[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] Jake, thanks very much. Happening now, combat troops in Iraq. America's top military officer leaves the door open to using U.S. ground forces against ISIS. Is he on the same page as the commander in chief? I'll talk to NATO's supreme allied commander. Boots on the ground to fight Ebola. President Obama will send 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa to battle the deadly virus. Is it really a serious threat right now to the United States? Ferguson deadline, a grand jury gets more time to decide whether a police officer should be charged for the shooting at the time of teenager Michael Brown. And raging wildfires. Thousands have been evacuated, with fires destroying a church and burning more than 100 homes already. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in
[The Situation Room. Announcer:] This is CNN breaking news.
[Blitzer:] Let's get right to the breaking news. The United States has now launched two major military campaigns, one targeting ISIS terrorists in the Middle East and the other targeting the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa, which has now killed at least 2,400 people. President Obama says Ebola is spiraling out of control, could threaten global security. He'll send up to 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa in the coming days. But the United States will build treatment centers and train health-care workers. Meantime, the defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, tells Congress ISIS could pose a direct threat to the U.S. homeland. And the joint chiefs chairman is now raising the possibility that U.S. combat troops could take part in ground combat missions against ISIS. Our correspondents, our analysts, our guests are all standing by with full coverage. Let's begin with our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto Jim.
[Jim Sciutto, Cnn National Security Correspondent:] Wolf, today joint chiefs chairman General Martin Dempsey put an option on the table that the president seemed to have taken off, putting U.S. military advisers, who are now confined to joint operations centers in Baghdad and Erbil, much closer to combat, if not in combat situations. He's not requested such a move, but he did specify missions where, if circumstances change, he might ask for them, including ground controllers if the air campaign is failing.
[Sciutto:] Within moments of starting his testimony today, joint chiefs chairman General Martin Dempsey opened the door to an option the president had ruled out. U.S. troops in combat against
[Isis. Gen. Martin Dempsey, U.s. Joint Chiefs Chairman:] If we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraq troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I'll recommend that to the president.
[Sciutto:] Soon a total of 1,700 U.S. military personnel will be deployed to Iraq. And just last week, President Obama again pledged...
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] These American forces will not have a combat mission.
[Sciutto:] But today, General Dempsey indicated the president had told his commander he might reconsider.
[Dempsey:] He has told me as well to come back to him on a case-by-case basis.
[Sciutto:] Senior administration officials tell CNN the president's pledge stands. Still General Dempsey described specific circumstances where he might ask for ground forces, including if the air campaign was failing and Special Operations ground controllers were needed. Or if Iraqi forces attempted to take back the ISIS stronghold of Mosul.
[Dempsey:] It could very well be part of that particular mission to provide close combat advising or accompanying for that mission.
[Sciutto:] Close combat advising or close combat? We asked General Mark Hertling, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq during the troop surge what the difference is?
[Gen. Mark Hertling , Former U.s. Commander In Iraq:] A soldier in a combat unit knows he or she may have to engage in combat with the enemy directly at any given time.
[Sciutto:] An adviser would not?
[Hertling:] An adviser is pointing the way for another military force on what right looks like.
[Sciutto:] On the end game, the Pentagon was managing expectations, acknowledging for the first time that, while the U.S. will seek to destroy ISIS in Iraq, it may settle simply for disrupting it in Syria, where the challenges are far greater. As the U.S. embarks on war in the region once again, Secretary Hagel sounded a cautionary note.
[Chuck Hagel, Secretary Of Defense:] As much as we have engaged, as much as we have bled, the treasure and the lives that we have left behind, we still haven't fixed the problem.
[Sciutto:] Both the White House and the Pentagon say that the mission has not changed, and there is no current request for ground troops. And Wolf, just a short time ago, I got a call from a senior administration official who really got at the definition of what combat is. They're saying these troops would not be in a they would not be fighting combat, taking up firing positions, taking back ground, et cetera. They might be closer to combat, say for instance calling in air strikes or advising Iraqi units engaged closer to the front line. So that's the definition of combat they're using. I think that Americans back home might think that some of these roles that the general was talking about today sound a lot like combat. But from the administration's standpoint, that's not a combat troop.
[Blitzer:] These are technical differences. But if you're one of those soldiers or Marines on the ground right there and you're facing the enemy, it feels like combat.
[Sciutto:] No question. During for instance, during the Iraq invasion, I was embedded with U.S. Special Forces, who were performing a role of close combat advisers. And while they weren't necessarily firing the guns, the Kurdish Peshmerga were, I'll tell you, I was in many situations where the bullets were flying over our heads. That felt a lot like combat to me, and the danger was certainly there.
[Blitzer:] They described the mission as being to destroy ISIS, as you point out, in Iraq, to degrade it in Syria. I listened to the hearing. I was they were pretty blunt in acknowledging, this is going to take a long, long time, no simple military solutions.
[Sciutto:] That's right. The word that General Dempsey used was generational. This is a generational conflict that speaks of years, decades. And I think preparing people's expectations to say, you know, this is something that cannot be stamped out completely in a matter of months or a couple of years.
[Blitzer:] Yes. When I heard last week administration officials saying three years, I said, three years? The U.S. has been fighting al Qaeda now for 13 years. It's been degraded, but it certainly hasn't been destroyed. Jim Sciutto, thanks very much. Even as the chairman of the joint chiefs leaves the door open to possible U.S. combat ground troops, the United States is stepping up its air campaign against ISIS. Those strikes are being carried out closer and closer to the largest city in Iraq, the capital of Baghdad. Let's go to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. What does that tell us about what's going on if the U.S. now has to protect Baghdad? We know the second largest city in Iraq, Mosul, is under the control of ISIS. But if U.S. air strikes are needed to protect Baghdad, what does that say?
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, right now, these latest expanded air strikes are about 20 miles southwest of Baghdad, you know. And what they are doing is really expanding the target set. These are the strikes now that are being called offensive air strikes. They are going against ISIS targets, in particular for the first time to defend Iraqi forces on the ground that are in the fight. Iraqi forces coming under attack by ISIS. The U.S. rolling in with air strikes. In fact, in the latest one of these offensive air strikes, they even bombed two small boats in the Euphrates River that they said ISIS was using to resupply its fighters. Is the fight getting closer to Baghdad? ISIS is still on the march. This is the whole effort right now, is to keep rolling them back, to keep going against these targets in Iraq and keep pushing ISIS back, back towards, you know, where it came from in Syria. And then, of course, the next decision is, do you want to go against ISIS in Syria? That may be the biggest decision the administration is facing right now. But definitely look for more of these expanded air strikes to help Iraqi forces move against ISIS, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] So what's next for the U.S. military? About 1,600 U.S. troops, advisers, as they're called. They're in Iraq right now. I've heard some estimates that number could go up significantly.
[Starr:] Well, it may well if, as we Jim reported, you know, on what General Dempsey said today if General Dempsey feels that there is a need for more troops. Very specifically, General Dempsey was talking about being you know, those forward air controllers on the ground, calling in air strikes and also, you know, working more with Iraqi forces in advising them. If he feels he needs more in the field, he says he will go back to the president and ask for it.
[Blitzer:] Barbara, thanks very much. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon. Boots on the ground. President Obama is deploying up to 3,000 U.S. troops. They're not necessarily going off to battle ISIS. They'll be heading to West Africa to fight the deadly Ebola virus. The disease has already killed close to 2,500 people. Thousands more have already been infected. Let's go to our White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski. Michelle, the president announced major U.S. military moves.
[Michelle Kosinski, Cnn White House Correspondent:] We're hearing even from Senate Republicans right now applauding the president's plan. One senator just declared war on Ebola. Others saying, we ought to be paying as much attention to this, taking it as seriously as we're taking the ISIS threat. So now the president has unveiled this expanded plan. Yes, it does include boots on the ground to fight Ebola in Africa. Here's what he said just now at the CDC.
[Obama:] The epidemic is going to get worse before it gets better. But right now, the world still has an opportunity to save countless lives. Right now, the world has the responsibility to act, to step up and to do more. The United States of America intends to do more. We are going to keep leading in this effort. We're going to do our part. And we're going to continue to make sure that the world understands the need for them to step alongside us as well, in order for us to not just save the lives of families like the one I just discussed, but ultimately to make sure that this doesn't have the kinds of spillover effects that have become even more difficult to control.
[Kosinski:] So this is going to be about 3,000 U.S. military personnel based in West Africa, coordinating these resources that the Africans so badly need: money, personnel, training and facilities. They will build a hospital for aid workers, treatment centers with more than 1,000 beds, a training center that the U.S. is going to recruit for and staff. And there are a lot of elements to this, including also distributing supplies, education, enhanced screening at foreign airports and more money for research for new drugs to fight Ebola. But then again, you ask the White House, well, how big a risk is there really of an epidemic breaking out in the U.S.? And they say, it is highly unlikely. It's just that this spread has been so unprecedented in Africa that it requires an unprecedented response. The president today called it gut-wrenching, although there are some aid workers have said actually, the U.S. has been quite slow to respond. It took, after all, months to get to this point. We just heard some fascinating numbers from U.S. health officials, too, saying that now there are just under 5,000 diagnosed cases of Ebola, and about half of those were just reported in the last three weeks. That's why there's such a fear that this is going to spread exponentially. So now today there's a show of force. The president even met with Dr. Kent Brantly, the American doctor who contracted Ebola in Africa and was treated here. He, by the way, and the three other Americans who were treated here are now doing well. Brantly testified today before a Senate subcommittee. He called the Ebola epidemic a fire burning out of control, a fire straight from hell, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] And the president made a point of inviting him and his wife into the Oval Office to show that everything with this individual did come down with the Ebola virus is OK right now. That's a good report, Michelle Kosinski. Thanks very, very much. Let's go in depth right now. Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Dr. Thomas Frieden. He's the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. He was with the president today. When I heard, Dr. Frieden, that 3,000 U.S. military personnel were heading right into the heart of it in West Africa, in Liberia. I immediately worried about those 3,000 troops. I'm sure their family members are deeply worried about them, as well. Here's the question: You were in West Africa. You studied what's going on. How worried should they be, their families about their brothers and sisters, moms and dads, sons and daughters who may be heading over there for the United States right now?
[Dr. Thomas Frieden, Cdc Director:] Or any of us who deploy to another country, whether it's a war zone or a place where there's an epidemic raging. We can never say that the risk is absolutely zero. Having said that, we're going to take steps to make sure that it's kept to an absolute minimum. We don't anticipate any of the individuals having contact with Ebola patients that would put them at risk, and the kinds of things they're doing are going to make a huge difference. The battle is joined against Ebola. And we're so grateful for the leadership of the president in bringing the Department of Defense on and having them help really accelerate the efforts.
[Blitzer:] Will these military troops who are going to Liberia now have to wear all this protective gear that we're showing our viewers?
[Frieden:] The details still are to be worked out. But what the Department of Defense has outlined is a series of steps that will include supporting logistics, supporting training, building a hospital for both national and international responders, and doing other things fundamentally to accelerate the response, because that's what we need. Do they have specific training, these 3,000 U.S. troops, in dealing with a crisis like this Ebola virus?
[Blitzer:] Many of the things that are needed aren't specific to Ebola. They're things like logistics, training, moving things around, building things. On that, they have excellent training. No one no one from CDC or any part of the U.S. government or the Defense Department is going to go into any place that has Ebola patients in it without complete training in how to do that. The World Health Organization now estimates that the number of deaths from Ebola could double every three weeks. And do you agree with that assessment? That that sounds dire indeed.
[Frieden:] We are seeing an exponential increase in cases, and we're deeply concerned. The president was very clear about this in his briefing today. And he's absolutely correct. This is going to get worse before it gets better. And what we need to do and what we are doing with the president's leadership is surging people into the field to support the response. Not to be the first responders out there, but to make sure that those who are addressing the epidemic have all of the tools at their disposal to turn it around.
[Blitzer:] You said earlier this month, Dr. Frieden, that the window, your words, the window is closing for containing Ebola. How much more time does the world have?
[Frieden:] We know the situation is dire and urgent, and we know that today's action with the president and the Department of Defense coming in and providing this incredible level of support, is going to accelerate and reinforce the efforts not just of the U.S. but of the entire world that's helping to stop the Ebola epidemic there before it spreads to Africa and is an even bigger problem.
[Blitzer:] There have been some concerns out there that the Ebola virus could mutate and become even more powerful, even more dangerous, even more contagious. Is that a realistic fear?
[Frieden:] We've never been in this kind of situation before, so we don't know what the future will hold. We do know that, for every day that the virus continues to spread in Africa, it's more likely that it will spread to other countries and there's the possibility that it will have a mutation that will increase its ability to spread from person to person is there. Our judgment is that that possibility is very low. It hasn't changed much in 40 years, and it would be unusual for something like that to happen. But we don't know. We haven't been here before. What we do know is that the longer it spreads, the greater the risk of more bad things happening.
[Blitzer:] Does this ZMapp as it's called, really work? Is that a cure for Ebola?
[Frieden:] There are some promising experimental treatments and experimental vaccines. We hope they work. We hope we can develop them, test them, find out if they're safe, find out if they're effective, and get them deployed in large enough numbers to make a difference. But we can't count on it. What we can count on is that a rapid, intensive response now, the kind that the president and the Defense Department are leading starting today, can help turn this around by making sure that patients are rapidly diagnosed, rapidly isolated and that we can stop this epidemic before it spreads much, much further.
[Blitzer:] I know the United States is now taking the lead. One final question, Dr. Frieden, before I let you go. Why is the United States always the one who takes the lead in these where is the United Nations? Where is the World Health Organization? Where are the Europeans? Where's the rest of the world?
[Frieden:] Actually, there's been a tremendous commitment to the response, not just from the U.S. We've got about a dozen different countries building laboratories in the region. We have support from the British. We have support from the African union that will be sending hundreds of workers. But we have unique capabilities, as the president outlined today. And we're devoting those unique capabilities to respond to what is a threat, not just to Africa, not just to the world but specifically to the U.S. because of the risk of instability, as the president outlined.
[Blitzer:] Dr. Thomas Frieden, CDC director, good luck to you and all the men and women involved.
[Frieden:] Thank you.
[Blitzer:] This is obviously a crisis that is unfolding right now. Appreciate everything you're doing, Dr. Frieden. Thanks for joining us.
[Frieden:] Thank you very much.
[Blitzer:] Just ahead, a fresh warning about the threat posed by ISIS. I'll talk to NATO supreme allied commander General Philip Breedlove. He's now in Washington. And a new deadline in Ferguson, Missouri. A grand jury is given more time to decide if a police officer should face charges in the shooting death of Michael Brown.