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Coverage of Aftermath of Paris Terrorist Attacks. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 14, 2015 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERIN BURNETT, ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world, I'm Erin Burnett in Paris.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN LEAD POLITICAL ANCHOR: And I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is CNN Special Live Breaking News coverage of the Paris terror attacks that have left 129 people dead and 352 people injured, 99 of the wounded are said to be in critical condition. We have some chilling new video we want to share with you right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: This was obtained by the French publication, Paris Match. So you can see the gun battle between the terrorist and the police outside the Bataclan Concert Hall where so many of the young victims were killed. ISIS is now claiming responsibility for what is the deadliest terror attack in Europe in more than a decade.

BURNETT: And while prosecutors believe three teams of terrorists with armed assault rifles and wearing explosive suicide belts carried out six separate attacks coordinated in separate attacks.

Authorities have carried out several raids overnight in Belgium in connection with the attacks here in Paris, and they're learning a lot more about how this happened.

One of the cars used by the terrorists was rented by someone with French nationality in Belgium. That individual and two others have been taken into custody although of course, Wolf, at this time, we don't know whether they were involved. We just -- there are so many questions that we don't have the answers to yet tonight.

CNN's Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto is with me now outside the Bataclan Concert Hall, right here in PARIS where so much of this carnage happened right behind us, 24 hours ago.

There are so many questions now as we learn more. There are more questions they have taken these people into custody, but who are they and what does that mean and how many more?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN'S CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And are there more people out there? I'll tell you the most alarming words I heard were just in the last hour, the Deputy Mayor of Paris telling us on CNN just about an hour ago, that he says there is no indication that the terror threat is over.

That did not sound like an official speaking out of the abundance of caution. They have great concern that there are still attackers or supporters of those attackers who are out there.

So the terrorist threat level remains very high. Do you remember just a couple of hours ago, there was what turned out to be a false alarm, raids in a hotel, but that's where they stand right now because they're not leaving anything to chance, and the Paris mayor in a fact confirming that.

BURNETT: And in terms of this rental car situation, right? So we understand at this time -- and this situation is so quickly developing, but that they were rental cars in Belgium. They were rented and brought here in Paris. One of them, a black Volkswagen they shot right here outside the Bataclan Theater, and they went inside.

They now have apprehended a man who they say rented one of those cars.

SCIUTTO: Right. As they try to cross the border back into Belgium, and it's not ...

BURNETT: And they -- the presumption is here that he was involved?

SCIUTTO: That's the concern. No question. And also keep in mind it's not the only thread leading back to Belgium, right? You had raids earlier in the day at which Belgium authorities said were tied to these attacks, and there's some history there.

Belgium is a hotbed of jihadism. There were previous raids earlier in this year. There was a plot from Belgium foiled and there's some concern tonight that what happened here in Paris in the last 24 hours might have originated in Belgium.

BURNETT: There's also concern you had them all wearing, at this point we understand matching suicide vests or belts or whatever the device was. They were using an explosive that they could have made relatively quickly with products bought in something as basic as a beauty salon, that there could be more come.

SCIUTTO: There could be more to come. And this speaks to -- listen, there's a lot of concern, and the French President said in so many words that an attack like this, seven attackers were killed, needed a larger support network to carry it out, and one clue is this person who drove this rental car back to Belgium, but there are other forms of support.

Who gave them the materials to obtain to make those bombs, the Kalashnikov automatic weapons that they used and ammunition for those weapons. It's interesting. When you think about this from a terror perspective, this kind of explosive, you can make in the kitchen buying regular household products, acetone, et cetera.

I've spoken to New York counter-terror officials. They will track purchases of that. You know, that's the kind of counter-terror web that is necessary to stop these, going down to finding who's buying these kinds of precursor materials to try to stop it from happening.

BURNETT: And of course what is so terrifying is that, that is something that presumably they were doing right here in Paris as they looked for this and yet this happened under their eyes, so to speak. Jim Sciutto, thank you. Jim will be back with us later on in our program tonight.

[20:05:00] Last night here at the Bataclan again, right behind where Jim and I are standing. It was pandemonium of a kind that is incomprehensible for anyone to understand now who was not actually there.

Someone in the building across from that club, caught the panic to escape on cell phone video, and I want to show it to you now in full. It is disturbing but I do believe important to give all of us a brief understanding of how horrific this was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Joining me now, Shane Thomas McMillan, an American freelance photographer and filmmaker saw the chaos and the horror of the theater attack as survivors steamed out into the street last night, of course right where we are. And Shane, I appreciate your joining us, obviously, so late tonight here in Paris. For those who just saw that video, it literally was filmed directly behind where I'm standing right on the corner there, just so close.

What did you see, Shane?

SHANE THOMAS MCMILLAN, FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILMMAKER: I was actually at the building that's adjoined to the Bataclan, and we could really only hear everything.

And after the shooting ended, we went downstairs, down the street level and they were bringing people around the corner, around that corner actually, and placing the injured in the courtyard along (inaudible) the street right behind Bataclan.

And we walked down into that, into the scene of the medical personnel, they're rushing to get everything stabilized and sort the people who had been injured in the attack.

BURNETT: Shane, you are someone who -- you are a professional at taking pictures and capturing images. You saw something last night that you never expected to see. As you saw that and decided to take those pictures, what went through your mind?

MCMILLAN: I actually almost (ph) taken photos. People, for obvious reasons, were not in the mood to have the camera in their face, and I understood that, and didn't actually feel like putting it there and so I took a few photos and moments where I thought like it was appropriate. But in general, I tried to doing some reporting for PRI (ph) on the phone and helping a few people here and there. These little things, but it was an overwhelming, it's like visually completely overwhelmed and emotionally it was a really tough situation. I was watching people's lives change right in front of my eyes. It was really, really humbling.

BURNETT: Shane, your building where you are staying, the apartment building was turned into a triage center. What did you see? Did you see people who were able to be saved there?

MCMILLAN: Yes. Some people were, other people weren't. And I wasn't right there for all of it because of my camera, I had to leave the area, so I was there but not right in it for very long, to be honest. I was more out on the street where people were being sort of put into the courtyards or where a lot of people were actually looking for what they lost. It was people in every sort of different state that you can't imagine happened something like this.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: What did -- what do you remember most? And I know it must be so hard to accept what you've seen. What do you remember most about what the survivors told you?

MCMILLAN: I don't really feel like going into detail but just the things that happened inside of there. One young couple after I'd come around and checked on them a few times opened up and told me a little bit about what had happened inside. I mean, we've all heard what that is now. But to hear that from people who were in their physical condition was really just shocking. It was very, very shocking.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

[20:10:00] BURNETT: Shane, thank you for joining us and for sharing. I know that you are shell shocked as so many are. Wolf, to you in Washington.

BLITZER: Thank you very much. Very chilling eyewitness account indeed. Earlier today, not in Paris, but about 200 miles away, in Belgium, police kicked indoors conducting coordinated raids. Our CNN Senior International Correspondent, Nima Elbagir, is on the phone, joining us.

Nima, You're in Belgium. What can you tell us about these raids?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we understand is this is a pretty large scale police operation, Wolf, targeting at least three homes, eyewitnesses and local media report seeing at least one person led away and this goes back to the heart of this search with a broader support network that was backing these attackers.

The link here, the crucial link here that police are investigating, is that black Volkswagen Polo. We understand from the Paris Prosecutor that the man at the crime was believed to be driving that Volkswagen at the scene of the attacks.

He was apprehended attempting to cross the border but not in that car. The car itself is registered here in Belgium and he was caught with two others who also are believed to be residents here in Belgium. So there is a sense that broader trail leads back here to the suburb of Mollenbeck which has been really a neighborhood of real concern for authorities in Belgium for a while now, Wolf.

BLITZER: Nima, as you know terrorized -- the police suspects that a Belgium man supplied the terrorist in the Charlie Hebdo attack in January of this year. It supplied them with the weapons. How concerned are European officials in Belgium and elsewhere right now that Belgium could be a new hotbed of terror?

ELBAGIR: Hugely, Wolf. In terms of (inaudible), in terms of those going to fight in Syria and in terms of those coming back from Syria, Belgium has a disproportionate number of young man and young women who has been radicalized, and this has been a huge concern for a while now. But it had been also most typically this neighborhood in Mollenbeck very close to when the Charlie Hebdo attack happened. There was a small (inaudible) terror attack here in Belgium that led back to Mollenbeck.

So Mollenbeck has been really at the center of authorities' concern here for a while and this only obviously excalates that worry. The Belgium Interior Ministry just this evening has spoken and said that he personally is going to take this on. That Mollenbeck cannot continue to be such a source of concern pretty much as the Belgium but across this region, Wolf.

BLITZER: Nima, stand by. We're going to back to you throughout the night as our special coverage continues. I wan to get some more of what's going on. Joining us, our CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen, the former FBI Executive Assistant Director Shawn Henry, and the former FBI Agent Foria Younis.

Peter, the ISIS as you know, they publicly claimed responsibility for these terror attacks in Paris, calling them "the first of the storm" meaning, they're promising a whole lot more. The French President Hollande says this was in fact an ISIS attack. How credible is this ISIS assertion that they did this?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Let's start with the fact that no one else has asserted they did it and let's also add to that, I mean, the fact that the Syrian passport was recovered, just (ph) don't care if that person was a Syrian, but I mean there's no reason to discount this claim of responsibility.

BLITZER: What is, let's say, to you, Shawn, that this attack is very coordinated, very deadly attack in Paris, may have been coordinated or even initiated outside France, maybe in Belgium or some place else?

SHAWN HENRY, FORMER FBI EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Yes. Wolf, we heard ISIS talk about this saber rattling where they want to attack the West, where they're talking to people about fighting where you are and moving into that area. This was well coordinated.

It took a lot of time. This was weeks or months into the planning, and Jim Sciutto mentioned this was a large network of people. To see this happen, this is really a game-changer for us in our concerns about what ISIS's capabilities are, what their intent is and how they're going to try to impact not only Western Europe but also United States. BLITZER: Foria, you're a former FBI agent. You know the FBI. They've issued a directive to all FBI field offices here in the United States, "make sure you know where everyone is." What kind of specific steps would FBI field offices be taking right now even if there's no real credible immediate threat to follow suit in France and Paris here in the United States?

FORIA YOUNIS, FORMER FBI AGENT: So Wolf, I think they want to make sure that they're up-to-date on all the intelligence gathering, checking in with every informant in that community, going to community leaders and checking in with them also making sure that all your dots up and Ts (ph) are crossed on your investigations.

We don't want to be at one of those situations where he had an investigation on someone and that puts an ends up eventually doing a terrorist attack.

BLITZER: Everyone wants to be err on the side of caution right now to make sure that what happened in Paris doesn't happen here. All right, stand by guys, we have a lot more to discuss.

[20:15:00] We're following the breaking news. We're just getting in some new information right now about that American college student killed in the Paris terror attacks. Our Special Live Coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. We have breaking news at this hour. French police right now hunting for what they believe are ISIS terrorists. I'm Erin Burnett here in Paris outside the Bataclan Nightclub where there was such slaughter last night.

The city is under virtual lockdown tonight. Paris still reeling from coordinated terror attacks carried out by suicide bombers toting AK- 47s. One hundred twenty innocent people are killed in gruesome number, that is going to grow. Ninety-nine people at this hour in critical condition tonight.

CNN Justice Correspondent Pamela Brown is in Washington tonight. And Pamela, what is the latest that you know?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I can tell you, Erin, counter-terrorists and officials have been worried about something like this happening, people going out on their Friday night going to the theater to listen to a band, to the restaurants, to a soccer game when all of a sudden terror was launched near simultaneous attacks on the so-called soft targets, causing horror across Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: French police spread across Paris Friday after a series of attacks. One gun battle erupts outside the Bataclan Concert Hall. In all, three teams of terrorists armed with collision (inaudible) rifles and matching explosive devices, launched coordinated attacks at six locations unleashing chaos across the streets of Paris.

[20:20:00] It starts at 9:20 pm. a soccer match between France and Germany is rocked by a thunderous explosion.

French officials say an apparent suicide bomber detonates, killing himself and an innocent bystander. France's President on site to cheer on the national team is whisked away to safety.

SIMON KUPER, INSIDE STADIUM DURING ATTACK: The ground shook a bit, and I thought there's something wrong here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five minutes later, the second attack at two Paris restaurants. Terrorists opened fire, killing at least 15, seriously wounding 10 more. French officials say the killers wore masks and arrived by car. Shell casings left behind indicate they fired more than 100 rounds.

CHARLOTTE BREHAUT, ATTACK WITNESS: We heard huge gunshots and lots of glass coming through the window, so we docked onto the floor with all of the other diners.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nine thirty, a second explosion outside the soccer stadium. Thousands of fans flee the scene. The body of a second suicide bomber is found. Nine thirty-two, a team of terrorists opened fire outside a bar. Five people were killed, eight others wounded. Nine thirty-six, at least 19 people are shot and killed outside another restaurant.

Inside were the American band Eagles of Death Metal was playing, more explosions and gunfire. Witnesses say the attackers came in firing and at least one person said he heard yelling "Allahu Akbar." A terrorist hold a living hostage for several hours before police stormed the hall.

At least 89 killed, four attackers also dead, three wearing explosive belts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE WITNESS: On the ground floor, a lot of dead bodies and blood and some people had been, while alive, had to stay for several hours among dead cops and they went out covered with blood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then 9:53, a third explosion near the soccer stadium. Police later find the body of another suicide bomber. A siege of gunfire explosions and bloodshed, leading to the deadliest terror attack in Europe in more than a decade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And we are now learning more about some of the victims including an American victim who was killed, 23-year-old Nohemi Gonzalez, she was a foreign exchange student studying design in Paris.

As a result of this death, the FBI has jurisdiction to assist in this investigation and we have learned that the FBI is sending a team to Paris to provide support as needed. Erin? BURNETT: Pamela, thank you very much. It is so chilling to hear it, minute by minute what happened last night. And Wolf, as every name that is now starting to come out, an entire life and an entire story, we are now just beginning to learn about the victims.

BLITZER: And so many of those victims, young people. So many of them simply watching a concert of an American rock band, Erin. Of the 129 people killed in that synchronized rampage as we just heard at least one of them is an American. Let's go to see Paul Vercammen, he's joining us from Long Beach, California right now. Tell us more about this young woman brutally killed by these terrorists.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Nohemi Gonzalez by all accounts, was an absolutely talented and gifted design student, loved by so many. A close family friend telling us today she should be remembered for her spirit that she was a beautiful person and a gift of life.

And then here on the Long Beach State Campus, a make-shift vigil now emerging behind me the gymnasium where they're playing basketball tonight, they observed Nohemi in a moment of silence. And the University's president and others using words such as heartbroken and tragic.

Now one of Nohemi's design professors was talking about how close-knit and hard working this group is and he went further to say that she was admired throughout the design program for how talented she was and that she was a mentor. I asked him if he could describe her personality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Michael De Ford, one of Nohemi's design professors: She's a shining star and she brought joy, happiness, laughter to everybody she worked with and for students, her classmates, she functioned like a bit of a mentor to younger students. She has a deep profound presence in our department and she will be extraordinarily profoundly missed.

She had a very buoyant, joyous personality. She's extremely lively, extremely energetic. There's ever no shortage of anything you can ask her to do and she'd be there for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:25:00] VERCAMMEN: And this dynamo of a student also received international recognition. She was part of a Biomimicry Global contest, 71 entries and of 22 countries, her group from here at Long Beach State finished second and won $3,000. It was about a sustainable product in which you would have fruit and nuts in a biodegradable package. It says something about her environmental consciousness and after you're done with it you can even turn it into a planter.

Certainly, by all accounts that we said, just a rising star and an extremely loved and talented design student. Back to you now Wolf.

Blitzer: All right, Paul. Such a heartbreaking story. Our deepest, deepest condolences to her family, our deepest condolences to all those murdered in Paris. What a heartbreaking story indeed.

Up next, we're getting new information about ISIS and its claim of responsibility for the carnage in Paris. Our Special Live Coverage continues. More breaking news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Hi. You are looking at live pictures right now. The French Consulate in New York City, New Yorkers show solidarity with the French a day after such an atrocity candles a memorial, mementos left there as they are here where I can see off the side of our camera right outside the Bataclan nightclub.

I am Erin Burnett, live in Paris, and this is CNN's Special Live Breaking News coverage of the Paris terror attacks. One hundred twenty-nine dead, 352 injured, nearly 100 of them critically, the number of dead could climb.

[20:30:00] Tonight, this city is at a crisis level unseen since World War II. One French official telling CNN there is real fear that more attackers are still at large. That official, the Deputy Mayor of Paris.

The Paris prosecutor says one of the terrorists has been identified as a 30-year-old French national from a Paris suburb. This is someone they knew about. He had a criminal history, they had identified him as having been radicalized five years ago. They'd never accused him of terrorism though and lacked the resources to fully track him.

ISIS today claiming responsibility for the terror attacks, calling the rampage the first of what they say is a "storm" promising more carnage. Our justice reporter Evan Perez joins Wolf and myself now, and Evan what are your sources telling you about ISIS's involvement as to ISIS "core" leading this as opposed to it being locally inspired?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Erin, they do. They have no reason to doubt what the French are saying, which is that this was an ISIS operation. Now the question that is still hanging in the air is whether or not this was something that was directed from Raqqa, from ISIS headquarters or whether this is something that they simply set the ball rolling and had these guys who were essentially a sleeper cell sitting in France that was going to be carried out. Now the question is something the FBI is working hard at this weekend, simply because they want to know if there's anything else that could be coming and whether or not this attack is something that may signal some of the dozens of U.S. ISIS supporters that they are keeping an eye on, whether any of those people might be activated by what happened in Paris. That is something that's on their minds right now. They're looking at some of the communications intercepts that as you know the U.S. intelligence and the FBI are always taking a look at.

So far, Erin, they've not come up with anything that really indicates any kind of command-and-control. Now, the question of the FBI is also wondering is whether or not this indicates that these terrorists were communicating in ways that is just simply off the radar for U.S. and French intelligence? That's something that is on their mind. They want to examine the electronics that these terrorists were carrying to make sure that there's no, perhaps some apps that they were using that were off the radar.

BURNETT: Evan, that's one of the things that is very terrifying about this, which is that you had seven people plus we don't know how many more were assisting them and helping them communicating in a way that French intelligence, U.S. intelligence that nobody saw. That is something that is very scary when you hear a country like France was on high alert and supposedly monitoring everything, that they clearly weren't unaware exactly where these communications were happening.

PEREZ: Right. Exactly.

BURNETT: That's something that must make officials in the United States scared as well, right? I mean, are they sure -- what is the U.S. doing to try to find these communications?

PEREZ: Right. Exactly. The idea that you'd have seven or eight attackers who would have had to account for the fact that perhaps one would have gotten stuck in traffic or perhaps stuck on the Metro.

There's all the kinds of things that could go wrong in an operation like this, and the fact that they were able to carry it out almost simultaneously tells you that they were in communication, at least the FBI believes, that they must've been in communication right before this attack, and that's something that they really urgently want to find out how that occurred.

Now that the question of how people can be off the radar is something the FBI itself found. If you remember in May there was an attack of the two men tried to carry out against a Prophet Mohammed drawing contest in Garland, Texas.

They were watching one of those suspects, he was on their radar but they weren't watching him 24/7, and the next thing they know he turns up in Garland to try to carry out that attack.

He was not successful, the two men were killed before they were able to carry out the attack. but it just goes to show you how easily these things can slip past intelligence.

BURNETT: Evan Perez, thank you very much. Wolf, to you.

BLITZER: Thanks, Erin. I want to bring back our experts, our National Security Analyst Peter Bergen, the former FBI Executive Assistant Director Shawn Henry, and the former FBI Agent Foria Younis.

Peter, it looks like ISIS now is expanding its reach. Originally, they were fighting in Iraq and Syria but in recent days they apparently took down a Russian airliner, killing 224 people in Egypt. In Sinai, they had a huge twin suicide bombing in Beirut, killing another 40 people, injuring a whole lot more, another suicide bombing as we know in Baghdad.

Now this. It looks like there's a new stage. They're moving beyond their territory in Iraq and Syria. They want to go global which used to be the hallmark of Al-Qaeda.

BERGEN: Yes, and we can add that latest source of an attack. An anchor that attributed to ISIS, we can also add the attack in Belgium in 2014 where they attacked a Jewish Museum, killing four people. Yes. You know, if you look at their propaganda early on, it was all about coming to the caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

[20:35:00] As their propaganda has evolved, it's a lot about fermenting attacks in the West. So they are in a new phase.

BLITZER: Are you surprised, Shawn, given the coordination, pretty sophisticated operation in Paris. All these different locations, apparently people are coming in from Belgium. The French intelligence -- French law enforcement didn't have a better handle on what was going on?

HENRY: Excuse me. I'm not really that surprised, Wolf. There's a couple of reasons from an intelligence perspective, one is there's a growing concern among citizens that governments are too pervasive in their intelligence collection after Snowden especially you've heard a lot about civil liberties and privacy groups saying governments are collecting too much, we need to push back on that.

And we're seeing that in Europe as well as here in the United States. But the second piece is this whole piece Evan just brought up which is the encryption. A lot of different applications that are being used to hide the capability for law enforcement or the intelligence agencies to intercept or decipher these communications so they can't identify the totality of these cells.

That has always been a hallmark of law enforcement and the intelligence community in terms of disrupting these types of events, that is a serious challenge for the FBI now and worldwide intelligence.

BLITZER: Because, Shawn, when I interviewed James Comey, the FBI Director, last summer, he basically said to me, ISIS is now the biggest threat to the U.S. homeland but he also spoke about these encrypted apps that they have now which the U.S. and other intelligence services really can't monitor.

HENRY: Right.

BLITZER: So, you know, it is all about disruption now. Intelligence is about identifying what's going to happen and disrupting it before harm can be caused to innocent civilians. Getting the communications in advance to identify the totality of the individuals that are part of that conspiracy is absolutely critical. With that black spot, that blind spot, law enforcement, the FBI, intelligence agencies are going to be hampered, and we may see more of these attacks because we can't disrupt it.

BLITZER: Foria, how sophisticated was this series of terrorist attacks?

YOUNIS: I think it was somewhat sophisticated. You had -- you know, they came in from Belgium, so they were in another country and they had different citizens coming in. We understand that one of these could have been one of the refugees that has come into the country to build a bomb, you know, to build these vests, to sneak in these weapons, to plan that attack. If law enforcement had one clue, one idea that this was going to happen, there's enough people that knew about this that this could've been prevented.

But to make this go forward, not be captured doing your initial surveillance, not be captured in all of your planning stages is extremely difficult. So it was sophisticated and it was hard for them to make this happen.

BLITZER: And the amazing thing is, and correct me if I'm wrong, Peter, you studied this, is that a horrible massacre like this, killing all these people, so many young people especially at that concert hall listening to a rock band -- an American rock band, it's going to inspire others recruiting for ISIS. They're going to -- more of these people are going to join this cause, as sick as that sounds.

BERGEN: Well we can virtually guarantee that "Dabiq," which is their English language online magazine will come out with an issue that celebrates precisely what you're saying, but I wanted to pick up what Shawn Henry was saying. You know, ISIS is very, very precise about the kinds of applications that it suggests its recruits to use.

BLITZER: Communications application?

BERGEN: Right. So, for instance, it says use android phones. They are much more secure than other phones. They also suggest using Tor, which is the black part of the internet that is anonymized. So they are (inaudible) all of their recruits to communicate in this way that is very, very hard for law enforcement to detect.

BLITZEN: And they're a heightened state of alert right now even though there is no direct threat. They were told no specific threat in New York City, here in Washington, other major cities around the United States, a lot of football games, NFL Football games, where (ph) heightened security, is that wise to do that right now, Shawn?

HENRY: I think it's wise to always do it, Wolf. We're in a new world right now, and this is what we're going to see in the near future. I think some of the things that the FBI may be concerned about.

Director Comey said that there are active investigations, terrorism- related in all 50 states, and the concern that those people that might be aspirational today, that by seeing this type of coverage, by listening to what's happening on Twitter and elsewhere in social media, it might operationalize them and cause them to become active.

So when you asked earlier, was does the FBI do when they've got full coverage and everybody they believe is a high threat and they're enhancing their coverage to try and disrupt or throw somebody off if, in fact, they're going to operationalize.

BLITZER: Peter, why France? BERGEN: Well, you know France has more fighters going to Syria than any other country, 1,800, according to the French Prime Minister, and of course, France is part of the coalition, and of course, yes, you can drive from Damascus to Paris, but you can't drive from Damascus to New York. I mean, it's an easier target.

And clearly, there's a very big infrastructure and what we're seeing with the January attacks and also the Belgian arrests that prevented an attack. The infrastructure is there in a way that it really isn't here. I mean, it's raw as Shawn Henry said, 50 investigations but the investigations in the United States, you know, all of these people have not yet -- they don't have automatic weapons, they're not building bombs, it's a different kind of atmosphere here in terms of these jihadi terrorist crimes.

[20:40:00] BLITZER: Certainly. All right (ph), don't go too far away. Coming up, a father and a son were inside that concert hall where so much of the carnage took place. What they saw, what they heard could provide some important clues for the investigators. We're going to hear directly from them when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: I'm Erin Burnett in Paris tonight. Continuing our special breaking coverage of what French President Francois Hollande has called an act of war. Coordinated terror attacks across the city.

Clarissa Ward is in Paris as well, and Clarissa, I know you had a chance to speak to people who witnessed what became such slaughter at the Bataclan club which is right behind where I'm standing, right near where you are tonight. You heard them tell what happened and it's incredibly hard to hear.

CLARISSA WARD, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. We spoke to a father and son, an Australian national, John Leader, his 12-year-old son, Oscar, they were going to a concert on a Saturday night. John Leader has lived here for 15 years, and they were able to get very close, or rather they found themselves in the unfortunate position of being very close to those attackers and yet they still live to tell the tale. Take a listen, Erin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN LEADER, PARIS ATTACK SURVIVOR: We heard this bang, bang, bang. And like everybody else, we thought it was fireworks or part of the show. And then I felt something go past my ear. I don't know, was it a bird or something, I didn't know what it was. And then I realized something is coming out, you know, something is going towards the stage. And at that point, I think everybody understood. Everybody threw themselves on the ground as I stuck my head up from the desk to see what was going on. I saw the two shooters, one was changing his magazine, so he had a whole lot of hold magazines in front of him. He had a big vest on.

WARD: What did he look like?

LEADER: He looked like a young fellow who's someone just nothing particular at all.

WARD: did you hear him speak at all?

LEADER: I did. I heard him at one point. He said something about Syria. I think you heard it better also.

OSCAR LEADER, PARIS ATTACK SURVIVOR: Yes. He said, "You need to think about Syria" but in French like, there wasn't any accent or anything.

J. LEADER: Yes...

O. LEADER: It was ...

J. LEADER: Obviously a native French speaker. I could see that, you know, with one of -- one of the guys was covering -- was doing crowd control and the other guy was executing. So, there was no chance -- there was a terrorist incident some months ago here in Europe with a similar kind of scenario. (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY) There was no chance of anybody being a hero because these guys were organized. One was covering the crowd, the other one was doing the shooting. And he was ...

(CROSSTALK)

WARD: ... one of the worst moments of your life, fearing that your son could've been hit.

J. LEADER: Well, yes, because I thought I was screaming out his name and I thought he couldn't be far away, so he should shout out dad or something or stop or something, and he wasn't there.

WARD: Have you ever seen a dead body before?

O. LEADER: No. it was my first time and (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY) and I was -- I was lying just next to one, which really was not in a comfortable position at that moment.

WARD: You must have been very, very frightened.

O. LEADER: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: As you heard there, Erin, they said spoke French like native French speakers. And we now know, of course, that the French have identified one of those attackers as a French native. He had a criminal record, clearly from what we heard those eyewitnesses. He seemed very well trained, really raising questions about how someone like this was able to go under the radar. Erin?

BURNETT: Just an incredible conversation, and you asked the question that, I think, brought it home personally when you said to that little boy, and said have you ever seen a dead body before?

Well, coming up officials here say security is being overwhelmed by radicalization. And the Deputy Mayor of Paris, tonight, telling our Poppy Harlow that they do not know if this series of terror attacks is closed over. We have more of our breaking news coverage with myself and Wolf Blitzer ahead.

[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZEN: All over the world are remembering those who were brutally massacred in Paris last night. On the left part of your screen, you see memorials already come in place at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. On the right for your screen, in New York City at the French Consulate there. People are coming, bringing flowers, candles, paying their respects, as well.

Welcome back, this is our CNN Special Coverage of the Paris terror attacks, I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting. The extent of the radicalization clearly is overwhelmed. French security services even before these attacks, the French Prime Minister had called the terrorist threat facing France unprecedented in his work.

CNN's Brian Todd is taking a closer look at this part of the story for us. Brian what are you learning?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, France's problem with Muslim extremists blew up last night but it's been festering for years. Inside the Muslim community in France, common criminals often come under the influence of hard-line clerics or they become radicalized in other ways. Case in point, one man who took part in the theater assault last night was known to police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Amid the carnage of the Bataclan theater, investigators pulled fingerprints from one of the terrorists. From that, according to the Paris prosecutor, they know they have at least one homegrown attacker.

A 29-year-old man, born in Corcoran in the southern suburbs of Paris, a common criminal, the prosecutor says, who'd been arrested eight times.

FRANCOIS MOLINS, PARIS PROSECUTOR, BY TRANSLATION: An individual who was never put in prison and who in 2010 was identified as radicalized, but he was never involved in any kind of terrorism.

TODD: Petty criminals from poor Paris neighborhoods who go on to launch devastating attacks. If it sounds familiar, the Kouachi brothers who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attacks 10 months ago, or from a poor section of Paris, at least one spent time in prison, both became radicalized.

It's a problem not unique to France, analysts say, but is certainly seen on a larger scale there. France has one of the largest Muslim contingents in the West, almost 8 percent of the country's entire population. But there's a more startling statistic.

BERGEN: Seventy percent of the prison population is Muslim in France. I mean, that is an extraordinary number and it shows that, you know, this is a marginalized group. This is also a group that is sort of criminals of underclass.

TODD: Unemployment is staggering among France's Muslims, experts say, and they haven't assimilated with other French citizens. The French ban on some headwear, which applies to all religions, adds to their feelings of discrimination and isolation.

[20:55:00] MUBIN SHAIKH, FORMER JIHADIST: Ostensible religious symbols being denied, you know, marginalization, poverty, unemployment, you know, high rates of arrest and police attention on minorities. So they feel already that they're under siege.

TODD: And ripe for recruitment by radical clerics who appear in so many of their neighborhoods.

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Extremists look for those openings where someone feels like they're not getting a fair shake, and try to exploit them in order to draw more people into their cause.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: And analysts say the French Security Services are overwhelmed and simply can't get their arms around the problem. CNN has told French Intelligence has opened surveillance files on about 5,000 Islamic extremists throughout the country and they can't monitor all of them all the time.

They have to figure out who they believe the most dangerous ones are and hope they are following the right people, Wolf. That is indeed an overwhelming problem.

BLITZEN: There are a lot of the ...

TODD: They're not going to get their arms around ...

BLITZEN: A lot of these extremities, they leave the country, they could come back in freely.

TODD: That's right. You know, the French laws allow them to do that and as a result France has supplied more foreign fighters to the war in Syria than any other Western nation. At this moment, we believe it's at least 1,700, and the fear is, of course, that a lot of them are coming back and hundreds of them more.

BLITZEN: Brian Todd, thanks very much.

Coming up, we're getting new details of the intelligence surrounding the Paris attacks. I'll speak with a key member of the House Intelligence Committee. He's just been briefed.

[21:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)