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U.S. Closely Watching Violence in Yemen; New French Intel Failed on Brothers; More Terror Arrests; Is Muslim Life Better in U.S. Than Europe?; Assimilation Important in the Fight Against Extremism; New Reports: China Hacked Pentagon for Data on F-35

Aired January 19, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We begin this hour with the latest on the fight on terror. Just minutes ago we learned that French investigators have uncovered a number of intelligence failures, failures on the brothers who launched the massacre at the offices of "Charlie Hebdo" magazine. The missteps all before the attack include a lack of communication among the intel agencies and surveillance that ignored both their use of computers and their wives' phones.

Secretary of State John Kerry heads to London this week to co-host a gathering of 20 nations. The coalition which includes Arab states will focus on how to beat back the growing threat of ISIS. The terror group is now linked to the siege on a kosher grocery store in Paris and French police are now on the hunt for two possible accomplices of Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four hostages there. But first tells CNN their DNA was found on a magazine clip that belonged to the gunman.

In the meantime, add Greece to the list of countries arresting terror suspects over the weekend. It's now considering a request from Belgium to hand over one of them.

Speaking of Belgium, the site of deadly police raids last week, arrested five more people. The small nation is on its highest alert in decades.

Also this morning in Belgium's capital, European ministers are scrambling to develop a new offensive against terrorism. And it comes as American experts warn persuasive social media could effectively flip a terrorist recruiter into every U.S. household.

Right now the United States is keeping a very close watch on the growing unrest in Yemen. It's home to the al Qaeda affiliate that's claimed responsibility for the "Charlie Hebdo" attack. A U.S. official telling CNN the U.S. has military power on standby ready to advocate the embassy on short notice.

CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with more.

Good morning, Barbara. BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Ready to advocate if that order were to come and it has not yet. Let's be very clear. If an order were to come, it would come from the State Department asking the Pentagon for assistance in evacuating the embassy.

The State Department has made no such requests but to be clear the USS Iwo Jima, U.S. Navy warship, remains offshore Yemen where it has been for some period of weeks and right now they are watching very closely the unfolding situation in Yemen, running gun battles across the capital of Sana'a. There with between Houthi rebels backed -- the Iranian government and government forces in Yemen, gunfire near the presidential palace.

A number of areas in the Sana'a capital region under attack as our Nick Paton Walsh has reported. He is there today.

So where we stand is this. The U.S. embassy, one of the most heavily protected that there is. It has a minimum number of diplomatic personnel but it also has about 100 Marine guards there heavily guarding it. But the question, with these running battles across the capital, if the Houthi rebels are making an attempt for a coup over the government of Yemen, can the embassy remained open and will the U.S. have to move in and get those diplomatic and U.S. Marine Corps personnel out of there?

It would be the USS Iwo Jima. They have helicopters. They have V-22 aircraft. They could move very quickly. So the bottom line right now everybody watching really hour by hour, minute by minute at this unfolding security situation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr, reporting live from the Pentagon this morning. Thank you.

Let's head now to France where the investigation into the Kouachi brothers is revealing more and more missteps.

CNN senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann has that for us.

Good morning.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. In fact this is the first of what I think is going to be a lot of things we're going to be hearing about the missteps that took place. We've yet to see an investigation take place into why the intelligence agencies were unaware of what took place when the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks went down. And there have been a number of calls here in the legislature to investigate.

Basically, there was a failure all around in a lot of different areas. The Kouachi brothers were under -- they carried out the attack at "Charlie Hebdo." They were under surveillance since 2011 based on a tip from the United States. The French put them under surveillance. But it has to be understood here, there's a number of different agencies involved here. There's a domestic intelligence agency but the -- there's another agency that actually carries out the surveillance.

And for one reason or another information about the Kouachi brothers were not being passed -- were not being passed along from the surveillance agency to the domestic intelligence agency. They stopped surveillance of the younger brother, Cherif Kouachi, in 2013 because they thought he was dealing in counterfeit goods and not in fact worthy of surveillance. In fact he was dealing in counterfeit goods but he was using the money that he made from that to buy weapons and -- to pay for the kind of terrorist acts he was planning.

His older brother, the intelligence on him, the surveillance on him stopped in June of 2014. And so without the surveillance agency keeping track of these guys, in fact, the intelligence agencies were blindsided.

Another interesting point is that both brothers were able to travel to Yemen to be trained apparently in 2011 despite the fact no one can find their passenger travel records, the PNRs as they're called. Passenger Name Records. On any travel list. So somehow they slipped under the radar there and in fact really slipped under the radar because Cherif, the younger brother, had his passport taken away a year earlier in 2010 -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Bittermann reporting live from Paris this morning.

Now let's head to Belgium, the site of new anti-terrorism talks and more terror arrests.

Our senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is in Brussels with more.

Hi, Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. That's right. You've got the top diplomats from all across Europe. They've been gathering here for a meeting in Brussels. This is the capital of the European Union and top of their agenda is discussing efforts to try to coordinate better for counterterrorism efforts in the wake of the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks and in the wake of what Belgian police say was an operation that foiled what they say was an imminent jihadi plot to attack Belgian police.

We're told that last Thursday, police moved in against an apartment in the Belgian town Verviers and then they say that suspects opened fire on police, a gun battle erupted. And two suspects were killed. They were in possession, police say, of guns, explosives and police uniforms.

Well, a third suspect from that apartment was arrested and we spoke with his defense attorney today. And he explains that his client, he believes, a man named Marwan Albali, 25 years old, a Belgian citizen of Moroccan descent, his defense attorney insists he is innocent and he was there by accident when the police raid happened. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): Marwan went to Verviers to see his fiance and to bring a pair of sneakers without knowing that they were the guys related to international terrorism. He arrived, he sat down and the moment he sat down the policeman started shooting. He managed to escape by jumping out the window. The other two, however, took the guns and responded and got killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So there you have it, the defense attorney saying the suspect who was arrested was just there to deliver Nike sneakers to two men who then engaged in a deadly gun battle with Belgian police last Thursday night -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Ivan Watson, reporting live from Belgian this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Muslims living in Europe versus those living here in America. Their attitudes and perceptions of the place they call home differ greatly. We're looking into why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: As Europe tries to ward off more attacks following the terrorism in Paris, Amnesty International says Islamophobia must be combatted to keep more Muslims from becoming vulnerable to extremist views.

CNN's Sarah Ganim takes a closer look at the different perceptions of Muslims living in Europe compared to Muslims living here in America.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Muhammad El Khaoua and Shiza Khan are both Muslim and living in New York. Muhammad a student studying from France, Shiza a lawyer who grew up in London.

(On camera): In your experience, what's the difference between being Muslim in Europe in London and being Muslim in America?

SHIZA KHAN, LAWYER: I was always very conscious of the fact that I was a person of color. When I walked into a courtroom, when I was out in restaurants, I was very aware of that. In America, I don't feel that at all. I feel like I am part of the community.

MUHAMMAD EL KHAOUA, STUDENT: Being a French Muslim in the U.S., I feel that my presence was less of a problem.

GANIM: According to a Pew study, most American Muslims have assimilated into the middle class or mainstream America. Meanwhile European Muslims maintain a lower socioeconomic status.

HARIS TARIN, MUSLIM PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL: I think there's a lot of isolation in European countries when it comes to Muslim populations. GANIM: Haris Tarin, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in

Washington, compares it to intercity communities in Chicago, L.A. or New York. In fact another Pew study found that in the France, for example, more than a third felt discriminated against because of their religion or ethnicity.

TARIN: American Muslims are quite well integrated socioeconomically. They're engaged in higher education, educational levels, professional class. So that difference really helps in terms of their integration into society and feeling as if they are part of America even though challenges of anti-Muslim sentiment still exists here.

GANIM: Muhammad's parents were Algerian and Moroccan immigrants to France. The family found jobs but not acceptance.

EL KHAOUA: In France, my perception is that we're not recognized as equal citizens and we are always asked to choose between our Frenchness or our Islamity. And I think this is the integration issue.

GANIM: Amnesty International calls Islamophobia one of Europe's biggest challenges and Tarin says it leaves the Muslim population there more vulnerable to radicalization.

TARIN: When you have that type of marginalization, no sense of national identity, no sense of being a French Muslim or being a European Muslim, those sentiments can play into the fears and paranoias.

GANIM (on camera): You're going back. Are you looking forward to it?

EL KHAOUA: To be frank, not really . The climate in France is extremely tense.

GANIM: Shiza, who moved here permanently, says that after just five years here she feels more American than she ever did European.

KHAN: I do feel like an American, I mean, other than when it comes to football, I do support England, but I do truly feel that I'm an American. I feel like the American dream, I feel like it's something that I can pursue.

GANIM: Sara Ganim, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Sara Ganim's story is more important than you realize. Assimilation, feeling accepted, is important in the fight against extremism. Let's talk more about that with former CIA operative and CNN intelligence analyst Bob Baer. Thanks for being with us, Bob.

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: So from your view, as a former intelligence guy, how important is assimilation in fighting Islamic extremism? BAER: Carol, I think it's extremely important. We just have to look

at the record on terrorism in the last 12 years: 9/11 was carried out by foreigners entirely. We've had a few incidents of Americans going to Syria. We've al Awlaki, of course, was an American, but that's the rare case. I think the FBI would tell you that they get a lot of cooperation from the Muslim community. Whereas in France, in Great Britain, I look at them as a very class-ridden societies. You need to go to the right schools, have an apartment in the right part of town, and all of it, or you're not accepted.

Even as Americans, if you go to France -- I lived there three years; in fact, longer than that -- we were always -- didn't consider ourselves second class citizens, but we were -- we weren't -- could never penetrate the elite in that country. It just was impossible especially without native French and all the right schools.

So I do believe the Europeans have a real problem because they cannot assimilate these people. And while 99 percent of Muslims wouldn't even think about Islamic jihad, that 1 percent poses the real danger.

COSTELLO: So what is it about Europe? Is -- they want to hold on to their long-held traditions? What is it?

BAER: Well, let's take Paris. If you didn't go to Eina (ph), or one of the other great schools, as they're called, you can never rise to the top in that country. You'll always be a shopkeeper or you'll be on the criminal margins or you'd have to move to a small town. Even Frenchmen from small towns aren't accepted into the elite. So it's an old society. We are more open. We've got big frontiers. If you don't like New York City, you can move to California or move to Iowa. You can't do that in France; it's either Paris or nothing. Same way with London. It's not conscious on Europeans' part; it's just a fact.

COSTELLO: I was wondering if assimilation creates more problems with sleeper cells. And here in America, it's more lone wolves. And I want to cite just one example of that, because if you put up a picture of Chris Cornell, the man from Cincinnati who's accused of plotting to kill lawmakers as they ran from the Capitol, there's -- and then you compare him to the Kouachi brothers who killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo's headquarters, they're extremely different, right?

BAER: Well, Chris Cornell was clearly a lunatic, or completely influenced by something, I don't know, but that wasn't a serious plot. I'm quite sure he didn't know how to make pipe bombs; they're very dangerous and you don't just throw them. And shooting at the Capitol, you'd have pulled a gun out. You'd go down right away. It's not the same sort of plot where we see Americans going to Syria and coming back with a determined, coordinated attack on a sensitive facility.

So I think we see a lot of aspirational terrorists here, but none of the hardcore that are areally ready to go to battle. Now, that may change at some point but today I think it's a fair statement.

COSTELLO: And is that in part because of assimilation or a lack thereof? BAER: I think it's assimilation. Look, Chris Cornell was a convert

to Islam. The Kouachi brothers were Muslims. They did go to Yemen, they did study Arabic, they did try to find their roots again because they didn't have any France. And when they looked for their roots, they found Islamic jihad. I mean, a violent jihad. I just think we're a lot better off. The president said this and I think he's right.

COSTELLO: Bob Baer, thanks for insight as usual. I appreciate it. Fascinating conversation. Thank you.

CNN will take an in-depth look at the battle against terrorism tonight with two special reports. At 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Jake Tapper goes "INSIDE THE PARIS ATTACKS". And at 9:30 pm. Eastern, "NEW DAY's" Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota anchor "THE WAR WITHIN ISLAM", taking a look at what can be done to eradicate violent extremism.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, reports that Chinese hackers breached the Pentagon and leaked details about the top secret F-36 joint strike fighter, which was developed at a cost of nearly $400 billion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It turns out the U.S. government might have hacked North Korea long before they allegedly launched their cyber sttack on Sony Pictures. Souring unnamed officials and computer experts, "The New York Times" reports the NSA penetrated North Korea's secure computer networks in the past and their early access to that data is a major reason why the administration is so confident North Korea was behind last year's attack. CNN has not independently confirmed "The Times'" reporting.

Looks like no bit of data can be 100 percent secure online, not even when it comes to the U.S. military. Citing the German magazine, "Der Spiegel" and the latest Edward Snowden leak, Reuters now reports that Chinese hackers stole top secret data from the Pentagon about sensitive U.S. military projects, including the F-35 joint strike fighter.

Samuel Burke is here to talk more about this. And the reason that's important because, somehow, China developed a very similar firefighter jet.

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's important to note the Pentagon had previously acknowledged a hack but they had never said publicly that they thought China was behind it. And what this reveals, if these allegations from Edward Snowden are true, published in that German magazine, is that they do indeed think China is behind it -- and coincidentally the Chinese revealed the J-31 twin- engine fighter jet late last year. And many defense and aviation experts say it has very many similarities to the F-35. And the president of the Chinese company that created the J-31 even said it can take down the F-35.

COSTELLO: Wow! Now, we know it cost a lot of money to make the F-35, so how much is China shelling out? And how many jets do they have that are similar to the American model?

BURKE: Well, that's difficult to say, but it's worth noting that China is denying all this. They've seen the reports in the German newspaper over the weekend and they're saying that these accusations are groundless, completely unjustified, and, Carol, they even said that they're committed to helping countries prevent hacking.

COSTELLO: Really? That's so nice of them.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I know you can't comment on my comment and I totally understand. Samuel Burke, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Saudi Arabia is building a wall to keep out terror groups like ISIS. But critics say it's really ironic considering the kingdom is responsible for ISIS's rise in the first place. We'll talk about that just ahead.

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