purposely brought here for treatment. the unidentified man fell ill after traveling from liberia through brussels to visit his family in texas. we do not know whether this was a previously scheduled trip or if the man feared he had been infected with ebola and came here in case he needed treatment. regardless, he only started showing symptoms after arriving in texas. >> the people on the plane are not a problem because he was not symptomatic while on the plane. he only became symptomatic after being in the united states for four days. he landed on the 20th and started developing symptoms on the 24th. so, those people are not at issue because you don't transmit ebola if you have no symptoms. >> and some good news here. the three men dallas emt crew who treated the patient have all tested negative for the virus. health officials will continue to monitor them and five school age children this person was in contact with, for the next three weeks. how long it will take before they're completely out of danger. the challenge now, identifying anyone this person might have

gotten sick. >> it's not just talking with someone. it has to be physical contact and that's one thing that reduces the people we have to identify and monitor. >> today president obama has been receiving updates from the cdc director, white house press secretary josh earnest will speak today. we'll bring you that when it happens. there are also questions now about why this patient was sent home from the hospital when he first tried to get treatment two days before he was finally admitted and then put into isolation. the protocol is to ask someone about their recent travel. >> a checklist was in place for ebola in this hospital for several weeks. that checklist was utilized by the nurse who did ask that question. that nurse was part of a care team, a complex care team, taking care of him in the emergency department. regretfully that information was not fully communicated

throughout the full time. as a result, the full import of that information wasn't factored into the clinical decision making. the overall clinical presentation was not typical at that time yet for ebola. so, as the team assessed him, they felt clinically it was a low grade common viral disease. >> officials say we've got to keep in mind that ebola is containable. just this week, the cdc said outbreaks in nigeria and senegal may actually be over now with no new cases there discovered in the past month. but with a fatality rate of 50%, the disease continues to spread rapidly elsewhere in west africa. nbc's dr. nancy is in liberia where ebola is still running rampant. >> reporter: here in the belly of the beast in liberia, the war against ebola rages on. we've seen people dying in the streets. yesterday a mother who brought her daughter to the hospital and she lay in a wheelbarrow until

attendants could come and check her out and then admit her to the hospital. this country suffered for years of civil war and the infrastructure of the medical system is weak at best. right now in liberia, there is no end in sight for this epidemic. we're waiting for coordination between nonprofits, the u.s. military and certainly more supplies and people are needed on the ground here. back to you. >> thanks to dr. nancy in liberia for that reporting. nbc's charles hadlock is outside presbyterian hospital in dallas. this hospital ran an ebola drill earlier last month. we know that. how prepared are they to handle this patient now? >> well, they are prepared. they had that drill last week. they went through everything. they practiced what would happen if a patient came into this hospital. went through the gowns, the gloves, the goggles, the shoes, everything they need to handle a

patient that would come into a place like this. so what happened last friday when this patient showed up with some symptoms. he had fever, abdominal pain. the admitting nurse went through a checklist. he said he was from africa. that information was written down and passed along. for some reason the attending physicians did not have that information had they actually saw the patient last friday. they gave him some antibiotics and sent him on his way. on sunday, emergency calls were made to dallas ambulance paramedics. they were sent to a house about ten minutes from this hospital. when they arrived they immediately knew they had a possible ebola patient. they knew he was from africa. though knew he was having symptoms of ebola, vomiting, diarrhea, fever. they went through their protocol, notified the hospital they were bringing in an ebola patient and he was immediately isolated when he returned to want hospital on sunday. they did some tests and

confirmed yesterday this patient is, indeed, the first patient diagnosed in the united states with ebola. >> charles hadlock, thanks for your erroring from dallas. for more, we'll bring in an infectious disease specialist at case medical center in cleveland as well as azeezekiel emanuel f upenn. zeke, you said americans should not be all that concerned right now. why not? >> well, we shouldn't be concerned there's going to be a widespread outbreak. we should be concerned for this individual. we should be concerned the cdc and state of texas do good contact tracings to make sure no one else has it. as has been repeated many times, ebola is hard to transmit. it's not airborne. not like if someone sneezes or you're just talking to them. it's going to spread. that's why i think you heard, you know, it's just a widespread outbreak is very unlikely to

happen, but there are individuals that could get it. the other thing is in the united states we do have a very good health care infrastructure and we have a very good public health infrastructure. two things totally lacking in sierra leone and liberia. you can see what even moderately okay health care structures do as in nigeria and senegal, that they snuffed out the outbreaks in those countries pretty effectively with very, very few cases being had. so, in the united states we're not likely to see that kind of outbreak. >> doctor, let's talk about this patient in texas, one of the details i think a lot of people are concerned about is the fact that he showed up at the hospital. the nurse apparently asked and found out that he was from africa and that information wasn't transmitted at that point so he was sent home and it was only two days later they brought him in and realized he had ebola.

how does that lack of communication happen? >> that's very, very concerning from a physician's standpoint. we always worry about, you know, missing that one key piece of information that tells you what's going on. obviously, the travel from the west part of africa where we see ebola is the key piece of information we look for when we're trying to determine what this patient has. ebola virus, like all viruses they start similarly. fever, muscle pains, vomiting, diarrhea. that is basically the start of every cold and flu virus or even some gi viruses, which is what they thought when he first presented. the travel to -- or from this part of africa is the key piece of information that needs to be reported from nurses, to physicians, to residents to say, hey, we should be thinking about

other possibilities, including ebola. >> none of these symptoms had even showed up once he traveled here to the u.s. doctor, if you were at any of the airports this patient was traveling through or happened to be on the same flight, do you have any reason to be concerned at this moment? and is there anything else they could have done? they took his temperature but he didn't show any signs of a fever. >> that's the problem with ebola, the incubation period is so long. up to three weeks. you may not have any symptoms even though you may be carrying the virus. the virus itself is trying to establish an infekdz. however, there's a difference between when you are infected with ebola to when you are contagious with ebola. the people on the plane, the people who he met or passed by in the airport are very little if any, zero risk of obtaining this virus and becoming infected themselves. you really can only become contagious when you have enough

virus that has grown in your body and then comes into your secretions, urine and stool and then only then you can pass it on. >> let's take another bird's-eye view. this ebola situation says we need a more global view of our health problems. we started this thinking this is something happening over there, in africa, that's far away, the third world. we don't have to worry about that, but in a globalized world the problems of failed or fragile states can very easily become our problems. >> yes. and i think it's very important to recognize that a large -- this really has gotten out of hand because we have states that have very poor infrastructure and so we now know, and if we didn't think about it, health problems that start somewhere else can easily become ours, especially if they're infectious agents. hiv started that way this ebola

is doing that. we know the same is true with influenza, the flu, that usually starts in southeast asia and travels. so, from purely the health standpoint, what happens in other countries can directly affect us and we can see that in this case. we do need to keep that in mind. we have a health stake in what happens there. we also have a national security stake in what happens there. failed states like somalia, libya now, they are problems for us in a national security point. they're also problems economically and we cannot afford to see these countries, lie beer, yeah sierra leone fail and become hot beds of terrorism or fail and become immigrants to other countries and destabilize them. from both a health standpoint and national security standpoint, we have to have an interest. i think that's why the president is clearly dwoegt a lot of resources, military as well as financial and trying to rally the world to that. that's obviously the proper thing to do. simply from a humanitarian

standpoint but it's also a proper thing to do from a self-interested standpoint in terms of the united states' health and security. i might also mention that this lack of communication between the nurse and the doctor in the hospital, this isn't the first time we've heard this problem. this is a systematic problem. hopefully part of what focusing on electronic health records, focusing on teams getting to work better together over the next few years will be important to eliminate these kind of issues and lack of communication that can lead to lack of proper management of patients. this isn't an isolated case, the only case of bad communication. this is a much more common problem that we really need to get our arms around. >> right. as you mentioned, there's no off switch if some of these countries have a tipping point, and affects people regionally or internationally. at the same time we're reporting on this, we have serious concerns not only with ebola but also the enterovirus.

would he learning a child in rhode island has died from it. when we look at ebola and the enterovirus, what is your view of the risks here in the homeland? >> let me tell you right now, as i tell a lot of my patients when i see them, we're born onto an inherently bad planet with shark attacks and bear maulings and these things happen. what we've been able to do as a society, especially in research -- i'm sorry, resource high societies where we're able to really contain, identify and help people who have these infections and understand those infections very well. now with infections, we have to understand it. we just can't think of it from a country point of view. the united states here and

southeast ash sla ovia over the. with the interconnectivity of people around the world, we're all in this together. that's why we have to focus our resources elsewhere to help ourselves. >> that's why a lot of people universal health care is a key part of it. something we'll discuss later in the show. doctors, thank you both. the story isn't going away. we'll continue to monitor it and let you know what you need to know about these health issues. next, another big story developing this afternoon. the israeli prime minister been yeah minimum netanyahu is at the white house. how is the administration responding to that big comparison he made that isis is like hamas in israel. "the cycle" rolls on for wednesday, october 1st. t's the ?

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oh, to be a fly on the wall of the oval office today. president obama welcomed, and i use the term loosely, israeli prime minister been yeah minimum netanyahu to the white house this morning with iran near the top of the agenda. reports this morning are that talks over their nuclear ambitions could start up within the next couple of weeks. >> iran seeks a deal that you lift the tough sanctions you worked so hard to put in place and i firmly hope that under your leadership that would not happen. >> while obama and netanyahu will have to work together on dealing with iran, we know

they've had sort of a frosty relationship in the past. that could not have been helped by a comparison netanyahu made this week at the united nations. take a look. >> isis and hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree. so, when it comes to their ultimate goals, hamas is isis and isis is hamas. >> ken pollock, senior fellow at brookings with an impressive resume with cia, his book about iran "unthinkable," now out in paperbook. congratulations on the book's success and thank you for being with us. >> thanks. good to be here. >> we'll talk about iran in a moment. i'd love to get your take on the comparison we just made netanyahu made comparing isis to hamas. what did you make of that? what was he trying to get at there? >> we don't know exactly quite what the prime minister had in mind, but what he was implying, what i took away from it he was saying, mr. president, you're

fighting this war against isis and you need to you understand that my war against hamas is the same war as your war on isis, so you should be just as supportive of what i do against hamas as you want me to be against isis. >> the thing is, you look at the video we just showed with president staring down netanyahu going through this litany saying, this is what you worked so hard to do, mr. president. there's no love between these men. we all know that. that's been discussed at length. and netanyahu even within israel is viewed as a supremely difficult and annoying individual, at times the likud party fostered by being israel's annoying individual. they're on his side and seen as giving everyone a tough time, giving this president a tough time. i wonder if you can walk us through what's happened now, the personal difficulties between these men, i would argue are

receding. matters more arguably for israel's security. >> first, it's hard to know exactly what's going on between the two. it may well be they've had six years together. while they don't particularly like each other, they've figured out how to work together. second, i think president obama does recognize -- >> i have to interrupt you momentarily. we have breaking news. nbc news learned director of the secret service julia pearson is announcing stepping down. pete williams, we've got you. what is the latest, pete? >> i guess that's not so much of a surprise. the only question was timing. we had been hearing all day that it was very likely that she would step down in the wake of these last two serious security breaches involving the white house and involving the president while traveling. the homeland security secretary, we have to remind everybody, secret service is part of homeland security, the homeland

security secretary jay johnson says in a statement that's just out from homeland that she offered her resignation and he accepted it. now, here's a very interesting point, though. jonchts son says as acting director of the secret service, they're bringing back someone who retired from the secret service three years ago. that's joseph clancy, who was a special agent in charge of the presidential protective division. that's sort of the most elite part of the secret service. he retired from the secret service in 2011. they're bringing him back. so i read this as something of an effort to get an outsider, not a complete outsider, but someone who's been away for a while, to come back and take control of the secret service for now. the director's job is a presidentially appointed position. it's not senate confirmable, so the administration has a free hand here to put whoever they want in charge of the secret service. two other points about secretary

johnson's statement. he says he's asking his deputy, the deputy director of homeland security to along with the homeland general counsel assume control of the government inquiry into what happened with the fence jumper and to report back to him on november 1st. and finally, and probably equally important here, the secretary says, he wants a panel of independent experts to look at the september 19th incident and related issues concerning the secret service. he says he will name these members of the panel and wants them -- they haven't been named yet but he will shortly and wants them to report to him by december 15th. so, some pretty big developments here in fallout of what happened at the white house. >> pete, that's a leadership change you're reporting for us.

when we look at the problems exposed, though, in the past days, many have said there are deeper problems than staffing. there's a culture, a lacking of accountability. what other changes would be happening in conjunction with those points you just racised? >> i think it's interesting rather than turn to someone who is in the secret service leadership right now, they're bringing back someone from the outside, in essence the good old days, even though it was 2011, who is presumably, one could say, untainted by any of these recent problems, who will come back in and take control of the secret service. knows how the agency does the job. knows the most sensitive mission of the secret service, which is protecting the president. this is a person who led the protective service. that sends a big message.

as well as these other two decisions he's made, it's an admission bit homeland security secretary that some major changes need to be made at homeland and that if they're going to be made, it's going to take, in essence, outside help. >> very interesting indeed. pete williams, thank you very much. keep us updated as you learn more. now we want to bring in nbc news' own perry bacon jr. it seems like we had one scandal coming out after another candle. seems like "the washington post" had something new every day. and this became unsustainable for julia pearson. >> pete put it well. the question was always when, not if, she would reion. you saw elijah cummings, a democrat, this morning call for her resignation. unusual for washington, you had people on both sides of the aisle concerned about it. this resignation was not surprising. the question is how does the secret service restore credibility?

americans are very concerned about why is this happening? not only the person getting into the east room but also the notion that the president was on the elevator with someone who had a gun. real concerns here unified people on both parties. >> when americans are saying, why are these things happening, is this a result of resource allocation? we talked yesterday about the secret service admitting they have 500 fewer agents than they would like to have in the uniform division that specifically deals with the white house. there are 100 fewer folks than ideal. working on off days, so morale is stretched and just the numbers you can have in that police force that takes care of the white house is much lower than it should be. a new director isn't necessarily going to be able to take care of that right away. >> exactly. one thing obama tends to do in a lot of situations is not push for someone to resign immediately. often the problems are

underlying. i do think in this case the totality of the allegations and it wasn't clear exactly how candid the secret service was in terms of what happened a few weeks ago, how the man got into the east room. i suspect that drove this as much as anything else. the problems of the secret service appear to be deeper and probably not just changing the head is going to solve this and may involve staffing and other issues as well. >> perry bacon, stay with us. we are here with breaking news reporting on julia pearson stepping down as secret service director. we'll go to the white house where kristin welker is. what can you tell us you're learning at this hour? >> reporter: this wasn't a surprise. the calls were growing louder for her to step down. not only had she lost confidence of lawmakers on capitol hill. we saw that earlier when

congressman cummings was on "morning joe" and he said it was time for her to go. he said he hadn't slept all night. the calls were growing louder throughout the day. spoke with one of my sources who said there was a sense of mutiny within the secret service itself, that she had lost the confidence of the people she was leading within that agency. so, you couple that with the lack of faith on capitol hill. i think the pressure was just too much for her. i can tell you that i spoke with one republican lawmaker who said, the breaking point was that the hearing yesterday in which she testified for about three hours was asked very pointed questions, including had she briefed president obama on all of the security breaches that have occurred this year, she answered yes to that question. and then just a few hours later we learned that president obama was in an elevator with a man who had a gun, who also had a criminal past. he was a contractor. that happened on september 16th

when president obama was in atlanta speaking about ebola. that happened a few days before this fence-jumping incident. that was the breaking point for a lot of lawmakers. why wasn't there more transparency not only at that hearing yesterday but in general? why initially did the secret service put out a statement that she had approved which said the fence-jumper was apprehended a short ways after he got into the white house? of course we learned that wasn't the case. the fence-jumping intruder got deep inside the white house and that he was armed. the initial press release said he wasn't armed. i think there were too many discrepancies. they felt as though there was a fundamental lack of transparency. and if you talk with sources familiar with what happens in the secret service, they say it underscores a broader dysfunction within that agency. >> kristin welker, keep us updated. evy is a former secret service agent, assigned to white house

residence on the day of the 2011 shooting. thanks for being with us. i was hoping you could speak to the need for someone who was a bit outside the agency. joseph clancy, retired three years ago, former head of the presidential protective division. julia pearson, came up in to reform the culture. served on presidential protective details of three different presidents. was very much of the secret service culture. talk about whether joseph clancy can bring back an outsider perspective here. >> he did resign a couple years. he's gone to the outside. experienced that. worked in the private industry. he is a great selection. i actually served under him and he was a tremendous supervisor. he has a strong integrity. he loves the agency. he loves the service. he's a fair and ethical leader. and i think he's also very well respected by everybody in the

service. he will be a strong leader to come in. he also genuinely cares for the agency. that's a very important thing. >> but what can he do with this diminished force. we keep talking about 100 fewer officers in the force to take care of the white house because of sequestration. can he make a big difference when he has a smaller force? >> this is where the change has to come in. the change has to be the management style and thinking. bringing in the proper people, the proper numbers. you were talking earlier and talking about morale. morale is big. how can you have an agency and expect it to work properly when your own people are upset, when your own people are overworked and underpaid? if you're a great ceo, you're a great ceo because it starts from what? the top down. so when your own people are not happy when you're not listening to those voices, yes, it's a pa paramilitary structure but you have to look down and say, what do my people need? what's missing?

are they happy? >> this goes to the other point. secretary johnson saying they're going to have the deputy secretary of homeland security lead an investigation into all these problems. everyone's rightly skeptical of these kind of panels in washington. this one feels different because there's been bipartisan concern, because we're talking about the life and safety of the president and the first family. what would you expect to see coming out of this investigation? >> i think they'll bring in a lot of external people to this. yesterday at the panel, when they testified -- when the director testified there was a man named todd klein on the panel. his opening remarks were tremendous. on the money. he talked about complacency, when you have government organizations used to doing it the same way over and over again because it's worked. and then you have problems because they're not open, they're not willing to progress or take in new information. he brought in great points. i think you'll see individuals like him and others like-minded who will come in and say, we need to do a makeover. they talked about that yesterday. >> how long does that usually take? if i were the first lady, i wouldn't sleep well at night.

you know, you have these concerns now about your husband and yourself but most importantly, your little girls and what you have in common with all of these cases is just poor judgment. goes back to the morale issue you were speaking of earlier. how quickly can the first family feel a little more confidence again about their girls and about their family? >> look, it's going to take time because there have been so many incidents, one after another. it's not just the first family. it's also society. this was the elite agency -- >> here comes josh earnest. >> good afternoon, everybody. apologize for the delayed start of today's briefing. it's obviously been a busy day for us here at the administration. i suspect many of you have seen the statement from the secretary of homeland security jay johnson. in that statement he noted that he had accepted this afternoon the resignation of julie pearson, director of the united states secret service. before we get to your questions, let me just tell you this

afternoon the president had the opportunity to telephone director pearson. to express his appreciation for her service to the agency and to the country. she dedicated more than 30 years of her life to the united states secret service and to the important work they do over there. as i mentioned yesterday, she spent several hours in front of the camera yesterday answering difficult questions from members of congress. in the context of that interaction she took responsibility for the shortcomings of the agency that she led and she took responsibility for fixing them. that, quite simply, is a testament to her professionalism and her character. so, with that, jim, why don't you get us started on questions today. >> thanks, josh. in that phone call, had she already submitted her resignation or did the president ask for it? >> in the meeting the director

of homeland security met with director pearson and accepted her resignation at that time. >> as recently as this morning, you were expressing the president's support for her. if there was such good support, why did the president allow secretary johnson offer her resignation? >> she believed it was in the best interest of the agency to which she has dedicated her career. the secretary agreed with that assessment. the president did as well. over the last several days we've seen recent and accumulating reports raising questions about the performance of the agency and the president concluded that new leadership of that agency was required. >> did the president take into consideration the mounting opposition that was rising on the hill? bipartisan opposition to her remaining in office? >> no. i think what the secretary of

homeland security and the president were both considering were the performance of the agency. in light of recent and accumulating reports about the agency, i think legitimate questions were raised. at least they were in the mind of both the secretary and the president. >> does the president have a timetable for replacing her? >> he does not. as you know and as you probably saw from the statement that secretary johnson issued, the president recommended and secretary johnson agreed, that joe clancy, someone who had served with distinction in the secret service until the summer of 2011, would be a good candidate for serving as acting director of secret service until a more permanent replacement can be found. mr. clancy had a distinguished career in the secret service. prior to serving in the secret service he graduated from west point. he's somebody over the course of his tenure at the secret service

rose to the level of being the special agent in charge of the presidential protective division. he is somebody who has earned the respect and admiration of his colleagues at the secret service. he's somebody who has the full confidence of the president and the first lady. so he's an appropriate choice to lead the agency until a permanent director is found. >> another news event today, the meeting with prime minister netanyahu. wondering if the president raised any concerns about construction in east jerusalem that some israeli officials confirmed today or the eviction of palestinians from their home in a neighborhood in east jerusalem? >> well, jim, i can tell you that the united states is deeply concerned by reports that the israeli government moved forward with the planning process in a

sensitive area of east jerusalem. this is contrary to israel's stated goal of negotiating a permanent status relationship with the palestinians and would send a very troubling message if they were to proceed with tinders or construction in that area. this development will only draw condemnation from the international community. distance israel from even its closest allies, poison the atmosphere, not only with the palestinians but also with the very arab governments with which prime minister netanyahu said he wanted to build relations. and would call into question their negotiated peaceful settlement with the palestinian. additionally the united states condemns the recent occupation of residential buildings in sawan in east jerusalem, near the old city, by individuals who are associated with an organization whose agenda by definition stokes tensions between israelis and palestinians. these provocative acts, acts by this organization only serves to

escalate tensions at a moment when those tensions have already been high. final status of jerusalem should not be prejudged and can only be legitimately determined through direct negotiations between the parties. at this sensitive time, we call on all parties to redouble their efforts to restore trust, confidence, promote call calm and return to the path of peace. this did come up in the conversations, yes. >> was there any indication that the timing of this was related to the prime minister's visit? >> for questions about the timing you would have to ask the israeli government about that. jeff? >> reporter: josh, back to the secret service, clearly the problems at the agency are beyond --

>> highest regard for the men and women of the secret service. these are individuals who are sigh highly trained, highly skilled professionals who wake up every morning prepared to put their lives on the line to protect the first family and to protect the white house. that is a commitment to service that is worthy of our respect. at the same time as secretary johnson mentioned in his statement, the deputy secretary of department of homeland security will be conducting a review into the september 19th incident in which an individual scaled a fence along the north lawn of the white house and was able to gain access to the white house. that review will be conducted by the deputy secretary. when that review has been concluded, it will be put before an independent panel of experts to get their outside perspective on what changes to white house

security may be required. that panel will also be responsible for making recommendations to the secretary about who would be a good candidate to lead the united states secret service. they will certainly consider individuals from outside that agency. importantly, they will also offer a recommendation to the secretary about whether or not a review of broader issues concerning the secret service is necessary. so, we are confident, and the president is confident, that the department of homeland security will take a hard look at this situation. that we'll assemble a panel of outside experts who will take a hard look at this situation and develop a set of recommendations that will ensure that the united states secret service can meet the very high standard of performance that they set for themselves. >> but does the president believe more people besides the director need to go?

>> the president believes an independent panel should review the results of this assessment as being conducted by the deputy secretary of department of homeland security to determine what steps are appropriate moving forward. >> does the president of the white house generally believe that any of the shortfalls or any of the problems at the secret service are related to shortfalls that are connected to sequestration? >> grve again, jeff, you're raising questions that will be part of this broader, careful review conducted by the deputy secretary of homeland security. after he's conducted his review, he'll be in a much better position to answer the question than i can. >> reporter: josh, earlier this morning you expressed confidence. you said the white house had confidence in julia pearson. what changed over the course of the day? >> obviously, the first thing that changed was director pearson offered her resignation. she did so to the secretary of homeland security and she did that because she believed it was in the best interest of the

agency to which she's dedicated the last 30 years of her life. the secretary agreed with that assessment as did the president. they both agreed with that assessment because of the recent and humiliating reports that raised legitimate questions about the performance of the agency. those reports led the president and secretary to conclude a new direction was necessary. >> just asking about this latest incident to have emerged, i guess it happened prior to the fence-jumping incident, the security contractor at the cdc who was in the elevator who was armed in the presence of the president in violation of secret service protocols. did director pearson brief the president on that incident? >> jim, i can tell you that the white house first learned of that incident yesterday afternoon shortly before it was reported -- before it was publicly reported by a news organization. >> reporter: so, she did not tell him about that, or the agency did not tell the white house about it until -- you didn't know about it until yesterday.

>> until shortly before it was reported publicly, that's correct. >> reporter: that's a problem, right? >> well, i would -- i think the -- it would be accurate for you to assume that when incidents like that occur that there would be a pretty open channel of communication between the united states secret service, department of homeland security and ultimately the white house. >> does he want -- does the president want to see the channels of communication to be more open, to be more transparent? does the white house feel like it's kept in the dark a little too much by the secret service in terms of these problems that occur from time to time? >> well, i think this will be part of some of the things that this independent panel will consider. what is the appropriate level of secret service response to incidents like this when they crop up? and that obviously would involve

communicating reforms or information were it necessary to senior members of the department of homeland security and, again, ultimately, on some kashs, to the white house. >> and does the president think that julia pearson let him down? >> well, like i said, the president took time out of his day this afternoon to call director pearson, to thank her for her service to the agency and to the country. and the president is deeply appreciative of her service. she spent 30 years at the united states secret service because she believes so strongly in the core mission of that agency. >> if i could ask you one quick question about the cdc. on september 15th the president said in the unlikely event that someone with ebola does reach our shores, he used those words, unlikely event, and as we know there's a case down in dallas, did the president not get, i guess, reliable information from the cdc that the likelihood that ebola could come over here? what do you make of that?

an unlikely event -- >> will you read that quote for me one more time. >> reporter: he said in the unlikely event that someone with ebola does reach our shores -- i can give you the full quote if you want it, but he talked about it being an unlikely event. when obviously the cdc is prepared to deal with that. >> my suspicion is might you might be slightly overparsing what the president said. when he delivered those remarks that had been at laos a couple of health care professionals who had been trying to provide medical services to ebola victims in africa who had been returned to the united states for treatment. so, obviously, these individuals, who had contracted ebola in the performance of their medical work, were on the shores of the united states of america. so, i think the broader point the president was trying to convey to you and to the broader american public is that we retain confidence in the sophisticated medical infrastructure of the united

states of america to respond to meet the needs of those individuals that have contracted ebola and to put protocols in place that will prevent an ebola epidemic from striking the united states. there are a couple of reasons for that. the first is, ebola is not easily transmitted. it's -- it isn't transmitted through the air like the flu. it is not transmitted through water or food here in the united states. the only way ebola can be transmitted is from the bodily fluids of an individual who has already showing symptoms of being sick with ebola. so, there is -- you know, there are protocols at which the president does have strong confidence that can be put in place to prevent the spread of ebola. >> reporter: this doesn't lead to you think this could be a bigger, more widespread problem than previously thought? i guess that's -- that was my question initially.

>> that's correct. it is our view that we have the medical infrastructure that is necessary to meet the -- to try to treat this individual that does have ebola. in a way that doesn't pose a significant risk to other patients in the hospital, to the doctors and nurses who will be caring for that individual, and certainly doesn't pose a significant risk to the broader community. alexis? >> reporter: a couple quick confess. follow-up on what jim was asking you. base on the scenario we understand from the dallas patient, is there anything that's going to change with airlines or security in terms of -- what we know about the incubation period or screening [ inaudible ] of those who fly? >> again, it's my understanding, and you can check with the cdc on this, but it's my understanding that the

individual in dallas who has been hospitalized with ebola is somebody who did recently travel to the united states from west africa. it is, again, according to those medical professionals, this individual was not displaying any symptoms. was not experiencing any symptoms while he was traveling. that means there is no risk to the individuals who were traveling with that person. so there are protocols in place where those individuals who are leighing west africa and traveling to the west are screened. while we've also provided guidance to pilots, flight attendants and others who make up the -- who are responsible for the staffing of our transportation infrastructure, we've given them guidance for monitoring the health and well being of travelers. to ensure that if they notice individuals who are exhibiting symptoms that seem to be consistent with ebola, that the

proper authorities are notified. there are also screening procedures in place at our border, so as individuals enter the country, they are observed by customs and border patrol and others to protect the broader american public. so there's nothing about this case that we know so far that would indicate any weakness or any flaws in that system right now. but that said in light of this incident, the administration has taken the step of recirculating our guidance to -- to law enforcement agencies that are responsible for securing the border, to those agencies that represent individuals who staff the airline industry, and to medical professionals all across the country to make sure that people are aware there is an important protocol that should be implemented if an individual presents with symptoms that are consistent with ebola.

>> reporter: just follow-up on that. because the independent investigation [ inaudible ] the president is going to be very active in the next month. can you say whether anything is going to change with the procedures here or where he is traveling is sufficient and adequate to ensure the safety of him and the white house. >> three things about that, director pierson has said in her testimony yesterday that in the immediate after manning of the incident september 19th, the secret service put in additional precautions to bolster security here at the white house. there have been changes already made. second, the president continues to have full confidence in the men and women of the united states secret service. they have highly skilled, highly

trained professionals who are very good at what they do and take very seriously their responsibility to protect the president am the white house. the third thing is, the president is very appreciative that somebody with the resume and skills of joe clancy is taking responsibility for leading the secret service during this interim period. mr. clancy is taking a leave of absence from his private sector job to reenter government service, demonstrates his loyalty that he feels to this organization and agency that he served for so long. >> is he authorized to make additional changes. >> absolutely. as the acting director, mr. clancy will have responsibility for leading that organization. the president is grateful that he has taken on that very significant responsibility. okay. todd. >> thanks.

on the ebola case, follow up on questions, everyone understands that this particular patient was traveling. i think we get that from the professionals. that means there's no way to effectively screen for someone who is infected and will become symptomatic within a week or a few days. so gifven that, what are the conditions for which the president would want to see travel restrictions. >> the thing that is important about that is individual who's are not displaying symptoms of ebola are not able to spread ebola to other people. that is why we have a protocol in place that does carefully evaluate the medical care for individuals that are displaying symptoms of ebola.

what i would say about that is that the -- there's a little sound over here. can we get to the bottom of what that is. okay. we really can't? is it that tape recorder? okay. okay. all right. i'll muscle through here. so, todd, the cdc has put in place specific protocols that govern how to handle these kinds of situations and they place a priority on ensuring individuals who are displaying symptoms of ebola are limited from broader contact, the reason is those individuals are the only one who's can spread ebola. and that's why there are specific protocols in place. we're confident that the

sophisticated medical infrastructure that exists in the united states can prevent the widespread of ebola. >> are we willing to accept a certain number of people coming into this country who will be diagnosed with ebola once they are here? >> well we do, we live in a global world and what we're confident that we can do is both protect the safety of the traveling public and protect the broader american public by rigorously applying the protocols that are recommended by the cdc. these are experts and they have a keen understanding how to prevent the spread of this particular disease. because of our infrastructure and expertise in this country we can stop the spread of ebola in its tracks. >> has the president or will the president speak with governor perry or any other texas

officials about the ebola outbreak? >> i don't know of any calls the president expects to make here. but i know there's a number of senior administration officials at cdc and hhs who have been in touch with officials in texas to ensure seemless coordination and communication of local officials responding to this incident and officials in the federal government who can offer their own expertise to deal with this matter. i will say, if i didn't say it before, that it will is a team of specialists from the cdc who are already on the ground in north texas to assist in this instan instance. they will certainly benefit from these professionals in ensuring this doesn't pose a significant risk to the people in the dallas metro area. okay. steven. congratulations on your new job by the way.

pleased to read about it. >> thank you. does the u.s. see any outcome of the iran nuclear talks that would leave iran in a position where by it could be described as a threshhold nuclear power. >> we have talked about this a little bit. the united states in close conversations with our partners have been engaged with the iranian bz bringing their nuclear program in compliance with international standards. as a result of those conversations we have had success in getting the iranians to roll back key aspects of their nuclear program. that part has been successful. but what is clear, is that the united states will not allow iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, creating a nuclear arms race in that region of the world

would be terribly destabilizing and not in the broader security interest of our friends and partners in the region and certainly not in the national security interest of the united states of america. there are leaders in iran indicating they don't have designs on a nuclear weapon. we need to reach an agreement between iranian re iaian regime community to demonstrate iran will not acquire a nuclear weapon. >> is there any surprise that the prime minister says he is worried that deal could leave. it seems he has a complete different understanding of the position than the u.s., the one the u.s. is advocating. >> i am not sure i entirely agree with that because there isn't a deal. these talks are ongoing and the president has articulated his determination working closely

with our p5 plus 1 partners to make sure we have in place a verifiable regime to satisfy the international community's concerns about iran's nuclear program. we want to have insight into that program and confirm, transparentally. we are looking for an agreement the international community can verify. the other point that is important, previous interactions with iran about their nuclear program has drawn expressions of frustration from countries who see iran using ongoing dip

homations as cover to keep their nuclear program going. rather the opposite has occurred in the conversations we have with our p 5 plus 1 partners, iran has a greed to not enriching the uranium above 5% level. it includes diluting their enriched stock pile. it involves not operating additional models. they refrain from making further advancements of their enrichment facilities including the facility in iraq. and they have a greed to more frequent inspections of some of the facilityitis that they have previously been less than transcript pareparent about.

we have not reached an agreement that would satisfy their concern. >> [ inaudible question ]. did the prime minister also raise broader concerns that the u.s. is being dup the by the charm offenses and might also collaborate in some way on the isis operation. >> well kathleen, there certainly was a lot of discussion about the important and strong relationship between the united states and israel. as you know, the security cooperation between our two nations is unprecedented and continues to grow stronger. this is manifested most recently by the partnership related to the iron dome system. recently the