterans described going to a gleaming, clean facility without many people in it, and with a huge parking lot, much of it very empty, as these recent pictures that we took show you. One health care provider at Fredericksburg who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution told us doctors and other providers at Fredericksburg are burned out, exhausted, and that's why they're leaving.

This provider likened a work atmosphere there to -- quote -- "a car production line." That was reiterated to us by Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman, a veteran himself who represents that district where the Fredericksburg VA clinic is located.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D-VA): It is the fact that they can't keep staff, that they can't hire staff, that it's taking too long. That's making wait times too long. That's making it impossible for veterans to actually get in the door. And that's what needs to get fixed.

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TODD: Now, the VA is staunchly defending its operations at Fredericksburg.

VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven in a statement to CNN said this -- quote -- "The Fredericksburg VA clinic is opening in phases. It met its hiring goals in the first three phases and is now in phase four. In less than two years since opening," he said, "the clinic has already completed more than 245,000 appointments and is ahead of schedule for enrolling new patients."

Outside analysts tell us some of this is not the VA's fault. They say the VA opened all of these clinics as the entire country is experiencing a shortage of doctors, nurses, and other providers, and with even greater shortages projected in the next decade.

And they say the VA has to deal with an unwieldy bureaucracy and often cannot pay doctors the same salaries that they would make in the private sector -- Pamela, Wolf.

BROWN: So, on that note, tell us more about the VA and the salary cap they have for the doctors.

TODD: It's interesting. It's like these sports leagues with the salary cap.

Under the salary cap, a doctor at the VA cannot make more than $400,000 a year. That's the salary of the president of the United States. Now, the VA has been issued waivers for 300 doctor positions where they can pay above that amount, but the VA has not used all of those waivers. They have used most of them. But VA officials and other outside analysts tell us 300 waivers for

300 doctors to pay above that amount not nearly enough for an agency as massive as the VA. They need more waivers. They need to be able to compete with the private sector, and, right now, they can't.

BLITZER: Yes, very worrisome.

All right, thanks very much, Brian Todd reporting.

TODD: Thank you.

BROWN: All right, plus the new information we're learning about Jane Doe in the days after an alleged rape at a Cornell fraternity house.

You're watching THE SITUATION ROOM, and we will be right back.

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