Latest news with #BillWhitaker
Fox News
29-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Trump reportedly rejects Paramount's $15 million offer to settle CBS News lawsuit, demands apology
President Donald Trump and Paramount Global are reportedly still at an impasse as they attempt to resolve his $20 billion lawsuit against the company through mediation. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Trump rejected a $15 million offer to settle his lawsuit. The president's legal team is allegedly demanding at least $25 million and an apology from CBS News. His team is also threatening another lawsuit, according to the report. Trump's attorney did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Paramount declined to comment. Last October, Trump sued CBS News and Paramount for $10 billion over allegations of election interference involving the "60 Minutes" interview of then-Vice President Kamala Harris that aired weeks before the presidential election (the amount has since jumped to $20 billion). The lawsuit alleges CBS News deceitfully edited an exchange Harris had with "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker, who asked her why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn't "listening" to the Biden administration. Harris was widely mocked for the "word salad" answer that aired in a preview clip of the interview on "Face the Nation." However, when the same question aired during a primetime special on the network, Harris had a different, more concise response. Critics at the time accused CBS News of deceitfully editing Harris' "word salad" answer to shield the Democratic nominee from further backlash leading up to Election Day. The raw transcript and footage released earlier this year by the FCC showed that both sets of Harris' comments came from the same response, but CBS News had aired only the first half of her response in the "Face the Nation" preview clip and aired the second half during the primetime special. CBS News has denied any wrongdoing and stands by the broadcast and its reporting. Shari Redstone, Paramount's controlling shareholder who recused herself from settlement discussions in February, made clear that she wanted to settle Trump's lawsuit in hopes of clearing the pathway for Paramount's multibillion-dollar planned merger with Skydance Media, which seeks approval from the Trump administration's FCC. However, there has been newsroom drama in recent months involving Redstone's efforts to "keep tabs" on the network's reporting of Trump, at least until the merger closes. That led to the abrupt resignation of "60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens, who claimed he could no longer maintain editorial independence. Also fueling settlement rumors was last week's ousting of CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon, who cited disagreement with the company behind her departure. CBS News journalists remain defiant, including "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley, who went viral with his commencement address at Wake Forest University repeatedly slamming Trump as well as his lawsuit. "Why attack universities? Why attack journalism? Because ignorance works for power," Pelley told Wake Forest graduates. "First, make the truth seekers live in fear, sue the journalists and their companies for nothing. Then, send masked agents to abduct a college student who wrote an editorial in her college paper defending Palestinian rights and send her to a prison in Louisiana charged with nothing. Then move to destroy the law firms that stand up for the rights of others." "With that done, power can rewrite history with grotesque false narratives. They can make criminals heroes and heroes criminals. Power can change the definition of the words we use to describe reality. Diversity is now described as illegal. Equity is to be shunned. Inclusion is a dirty word. This is an old playbook, my friends. There's nothing new in this," he continued.
CBS News
20-04-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Bird flu, feared as a possible pandemic, poses growing risk to people as pathogen spreads, scientists warn
Bird flu has been circling the globe for decades. So the discovery in 2024 that the deadly pathogen had jumped from a wild bird to a cow came as a shock to virus watchers. Now, in just over a year, the virus has ripped through America's dairy herds and poultry flocks. It has jumped to other mammals – including humans. Seventy Americans have caught the virus, one has died . Long feared as a possible pandemic, doctors and veterinarians fighting the virus told us Biden's government was slow to act; while the Trump administration has now laid off more than a hundred key scientists – all as the virus keeps spreading. Dr. Kay Russo: At present, we're given a stick, and they put a blindfold on us, and we're sent into a gunfight and we're losing. We are losing. Veterinarian Dr. Kay Russo told us we are running out of time to stop bird flu. She was called in when the virus H5N1 hit this dairy herd in Colorado last summer. It cost the farm about $400,000 to treat its sick cattle – most recovered. But as an added precaution, we suited up to ensure we didn't bring anything onto the farm ourselves. Bill Whitaker: There's no front or back. Dr. Kay Russo: There's no front or back. It's high fashion. Bill Whitaker: It's real high fashion. It's not clear how bird flu is spread from cow to cow, but milking equipment is a prime suspect. The virus is thought to linger on the auto-milker waiting for the next cow. Workers here in milking parlors have also fallen sick. Bill Whitaker: So what concerns you the most? Dr. Kay Russo: The pandemic potential for a virus like this one. And you know that is the worst case scenario, right? And ultimately one we want to avoid. I can't say that that's gonna happen but we don't want to play with fire. It started in Texas . In early 2024, cows were suffering from a mysterious disease: their fevers spiked, their milk dried up, they were coughing, drooling, lethargic. Soon there were more sick cattle in neighboring states. Kay Russo joined a conference call of worried vets to try to figure it out. Dr. Kay Russo: I started asking questions. "What are the birds doing on the farm?" And one of the veterinarians replied, "well, they're all dead." Bill Whitaker: So they're seeing dead birds on the farms – Dr. Kay Russo: Yep. Yep. You know we started to see the cats that were demonstrating neurologic symptoms. And--and more alarmingly the workers were complaining of flu-like symptoms. Tests confirmed Russo's worst fears: H5N1 had jumped to cattle for the first time. In past outbreaks, bird flu has often been deadly in people. Dr. Kay Russo: If you look at cases worldwide of H5 influenza, the mortality rate's fifty per cent. And so we're all kind of you know, talking to each other. What does this mean? And that was a scary space to be in. Despite the urgency, Russo and other vets told us the Biden administration was slow to act. It was a month before the U.S. Department of Agriculture required cows to be tested before interstate travel, and 10 months before a raw milk testing program was launched. Today, some states test weekly, some hardly at all. Bill Whitaker: Do we have enough information about how this virus is spreading? Dr. Kay Russo: I would say today, no. And that comes down to boots on the ground where you have a strike force that comes in the middle of an outbreak and--and just starts collecting data. Russo told us at the moment the virus has the upper hand. Dr. Kay Russo: I think it's a numbers game, and the more we let it move unchecked, the more likely we're gonna have even a bigger mess on our hands. Poultry farmers have had to kill tens of millions of birds – removing them with trailers – and driving egg prices sky high. Now, a new strain of bird flu has been discovered in cattle. It has led to more severe disease in some people. Dr. Kamran Khan: This is a threat that is very significant and very real. And I recognize also this is a moment where it's easy to sound like an alarmist. What I'm here to tell you is this is a very serious threat to humanity. And the longer we let this persist, the greater the risks are going to be. Dr. Kamran Khan is an infectious disease physician in Toronto. His company, BlueDot, was among the first to flag the virus in China that became the COVID pandemic. Khan told us bird flu is just as concerning. He showed us how fast the virus has spread among dairy cattle. Bill Whitaker: This seems like almost a wildfire to me. Dr. Kamran Khan: Yeah, absolutely. Now add in poultry outbreaks. Bill Whitaker: So this is virtually the whole country? Dr. Kamran Khan: Pretty much. Next, Dr. Kamran Khan showed us a map of all the confirmed human cases of bird flu in the last five years. Most have been in Asia – until now. Dr. Kamran Khan: What you start to see around 2024 is you start to see a case in Texas, and then you start to see this sudden, rapid increase in cases across the country. Bill Whitaker: All over the place. Dr. Kamran Khan: What's happening here is wild birds have infected cows, who have then infected other cows, who have then infected humans. And so there's this complex web of all of these different animal species now passing the virus in different directions. Bill Whitaker: Is this one of those things you have never seen before? Dr. Kamran Khan: The world has never seen this kind of situation and it's showing us that the virus is capable of adaption. If you allow it, it will just get better and better at infecting other mammals, including potentially humans. Most of the confirmed cases in the U.S. have been farmworkers. Most had mild symptoms. The one person who died had underlying health conditions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the virus still poses a low risk to the general public. But Khan told us many cases are going undetected. Bill Whitaker: Why do you say that? Dr. Kamran Khan: So in a recent study of dairy workers their blood was tested for antibodies to H5N1, not looking for the virus, but looking for the immune system's memory of this virus. And it turns out that 7 per cent of them, one out of roughly every 15 workers actually had antibodies to H5N1. Bill Whitaker: People are not generally getting very sick from this. So what's the reason for all the alarm? Dr. Kamran Khan: Influenza is a particularly formidable virus. It is constantly changing. And the more that we allow it to evolve and adapt by infecting people, I mean, this is kinda Darwinian evolution here, right? It can change in ways that actually make it even more deadly, or more easily transmissible, or even resist against some of the antiviral medications that we have. Khan told us every new infection increases the odds bird flu could lead to severe disease – as we saw during COVID. In North America, six people now have ended up in the hospital with bird flu. More worrying, five people had no known exposure to sick animals. One girl in Mexico died two weeks ago. Dr. Kamran Khan: We are really at risk of this virus evolving into one that has pandemic potential. And the reality is none of us know whether this is next week, or next year, or never. I don't think it's never. But it may be here far sooner than any of us would like. Many scientists told us vaccines could be our best defense. There is a vaccine for bird flu, but it has not been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration. Moderna has a new one – but the Trump administration has paused its final funding. There are vaccines for poultry too – but they haven't been used because many of America's trading partners will not import vaccinated birds. A glimmer of hope: the USDA's milk testing program. Dr. Keith Poulsen: This is repurposed from COVID testing from three or four years ago. Dr. Keith Poulsen is director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, part of the USDA's plan to test raw milk for H5N1. Pasteurization kills the virus, but raw milk can be loaded with it. Bill Whitaker: Is this where you would identify the virus? Dr. Keith Poulsen: Yeah. It can detect even just one positive cow in a group of a thousand. Forty-five states are now doing some form of testing. Poulsen told us it's helped to slow the spread of the virus in some states. Bill Whitaker: When you see the outbreak curve level off or start to decline, do you go like "Whew. We dodged one?" Dr. Keith Poulsen: I don't think we go "whew" until we're deactivated, our lab. We're still in outbreak response mode. And while we may have fewer detections, we know that there are still viruses circulating based on all the data from the virologists that's we're talking to. And we want to make sure that we catch it fast. The CDC is trying to ramp up its testing. But there's another problem: almost half of farmworkers are undocumented and may be reluctant to be tested. Dr. Angela Rasmussen: If we're not testing people, if we're not looking for people who might get it, if we're not looking for evidence of an early cluster of human-to-human transmission, then we're going to miss it. Dr. Angela Rasmussen is an American virologist working in Canada. Rasmussen told us it's not just the number of human cases that is alarming, but that the virus is jumping to more mammals. Every new spillover gives the virus another chance to evolve and potentially spread person to person. Bill Whitaker: So we are now seeing the virus has spread from birds to cattle, and now to foxes, goats, pigs, rats, cats, raccoons– Dr. Angela Rasmussen: The fact that this virus can infect so many different types of mammals is a huge concern in terms of its ability to infect people. Bill Whitaker: One of your colleagues told us that if this should spiral into a pandemic, this flu could make Covid look like a walk in the park. Dr. Angela Rasmussen: I agree. Bill Whitaker: You're scaring me. Dr. Angela Rasmussen: I'm scared about it myself. I don't sleep very much these days, Bill. Rasmussen was among the scientists given expert briefings by the Biden administration in 2024. She told us Biden's team miscalculated the threat at first. Dr. Angela Rasmussen: It was some gambling and some wishful thinking. Thinking this isn't actually gonna be that big of a deal. And it turns out it was a very big deal. Bill Whitaker: Has the Trump Administration gotten its arms around this problem? Dr. Angela Rasmussen: No, I would say is the short answer. But the other-- the longer answer is that I don't actually entirely know what is –what is going on. Bill Whitaker: Why is that? Dr. Angela Rasmussen: Many of the people who were working on this, at least at CDC, have--have been fired from the federal government. So the influenza division at CDC has been decimated, and in fact, there is a communications ban that has been put on these federal workers. Bill Whitaker: -- what do you think of that? Dr. Angela Rasmussen: I think it's insane, actually, that I have to have conversations on encrypted messaging apps with my colleagues, who I would normally just send emails to. Hundreds of federal scientists and health workers who track bird flu have been laid off . Some may be rehired. The CDC declined to answer our questions, saying it continues to respond to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak. Colorado vet Kay Russo – and others – told us they feel stymied: the current distrust of science and vaccines is hurting their fight to try to prevent the next pandemic. Dr. Kay Russo: I would scorch the earth if this ends up in children deaths. And so as a mother, as a veterinarian, as a scientist, I'm just asking you, trust us, because I will do everything in my power and there's plenty of folks behind me that will do the same, to keep this from getting to that point. Produced by Heather Abbott. Associate producer, Matthew Riley. Broadcast associate, Mariah Johnson. Edited by Warren Lustig.
CBS News
06-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Bourbon barrels enjoy second and third lives around the world, where they're used to age other spirits
If someone asked you to name a product that was first made 2,000 years ago, still looks and works as it always has, and still plays a vital role in global commerce, would you be stumped? It turns out, the answer is the simple wooden barrel. Almost always made of oak, barrels have a long and fascinating history. First built and used by the Celts and Romans, they have held nearly every commodity over the centuries. Metal and plastic and cardboard long ago eclipsed barrels for the shipment of most items, but when it comes to wine and whiskey – especially bourbon whiskey – the oak barrel still reigns, not just as a container, but for the magic that the wood gives the whiskey. Bill Whitaker: Well we were speaking with someone. And they called a whiskey barrel a breathing time machine. Brad Boswell: I love that. Brad Boswell is the CEO of Independent Stave, the largest maker of wooden barrels in the world. Brad's great-grandfather founded the company in 1912 in Missouri. It now has operations worldwide; we met him in Kentucky. Brad Boswell: Most of our barrels would have useful lives of 50+ years. Bill Whitaker: Fifty plus years. Brad Boswell: Fifty plus years, yeah. Like, I'll go to different places and look at barrels at distilleries or wineries around the world. And I can see barrels that my grandfather made, you know, in the 1960s. I still see 'em. A barrel begins as a log from a white oak tree fed into what's known as a stave mill, where it's cut into ever-smaller pieces – staves – which are then arranged in huge "Jenga"-style stacks and "seasoned" outdoors for three to six months before heading to a nearby "cooperage," where the barrels are built. Brad Boswell: There's no nails, look over here, no glue -- Brad Boswell's newest cooperage produces thousands of barrels every day. Bill Whitaker: How many of these go into a typical barrel? Brad Boswell: Typically between 28 and 32 staves per barrel. After a barrel is "raised" mostly by hand, it travels through a host of other steps and checks to make it ready to begin its life, including being toasted and then charred on the inside. Brad Boswell: Most of the barrels we make today are bespoke. We know exactly who this barrel's going to, which distillery. Bill Whitaker: How about that. How about that. The demand for such a huge volume of barrels can be attributed mainly to one thing: bourbon. Brad Boswell: President Franklin Roosevelt in the '30's became more specific about what bourbon whiskey should be. And at that time he said, you know, bourbon should be in new charred oak barrels. Bill Whitaker: So if it's not in one of these barrels, it's not bourbon? Brad Boswell: That's correct. Bourbon has to be aged in a new charred oak container. That rule, plus booming consumer demand for bourbon starting in the early 2000's, has been very good for the barrel business. 3.2 million new barrels were filled with whiskey last year in Kentucky alone, and more than 14 million full barrels are aging in the state, in massive warehouses known as rickhouses. Bill Whitaker: How many-- barrels are in this rickhouse? Dan Callaway: 23,500 on six floors. Dan Callaway is the "master blender" for Bardstown Bourbon, a young but fast-growing Kentucky distillery. Dan Callaway: To make a great whiskey you have to start with a great distillate, a clear spirit. But then the magic comes from the barrel. The fact that it's new charred oak, it's just incredible. Bill Whitaker: So the-- the barrel is-- is crucial to your product? Dan Callaway: Absolutely. Depending on who you talk to-- some would say 50% of the flavor, maybe up to 70-80% of the character is derived from that barrel. The rest of the flavor comes from what's known as the "mash bill," grains like corn and wheat and rye that are mixed with water and fermented with yeast. Despite bourbon having recently been threatened or hit with tariffs by other countries in retaliation for President Trump's tariffs, Bardstown's huge distillery is still producing enough new whiskey to fill more than 5,000 barrels a week. Bill Whitaker: You take the-- the clear liquid, which is basically what people call "moonshine," goes through this process and comes out as this beautiful brown, tasty liquid here. How does that happen? Dan Callaway: Yeah, so I always compare it to a seesaw, okay? So when it comes off the still-- moonshine, like you said-- it's a seesaw that's out of balance. But every year that goes by of the barrel aging, the seesaw comes into balance. And what the barrel is bringing is caramel, vanilla, baking spice - and all this rich, beautiful color. How can solid oak produce all those flavors and spices? Back where the barrels are built, Brad Boswell gave us a vivid lesson with a barrel that had just been toasted — a process that brings sugars in the wood to the surface. Brad Boswell: Smell that. Smell that. I mean- Bill Whitaker: That does smell delicious. Brad Boswell: It's incredible. Bill Whitaker: It really does. It's amazing. Brad Boswell: There's a reason why people still use oak barrels 2,000 years later. Bill Whitaker: So when I'm sipping the bourbon, I'm sipping this barrel. Brad Boswell: That's right, absolutely. After toasting, we, and the barrels, moved to the visually stunning "char" oven. Brad Boswell: So we'll see this barrel coming through right here. Bill Whitaker: Oh, look at that. Brad Boswell: Yeah. So actually, the inside of the barrel is on fire. Bill Whitaker: They just light the barrel on fire? Brad Boswell: Yup, we light the barrel on fire, and that teases out more and more of the flavors. And we call that an alligator char, 'cause the inside of the barrel actually looks like kind of an alligator's back. We could see that blistering inside a newly-charred barrel pulled off the line. Brad Boswell: I mean people, you know, expect this to smell like a campfire. It smells more like a confectionery product. Bill Whitaker: It does-- I can smell the caramel and the vanilla. What that barrel can give to the whiskey is evident in these glasses. Brad Boswell: So this is the same exact distillate that came off the still at the exact same time, went into a barrel. Four years later. And this we just kept in a glass bottle. It's also apparent in the taste . First, the white lightning… Bill Whitaker: Wow, that gives a punch. Brad Boswell: Yes, it does, it does. …and then the barrel-aged bourbon. Bill Whitaker: Oh, big difference. Brad Boswell: Huge difference. Bill Whitaker: It's smooth. Brad Boswell: Oh, it's smooth. Some of that smooth comes from temperature swings in the rickhouses, according to Bardstown Bourbon's Dan Callaway. Dan Callaway: We want those swings. When it-- you know, when it gets really hot, things expand, lets the liquid in. When it gets cold, it contracts. And it's that natural progression of in out that ages the bourbon so beautifully as the liquid interacts with the wood. As those barrels are aging whiskey for four, five or six years, some savvy investors have figured out there's money to be made! Chris Heller: Whiskey is an interesting asset, in the sense that as it ages, it becomes more valuable. Chris Heller is co-founder of California-based Cordillera Investment Partners. Bill Whitaker: So, explain to me how this works. You-- you go up to a distiller and say, "I want to buy those barrels filled with what will eventually become bourbon"? Chris Heller: So, that is exactly right. Heller and his partners buy thousands of newly filled barrels from distillers, pay to store them as the whiskey ages, then sell them to craft bourbon brands. Bill Whitaker: What are your starting costs? Chris Heller: Somewhere in the $600 to $1,000 range is sort of the price of a new-- what's called a new-fill barrel of whiskey. Bill Whitaker: At the end, what do you sell it for? Chris Heller: It can be anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000, by the end. Bill Whitaker: That's a pretty good return on your investment. Chris Heller: We really find it an interesting and compelling investment area. Bill Whitaker: Nice way to say it. Whoever makes it, owns it, or ages it, when bourbon is emptied from a barrel after five or six years, that barrel's life is just beginning, and it's likely to travel the world. Brad Boswell: It's real interesting that when the bourbon barrel is freshly dumped, there's still around two gallons of actually bourbon trapped in that wood. Bill Whitaker: That has just seeped into the wood? Brad Boswell: That's seeped into the wood. So then, a lotta the secondary users actually look forward to putting their product into the barrel again for four, six, ten, a lotta scotches 12 years, 18 years-- Bill Whitaker: And it can pick up that American bourbon taste? Brad Boswell: Absolutely. Then it pulls out that sweet bourbon. That sweet taste in the wood makes used bourbon barrels very hot commodities. Jessica Loseke: We really view our role in the industry as moving as many barrels from the original source to the next stopping point as fast as possible. Jess and Ben Loseke own Midwest Barrels. Their Kentucky warehouse is stacked to the rafters with empty barrels. Ben Loseke: So we're the next stop for the second use of that barrel. So in Kentucky here, we bring in barrels from all the major distilleries and then send them back out. Bill Whitaker: These barrels would be shipped out and then refilled with something else? Ben Loseke: Correct, yeah. So the idea is to get these barrels in here and out of here as quickly as possible. So we'll turn over this entire warehouse every two to three weeks. Ben Loseke: Probably 70 to 80% of our business is overseas. It started as a hobby. While Ben was finishing his PhD in Nebraska, he began buying barrels, and selling them to local craft breweries. Bill Whitaker: You said that a few barrels-- were a big order in the beginning. (LAUGH) Ben Loseke: Yeah. Bill Whitaker: What's a big order today? Ben Loseke: 10,000. Bill Whitaker: 10,000? Ben Loseke: Yeah, yeah. India, and China, and Scotland, and Ireland are, by far, our four biggest markets. The Kentucky Distillers' Association says that the state exported more than $300 million worth of used barrels last year…just to Scotland, where they'll be used to age scotch whisky for up to 40 years! Bill Whitaker: Could you just tick off for me the different spirits that these barrels will hold? Brad Boswell: They start with bourbon, Tennessee whiskey, scotch whiskey, tequila, rum, pisco made in Peru, cachaça made in Brazil will use these barrels. Bill Whitaker: Beer. Brad Boswell: Beer uses them. These barrels for sure end up in China. A lotta these barrels end up in Japan. It's --it's everywhere. Dan Callaway: Beautiful. Now, master blenders like Bardstown's Dan Callaway – Dan Callaway: This will be cask strength, direct from the barrel. — Are bringing barrels back to Kentucky to do special "finishes" for their whiskeys. Dan Callaway: So this is the first of its kind. It is an American whiskey finished in Indian whiskey barrels. Okay. Indian whiskey is traditionally aged in a bourbon barrel. So the physical barrel has left Kentucky, gone to Bangalore, filled with a -- a barley and then sent back here. Callaway finished this whiskey in those barrels for 17 months. Bill Whitaker: My God, that's good. Dan Callaway: Yeah. Dan Callaway's newest creation, called Cathedral, may be his most miraculous yet. Dan Callaway: We sourced wood in the Loire Valley, the Bercé forest. And this plot, this lot in the forest was selected to repair Notre Dame after the fires. So most of the wood went there. We were fortunate to obtain six barrels made from that wood. And we picked our-- our best stocks of Kentucky bourbon up to 19 years old. Filled the barrels. They age for 14 months. Bill Whitaker: You know how wild that is? Dan Callaway: Yeah. Bill Whitaker: That the beams that restored Notre Dame come from the same forest as your casks? Dan Callaway: The same lot. Bill Whitaker: Now that's a story to tell. Dan Callaway: Absolutely. …and a whiskey to taste. Bill Whitaker: Ahhh. Dan Callaway: It's nice. Produced by Rome Hartman. Associate producer, Matthew Riley. Broadcast associate, Mariah Johnson. Edited by Craig Crawford.
CBS News
16-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
The challenge of stopping drone swarms
This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Bill Whitaker reports on drone incursions that have pierced the skies above significant military and infrastructure sites around the United States over the last six years. No one seems to know where the aircraft are coming from or who is operating them, including three four-star generals, a senior member of Congress, and a Biden White House senior administration official that 60 Minutes spoke with. "We should be concerned that we don't know what these are," said Gen. Glen VanHerck, the former chief of NORAD and NORTHCOM, the agencies that protect U.S. airspace. "And the question that needs to be asked is 'Why don't we know what these are?' And I think you'll see that there are gaps in capability, there are gaps in policy, and there are gaps in law that need to be addressed." One of the most significant recent drone incursions happened in December 2023, when dozens of what the military calls unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, invaded the skies above Langley Air Force Base in Virginia over 17 nights. The incursions were so persistent, the Air Force moved some of the F-22s stationed at Langley to a nearby air base to protect them from being damaged. The nightly incursions at Langley were just one of many recent brazen drone swarms over military sites. In 2019, dozens of drones shadowed naval warships training off the California coast for weeks. Since then, the defense news website The War Zone has documented dozens of similar intrusions at sensitive military and civilian installations, including over the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona and over the U.S. Air Force's secretive Plant 42 in southern California, where defense contractors are building the next generation of stealth bombers. The Army also confirmed 11 drone sightings late last year over the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, where they are designing and building advanced weaponry. That preceded numerous drone sightings over New Jersey over the following weeks. With so many incursions over sensitive military areas, why has it been so hard to stop these drones? The answer, in part, lies in the capability of modern drones. Today's drones are ubiquitous, in the hands of American adversaries and citizens alike. Sophisticated drones can be bought on the internet for a few thousand dollars, and some can fly or hover for up to 10 hours, carrying a 30-pound payload. They also can be modified to fly at extremely high or low altitudes that are not trackable by the standard surveillance radars used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or NORAD. "If you can't detect them, and track them, and identify if they're potentially a civilian airplane, then it's really challenging," VanHerck told Whitaker. Shooting drones down Even if the drones are determined not to be an aircraft carrying civilians, VanHerck said, the problem with stopping drones over mainland America is not as easy as simply knocking them out of the sky, as the U.S. military might do on a battlefield abroad. "People calling for 'shooting them down' over very populated areas need to understand that a fighter, or a land-based missile, or a missile off of a ship, is going to accelerate to two to four times the speed of sound and have large exploding titanium rods that come out of the warhead at thousands of feet per second," VanHerck explained. "So that's not safe, either." A safety concern would also result from the debris field scattering in a civilian neighborhood, with pieces of a missile and drone that both potentially weigh several hundred pounds. A second issue is one of jurisdiction. Which organization would oversee downing the drones? Depending on where an incursion occurred, numerous entities would have a stake, including local law enforcement, the FBI, the FAA, and the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. "I believe we'd be in a better position if we had one organization that was resourced, that was empowered, that was tasked with working this problem for the nation," said retired Air Force General Mark Kelly, who was the highest-ranking official at Langley Air Force Base to witness the drone incursion there in December 2023. Jamming drone frequencies The military could jam the frequency the drones use to communicate — but that comes with complications, as well. Most commercial drones operate on the 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz radio frequencies, which are the bands typically used for Wi-Fi, wireless LAN applications and networks, and video systems. Jamming those frequencies knocks all of those services out in the surrounding area, Kelly explained. Similarly, the military could deny a PNT service, or precision navigation and timing, which is what most people think of as GPS. According to Kelly, rendering PNT unusable to stop drones also takes navigation ability away from commercial pilots and civilians. VanHerck agrees that blocking drone communication is complicated. "If you jam those frequencies, and they reside in a spectrum that may be for TV, or transportation such as airplanes, then you're going to have interference with those," he said. "And that's the concern about using the electromagnetic spectrum." VanHerck noted that it is possible for the military to issue a so-called "Notice to Airmen," which could notify commercial airlines not to fly in a particular area while the military jammed frequencies. He revealed for the first time that during the incursion at Langley, there was an attempt to jam frequencies that was approved and coordinated by the FAA, which used NASA and Coast Guard assets. But that effort came up short. "I'm not aware of any success that they had," VanHerck said. Fly-away kits to stop future incursions To fight drone incursions, the military is now working on fly-away kits, which are prepackaged bundles of technology that can be deployed to different military installations when there is a persistent incursion of drones. The kits will include systems that would allow the military to see these low-flying aircraft that today's radar misses. "We would have several pre-positioned at various parts of the country, where we could rapidly respond not only with the equipment, but with the authority to operate that equipment to defeat that incursion," said Gen. Gregory Guillot, the current commander of NORAD and NORTHCOM. Guillot said flyaway kits will eventually include equipment that will be able to bring drones down and estimated they will be ready to be distributed within a year. That means, were an incursion like the one at Langley Air Force Base to happen again in 2026, the military would have some ability to respond. "That's my goal," Guillot said. "And we're well on our way, partnering with industry to get there." Videos of drones courtesy of Jonathan Butner and Paul Gerke. The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and edited by Scott Rosann.
CBS News
16-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
How the U.S. is confronting the threat posed by drones swarming sensitive national security sites
Last month – the head of NORAD and NORTHCOM – the military commands that defend North America – told Congress some of those mysterious drones seen flying inside the United States may indeed have been spying. He did not say for whom. 60 Minutes has been looking into a series of eerily similar incidents – going back years – including those attention getting flyovers in New Jerse y recently. In each, drones first appeared over restricted military or civilian sites, coming and going – often literally – "under the radar." The wake-up call came just over a year ago, when drones invaded the skies above Langley Air Force base in Virginia over 17 nights, forcing the relocation of our most advanced fighter jets. Our story starts with an eyewitness and an iPhone. Jonathan Butner: Close around 7 o'clock, I would say, I started seeing these reddish, orange flashing lights that were starting to come in from the Virginia Beach area. It began slowly, like, one at a time. Jonathan Butner's close encounter with drones came on Dec. 14, 2023. He was at his family's cabin on the James River in Virginia, about 100 miles south of Washington, D.C, with a commanding view of several military installations across the water. Jonathan Butner: They started really coming in, like, almost, like, on a conveyor belt. Bill Whitaker: How many in total? Jonathan Butner: I probably saw upwards of 40 plus. When I first saw that, I was like, "Those are going directly over Langley Air Force Base." Langley is one of the most critical air bases on the East Coast – home to dozens of F-22 Raptors, the most advanced stealth fighter jets ever built. Butner says from his perch he has seen it all. Jonathan Butner: I'm very familiar with all the different types of military craft. We have Blackhawks, we have the F-22s. And these were like nothing I've ever seen. Butner took these iPhone videos of the objects coming and going for nearly an hour and a half. These are the only public videos of the drones over Langley. Bill Whitaker: Here's another one. Jonathan Butner: Yes. He shared this video with the FBI for its investigation. Bill Whitaker: And another. Jonathan Butner: Yes. Gen. Mark Kelly (retired): The reports were coming in 20-to-30 sightings, same time every evening, 30-to-45 minutes after sunset. Retired four-star Gen. Mark Kelly was the highest-ranking officer at Langley to witness the swarm. A veteran fighter pilot, Kelly went up to the roof of a squadron headquarters for an unobstructed view of the airborne invaders. Bill Whitaker: So what'd you see? Gen. Mark Kelly (retired): Well, what you saw was different sizes of incursions of aircraft. You saw different altitudes, different air speeds. Some were rather loud. Some weren't near as loud. Bill Whitaker: What was the smallest one? What was the largest one? Gen. Mark Kelly (retired): The smallest, you know you're talking about a commercial-size quadcopter. And then the largest ones are probably size what I would call a bass boat or a small car. Bill Whitaker: The size of a small car? Gen. Mark Kelly (retired): Mhmm (affirm). At the time, Gen. Glen VanHerck was joint commander of NORAD and NORTHCOM, the military commands that protect North American airspace. He has since retired. Gen. Glen VanHerck (retired): I actually provided support in the form of fighters, airborne warning and control platforms, helicopters to try to further categorize what those drones were at the time. Ten months earlier, he ordered an F-22 from Langley to shoot down that Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic after it had sailed across the U.S., but this time, he found himself ill-equipped to respond. NORAD's radar systems, designed during the Cold War to detect high-altitude air, space or missile attacks, were unable to detect low flying drones that could be seen with the naked eye. Bill Whitaker: Why don't we just shoot them down? Gen. Glen VanHerck (retired): Well, first, you have to have the capability to detect, track, identify, make sure it's not a civilian airplane flying around. If you can do that, Bill, then it becomes a safety issue for the American public. Firing missiles in our homeland is not taken lightly. Bill Whitaker: We're not able to track them? We're not able to see where they originate? Gen. Glen VanHerck (retired): No, it's the capability gap. Certainly they can come and go from any direction. The FBI is looking at potential options. But they don't have an answer right now. And there haven't been answers for similar encroachments for more than five years. In 2019, naval warships training off the California coast were shadowed for weeks by dozens of drones. For years, the pentagon did little to dispel speculation these images, taken with night vision equipment, were UFOs. But ships' logs show they were identified as drones at the time. and the Navy suspected they came from this Hong Kong flagged freighter sailing nearby, but couldn't prove it. Since then, the defense news site, The War Zone, has documented dozens of drone intrusions at sensitive infrastructure and military installations: in 2019, the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona, the largest power producer in the country; in 2024, an experimental weapons site in Southern California where defense contractors are building the next generation of stealth bombers. Last December, the Army confirmed 11 drone sightings over the Picatinny Arsenal in northern New Jersey, where advanced weapons are designed and built, which ignited a public frenzy, with sightings of unidentified flying objects all over the region. While much of the country was fixated on New Jersey, another swarm of drones was disrupting operations at an a ir base in the U.K. where U.S. nuclear weapons have been stored. Sen. Roger Wicker: Clearly, there is a military intelligence aspect of this. Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi is chairman of the Armed Services Committee that oversees the Pentagon. We talked to him this past December. Bill Whitaker: Do you believe that these drones are a spying system, a spying platform? Sen. Roger Wicker: What would a logical person conclude? Bill Whitaker: That. That these are spying incursions. Sen. Roger Wicker: Yes. And, and yet I can tell you, I am privy to, to classified briefings at the highest level. I think the Pentagon and the National Security advisors are still mystified. Bill Whitaker: Still mystified? Sen. Roger Wicker: Yes. More alarming: with drones overhead, some of the F-22s stationed at Langley were moved to a nearby air base for their own protection. There's a new wartime reality: drones that can spy can also destroy. Deep inside Russia, advanced aircraft have been destroyed by Ukrainian drones. Gen. VanHerck told us drones could do the same thing here. Gen. Glen VanHerck (retired): I have seen video of drones in various sizes flying over the F-22 flightline at Langley. Bill Whitaker: What's your reaction to that? They could drop ordnance on them, drop bombs on, they could crash into them to disable them. Was that a concern? Gen. Glen VanHerck (retired): Absolutely it's a concern. A small UAS, or drones, can do a myriad of missions. President Biden was informed of the Langley intrusions, and meetings were held at the White House to figure out how to bring the drones down. But after 17 nights, the drone visitations stopped. A senior official in the Biden White House later downplayed the incident to 60 Minutes, saying it was likely the work of hobbyists. Bill Whitaker: From what you saw, did you rule out that these might be hobbyists sending these drones up? Gen. Glen VanHerck (retired): No. It would be my assessment they weren't hobbyists because of the magnitude of the events, the sizes of some of the drones, and the duration. Bill Whitaker: So what's going on? Gen. Glen VanHerck (retired): Well, I wish I had the answer. It certainly could have a foreign nexus, a threat nexus. They could be doing anything, from surveilling critical infrastructure, just to the point of embarrassing us from the fact that they can do this on a day-to-day basis and then we're not able to do anything about it. In overseas war zones, the U.S. military has broad authority to bring down menacing drones with gunfire, missiles, and electronic jamming. Here at home, any of those actions would pose a threat to civilians on the ground and in the air. Gen. Gregory Guillot: Well, we certainly need new systems to counter this threat. A year ago, Gen. Gregory Guillot – a combat veteran – took control of NORAD and NORTHCOM. He ordered a 90-day assessment of operations and says the drones – or UAVs – at Langley became the centerpiece. Bill Whitaker: We're the most powerful military on the face of the earth. And yet, drones could fly over a major Air Force base and we couldn't stop them? How is that possible? Gen. Gregory Guillot: Well, I think the, the threat got ahead of our ability to detect and, and track the threat. I think all eyes were, rightfully, overseas, where UAVs were being used on one-way attack to attack U.S. and coalition service members. And the threat in the U.S. probably caught us by surprise a little bit. Bill Whitaker: As it stands today, could you detect a swarm of drones flying over or flying into the airspace at Langley? Could you detect that today? Gen. Gregory Guillot: At low altitude, probably not with your standard FAA or surveillance radars. Complicating his efforts: bureaucracy. When the drones flew outside the perimeter of Langley Air Force Base, other agencies had jurisdiction: the Coast Guard, FAA, FBI, and local police. There was no one agency in charge. Bill Whitaker: So what did you determine went on at Langley? Gen. Gregory Guillot: Well, that-- that-- that investigation is still ongoing. So I don't think w-- we know-- entirely what happened. Bill Whitaker: You know, when we hear things from the White House that it's not deemed a threat, it seems to me that this is, alarming. I mean, this is kind of hair on fire time. Gen. Gregory Guillot: It is alarming. And, I would say that our hair is on fire here in, in NORTHCOM, in a controlled way. And we're moving out extremely quickly. This past November, Gen. Guillot was given the authority to cut through the red tape and coordinate counter drone efforts across multiple government agencies. He says new, more sensitive radar systems are being installed at strategic bases, and NORTHCOM is developing what it calls fly-away kits with the latest anti-drone technology – to be delivered to bases besieged by drones. Gen. Gregory Guillot: My goal is inside of a year that we would have the flyaway kit capability to augment the services and the installations if they're necessary. Bill Whitaker: So within a year, were Langley to happen again, there'd be some ability to respond? Gen. Gregory Guillot: That's my goal. His predecessor, Glen VanHerck, says the Pentagon, White House, and Congress have underestimated this massive vulnerability for far too long. Gen. Glen VanHerck (retired): It's been one year since Langley had their drone incursion and we don't have the policies and laws in place to deal with this? That's not a sense of urgency. Bill Whitaker: Why do you think that is? Gen. Glen VanHerck (retired): I think it's because there's a perception that this is fortress America: two oceans on the east and west, with friendly nations north and south, and nobody's gonna attack our homeland. It's time we move beyond that assumption.
