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Kurdish Fighters Talk of Huge Number of Airstrikes; Worries over Copycat Attacks in U.S.; Soda Can Bomb Raises Concerns of Airport Security; Concerns over Visa Waiver Program; Trump Says Register All Muslims in Database; France Votes to Extend State of Emergency. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 20, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sinjar sat on a key route between Mosul Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, and that's now cut off. That is a huge issue for those in Raqqa, because the easy escape route is gone. It has some huge trenches dug around it and earth berms all around it, and so phenomenally complicated job to relocate themselves. And then, of course, they must be working out how much manpower they're willing to put in to holding Raqqa if there is a ground offensive. A lot of talk about that, Wolf, from everybody we speak to, that something is about to happen, but frankly, it is coupled with the numbers not being the size they want, their weapons not what they want. It is a confusing message, but it is one that has momentum like never did before -- Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And one school of thought here in Washington is that as ISIS is losing ground in Raqqa and elsewhere, in Sinjar, and you have heard about the Jihadi John, one of the explanations for their expanding the operations outside of Syria and Iraq, whether in Beirut or Paris or in Sinai in Egypt, is they're reaching out, they are trying to show they are very much viable. We will see if that explanation holds.

Nick Paton Walsh, be careful there inside of Syria, and we will stay in touch with you. Look forward to more of your reporting.

Just ahead, law enforcement agencies in the United States are focusing more closely on a new terror threats from copycats. We'll explain. There's more information coming in. We're following the breaking news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:49] BLITZER: The success of the Paris terrorist attacks could have a ripple effect in the United States. The FBI Director James Comey and the attorney general of the United States, Loretta Lynch, are now saying that the FBI is closely watching dozens of people here in the United States who they say may try to carry out a copycat attack here in the United States.

Let's talk about this. Joining us, our justice reporter, Evan Perez; our law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director; also Foria Younes, a former FBI special agent who also now is consultant for overseas law enforcement. Evan, you're following these concerns there could be copycats at large

in the United States, what are you learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, is a big concern for the FBI director and the attorney general, Wolf. Here is the part that really worries the, the fact that one thing that is a trend with these extremists that they're trying to track is the shortening of the time of becoming first radicalized to becoming trying to carry it out. They have noticed that the guys seem to be radicalized recently before they try to do something, and that makes the job of law enforcement exceedingly more difficult. So they are watching a few dozen of the people. There are 900 investigations in all going, but they decided to focus on the ones higher priority and the people they believe are most likely to carry something out.

BLITZER: And we have reported that in Europe, whether France or Belgium, the law enforcement, intelligence, they seem to be overwhelmed by the huge number they are tracking. 900 open investigations here in the United States. Is there a fear among the U.S. law enforcement, the FBI, the justice officials that the FBI could soon be overwhelmed with the number of surveillance programs under way? You need a lot of people to watch one individual.

PEREZ: Well, there was a period between May and July before the 4th of July, and we talked about the threat that they were seeing, and that is when they did have to draw the agents from the criminal cases to try to do more surveillance on the national security cases. That is a period that the FBI director says was unsustainable. They are not doing that right now, but I can tell you that they are concerned that the more of the cases that they have to open, it is going to draw on more resources.

BLITZER: And, Tom, take us behind the scenes, which individual make be a more significant the threat may be for another person, requiring more surveillance.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, they are gathering as much intelligence as they can, and work in the community and hope that the outreach programs and then the signals intelligence overseas and the different methods of gathering information together, and hope they are picking the right targets at the right time. And remember in Boston about six months ago they had a wiretap and full-court coverage of a guy who intended to kill police officers with a big knife that he ordered, and as soon as he got the knife, he was on wiretap telling the partner, I am going to the go out the kill the boys in blue today and I can't wait. They confronted him on the street, and he was shot dead on the street. But if they had not been on him on that wiretap, he would have killed some people.

BLITZER: And the concern is that all of the ISIS propaganda videos, the social media -- Foria, I know you monitor it closely -- and the successful attacks whether in Paris or the killing of the 224 people on the Russian plane over Sinai and the suicide bombings in Beirut, that only inspires more potential terrorists to appear here in the United States. How concerned are U.S. law enforcement that these successful terror attacks will promote more? FORIA YOUNES, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT & OVERSEAS LAW ENFORCEMENT

CONSULTANT: I think that law enforcement is very concerned, and they should be. Any time you have a large killings and media coverage, the terrorists know they can be more successful. If they are watching it on the television, there is a good likelihood even if they are thinking it, maybe not as skilled as the old timer al Qaeda attacks, but maybe they pick up a knife and get in the car to try to drive over people, but they want the heroism themselves to make it appear they have done something for the cause also.

[13:40:02] BLITZER: It is a chilling thought.

Guys, don't go too far away.

We are getting more on the copycat threats, preventing future terror attacks. The chairman of the House Foreign Fighter Task Force, Congressman John Katko is standing by. We'll discuss with him when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We are tracking all of the late-breaking developments in the hotel attack, the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali, as well the investigation into the terrorist massacre one week ago. The attacks have raised concerns for security here in the United States.

Joining us to talk more about it is Republican Congressman John Katko, of New York, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee and the Foreign Fighters Task Force as well.

Congressman, we are told that the FBI is on the lookout for copycat terrorists at large here in the United States. How concerned are you, based on all of the briefings that you have received about it?

[13:45:15] REP. JOHN KATKO, (R-NY), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE FOREIGN FIGHTERS TASK FORCE: Well, I'm very concerned. I have had dozens of briefings and sometimes as many as three a day, and a dozen a week. And so the concern is that high, and the threat level is high for a while now.

BLITZER: What needs to be done now to make sure that Times Square in New York, the Harold Square in New York, the White House, the monuments in Washington? These ISIS videos and the propaganda videos are directly threatening them. What needs to be done now?

KATKO: Well, we need to remain on a high level of alert, and the security risk is high, and we have to recognize that. We also have to look forward to realize that there are some things that we can do the close the gaps domestically and internationally. And the task force found 32 key findings and recommendations, and we are working on the legislative package to get through Congress quickly, but we are writing the laws now.

BLITZER: And we heard from Evan Perez, our justice reporter, who said that there are 900 open investigations of terror suspects in the United States right now. Is there a concern that the law enforcement, federal, state, local could be overwhelmed if the number grows? KATKO: Absolutely. There is no question about it. In every federal

judicial district in the country, there is a Joint Terrorism Task Force, and they are the front lines of the investigation, and they really being stretched very thin right now. And one of the recommendations of the report is to strengthen their tie and expedite the clearance process to engage more state and local law enforcement to help augment the task forces. And that is one thing to do to help give them some relief, because there's simply not enough federal agents to go around to do it, to do the job properly. But the task forces are doing a tremendous job under a tremendous amount of stress right now.

BLITZER: I know that you have been briefed on aviation security. That picture that we saw of the so-called soda can bomb that was supposedly placed in the passenger plane in Sinai -- and we are showing the viewers the picture of the soda can bomb -- and the detonators as well, and detonated shortly after it took off from Sharm el Sheikh. Is there any indication that it could have done that the type of destruction to blow that plane out of the sky?

KATKO: Yes, and it also points up the airport security concerns domestically and internationally. I have a couple of bills that have passed the House through the Transportation Subcommittee, which I chair, sitting in the Senate right now, and hopefully we will get some movement on them. But better screening and vetting of the employees at airports and recognizing that right now the employees at the airports are much less scrutiny than the people who visit the airports. We have to change that. And given the fact of what happened in Sharm el Sheikh looks like it was done with the help of employees of the airport, goes to show you that one of the great vulnerabilities that nobody is paying attention to is employees at the airports. We have 9,000 of them at airports nationwide, and they are not getting the scrutiny they need.

BLITZER: And what about the visa waiver program to allow people into the United States from friendly countries to come into the United States as tourists or business people or whatever. And a lot of the colleagues and not only Democrats, but Republicans, too, are saying that we should look at that as well, because potentially terrorists could slip in. Where do you stand on that?

KATKO: Well, first of all, recognize what the visa program does. It generates billions of dollars of business in the United States, and also generates about one million jobs in the United States. The problem with the visa waiver program is information. It is not on our side of the pond, but the other side. When you have a visa waiver into another country, you are entering a contract that you will do information sharing at a level that makes you feel OK about the information that you are receiving regarding the travelers. Anybody who takes part in the visa waiver program has to fill out the electronic survey online and that is run against the terrorist database. It is not so much the system, but we are getting information from other countries, and the other countries need to step up the game as far as how they gather information and where they put it. For example, entering it in Interpol is one of the recommendations of the task force report, and doing things like that would really help. The visa waiver program is a good idea because, in the end, it is really an information enhancer and security enhancer as long as the other countries that we're working with give you the proper information to screen the passengers.

[13:50:03] BLITZER: As long as they do it. That is the sticky word right there.

Congressman, thank you for joining us.

KATKO: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: John Katko is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The refugee debate has been a hot topic on the campaign trail among Republican candidates for president but none may be getting more attention than Donald Trump, who may want to register all Muslims in one database.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A database system that tracks the Muslims in this country?

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: There should be a lot of systems. And today you can do it.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: That's something your White House would like to do?

TRUMP: I would certainly implement that. Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How do you get them registered?

TRUMP: It would be good management. Good management procedures. We can do that.

That's nice.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you go to mosques and sign them up?

TRUMP: Different places. You sign them up at different -- but it's all about management.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Dr. Ben Carson, another one of the Republican presidential front runners, offered this controversial analogy about Syrian refugees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BEN CARSON, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & RETIRED NEUROSURGEON: If there's a rabid dog running around your neighborhood, you're probably not going to assume something good about that dog. And you're probably going to put your children out of the way. That doesn't mean that you hate all dogs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: When asked that today about the Trump plan, potentially to track Muslims in the United States, Ben Carson called that a bad idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARSON: I don't think it's a good idea to treat anybody differently. One of the hallmarks of America is that we treat everybody the same. So if we're just going to pick out a particular group of people based on their religion, based on their race, based on some other thing, that's setting a very dangerous precedent I believe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Here's what the Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, says about Donald Trump's plan -- I'm quoting now -- "This is an outrageous and bigoted statement. Mr. Trump should be ashamed of himself. We will not destroy ISIS by undermining the Constitution and our religious freedoms." That statement from Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate.

One week after the Paris massacre, a deadly siege on a hotel in Mali. We'll get perspective from our terrorism analyst on both attacks and what it all means.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:48] BLITZER: Just a few moments ago, the French Senate voted to extend the state of emergency in France for an additional three months. This, at the end of a week following the horrendous terror attacks in Paris.

Paul Cruickshank is joining us right now, our terrorism analyst.

Paul, let's first talk about what's going on in Mali right now, a terror strike at the Radisson Blu Hotel on the capital of Mali. Give us your assessment whether or not this is directly connected to what's been going on in Paris.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Wolf, it may be a reaction to what happened in Paris because al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for this attack in a claim posted on jihadi media portal. An al Qaeda group claiming responsibility, it may be a response to is hitting the global head lines over the last few weeks. Al Qaeda wants to get back in the headlines as well. There's a lot of competition between these two groups globally for recruits. But one of the groups claiming responsibility is a group that's been founded by a one-eyed Algerian terrorist who you'll recall orchestrated the hostage siege of a gas plant in Algeria. When were killed when they went in. They are also responsible in March for an attack on a restaurant popular in the capital in Mali. So plausible that they were involved. And this was a terrorist spectacular that they were planning. In that claim of responsibility, the U.S. government analysts are assessing. They very much present this as an anti-France operation and they say one of the things they have been trying to pressure is for prisoners in France to be liberated.

BLITZER: Quickly, on this one terrorist who remains at large, Salah Abdeslam, any progress at all in finding this guy?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, I've been speaking to officials about this. The last time I spoke to them no progress at all. They had literally no idea where he was, which country he was. I think there's some thought that maybe he would have gone back to Brussels because that's where he has a sort of support network. It may be that he's hiding in some cellar at a friend's residence. As soon as he gets on the move, he becomes vulnerable. He's the most wanted man in Europe right now.

BLITZER: He certainly is. I know the search for him and other suspected terrorists is intensifying even as we speak. There's widespread speculation that there are terror cells still at large in France, Belgian and elsewhere in Europe.

Paul Cruickshank, thanks as usual for joining us.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "The Situation Room."

The news continues, and there's lots of it, right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[14:00:13] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin.