thank you. ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. i order b14. i get b14. no surprises. buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster white knuckle thrill ride. you're promised one speed. but do you consistently get it? you do with comcast business. and often even more. it's reliable. just like kung pao fish. thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $89.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington. 6:00 p.m. in london. 8:00 p.m. in damascus. 1:00 a.m. in hong kong. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we begin with a possible terror plot now disrupted. police in london say they have

arrested four men suspecting of plotting terror attacks. our senior international correspondent nic robertson is joining us live from london. what can you tell us, nic, about these arrests, the possible terror plot? >> reporter: the police are saying these are islamist-related terrorism offenses and say these four men were suspected of being involved in commissioning or preparing or instigating an act of terrorism. they're not giving more details other than that. but what we know, counterterrorism police conducted the arrests this morning. and they also used on at least one of those arrests armed police. that is unusual for the uk. so it does give an indication that the police were concerned about the men that they were arresting, how they might respond. one of the men, a 21-year-old, we understand, was tasered by the police. the police say that no one was actually injured. these are all young men. two of them are 20, two of them are 21. they're being questioned by

police at different police stations in the center of london. and investigations continue in locations in the west and center of london as well as investigations of some vehicles that the police have also taken into their custody, wolf. >> i know the british prime minister a few weeks ago announced that britain was raising its terror threat level because of concern, i assume these arrests may be part of that increased terror threat level, is that what you're hearing? >> reporter: you certainly get that impression, wolf, although the police aren't saying that specifically. the fear has been now that the threat level's been raised to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely, that this plot may be one of those that was feared if it turns out to be an active plot. but we have heard on the radio this afternoon, the head of the metropolitan police here saying they have to take a more interventionist policy. in the uk traditionally, the police and security services will monitor a terror group for

quite some time and wait till they go operational generally before making arrests because that's the way they get convictions. if, however, and we saw terror arrest about a week and a half ago, as the police chief in london now says, if they are taking a more interventionalist approach to potential terror suspects, maybe they got in early with this group before they got to an actual operational stage, wolf. >> i'm sure more information will be coming out shortly. nic, thanks very much. let's move on to the battle raging for the key town of kobani, right along the syrian/turkish border. the u.s. now confirming there were five coalition air strikes on isis targets around kobani overnight. one anti-isis fighter telling cnn, quote, finally they are hitting the right places. but just in the last few minutes, the turkish prime minister has said he believes kobani is, quote, about to fall and the casualties there are clearly mounting.

humanitarian groups telling cnn more than 400 people have been killed on both sides since the battle began in mid september. the fear now is that an isis takeover could lead to a slaughter within this predominantly kurdish city. isis wants the city because it would give them a clear path between the turkish border and their self-declared capital of raqqa in syria. coalition forces also conducted, by the way, several other air strikes overnight as well as today. they were targeting isis positions in other parts of syria as well as in northern iraq. phil black has been following the fighting along the border. he reports now on the fighting he's seeing firsthand. phil? >> reporter: wolf, as i speak to you, i can hear the sound of a fast-moving aircraft in the air. on the horizon behind me, the hill to the south of kobani, you can see a smoke cloud. it is this combination we've been hearing and seeing in pretty quick succession over the course of the day.

big explosions on the periphery of kobani. the people, fighters inside kobani, are confident these are coalition air strikes believed to be hitting key isis targets around thatperimeter of the city. they're pretty happy about it and believe it's making a difference. but inside the city, the fight is increasingly desperate. isis is advancing. it is intense street fighting and the cuddish fighters go out of their way to resist them. kurdish fighters believe they are still outnumbered and outgunned with isis having more powerful and more advanced weaponry and equipment including, for example, night-vision equipment as well. so an increasingly desperate fight. the kurdish fighters believe they can hold on for a while longer, longer than they think isis believes they can. it's their territory, their streets. they know it well. they believe that gives them a tactical advantage but they believe they can't hold on indefinitely unless they get more of the sort of the support we've been seeing around the

city today. they want more coalition air strikes. they believe that is pretty much the only thing that could potentially delay, perhaps even prevent the inevitable, isis taking control of the city. what they say would be then a massacre of the thousands of fighters and the few civilians who are still waiting behind. wolf? >> phil, thank you. phil black reporting from the scene, a very dangerous scene indeed. what do we expect to happen next in kobani? let me bring in cnn's military analyst, lieutenant general mark hurtling, retired commander general of the u.s. army that led the u.s. task force in northern iraq back in the late 2000s. general, the kurdish fighters inside kobani are working hard, trying to save their city. doesn't look by all accounts very promising. what if anything can be done to save those people in kobani? >> well, i think what you're seeing, wolf, all indicators are that the isis fighters are reinforcing all forces from the

east, south and west of the city of kobani. they're trying to pour as much combat effort into that as possible. i think the comments about hearing bombs dropping, those are hitting the reinforcing soldiers as they're gathering to come into kobani. but there's still going to be the street fights in the city itself. as you know, this is a city o about 40,000 people. it's a key border crossing post. isis want this is post because it will allow them to bring jihadists in from turkey and to export oil on the black market outside. so it's a critical point. there will be a lot of house-to-house, street-to-street fighting as the report said. the kurds know this area better than isis does. but they don't have the combat power to do that. the battlefield geometry isn't in the kurds' favor right now. but their will and desire to win is helping them out in the short term? >> the town right along the border with turkey which is a

key nato ally, taking kobani could clear that path all the way to their stronghold in raqqa. why aren't the turks getting more aggressively involved in preventing a slaughter, preventing isis from taking over this key town? >> well, truthfully, wolf, this is extremely disappointing to me as a former commander of u.s. army in europe to see the turks standing by with a massive amount of firepower and not doing anything. as we said the other night, this is going to be a decision on turkey's part. are they going to support the kurds, someone they don't like in an area that has been expanding lately, or are they going to support an extremist terrorist group to their southern border? they have to make that call. unfortunately, that's the call they have to make. i would hope they would go in support of the kurds in this particular area. if not, reinforcing the town, at least allow continued kurdish escape into the -- across the turkish border. >> you know the criticism that's

being leveled at the turks. no great love between the turks and the kurds. turks never liked the kurds to begin with, whether in turkey itself or in syria or iraq or anyplace else. and there's one argument, an allegation, that the turks are sort of willing to stay on the sidelines and let these kurds suffer in the hands of isis. you think that's a fair criticism of turkey? >> i'm not sure it's a completely fair criticism, wolf. i know there have been some refugee camps established as arwa damon has reported and as nic has reported. but it's just not enough. the turkish government would certainly rely on article 5 to ask other nato nations to join them if isis crosses into their border. and it just concerns me right now that this is the same kind of humanitarian issue that we saw in the sinjar mountain with the yazidis. you would think the turks would contribute to assisting the kurds. but they are distrustful of the kurds. there's no getting around that

fact. they've had problems with kurdish terrorists. but unfortunately that's not what we're seeing in this city. we're seeing a good group of kurdish citizens just trying to be saved. >> general hurtling, thanks very much. it's an awful situation. we'll watch kobani very closely. the signs aren't very encouraging and a lot of people could be dead as a result of what's going on there right now. thanks very much, general. we'll watch this situation closely. also we're watching the reaction to a new book written by the former defense secretary, leon panetta. that book is being called by a "washington post" columnist, quote, a stunning level of disloyalty to president obama. we're going to tell you why. our own gloria borger just spent some time with secretary panetta. also, ebola and air travel. the obama administration is working on ways to tighten airport screenings. we'll have details straight ahead. so guys -- it's just you and your honey.

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that selsun blue is tough on dandruff. and she'll love that it's gentle on your hair. selsun blue invigorates your scalp and moisturizes your hair. bring on the blue. we're following several major developments in the ebola epidemic. a norwegian national working for doctors without borders has now been diagnosed with ebola. the staff member had been working in sierra leone. was placed into isolation sunday after developing a fever. also a nurse's assistant in spain is the first person known to have contracted the disease outside of africa. she's being treated now at a hospital in madrid. she previously helped care for a spanish priest and a spanish missionary who contracted ebola in west africa. both of them died. hospital officials say they're monitoring three other potential ebola cases, including the nurse assistant's husband. here in the united states, president obama says he considers ebola a top national security priority.

but he says the chances of an outbreak in the united states, in his words, are extremely low. the president says the white house is developing procedures for enhanced screenings at airports. some people have even called for banning flights from countries affected by ebola. take a closer look at the obama administration's latest response to this ebola crisis and what enhanced airport screenings might involve. our aviation correspondent, rene marsh is here with us in studio today. what are you hearing about what the administration potentially wants to do? >> we know that the president has met with cdc, health and human services, the department of defense and in his own words, he truly looks at this as a national security threat. he said there are economic implications, political implications. so what we heard from the president and the administration yesterday was essentially they are looking at a plan to strengthen screening. there has been a lot of criticism from both passengers, even lawmakers, saying that the

approach right now when people arrive from these ebola hot spots, it's just too passive. so we do know that the enhanced measures could at the very least include two things. take a listen to what we heard from the cdc earlier this morning. >> what the president was talking about was considering the possibility of giving an extra layer of entry screening upon arrival in the united states. what that would look like is under discussion. but likely retaking the temperature and asking some additional questions so that you have screening both at the exit and at the entry end. that's the thing that's on the table right now. >> and that's really what we're hearing, wolf. those two key things -- getting the temperature taken here in the united states once they arrive and getting that detailed health questionnaire. two things that are not happening as i speak to you right now. we know the process at this moment is if you're arriving from an ebola-impacted country,

customs and border protection officers simply look at you. if you look okay, you're free to go. they may ask you additional questions about the contact they've had. but they're not doctors. they're not there to diagnose. so they really want to step this up a bit. but speaking to two sources, nothing's changed so far. but we know the focus is going to be there. >> because i saw the interview with dr. anthony fauci on "new day" this morning here on cnn. he made a valid point. somebody leaves monrovia, liberia, or guinea or sierra leone showing no symptoms whatsoever, flies to brussels, eight, nine-hour flight, has a three-four-hour layover in brussels and flies eight, nine hours to washington dulles international airport. during those 20 hours or so, those symptoms could develop, a fever could develop and it sort of makes sense that once they arrive at washington dulles airport, they check the temperature of all the individuals coming from west africa, for example, the most

impacted so-called hot zone. then they have to figure out if somebody does have a temperature, what do they do at washington dulles airport? >> you're right. taking the temperature once they get here on u.s. soil, the thinking is this can close that gap. if you're taking a flight like that, it could be more than a 24-hour trip. you may not have the symptoms when you are departing but you could develop them during this very long trip. they're trying to close that gap between the time when you look perfectly fine and then all of a sudden things change. but it's worth noting nothing is foolproof. we know the incubation period is 21 days. so etven if they have the best screening, they all are very transparent in saying it is quite possible we will see someone else arriving on u.s. soil who may have ebola and just at the time they were at the airport did not show any symptoms. >> what i'm hearing is they're going to start screening people at international airports coming in from -- passengers coming in from west africa. they want to make sure that they

didn't develop the symptoms on that 24-hour flight coming over to the united states. thanks very much for that, rene. still ahead, harsh criticism from one of the biggest players in president obama's cabinet. the former defense secretary of the united states, leon panetta, he speaks to our own gloria borger about his new book. it's releasing today. he's got sharp words for the president. why is he speaking out so candidly? we'll tell you. and the veteran administration's huge wait list scandal, a story that was broken right here on cnn. now it appears the v.a. is cracking down on some serious wrongdoing.

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could be the beginning of major changes at the troubled veterans administration here in the united states. four top-level officials are now being dismissed and it all comes in the wake of that huge wait list scandal, a story that was broken right here on cnn. our investigative reporter drew griffin is joining us with details. drew, who's getting fired? >> reporter: the v.a. has started the firing process for four officials, all accused of wrongdoing in their jobs including a top procurement officer for the v.a. in washington, d.c. the other three all head up v.a. health facilities and are related to poor treatment of veterans. the head of v.a.s in alabama, dublin, georgia and pittsburgh all in the process of being removed. that pittsburgh case, it's two years in the making. we reported back in 2012 about an outbreak at that hospital that was covered up.

five veterans died. only now is that administrator being let go even though she's been on paid leave since june. >> pretty shocking stuff. what about the hospital in phoenix, arizona, the leadership there? is the v.a. taking action there? you did a lot of reporting on what was going on in phoenix. >> reporter: that was the epicenter of the scandal when it broke, the secret wait list. sharon helman was the director. she's been removed. she's been on leave since the time we reported on that wait list. they're trying to remove her. but it's a lengthy process. as far as we can tell, helman is still getting paid. two other officials there placed on leave, as far as we can tell, still getting paid. these bad administrators, many of them who aver saw these wait lists, allowing vets to be placed on hold for their medical care, they're literally on sort of a v.a. firing wait list now that the v.a. is just now trying to process. >> so big picture, drew, does it appear that the v.a., the

veterans administration, is now starting to try to clean house? >> reporter: yeah, i think this is a big change of direction for the v.a. the new v.a. secretary, bob mcdonald, going at it, trying to weed out this bureaucracy that allowed this systemic meltdown within the v.a. but it does take a lot of time to remove them. but i would sense we're going to see dozens and dozens more of these administrators basically kicked out, forced to retire or just let go from the v.a. >> drew, thanks very much. drew griffin reporting for us. major changes happening over at the v.a. coming up, he's part of a growing number now of former obama administration officials criticizing the president of the united states and his policies. leon panetta, the former defense secretary, the former cia director talks to our own gloria borger about the problems with president obama's decision-making. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you have enough money to live life on your terms?

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that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. leon panetta was among the biggest players in the obama administration. he was the head of the cia, then the secretary of defense. now in his brand-new book just outdoor today entitled "worthy fights," panetta is giving an explosive assessment of president obama's errors in the war on terror. gloria borger sat down with the former defense secretary. she's here with me right now.

he's very, very candid, the secretary of defense. >> he is very, very candid. surprisingly so. and you know this very well, in the washington power grid, leon panetta was among the biggest players in the obama administration. he's also spent 40 years in public service. and he's now written a memoir that's really full of clear respect and admiration for president obama but contains very blunt criticism on foreign policy and of the president's leadership style. i asked him about the war against isis and whether the president should have ruled out ground forces. take a listen. >> i take the position that when you're commander in chief that you really ought to keep all options on the table, to be able to have the flexibility to do what is necessary in order to defeat this enemy. but to make those air strikes work, to be able to do what you have to do, you don't just send planes in and drop bombs. you've got to have targets.

you have to know what you're going after. to do that, you do need people on the ground. >> reporter: panetta argues that president obama is making up for lost time in going after isis now because of the complete withdrawal of u.s. forces from iraq in 2011. would isis be as much of a threat today had we left some force behind? >> i do think that if we had had a presence there, it might not have created the kind of vacuum that we saw develop in iraq. >> reporter: he blames former iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki and a passive white house. you describe a white house that -- this is your word -- that frustrated you, that didn't use the leverage -- and that is your word, too, leverage, that we had in the united states to try and keep a force in iraq. >> what i'm saying is that maliki was the kind of leader that you had to constantly put

pressure on to direct him in the right direction. we had with iraq made a commitment with regards to military assistance, f-16 fighter planes, other types of military aid, that i think if we had said, look, if you're not going to give us the agreement that we need to maintain our force there, we may not provide this kind of assistance. in other words try to push him. >> reporter: a threat? >> of course. you need to threaten guys like that who won't come along. and everybody knew that. >> reporter: but you wrote that the president's active advocacy was missing. are you saying he didn't give it the push? >> i think the kind of push and direct involvement that i think could have had an impact simply never developed because the sense was if they don't want it, then why should we want it? >> reporter: panetta describes a similar scenario on the question of arming the syrian rebels in

2012. as defense secretary, he made the case to do it, as did most of the national security team. but the president never signed off, arguing the weapons could wind up in the wrong hands. >> it's understandable, but at the same time, if we're going to influence the rebel forces, if we're going to try to establish a moderate element to those forces that it was important to provide this kind of assistance in order to have some leverage over what they were going to do. decision. >> to a large extent, it wasn't that the president kind of said no, we shouldn't do it. the president kind of never really came to a decision as to whether or not it should happen. >> reporter: what do you mean by that? never came to a decision? >> i think it basically sat there for a while and then got to the point where everybody just kind of assumed that it was not going to happen. >> reporter: is that the right way to do things? >> i think it would have been

far better had he just made the decision, we're not going to do it, so everybody knew where we stood. but we all kind of waited to see whether or not he would ultimately come around. >> reporter: and -- >> it didn't happen. >> reporter: and you talk about hesitation and half steps. is that what you're referring to? >> yeah, it was just that kind of hesitation to really do what needed to be done. don't get me wrong, i think he was very strong in terms of the war on terrorism. and he made some tough decisions. but there were these decisions that basically never were confronted that i think in many ways contributed to the problems we're facing today. >> reporter: finally the president is taking action, panetta says, albeit a bit late. >> he's made the decision to put troops on the ground in iraq to try to help the security forces. he's made the decision to arm and train rebel forces in syria. and he's made the decision to conduct air attacks. so in many ways, he's made the

right decisions. now, i think those decisions should have been made two years ago. >> to no one's surprise, the white house is less than thrilled by this assessment from panetta. and in the second part of my interview with the former defense secretary, he talks about the portrait he paints of obama. >> we'll see it in a moment. we'll see if that portrait is positive or negative. stand by for that. also ahead, a nurse's assistant in spain is now the first person known to have contracted ebola outside of africa. we're going to talk with an infectious disease specialist about what this means, what could be done to stop the spread of ebola. i was out for a bike ride. i didn't think i'd have a heart attack. but i did. i'm mike, and i'm very much alive. now my doctor recommends a bayer aspirin regimen to help prevent another heart attack. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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and holds the medical industry accountable for mistakes. i'm barbara boxer. let's save lives. vote yes on 46. thank you. ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. i order b14. i get b14. no surprises. buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster white knuckle thrill ride. you're promised one speed. but do you consistently get it? you do with comcast business. and often even more. it's reliable. just like kung pao fish. thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $89.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. robert gates did it. hillary clinton to a certain degree as well. now leon panetta, all former obama administration officials

who have now written books that have some very pointed criticism of the president's foreign policies. leon panetta's memoir "worthy fights" takes direct aim at the president's policies on iraq and syria. our chief political analyst, gloria borger, is here with part two of her interview. we're anxious to hear more, gloria. >> in the second part of my interview, i asked panetta about the portrait he sketches of the president. the portrait panetta sketches of barack obama sometimes looks more like a professor than a president. >> he relies on the logic of his presentation with the hope that ultimately people will embrace that logic and then do what's right. you know what? in 50 years, my experience is, logic doesn't work in washington. you have to basically go after people and make them understand what they have to do. and that means you create a war room. you go after votes. you have to push people. >> reporter: did you have a sense that the president found that distasteful or that it wasn't something he wanted to do

or was comfortable doing or -- >> i think it offended him that people would not really get serious and work on the issues. and i think as a result of that, he just felt, how can i deal with people that simply don't want to do the right thing for the country? well, the reality is if you want to govern in this country, you have to deal with people you don't like. >> reporter: and you have to keep your word, which he argues the president did not do when syria used chemical weapons against its own people, violating the president's clearly drawn red line. >> the president very clearly should have said, you have crossed that red line and we're not going to allow that to happen. and i think initially my sense was they were going to do exactly that. but somehow they backed away from it. i think that was a key moment in time in terms of sending a message to the world that there was a question mark as to

whether or not the united states would stand by its word. >> reporter: panetta tries to reconcile the president who vacillated over syria with the decisive obama who gave the bin laden raid a green light. >> a president that made the decision to go after bin laden and made a very gutsy decision to do that. and i really respected that decision. i just could not have imagined him not making the same decision when it came to the credibility of the united states on drawing that red line in syria. >> reporter: to no one's surprise, the white house has not warmly welcomed this version of history. >> former administration officials as soon as they leave write books, which i think is inappropriate. >> reporter: does he have a point there? >> you know, i'm of the view that you don't put a hold on history. history is what it is. i would say right now, i recommend the president and vice president biden take the time to read the book because i think

when you read it, it's a pretty balanced presentation of what happened. >> gloria, pretty strong words from the former defense secretary. why are so many of the obama administration officials now while the president is still in office writing these memoirs? >> i think in the 24/7 cycle in which we live, people rush to get out their version of history as it were. and i think as you pointed out, you saw that with bob gates and you saw that with hillary clinton, to a degree. leon panetta. but it's not new, wolf. you've covered washington an awfully long time, as have i. and we've seen these books come out of administrations that don't make presidents happy. however, in the end, of course, you can assume that president obama is going to write his book. joe biden's going to write his book. so they'll have their whack at it. >> and this is going to be used by the president's critics, republicans, especially, going

into these midterm elections. >> well, because lots of republicans make the case that the president did not use the leverage he had when he could have in iraq to keep a residual force behind. and they argue, as does panetta, that that would have helped scuttle some of what we see with isis right now. so, of course, it's going to add to that argument. i think panetta is well aware of it. i did ask panetta how hard he argued for his point of view within the administration? and he said he argued -- they had tough arguments but when the president makes a decision, you accept it and you move on and he also said to me that he never gave any thought to resigning. >> but one of the most damning things we just heard you report on this is that sometimes the president failed to make a decision -- >> right. >> that was awkward moment. >> right. he kept saying, we kept waiting and waiting and then it was sort

of like inertia. >> more on this later in "the situation room." gloria, thanks very much. still to come, it's been more than a month. still no public sign of the north korean leader kim jong-un. is he still really in power? brian todd is investigating. also, the government plans to strengthen ebola screenings at u.s. airports. but will that help? what is going on. ? we'll talk with an infectious disease specialist. at t-mobile get four lines for just a hundred bucks with unlimited talk, text and now up to ten gigabytes of 4g lte data. want phones with that? hook up everyone in the family with the samsung galaxy s5 for zero down get four lines for $100 dollars and the samsung galaxy s5 for zero down so make the switch to t-mobile today we'll even buy you out of your service contracts

we have just learned new information about that freelance cameraman being treated for ebola in nebraska. the hospital says ashoka mukpo is being given the same drug as thomas eric duncan, the ebola patient now in critical condition in dallas. and a nurse's assistant in spain is the first person known to have contracted the disease outside of africa. she helped care for two ebola patients who were infected in west africa, both of those patients unfortunately died. infectious disease specialist doctor is joining us from new york. thanks very much for joining us. let's start with this infection of the nurse's assistant in spain. obviously there must have been, i assume, some sort of breakdown in the system. how concerned should all of us be? >> i don't know if concerned is necessarily useful for most of the american public. but i think if you're running a hospital or if you're a public

health administrator in a big city, you should definitely be concerned by this. it seems like there's been, i think in any case like this, there must have been a failure and seems like there was a failure in getting the right kind of equipment. according to some stories, they say the gowns she was using were permeable and weren't fastened to the gloves very well. i think what we're seeing, whether it was the gown or some other mistake was made, what we're seeing is even if teams know what they're doing, there's a protocol, they've ordered the right kind of suits, people have to be well-versed in practicing this. this is about drill, practice and preparedness. >> would it be smart for the u.s. to start secondary screenings of incoming passengers whether at kennedy airport in new york, washington dulles international airport, would it be smart to start screening passengers arriving in the united states? >> i think that's a tricky question. but you're going to get a huge

number of false positives. lots of people come back from holiday or come back from business overseas with a temperature. that's the main way of screening. if we're going to start isolating all of those people, it's going to real slow airports down and make travel very difficult and it probably isn't going to completely prevent ebola entering the u.s. someone could be asymptommatic for 21 days. so in the end, if we really want to keep ebola out of the u.s., the best place to focus is on rolling it back in west africa. and all the screening measures, which now, of course, look very politically expedient, i don't think they're going to make a huge difference, to be honest. the place to screen that's very important is before people get on the plane. because what you don't want is contagious people on planes because it's a very, very, you know, confined crowded environment, could easily spread on a plane. i think it makes sense before you get on the plane, once you're off the plane, i don't know how much difference it's going to make. >> unless you've got the symptoms during a 20-hour flight, let's say, from liberia,

stop in belgium and continue on to washington or dallas or whatever. that potentially could make a significant difference. and i'm a little confused on how contagious ebola is. sometimes they say you've got to exchange bodily fluids, if you will. sweat, something like that. on the other hand, if you've been within 3 feet contact of someone we bow ith ebola, you ce in trouble. explain the difference there. >> the question you're asking is. there's a point we have to say this is very difficult to know. and the reason it's difficult to know, if you imagine how hard it is to get this information. it's been relatively little transmission of ebola in all of human history. and as you collect the data on how each person caught it, it is very, very hard. we have to speculate. it's even hard to determine how long the virus lives outside the body in different conditions. you can find the virus on surfaces, whether or not it's infectious at that point isn't clear. so the best of our knowledge

what we'd say is people in order to catch ebola off someone, you have to get bodily fluids on to a mucous membrane or get it into an open sore or cut. and bodily fluids would be saliva, blood, those kind of things. we do have cases people catching ebola wearing the protective gear. we do have to admit that everything we say about the transmission of ebola is to the best of our knowledge. you know, this is still something we're studying. >> all right. doctor, we'll continue this conversation. unfortunately, the story is not going away. thanks very much. still to come, in north korea, the speculation mounting right now just days ago. the surprise visit to south korea, but high-level north korean officials also missing from that group, of course. country's top leader, kim jong-un hasn't been seen in more than a month. we'll discuss.

over the weekend, three high-level north korean officials made a surprise visit to south korea for unplanned talks. earlier today, an exchange of fire between north and south korea after a north korean patrol boat crossed into disputed waters. no injuries were reported.

all this happening with the north korean leader kim jong-un. apparently nowhere to be found, at least publicly. it's been more than a month since he's been seen in public. and that's raising all kinds of speculatio speculations. is he sick? has he been toppled? brian todd is looking into the story for us. what are you hearing? >> wolf, from experts, from intelligence officials, it's been widely reported now that kim jong-un probably very likely has some kind of a health problem. he's -- he might have gout. that runs in his family, might have an ankle problem. you see him limping in this video. that was -- some of the video was taken over the summer. he's last been seen publicly on september 3rd. it's more than a month now he's not been seen publicly. and some of the last video of him in public was showing him limping. so it is widely reported he's got some kind of a health problem. gout, high blood pressure, diabetes run in his family. and could be he's clearly gained weight. that's also clear. he's clearly gained weight since he took power in 2011. so there are reports that maybe

a combination of those factors. he's seeking some kind of treatment. but also, wolf, what's fueling speculation is i spoke to a prominent defector a few days ago. he told me that kim has been pushed aside. that a shadowy group called the organization and guidance department is really running things behind the scenes. now, u.s. intelligence officials and analysts we spoke to say we have no evidence of that. again, between the limp in public more than a month ago, the fact he hasn't been seen in more than a month, reports of his health problems, plus now this speculation about a possible coup or something like that behind the scenes fuels wild speculation about whether he's really in control of the country. and analysts we speak to right now say, look, we just don't know. we're trying to figure out from analysts and defectors what is going on. but it is hard information to come by right now. >> and the surprise visit by three north koreans to south korea. these are two of the three men that went down there or right

underneath kim jong-un. one of them is basically the head of the military. and another is a gentleman who deals with all of their relationships with south korea. these -- it's very, very rare that people this high up go to south korea. also, a south korean official told me a short time ago, they were shocked, they were surprised that these guys were coming. they only gave them one day's notice before they showed up at the closing of the asian games. and then they had high-level talks about possibly having further talks down the road about, you know, just some of the -- how the relationship can be improved. so it was a constructive visit, wolf. but fuels the speculation as to what's going on, why would they be there. one analyst said because kim is not in control and these men had to go and basically say to the south, the military's running things and this is the way it is right now. or it could be that kim jong-un sent them there. he's simply recuperating and said, look, you have to go and we're going to try to smooth things over and normalize relations a little bit better. and so that could be what's happened. >> we'll see if he shows up, kim

jong-un, the 69th anniversary of the founding of the workers party. more coming up later in the "situation room." i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern. for our international viewers, amanpour is next. for our viewers in north america, "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. >> and here we go, i'm brooke baldwin, thank you so much for being with me. you're watching cnn. the u.s. spent the night dropping bombs on isis fighters. but despite the strikes, turkey, which shares a border says the city is about to fall. and according to one kurdish intelligence official, it could happen any minute now. that's the latest we're getting. he also tells the atlantic that if that happens he predicts a quote unquote terrible slaughter by isis. expect to have