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Coverage of the Paris Terror Attacks. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired November 14, 2015 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Erin Burnett in Paris.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Wolf Blizter in Washington. This is CNN special live breaking news coverage of the Paris terror attacks that left 129 people dead, 352 injured. Of those people injured, almost 100 of them critically injured.
At this hour, the names of those killed, they are beginning to be released.
BURNETT: And Wolf, with every name, a story and a life lost. A California college student, Nohemi Gonzalez, 23 years old. CNN has also learned that the FBI is sending four agents to Paris to assist with the investigation if French officials request help. So far, they have not.
ISIS, though, claiming responsibility for the attacks. These are the deadliest attacks in Europe and more than a decade, a situation not seen in France and generations. French President Francois Hollande his calling them, "an act of war."
And our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, is with me now. And Jim, we just literally have these headlines crossing, identifying now the first of the attackers, Ismail Mostefai.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Ismail Omar Mostefai, this appears to be the same Frenchman that we reported earlier in the day had been identified by his fingerprints and someone who was known to the police previously, known to have been radicalized but not known to have necessarily been in terror. He's from the South -- Chartes, which is south of Paris. And this gives you what President Hollande had referred to earlier in the day that this plot had apparently both local and international involvement.
BURNETT: All right. So were learning about this man, who they -- we're trying to understand his exact age, 29 or 30 years old -- was known to French authorities prior to this. But that is one of seven.
SCIUTTO: Exactly.
BURNETT: And, of course, there's the network beyond that. What about the other names?
SCIUTTO: What they're doing now, you have the initial ring of the seven attackers, who carried out this attack. They have one of those now identified. They did discover a Syrian passport and an Egyptian passport by the bodies of some of the other attackers. There are some doubts about the authenticity of those passports, so those are not positive identifications at this point.
But then you have a ring outside that, because the president has said, the deputy mayor of Paris has said, and intelligence sources I've been speaking to have said that you can carry out an attack of this magnitude without some sort of support network. So you have been beginning to look at that support network.
BURNETT: Yes.
SCIUTTO: They have arrested and detained at least the father and brother of the French attacker.
BURNETT: Yes.
SCIUTTO: They've arrested and detained someone leaving France for Belgian, driving one of the cars that they believe -- were actually, not driving one of the cars but believed that he had rented one of the cars...
BURNETT: Right.
SCIUTTO: ...that was involved in the attack. You had an arrest in Germany a week ago, which they believe is connected. And they've had raised in Belgium over the course of the last 24 hours, which they believe were tied to this. So that's another scene...
BURNETT: Yes.
SCIUTTO: ...another ring. You have these concentric circles that they're tracing out.
And this struck me, again, from the deputy mayor, when he said earlier today that there is nothing to indicate that this terror threat is over.
BURNETT: Right.
SCIUTTO: In other words, that they believe there is still attackers out there.
BURNETT: And obviously, one of the big questions is going to be the authenticity of these passports, whether, indeed, some of these attackers were Syrian refugees who just recently came in through Greece.
SCIUTTO: That's right.
BURNETT: They have not -- they know the passports, at least they are saying, are real. They don't know if the people holding them are actually the person in the passport.
SCIUTTO: Well, there's -- there is...
BURNETT: Yes.
SCIUTTO: ...question as to whether the passports were authentic, because some of the numbers didn't match up with what would be...
BURNETT: So...
SCIUTTO: ...for a Syrian passport. But, as...
BURNETT: Right.
SCIUTTO: ...you note, one of them had been registered as crossing into Greece from Syria among this wave of refugees.
BURNETT: So what would be -- if that wasn't that individual -- if he had someone else's passport -- but would be the motivation to have that on you when you are intending to kill yourself as part of a suicide bomb?
SCIUTTO: Only speculation, but if you want to move through borders and conceal your identity, you might buy a...
BURNETT: It would be useful to...
SCIUTTO: ...passport or use one to -- or use someone else's or by someone else's or falsify another passport.
BURNETT: All rights. Well, obviously, this is going to be a crucial line of questioning. So, important to emphasize we have not confirmed yet whether those are authentic or not. Yes?
SCIUTTO: And it just one more point about these concentric circles. If a big plot, and clearly, it is bigger than just the seven attackers who took part. A major question for police investigators will be how could you have that client get underneath the radar...
BURNETT: Yes.
SCIUTTO: ...of the very severe surveillance that was taking place here, particularly in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
BURNETT: All right. And something a counterterrorist expert told me today, here in Paris could have taken months, Wolf, to plan. Months that they were unable to pick up the trail.
BLITZER: Very disturbing, indeed.
All right. Erin, we're going to get back to you.
Congressman Mike Turner sits on the House Intelligence Committee. He's been briefed on what's going on. Congressman, first of all, is there any doubt at all left that this is an ISIS planned operation?
REP. MIKE TURNER (R), OHIO: Well, you know, we have to continue to investigate, that obviously ISIS has claimed credit. President Hollande has identified it as an ISIS threat. The one thing that we know is that Isis will continue to be a threat, both to our allies and to the United States.
In all of the briefings that we received, of course, they've been identified as a national security threat, but you don't need to receive a classified briefing to know this. Obviously, throughout the press in the United States there have been incidences of the FBI identifying those who are in touch with ISIS or attempting to plan attacks against the United States.
We certainly know they're trying that against her allies also. And even though we might take down some of those attempts, even if we find 100 of them and thwart them, it just takes one tragedy, as we saw in Paris for a very, very sad occurrence.
BLITZER: The encrypted communications, apparently, that these terrorists are using -- I know the FBI Director James Comey has told me personally is very concerned about this ability to avoid any kind of surveillance. It looks like this was a pretty coordinated event with a lot of -- with a lot of communication. Is it your sense, based on what you know, they were using these encrypted apps?
TURNER: Well, I don't know that, but certainly, that is something that is making following these groups more difficult. You know, we look to wear, obviously, in which ISIS has made contacts with an individual and is attempting to deploy them or to call for a terrorist attack. It does make it difficult when those become encrypted, but even when they're not, we can only follow people so much. We can only go to the ends of these to try to thwart them, so many times, our effort really needs to be on taking down the terrorist network itself, going directly to ISIS, ensuring that we take down their financing, their communication and their deployment.
Certainly, this is something that President Hollande is looking to do, as we looked at Syria and Iraq and the need to diminish their capability to threaten the West.
BLITZER: Do you think what happened in Paris could happen here in the United States?
TURNER: Yes, absolutely. I mean, if you look in public news stories, ISIS has been soliciting and have been contacting people in the United States for the purposes of trying to perpetrate this type of attacks. This is a serious national security threat, and it requires a coordinate a global response.
This is the continuation of Islamic extremist terrorism. We need to ensure that we go to the sources in Iraq and Syria and diminish their overall capabilities to operate, signs and to solicit terrorists.
BLITZER: Some analysts have told me they think this is a new stage in the nicest terror operation, going from operations in Iraq and Syria but now expanding, downing a Russian airliner over Egypt in Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, launching 25 bombings in Beirut, killing more than 40 people there, and now what we've just seen in Paris.
Is there a new global agenda that ISIS has that -- we know Al-Qaeda used to have that. They've been trying for a long time, but now it looks like ISIS is getting in the game.
TURNER: Well, they always have been in the game. I mean, if you look again even in the open press stories, ISIS have been continuing to try to infiltrate to have attacks in the United States. You know, there has never been a security briefing that says that ISIS was not a threat to the United States or our allies.
And having been identified us as such, though, it really goes back to the 9/11 commission, because, you know, chapter 12 of that report that we need to make certain that we take this site to Islamic extremism. It is not just about Al-Qaeda or Osama bin Laden, they said in the 9/11 commission report, but we have to remain diligent, or this will spread and continue to be a threat to the United States, as we've seen today with our allies.
BLITZER: A lot of experts say, Congressman, the only way to destroy ISIS is to send a lot of troops into Iraq and Syria and kill them. Are you ready to see U.S. boots on the ground, as they say, significant numbers, thousands of American troops going back to fight this war?
TURNER: Well, I think there are a number of ways to do this. You know, the president has called repeatedly for the destruction of ISIS. It now comes to the point, as we look to our allies, the joining together and dedicating the resources to that. They continue to have, you know, financial resources and logistic operations, and they're even producing oil.
And we have an ability to take down these infrastructures in a way that can affect their ability to operate. But I think the president's going to have to look at his strategy. He's not had a global strategy with our allies to address this, and we one, and we need to make certain that we stepped to the plate to diminish their overall threat, both are allies into the United States.
BLITZER: And very quickly, does that mean sending U.S. troops there?
TURNER: Well, I think the president will have to consider that. I mean, he needs a coordinated approach. At this point, the president does not have a clear strategy, and when he puts that strategy together, it very well may include both our allies and the U.S. troops. This could even be in Article 5 issue with respect to NATO coming together to address the issue of the threats to our allies.
But the president needs to step up to the table and look at American leadership. That's what's needed here. Otherwise, we're going to continue to face this threat. And we cannot just look to the intelligence community to protect us. We have to make certain that we take down their ability to threaten our country.
BLITZER: Congressman Mike Turner, thanks for a much for joining us.
TURNER: Thank you.
BLITZER: So how did intelligence officials in France miss the planning into these coordinated attacks in Paris? We're going to dig deeper into that question with experts who specialize in counterterrorism.
Much more of the breaking news coverage on the Paris terror attacks when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Welcome back. I am Erin Burnett in Paris, and you are watching CNN's special live breaking news coverage of the horrific terror attacks -- 129 people dead, more than 300 pointed, 99 of them are in critical condition. As our latest reporting shows, that death toll could rise.
We are now learning that the FBI is sending an additional four agents here to France to support the FBI already based in Paris. And I want to get straight to our justice correspondent, Pamela Brown, for more on that.
So Pamela, we hear four people, then, to assist who's already here. Four may sound like a very few to a lot of people watching. Is that the right interpretation? What role are they going to play in this investigation?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the FBI can always send more as needed. At this stage, the FBI is sending these four agents to lend forensic expertise as well as analytical expertise and investigative expertise as needed. The French have not officially formally asked the U.S. for help -- asked the FBI for help, but the FBI is being proactive and sending these agents in anticipation of the French needing to help. And also the FBI does have some jurisdiction here and is insisting with the investigation, because we know that an American has been killed in the attack.
And so what these agents could be doing is looking through the electronics, helping to take information from the attackers' phones and computers, also helping to send information back to agents here in the United States to see if there is any U.S. NEXUS from U.S. citizens and any of the attackers.
Right now, though, I can tell you, Erin, it's still very early, and they're still trying to positively identify all of the attackers. We know that the FBI has some names that they're running through its databases, but right now, they're still trying to get information about who exactly was behind and how big this is. Was this a bigger conspiracy? Those are all questions that officials still have, Erin.
BURNETT: And, of course, Pamela, you've been reporting on increased security at NFL football games tomorrow in the United States. How concerned are they about whether it be copycat attacks or anything linked happening in the United States?
BROWN: There is a lot of concern, I can tell you, just from talking to officials. There's no indication as of now that anyone here was the links to the Paris attackers and had a similar plan in place. But I will tell you, though, while there is no specific threat, there is concern that this could inspire people in United States who are similar. We know that the FBI has around 900 open terrorism cases, and there are some high priority people that they're concerned about that they are giving additional scrutiny to as a result of the terrorist attacks, deploying additional resources and surveillance if necessary to make sure that this does not inspire them to perhaps expedite a plan that they already had in place to launch an attack. So there is a lot of concern, and FBI agents are working around the clock to ensure that nothing happens here in the United States.
Erin?
BURNETT: Pamela, thank you very much.
And I want to go now to our justice reporter, Evan Perez, with a fascinating and important possible angle on this story.
And then, the date, Friday the 13th, something that could actually be significant you're learning.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is something that U.S. counterterrorism officials have been discussing just sits this attack occurred, the significance of November 13th. Now, we know that Al-Qaeda and ISIS are very much focused on symbolism, and one of the symbols here is that November 13th is the anniversary of when the Allies, the Western Allies, Britain, France and Italy, occupied Constantinople in 1918.
Now, there is no evidence, no actual evidence, right now to indicate that this is what these attackers were going for. It is just something that U.S. officials are discussing, because one of the things that they want to know is why did this happen when it did. Was it something that was perhaps predicated, that was planned well in advance, or was it something that they just decided that they had been -- that they had this plan on the shelf, and they decided to activated because they saw an opportunity?
This is all -- these are all things, theories really, that U.S. officials are going over and looking at. It's something that informs their investigation. They're looking at intercepts and chatter among known terrorists to see if there is anything that indicates this is what they were going for, Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Evan. Thank you very much.
Theories, but, of course, dates have been so significant in the planning by Al Qaeda, of course, and now perhaps ISIS.
Wolf?
BLITZER: Good point. Thanks very much, Erin.
Joining us now is Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. He's a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Phil Mudd, he's the former CIA counterterrorism official. And our national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. Guys, thanks for much for joining us.
Phil, how sophisticated was this operation, this terrorist attack?
PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: You've got to look at two steps to this, Wolf. The first step, I'd say pretty sophisticated. If you're looking at numbers, typically, we're talking in the United States, for example, about homegrown operations where you're talking about one, two, three people. This is far more substantial than that, not only in terms of the number of people, but the operational sophistication they had to use to ensure that they stayed under the radar, that their phone conversations, their emails, getting get into French security so that they were picked up.
The second piece I'd point out is anybody in this kind of enterprise with this number of people, you've got to be thinking about travel, documents, money. This number of people had to have a support network that was pretty sophisticated. And I'm going to wager they had some connectivity with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, so if you're looking at sophistication and age of homegrown terror, I put this at the top 5 percent, 1 percent -- pretty sophisticated.
BLITZER: Sounds indeed very sophisticated.
Juliette, as you know, 10 months ago we all watched in horror the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. At the time, the French president, Francois Hollande, he vowed to clamp down on extremists across the country. And we've learned today that one of the terrorists -- one of the attackers, 30-year-old man now identified as Ismael Omar Mostefai, you as well known the French authorities.
Here's the question. Was there an intelligence or law enforcement failure here?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, absolutely. You can't have an event like this without calling it a failure, indeed, of just sort of tragic proportions. This is picking up on what Phil said. You know, there's three elements to this. There were the arms, the training and the money. And at no point during the planning of this were any hints picked up at the terrorists and how they were getting the weapons, how they were training to do such a sophisticated attack. And then finally, who was paying for it? Because this is a lot of people who have to survive and remain underground in the city.
So the difference with the Charlie Hebdo case, though, that I do want to make clear is in some ways the incident in January was not a soft target. In other words, the terrorists had been -- ISIS had been focused on the cartoonist, on specific individuals, and in fact, they had their own security.
This is very different. I mean, this is a series of soft targets on a -- on a warm Friday night, a concert, a sporting event, and so it does differ in both magnitude and the decision of ISIS to go from a target to just sort of open warfare in an urban city.
BLITZER: Daveed, is ISIS now a bigger threat outside of Iraq and Syria, let's say to the Europeans were even here in the United States? A bigger threat than core Al-Qaeda or AQAP Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula?
DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: At the moment it is, yes. But it's important to note that Al-Qaeda has really been linked kind of dormant when it comes to external operations against the United States. Really, we're midstream, and we have very different strategies on the part of both groups.
ISIS is surging right now. It's carrying out major attacks, attacks on Lebanon, you know, you have the Russian airliner and it was certainly involved in this attack. And Al Qaeda has been much quieter. It's been allowing counterterrorism counterinsurgency resources to focus against ISIS, and it's been very quietly building a broad base of support. The controls territory in Syria. It controls territory in Yemen. It's getting state sponsorship right now, and we don't know what its external operations are, because it's not currently activating them.
So right now, they're the bigger threat. In the longer term, I think it remains to be seen.
BLITZER: Phil, as far as ISIS is concerned, we heard President Obama in that interview with ABC news this week say ISIS is contained in Iraq and Syria. There now apparently gaining much ground, if you will, gaining additional land, but they're certainly not contained externally.
Look what they did in Sinai with that Russian plane. Look what they did in Beirut with those twin suicide bombings. But with a done now in Paris. Clearly, ISIS is not contained. Right?
MUDD: I think that's right. But you've got to think about this in two parts. First, you're looking at the geography ISIS contains in Iraq and Syria.
Wolf, when you and I were talking in the summer of 2014, ISIS was on the march. There were talks about whether they could move into Baghdad. In both Iraq and Syria, the geographic control of ISIS has been relatively modest. One of the reasons is that you've got an international coalition that includes the Russians, the Americans, the French, the British, who had been very aggressive in terms of providing air power to strike them, providing money to opposition groups, providing weapons.
I think ISIS is sitting back saying we're being given a great deal of pain and a lot of aggression on the part of the Westerners. We've got to bring pain to them. This is a reflection of ISIS' pain in Iraq and Syria, where they're saying you guys who were on the march against us in Iraq and Syria are going to pay in your home countries. That's Britain, that's the United States, and that's France.
This is not only a reflection of ISIS' ability to project power into Europe. It's a reflection of the pain their suffering in terms of allied airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.
BLITZER: Juliette, you work at the Department of Homeland Security here in the United States. How worried should officials be here that what happened in Paris could happen in New York or Washington or Los Angeles or major city in the United States?
KAYYEM: Well, there's always worry, because we just have an infinite number of soft targets, so that even if we fortified the ones that we can speak of, then other things become soft targets. So there's always a certain level of vigilance when something like this happens in an allied country and Western city.
There's going to be increased security. Some of it will be what we call security theater. I think that's OK. You put more, you know, New York police officers out there. You put more security at the events like the NFL is doing tomorrow. Those are all good and smart rational responses, even in the absence of intelligence -- of an intelligence threat.
Look, ISIS said -- their, you know, exact words is this is just the beginning of the storm. So if you're a New York police officer you want to be -- you don't want to believe them, you know, so to speak, but you have to take it as a given that this is not the end.
BLITZER: Juliette Kayyem, Phil Mudd, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. Guys, thanks very much.
We're going to stay on top of the story. Obviously, the information -- the new information is still coming in. I'll be back, by the way, at 11 p.m. Eastern, about 90 minutes or so from now.
For more of her breaking news coverage, Erin will pick up our coverage right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Mourners gathering to light candles in the City of Lights, as Paris' chandelier, the Eiffel Tower, has gone dark.
This is our breaking news coverage here on CNN. I'm Erin Burnett, live here in Paris. Welcome to all of you watching around the world.
One-hundred twenty-nine people killed last night, a number that horribly will likely rise. A string of terrorist attacks, 99 people still in critical condition. So many families today will be waking up in a few hours missing a loved one. Their lives have been irreparably changed by night of horror, and those who lived through it will never forget the terror.
I spoke to one witness who escaped with his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Clark, thank you for coming and talking to me. I want to give -- everyone, you know, watching around the world has such empathy for Paris fear in their prayers.
CLARK WINTER, WITNESSED RESTAURANT ATTACK: Right.
BURNETT: And I want them to understand exactly what happened. The Bataclan is behind where we are... WINTER: Right.
BURNETT: ...where 89 people, we now understand, were slaughtered in cold blood last night. You were eating dinner less than a mile from here, about 10 blocks away.
WINTER: Right.
BURNETT: What happened?
WINTER: Well, I'm in Paris (inaudible) with a bunch of other people. We were walking to dinner. We walked right past La Belle Equipe, where the shooting took place moments later. We walked by, then went and sat down. Minutes later, we heard this incredible gunfire, and it's not a sound one knows, but you know it the minute you hear it.
We sat there for five or seven minutes. Then I went out to see what had happened to see if I could be helpful to the people next door. The police didn't come for another 20 minutes, and when I got there, there were six people lying on the ground in front of the restaurants and many more inside. And everybody was trying to help. There was a rumor there was a sniper upstairs in the restaurant, so we all took cover again but tried to take care of these people. For many of them, there was nothing we could do.
BURNETT: And you have shared with us a photo. And I want to warn everyone, this is an incredibly hard photo to look at. When I saw it today when you sent it, I must admit, I -- you know, it brought me to tears. People on the ground, blood outside a cafe. This is what -- this happened.
WINTER: Yes. I mean, here's the photographer. But that's not why I went. I went to be helpful. And I had my iPhone. When I saw that was going on I said somebody's got to take a picture of this. It was incredible. All over the place, everybody trying to help, screaming in every directions. I think now that there had been a shooting before, so the police came late. You know, word went right around. And the next hour and a half, there was e-mail, there was Internet, there was news, as we then figured out the scale and magnitude of what was going on and tried to be helpful to those who were in front of us.
BURNETT: And in that -- in that photo there are two men...
WINTER: Yes.
BURNETT: ...with their arms out. And you believe they were trying to get help as you were trying to get help.
WINTER: Right.
BURNETT: But the -- as you say, there were -- these attacks were simultaneous, so it took -- it took help a while to come.
WINTER: I'm guessing these guys were trying to get some attention over there from somebody in a uniform.
BURNET: Yes.
WINTER: But meanwhile, those of us right there were trying to get care to the ones who were falling down.
BURNETT: And those people who were on the ground, do you know what happened to them? Were they -- were they still alive and fighting for their lives?
WINTER: We'd just been by that restaurant a few minutes earlier, and it's an open air cafe. It was a beautiful night last night here in Paris. Everybody was out on the street. There were lots of things going on. So people were all out celebrating. And all of this -- they must have driven by, or I don't know what happened, but we heard it, and we heard it real firm. And they were out attacking, and these people were shot -- innocently having coffee -- on the ground.
BURNETT: And so you walked by and saw the very people who then moments later lost their lives?
WINTER: Yes, I was three or four minutes ahead of them going to the restaurant next door. There but for the grace of God.
BURNETT: It is -- it is -- it is impossible for people to understand.
WINTER: Yes.
BURNETT: And as you say, on such a beautiful night. You, then, were in the restaurant and not able to leave for many hours.
WINTER: The police then came, and they blockaded the street. And then we were locked down in the restaurant until 4:00 a.m. And then the word went out. By that time, we had this incredible information around the world, and I told everybody back in the States. Everybody else knew.
And then at 4:00 a.m., they put the gate up and said find your way home. Of course, there's no metro here after midnight. So, yes, again we got lucky and found a taxi at 4:00. I dropped everybody else off on the way home.
BURNETT: And then, when you walked outside, what was the scene then? Were they -- had they been able to -- paramedics had come? What happened?
WINTER: Yes. The restaurant had been covered in a tent, so we went the other way. But there were ambulances coming in every single direction, police in every single direction. And they were -- everybody was very nice telling us which way to go, which way not to go. By then, we all knew, because we'd been watching the media for hours, the extent of what happened. We were about six blocks away from the theater.
BURNETT: Yes.
WINTER: And it was amazing, because to family in the States was saying, watch the theater, they're about to go in. They're going in. And we were getting it.
BURNETT: You were -- you were -- you were -- 9/11?
WINTER: Yes.
BURNETT: You were in New York?
WINTER: Yes, I was there that day. Yes.
BURNETT: You were there that day.
WINTER: We used to talk a lot about business in those days.
BURNETT: Yes, you and I have known each other for a long time.
WINTER: Right.
BURNETT: And you now were here. Is this the same feeling?
WINTER: Yes, except the scale and magnitude and all of it all over at the same time. This was largely done, as was that, for effect. They picked places that have a lot of people watching. The world is watching, and I don't know how to say it. Yes, we have to figure out why this is going on and what we can do to stop it. So...
BURNETT: I think people are trying to understand, you know, just the fate and the fear that you walked by.
WINTER: Yes.
BURNETT: You walked by and saw people having coffee or a glass of wine, whatever it might have been, on a beautiful night.
WINTER: Yes, we could have gone to that restaurant. We just...
BURNETT: Two or three minutes -- right. That that was -- it was just that -- was it -- was it like that? That you could have gone one versus the other, or you just...
WINTER: No, the people from Paris Photo, who organized the photographers said we're going to meet at this one. It was very nice. But we could've gone to that one. Ours was inside. They picked one that was outside open on the street that they probably could drive by, attack and move on.
But literally we were there, as I said, just a few minutes earlier. It could have been any of us. It's really remarkable. And then watching and then listening and then as the evening revealed, the momentum built, we knew from around the world what was happening.
BURNETT: And there was something that happened in the restaurant where you were that I think speaks volumes to people coming together.
WINTER: Yes.
BURNETT: And that was as you found out what was happening, there was first the fear that there could have been a sniper.
WINTER: Yes.
BURNETT: You all were taking cover. You weren't allowed to leave?
WINTER: Yes.
BURNETT: The restaurant then fed you.
WINTER: Fed us dinner, yes. They said this is what you were supposed to do. And they did, and they prepared a very nice meal. And we sort of ate it with half-heart.
BURNETT: And they did that?
WINTER: They did that.
BURNETT: They did that.
WINTER: Yes. I snuck out down, because being the oldest of the group, I wanted to know what was going on and see if there was further danger, and that's when I took those pictures just with my iPhone. But we knew (inaudible) that they'd run. Nothing was going to happen more in that particular neighborhood. At least we thought that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: I found that picture so stunning and heart-wrenching.
The attacks in Paris are having people around the world on alert, as people gather for weekend events, people who are planning those events now on the highest of alert.
The impact on security worldwide, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Welcome back. I'm Erin Burnett in Paris tonight. You are watching our special live breaking news coverage of the Paris terror attacks. One hundred twenty-nine people dead. Cities across American now, including New York, adding extra patrols, beefing up security, after these coordinated simultaneous attacks showing a level of sophistication and planning that is stunningly something Intelligence did not see.
In the wake of suicide bombings of French soccer stadiums, the NFL now will be cracking down on security tomorrow for games across the country.
And I want to go back to our justice reporter, Evan Perez.
Evan, what are your sources telling you about ISIS' involvement right now?
PEREZ: Well, Erin, one of the things that they're very much concerned about is the idea that this attack could have been planned without anybody in Intelligence really noticing anything. And so as you noticed -- as you noted, the fact that if you're going to -- if you went to -- if you go to a sporting event this weekend in the United States, chances are you might've seen additional security. You're certainly going to see it tomorrow.
One of the concerns among police departments that we've talked to is that the ISIS attackers in Paris seem to be aiming for places where people were congregating, soft targets, places that you would not normally see security. And so, for instance, in New York this weekend there were nightclubs where police -- you would have seen additional police posted by the door, simply because they wanted to reassure people, and also because they know that these are the types of targets, targets of opportunity, soft targets that ISIS prizes in trying to carry out -- carry out attacks.
You know that Al-Qaeda in recent years has told its members, you know, don't do discriminative attacks like this, because you might kill Muslims. ISIS doesn't care about that, and so that's it concerning thing for Homeland Security Officials in the United States this weekend.
BURNETT: Evan, thank you very much. And I want to go straight now to the former New York City police commissioner, Bernard Kerick.
And Bernard, thank you very much for being with me. I mean, let's talk about this reality that is so stunning to so many, which is that you have this happening in Paris, coordinated, sophisticated involving at least one French national already known as radical allies the French intelligence. French intelligence on the highest alert looking for something like this, and yet it still was able to happen without them being aware. That is something that has got to be shocking for law enforcement in the United States and frankly, very frightening for law enforcement in the United States as to whether that could happen there.
BERNARD KERIK, FORMER NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: You know what, Erin, I think it's going to be shocking and disturbing to law enforcement all over the world, especially countries that live in freedom, countries that have to worry about these radical Islamic threats, for these guys to be able to pull this off. You have seven or eight attackers that are known or have been killed, and then you have a whole support group that have gone undetected probably for weeks if not months to put this thing together.
So for the U. S., that's probably one of the most important issues right now. Intelligence is the way they were going to be able to identify these guys, grab them before something happens. And unfortunately, for many cities, major cities in the United States, they don't have the resources that the New York City Police Department does. Ray Kelly in the aftermath of 9/11 after I left office, the police commissioner put an enormous effort into counterterrorism activities in the city, and it's been a great benefit to New York City.
BURNETT: Yes.
KERIK: But there are a lot of cities that don't have those resources.
BURNETT: What do you think, Bernard, about this issue of the Syrian passports, something which, you know, we have reported? We understand that one, perhaps two of the attackers were found with Syrian passports, which linked back to -- the passport so that they had just come in through Greece as part of Syrian refugee influx into Europe. We have not yet confirmed whether these were real passports, and indeed, that the people who were holding them actually work connected formally to the passport. I want to emphasize that. But how significant do you think that this risk is of ISIS members hiding amongst refugees?
KERIK: Well, I think that in itself is a major issue, and it's going to have to be looked at. Because there is no vetting process once these people start moving into the European nations, and to these other countries, there is going to -- you know, it's going to be extremely difficult to vet them. Keep in mind that ISIS, both in Iraq and Syria, has taken over a number of different cities, and I'm confident that they have taken over passport offices where they'd have access to passports...
BURNETT: Yes.
KERIK: ...where they can fabricate identities.
So, you know, I think that's extremely important. And we have to look at the history of what they're doing in Iraq and Syria. These people are barbaric. They're savages. We have to look at the way they've committed attacks in Iraq and Syria, and we have to worry about those same sort of attacks in this country here.
BURNETT: And, Bernard, what about the explosives that were used? We understand at this point that TATP was an explosive that was used, from CNN sources. That is something. As we have reported, acetone, peroxide, things that can be bought and beauty supply stores, things that are present in women's hair coloring, things that can, with some knowledge, be baked into an explosive in someone's kitchen and a relatively simple way. Not something that is highly secret. Those things were obviously procured somehow right here in France or in another country and brought into France. Is that something that would be as easily procured in the United States? Because it sounds like that on the face of it that it would be, because they're household products.
KERIK: Keep in mind, Erin, most of that stuff you can get over-the- counter. Most of the stuff you can go into a cosmetic...
BURNETT: Right.
KERIK: ...store or some grocery store and -- were a hardware store, buy this stuff, and put it all together.
Also keep in mind, there have been thousands, I understand, of French people that have gone into Syria. We've had a number of people out of the U.K. and the U.S. that have gone into Syria and Iraq to fight against us. So these people go over there, they learn the trade, and they learned the special skills, how to produce devices together. They come back, they put it together, and they go out and do something like this.
BURNETT: Now, Bernard, are they -- is it possible for them to track them? We understand that one of these French nationals was already known to Intelligence as having been radicalized. So you would think that he had -- that he was being tracked.
Jim Sciutto's talked about, though, but it takes 10 intelligence officers to track one person. There may be hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals that the French would like to try. They can't track them all. Therefore, you cannot definitionally prevent something like happened last night. Fair?
KERIK: You know what, Erin? You have to set your priorities, and you have to target the people that you think are the biggest threats here in the United States. You know, according to Director Comey of the FBI, we probably have up to a thousand different targets that the FBI is looking at nationwide.
BURNETT: Yes.
KERIK: That takes an enormous amount of resources, and we don't have those kind of resources at the federal level to send target teams out, surveillance teams out, you know, 10, 12-man team watching each person. So we have to prioritize who we're looking at.
BURNETT: OK. All right. Thank you very much, Bernard Kerik.
Well, the French president has called the attacks here in Paris and act of war. And that, of course, raises a huge question. What is war mean? This war mean ground troops from France? Does it mean roundtrips from the United States? And what is the urgency for Intelligence officials to try to stop the next attack?
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BURNETT: Welcome back. I'm Erin Burnett in Paris, where suicide bombers and gunmen killed 129 people, something the French president called "an act of war."
Our global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, joins me now. And Elise, what are you learning about the health terrorists here may have received from ISIS central? Such a crucial question here as the world decide what to do about Syria.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, CNN has learned French authorities are leaning towards the theory that the attackers were getting support outside France, as we've been talking about a Syrian passport found on one of the attackers showing that this attacker apparently gained entry into Europe through Greece by coming in alongside refugees, could have been from Syria. And Western officials -- Intelligence officials fear that there are more fighters coming back from Syria with Western passports returning to Europe or entering alongside this flood of legitimate refugees.
And tonight, the campaign against ISIS and their global reach is coming into sharp focus.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
LABOTT: France is reeling tonight after the deadliest attacks on the country since World War II. None of the terrorists have been identified, but ISIS is claiming responsibility, raising questions about just how effective the West's campaign against the group really is.
FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE: It's an act of war that's been declared that was planned from the outside. France will not show any pity against the barbaric acts taking by ISIL.
LABOTT: The coordinated multi-pronged attacks against Paris force the White House to recast President Obama's comments from a day earlier that the ISIS Brett was under control.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: From the start, our goal has been first to contain, and we have contained them.
LABOTT: Administration officials explained the president was talking about ISIS territory in Iraq and Syria, not the groups influence elsewhere.
But with ISIS calling for attacks worldwide, and affiliates springing up throughout the Middle East, the terror group's global expansion is a major concern. Just this week Obama's point man on ISIS, General John Allen, warned of the threat of the group, also called Dash, in an interview with CNN.
LT. GEN. JOHN ALLEN (RET.), INTERNATIONAL COALITION COORDINATOR: I think the one area where we obviously are very attentive now is the expansion of Dash beyond the region, and we're watching that very closely.
LABOTT: The threat of ISIS now tops the agenda in Turkey Sunday, where President Obama will meet with leaders from the G-20 nations.
OBAMA: The French people have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States time and again. Now, we want to be very clear that we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Elise, you know, we heard the President of the United States speaking. You heard the president of France calling this an act of war. When you hear this, you hear the words "war," people think perhaps it is not just airstrikes, and it certainly is just not going to be more airstrikes. Is this something where we could see a coalition force, where we could see ground troops, American ground troops, in Syria?
LABOTT: I don't think you're going to see American ground troops, Erin. What General Allen was telling me the other day is as the U.S. gets -- and its partners get concerned about some of these groups popping up, they want to work with some of these local partners on the ground. And look, you can't have American troops going to six, seven areas where they think these ISIS affiliates are. We're talking about the Sinai and the -- we're talking about the Sinai, we're talking about possibly in the Caucuses, obviously, talking about Libya where the coalition did watch an airstrike just before those attacks and killed the leader of the ISIS affiliate there.
So I think what they want to do is work with local partners on the ground, build up their capability, and this way, they can do the ground offensive while the coalition launches airstrikes, Erin.
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BROWN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. And this is CNN special coverage.
Paris is in a state of emergency. Police remain on the lookout, and France's borders remain shuttered.
