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Canada Loses Innocence in Terror Attack; Growing Concerns Over U.S./Canadian Border, Safety of U.S. Military in Canada; Statement Issued by Mother of Canada Shooter; 3 Colorado Girls Caught Trying to Join ISIS; Do Lone Wolves Pose Same Threat as Organized Terrorist Attacks?

Aired October 23, 2014 - 13:30   ET

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

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JIM CIRILLO, UNCLE OF NATHAN CIRILLO: My sister in Niagara Falls is taking it really bad. She's really taking it bad. And she's trying to get a hold of Nathan's father in Costa Rica and I'm waiting to see if he will call me because she doesn't -- she says she probably won't be able to tell Nathan's father what just happened. So she says she was going to tell him to call me and for me to talk to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The Canadian soldier killed in the shootings, Nathan Cirillo, being remembered by his family, indeed, by the entire nation of Canada, which is mourning.

Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and his wife gathered at Canada's national war memorial this morning where the gunman began his attack. He then continued his attack at the parliament building not that far away. The prime minister, speaking to lawmakers today, said Canadians will not be intimidated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHAN HARPER, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: We will be vigilant but we will not run scared. We will be prudent but we will not panic. And as for the business of government, here we are, in our seats, in our chamber, in the very heart of our democracy and our --

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Canadian officials have confirmed this photo, it shows the gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. First appeared on an Islamic State or ISIS Twitter account that has since been shut down.

Let's bring in Bill Curry, the parliamentary reporter for "The Globe and Mail," joining us from Ottawa now.

You were there, Bill. We spoke as these events were unfolding yesterday. On this day after, how are Canadians reacting?

BILL CURRY, PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER, THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Certainly, I've been on Parliament Hill, so the reaction there has been kind of exhaustion. You're seeing people with bags under their eyes, blood shot, really exhausted and stressed out from the last events. And behind us in terms of the -- just lost the feed here. But in terms of the reaction behinds us, we're seeing Canadians come out and laying wreaths, showing their support to the armed forces here in Ottawa.

BLITZER: I'm going to fix your audio over there, Bill. Stand by. We'll get back to you in just a moment.

We'll take a quick break. Much more of our conversation with "The Globe and Mail" parliamentary reporter and ask him about what one columnist wrote today in Canada saying that Canada has just lost her innocence. Much more after this.

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BLITZER: A Canadian columnist wrote, and I'm quoting, "Canada has lost her innocence." The paper saying this is a potential turning point for Canada.

Bring back Bill Curry, the parliamentary reporter for "The Globe and Mail."

That is a fair analysis would you say? This is a game changer for Canada?

CURRY: Well, certainly, I think we'll have to see first in terms of when we know more about the shooter because we have had violent shootings in the past and the recent past. Just in June, there was a shooter down the streets of New Brunswick targeting police officers, leaving three dead. So this isn't entirely new to Canada. But it's -- obviously, you have the added symbolism of the parliament buildings, the war memorial, and the potential connection to terrorist groups. So I think as we learn about those relationships and how deep they are will have the impact of how Canada views this incident.

BLITZER: You heard the Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He referred to it as an act of terror. Was this one guy on his own decides to go ahead and try to kill a Canadian soldier or plotted and planned? What are you hearing over there?

CURRY: Well that's what we're trying to piece together. We're going to have a media briefing with the police officers, the police authorities, later this afternoon that will hopefully answer some of those questions. There are a few links but relatively tenuous about which Twitter accounts the people have been following and those connections. At the moment, there's not a whole lot of deep information connecting either of these two assailants from this week's incidents to kind of international terror organizations. Hopefully we'll get those answers later today. The prime minister, in the House, didn't have more information to shed on that today.

BLITZER: Do you think this is going to affect the debate? It's been a pretty intense debate in the parliament where you are, whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper did the right thing and going ahead and joining the U.S.-led air campaign against ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq. There's been an intense debate. Spoke to one member of parliament this hour, she voted against it. How is this likely to impact the attitudes there in parliament?

CURRY: Certainly, we saw today when everybody got back into the House of Commons, certainly a rare outpouring of affection between the cross party lines, party leaders hugging each other. You don't see that often. But soon enough, it's going to go back to the much more divisive debates, what should Canada's role be, combat role, more on the humanitarian mission. The parties did not agree on that issue in parliament when these were decided in the last few weeks. The prime minister made clear he wants to go further in terms of national security powers and give our spy agency the power to go in and disrupt potential cells or individuals that are up to something. That, you know, that might mean having security officials show up at somebody's work and intimidate people. That goes a step beyond what is currently allowed and that's going to create a whole debate about civil liberties. The justice minister walking around Parliament Hill with the criminal code under his arm. Big changes ahead, and going to be sensitive, deeply charged political issues here.

BLITZER: I suspect it will be.

Bill Curry with "The Globe and Mail," thanks very much. Always good to get your perspective.

The United States and Canada share a very long border, more than 5500 miles long. In fact, after the shooting spree in Ottawa, there's growing concern in the United States about just how secure that border is. And now the U.S. is urging its patrol agents along the border to be on a higher state of alert.

There's also growing concern about American military troops stationed in Canada. The Pentagon saying they can wear their uniforms in public, while Canadian troops have been told to stop wearing their uniforms temporarily.

Our aviation and government regulation correspondent, Rene Marsh, is joining us now from Washington.

What else are you picking up, Rene?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: A DHS official tells me, right now, officers at Land, Air and Sea Borders remain on increased alert, paying close attention to people arriving at the border. Because they are still learning about the facts in this case and the details are still evolving, we are not hearing that the officers are looking for anything or anyone in particular. I am told, though, that they are looking for anything that is suspicious. No visible signs of the heightened alert at the borders at this time, but then their language is increased alert.

The U.S./Canadian border is a little more than an hour drive from where the shots were fired yesterday. So this is what's happening. Again, I am told that, at this point, there is no threat to the United States as far as what they know and what they're hearing. Still, though, officers on the border, the word from DHS, they're on alert -- Wolf?

BLITZER: A report as you know from Canada's ministry of public safety, says dozens, dozens of Canadians are traveled abroad for what are described as terror-related activities, some of them, in fact, have returned back to Canada. How concerned should U.S. officials be and you're talking to them, that some of these guys might be willing to try to cross the border into the United States, which usually isn't very complicated. And there is a long border between the U.S. and Canada?

MARSH: And when you talk to officials, DHS officials current and past, they will tell you that, of course, there is the concern that these individuals could cross between that border. Lots of people cross this border on a daily basis. But when you look at -- you're looking at that map there, you look at the southern border, northern border there, when you talk about the presence of law enforcement at the border, you see a lot more at the southern border and when you talk to former officials, they say the people at the southern border are more focused on immigration issues, the cartels. Northern border, not so much.

The question has become, if we've seen what happened here just yesterday, why not increase the man power on the northern border and as one former official told me, of course, there is the concern but in a time where you have limited budgets, that would mean having to double the man power at the northern border. Just not the money to do that.

Let's not forget Canada is an ally of the U.S. So they're good at sharing information when it comes to these issues, Wolf. So that's why we're not seeing the same presence. Are they concerned? Of course. They say they're watching who is coming and going as it relates to the U.S./Canadian border -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Important issues on the agenda right there.

Rene, thanks very much.

Coming up, three Colorado teenage girls, they are now back in Colorado. They're back home after flying overseas allegedly trying to join with the ISIS terror group in Syria. Their reported plans, we're getting information, and we'll have a report when we come back.

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BLITZER: We're just getting in a statement from the shooter in yesterday's killing of a soldier in Ottawa. This is from the mother of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. He was the killer. He himself was shot by the sergeant at arms at the Canadian parliament. There's a picture that has been released by ISIS -- by the ISIS Twitter account that has been shut down of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

His mother just released a statement. Susan Bibeau released a statement to the Associated Press. Let me read part of it to you our viewers. Quote, "I don't understand and part of me wants to hate him at this time. I am mad at our son." She goes on to say this, "No words can express the sadness we are feeling at this time. We are so sad that a man lost his life." Referring to the sergeant. "He has lost everything and leaves behind a family that must feel nothing but pain and sorrow. We send our deepest condolences to them. Although words seem useless, we are both crying for them." Referring to her and her husband. "We also wish to apologize for all the pain," she writes, "all the fright, the chaos he created. We have no explanation to offer."

That statement just released. Certainly not your typical runaway teenage story.

Three Colorado girls are back in the United States after apparently running away from home, flying to Germany on an alleged bid to get connected with the ISIS terror group in Syria. And now we're learning more about how they were caught.

Here's CNN's justice reporter, Evan Perez.

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EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wolf, teenage girls, 15, 16 and 17 years old played hooky from school. Two stole $2,000 from their parents. But instead of spending the day at the mall, as many teens would do, these girls grabbed their passports and flew to Germany. Their destination was Turkey and eventually Syria to join ISIS.

Here's what happened according to police reports. Last Friday, two girls, 15 and 17-year-old sisters, told their dad they were sick and stayed home from school. Their dad last talked to them around 10:30 in the morning and they said they were going to the library. Across town their 16-year-old friend also skipped school. Her dad got a call from the school to find out why she wasn't there. He called his daughter and she said she was only running late for class. The dad called authorities later in the day when they couldn't reach their girls and saw their passports had gone missing. The father of the 15 and 17-year-old sisters also discovered that he was missing $2,000 in cash. The FBI flagged their passports and German authorities detained them at the Frankfurt Airport and sent them back home over the weekend.

The case is causing concern for federal authorities because they think it shows that slick propaganda videos by ISIS and other terrorist groups are drawing a really young audience. There are no charges expected in this case because of their ages but the FBI already has its hands full with dozens of investigations of Americans who either plan to travel or have returned home from Syria and Iraq. The FBI is now trying to determine who they were in touch with online and who lured them to travel overseas -- Wolf?

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BLITZER: Evan Perez, our justice reporter. What a shocking story. Thank you very much.

The attack in Ottawa has the United States, several other nations, on a much higher state of alert right now. Police say it was carried out by what they describe as a lone shooter. But do lone-wolf terrorists pose the same kind of threat as organized terror attacks? We'll speak with an expert when we return.

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BLITZER: The shooting in Ottawa appears to be the latest in a series of terror attacks carried out by lone wolves, men and women who appear to be inspired by terrorist ideology. Although, there's no conclusive evidence yet that he was, in fact a lone-wolf. They are still investigating. Days before Wednesday's attack another Canadian soldier was killed in a separate incident, hit-and-run near Montreal. Canadian authorities say the attacker had been radicalized, classified as a potential important threat. That, according to Canadian authorities.

Let's bring in, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.

Daveed, has this lone-wolf phenomenon increased in the last few years or sort of remained steady?

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, SENIOR FELLOW, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: It's hard to quantify. There's not evidence it had a massive spike. In Canada, you've had more fatalities now due to lone- wolf attacks than you used to have quite obviously. Canada isn't used to a lot of fatalities through terrorism. It's had a few incidents but it's been decades since they experienced something like this.

But in the United States, you do have lone-wolf attacks and you've had fatalities caused by that, but also a lot of periods, 1970s and 1980s, of people doing similar things. Abortion clinic bombings are one good example.

BLITZER: We know that lone-wolf -- some people think it's a misnomer. This suspect did have at least some connections with other jihadists in Canada. So would that rule out this lone-wolf theory?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: No, when we talk about lone wolves, we talk about execution of the attack and not the radicalization. It's unusual for someone to be entirely self-radicalized. Someone usually leads them along, although not always. He probably was radicalized by others and probably was, but would still be a lone-wolf attacker.

BLITZER: What's the main lesson that U.S. law enforcement, counterterrorism authorities need to learn from what happened in Canada?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: One thing I admire about the Canadian response is it was a measured response. Media didn't freak out about this. Law enforcement had a measured response. I think that what Canadians are going to do from here is going to be very similar to what the U.S. would do, tracking down the network, seeing if other people were involved. Similarly, in the United States, I think that one thing that would have happened differently, and that is the first attack that was carried out, the shooting, it was near the parliament building, yet the shooter was still able to get into the parliament building. If that were to happen in the United States, he never would have been able to get into the capitol. That's one thing where the U.S. and its current system has an advantage over the Canadian response.

BLITZER: You've done some significant research on why some of these young men are impressed by these terrorist videos. ISIS has some sophisticated videos out there on the Internet. What makes them so vulnerable to this brand of terrorism, shall we say?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: I think there's different pathways. That's what most research concludes. On the one hand, there's an ideological pathway, where people, through sincere religious conviction, reach extreme results. Some pathways are more angry, some based on a sense of adventure, some based on sex. For example, you see those Colorado school girls who wanted to marry ISIS fighters. Part of that feeds into notions of what ISIS fighters were and what kind of society that would be. But in a number of cases, particularly with ISIS, they tend to focus much more on the young and angry demographic. Much more so than al Qaeda does. Right now, we can see how these beheadings and people taking selfies with severed heads is attracting people to the battlefield. I think over the longer term, this is going to end up causing real brand damage to ISIS. But right now, we're in the phase where young people are really excited by this.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

One programming note here. Tonight is debate night in America. For our viewers, I'll be moderating a debate here in New Hampshire. For viewers in North America, make sure to tune in 11:00 p.m. eastern, the debate between two U.S. Senate candidates. The balance of power in the Senate at stake. Make sure you watch, 11:00 p.m. eastern, right here on CNN.

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

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.