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Does DMV Have a License to Offend; U.S. Pulls Out Remaining Special Forces Troops; Obama Touted Yemen as a Success; Could Hit List Be Targeting U.S. Troops; Ted Cruz Kicks Off 2016 Campaign; FBI Investigates Threat Against U.S. Troops; ISIS Recruitment. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired March 23, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:27] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in Paris, 8:00 p.m. in Sanaa, Yemen, 9:30 p.m. in Kabul. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And let's get right to the breaking news on Yemen. New pictures have just been released online by ISIS showing the suicide bombers in last week's horrific attack on Mosque in the capital city of Sanaa. Here they are. Take a look at these. More than 130 people were killed in those terror attacks, hundreds more were injured. The worsening situation there leading to the declaration from a United Nations envoy that the country is inching ever closer to a full-blown civil war.

Let's go to our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson. He's watching what's going on from London. What can you tell us about these new images we're now getting from ISIS, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, one of the interesting things about these images, they are all Yemenis. They're all from -- or at least four out of five of them are from an area where Al Qaeda and the Houthis are in their sort of their deepest fighting, at the moment.

We hear routinely of Al Qaeda killing 20 Houthis here and blowing up a checkpoint here. But these are perhaps -- potentially, former Al Qaeda members, certainly ISIS members now, from this part of Yemen that's in a deep fight with the Houthis. And this is propaganda now as well, additional propaganda on top of that attack Friday. ISIS here trying to do what it does in other countries, Wolf, which is -- which is make a lot of propaganda which is attract people to its fight and away from Al Qaeda as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We heard -- over the weekend, we learned the U.S. pulled out its remaining, what, 100 or so Special Forces from Yemen. The U.S. embassy had been evacuated months -- a couple of months earlier. I understand Britain has now followed suit. Is that right?

ROBERTSON: Britain has followed suit. And now, you have a call from the Yemeni foreign minister saying that he wants the Gulf -- Arab countries in the Gulf to get to bring military intervention to bear to help him and the rest of the country. Of course, this is the government, at the moment, the internationally recognized government, is in the south in Aden less than 100 miles from the town that the Houthis rebels have just taken just north of them -- Wolf.

BLITZER: A key airport, as you know, in southwestern Yemen, the third largest city there, has now been overrun as well. Tell us about that.

ROBERTSON: That's significant. Houthis rebels came into the town of Taiz, the third largest city in Yemen. They took control not only of the airport, they arrived some by air, some by road, but they also took control of certain government buildings, police buildings, interior ministry buildings inside the city. This is a city that it does not broadly support the rebels, yet they now appear in control and are literally a relatively short drive down the main highway to the city of Aden.

And also, Thursday last week, the president's house in Aden, President Hadi's house in Aden, was attacked by fighter bomber jets believed to be Houthis. So, really, what you're seeing right now, Wolf, is a potential for the internationally recognized government to get further squeezed in Yemen.

BLITZER: And as you point out, these Houthi rebels are Shiites supported by Iran. A very dangerous situation in Yemen. It seems to be escalating for the worse.

Nic Robertson in London, thanks very much.

Right now, Yemen is clearly split three ways. So, there's the elected government which has been forced out by the rebels. You heard Nic talk about that. Those rebels are these Iranian backed Houthis who control areas of the capital and they are now in the southwest as well. Then, there's Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula, also known as AQAP. They're in eastern Yemen.

Let's talk about all of this with our CNN Military Analyst, retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. He's joining us from Carmel, California. Our CNN Intelligence and Security Analyst, the former CIA operative, Bob Baer. And our CNN Terrorism Analyst Paul Cruickshank.

Colonel Francona, with U.S. and British Special Forces now out, are there any eyes and ears, trustworthy eyes and ears on the ground specifically as it -- as it related to AQAP or even ISIS, that could help the U.S. appreciate what's going on?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RETIRED), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, this is a major blow. We've lost our ability to find out what's going on on the ground. The British have also lost theirs. Without the embassy there, we've basically got nothing there. We can view this from the air using drones and manned aircraft but it just makes it that much harder.

So, yes, this has been a big problem for us.

[13:05:03] BLITZER: Last September, Bob Baer, as you know, the president touted Yemen as a success story. Let me play the clip. This is the president of the United States on September 10th of last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners on the front lines is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Since then, the U.S. has evacuated, abandoned Yemen. The U.S. embassy has been evacuated, shut down. The same, of course, exists in Somalia. No U.S. embassy there. Is he getting bad intelligence from the U.S. intelligence community, Bob, or is he simply wrong in these kinds of assessments?

ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: No, he got bad briefings, Wolf. He got bad briefing on Syria and Iraq, the Islamic state. He called that the J.V. team. He called Yemen a success. The intelligence community is way behind on this of assessing what the Islamic state is and the Islamic is and the Islamic fundamentalism.

And it's time to change advisers, frankly. I mean, Yemen is a mess. You've got large parts of the country falling under the Al Qaeda or the Islamic state, the (INAUDIBLE.) You've got Hadi, the president, the elected president. He's on his way out. You've got Houthis marches on Aden. They're getting closer and closer. And you've even got the former deposed president, Ali Abdullah Saleh is siding with the Houthis. The chances of a civil war not breaking out in a major way in Yemen, drawing in the Saudis, drawing in the Iranians are -- it's almost certain it's going to happen.

BLITZER: So, Paul, are we headed for a faceoff now in Yemen, a faceoff between the largely Sunni AQAP and the largely Shiite Houthis?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Yes, I mean, we are. I think we're already there. I mean, there's been fierce fighting in the central parts of Yemen, in Al Bida Province, for example, between these two groups. And this is all playing to the advantage of AQAP, Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen. It's getting a recruitment windfall from Sunni tribals. It's been able to expand its operations throughout the country. It now has more resources than perhaps any time before.

And, of course, this has been the most active Al Qaeda affiliate when it comes to launching clocks against the United States. It has more resource to do that than ever before. This is a group that wants to blow an American airliner out of the sky. Its chief bomb maker, Al Asiri, has been making increasingly sophisticated devices. This is a huge concern to Washington, D.C., right now, for all of our security.

BLITZER: Yes. They say it may be teetering towards civil war. It certainly does look like civil war already. It certainly looks like another Syria in the makings in Yemen. The stakes for the U.S. and the -- much of world, enormous right now. I want all of you to stand by.

Guys, we have a lot more coming up, including this. A group claiming to have ties to ISIS, threatening U.S. troops here in the United States. How real is this so-called hack attack? How serious is their so-called hit list targeting U.S. military personnel for death?

And later, the Texas senator, Ted Cruz, he becomes the first big name to officially enter the 2016 presidential race. But is early -- an early entry an advantage? We'll take a closer look on what's going on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:11:43] BLITZER: A group claiming to have ties to ISIS post an online threat against U.S. troops. The group calls it the Islamic State Hacking Organization. They posted the names, pictures, even the addresses of about U.S. military personnel.

How real is this threat and how is the U.S. military and law enforcement responding? Let's go to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara, what are officials over there saying about this threat? Do they take it seriously?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, certainly very upsetting to the military personnel and their families on this list. What Pentagon officials are telling me is, yes, they are taking it seriously. All of the military service is now notifying their members who appear on this list. The Navy and Marine Corps say they are doing in-person notifications directly to the people listed.

But in the initial analysis, what they also say is they don't see any hacking. What does that mean? They don't believe a military database was cracked into, if you will, by some ISIS-related organization. It appears that most of this information comes off these people's social media accounts. That's what it appears to be, that someone went into, you know, online social media and just started looking for any names and addresses of military personnel.

So, once again, the Pentagon is reminding all military personnel to be very careful about any personal data they post online or that they post in their social media accounts, probably good advice for all of us out there in today's cyber world. So, it starts with that, notifying everybody, making sure everybody looks one more time at their social media accounts. They're not being dismissive of it. But, right now, we're being told they don't see a particular imminent threat -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So, basically, what the threat is, and there's 100 members of the U.S. military, some active duty, some retired, their names are on the list, their pictures, their home addresses. And ISIS, this hacking organization, whatever it is, is basically urging their supporters in the United States, you can't come fight in Iraq or Syria or Yemen or Tunisia. Fight in the United States. Go out and, what, kill these people? Is that their message they're telling their supporters? STARR: Well, it certain -- yes, you know, it certainly seems to be

that is the message of these types of things and the message of this account in particular. And that -- I mean, nobody is being dismissive. There's constant concern about all of this. And we have seen the so-called lone Wolf attacks all over the place, haven't we?

So, you know, people who are somewhat inclined to engage in this level of violence have plenty of opportunity out there if they want to go look for it. This perhaps underscoring the threat to military personnel that is out there, that they are likely targets for people who want to engage in violence. Right now, no imminent threat but taking it seriously and notifying everyone involved.

BLITZER: Are these people being provided extra security? These families? They must be terrified, members of the families of these 100 U.S. military personnel. Is law enforcement providing them protection?

STARR: Well, we don't know that. That would be up to the individual military services and they're not discussing any specifics in that regard, at this point.

[13:15:03] But, Wolf, let me put something else out there. You know, this is, as you say, a list of names and addresses. Military personnel in this country often move, change cities, move to new bases, new locations. There may well be some addresses out there where they no longer live and there may be other people living at those addresses. So, you know, they may have sold their house and moved a year ago. So this becomes a very complicated issue to try and track all these people down and for both the military and local law enforcement in these towns and cities to decide the best course of action.

BLITZER: Yes, pretty terrifying situation for these families.

All right, Barbara, thanks very much.

Let's get back to our panel to talk about this with military analyst, retired lieutenant colonel Rick Francona is still with us. Our intelligence and security analyst, a former CIA operative, Bob Baer is with us. And our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank.

Colonel, what do you think, should these family members of these U.S. military personnel and these military personnel identified on this list, their names, their addresses, their pictures, should they be provided security, special protection?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The problem with that, Wolf, is, it's a resource issue. There's not enough people to provide the protection that would be needed. And there's probably not that much of a threat to all of them. But as we've talked in the past, it only takes one attack to make the impact that they desire. And there's so many targets out there, almost impossible to secure it. These lone wolf attacks are called that for a reason. It's one person going out and doing something. They're almost impossible to detect ahead of time and then almost impossible to stop. So, unfortunately, this poses a threat or a - more of a risk.

One thing I did this weekend was to go on to some of these social media sites looking for this type of information. And although the Defense Department and the Central Command particularly have put out bulletin to their people to watch what they post on social media, to maybe change their names and take other steps to safeguard their private data, it's all out there. I was able to pull probably dozens of people's personal information, where their kids go to school, what athletic events they're going to attend, where they're going to be. It's all out there. It's just data mining. It's not hacking.

BLITZER: Yes.

FRANCONA: So we have to be very careful and hopefully the service members are going to take these precautions.

BLITZER: They should.

Bob, this group calls itself the Islamic State Hacking Organization. We don't know if it's part of ISIS, it's not part of ISIS, but it's pretty terrifying because this information is, as Colonel Francona points out, pretty much available online. What do you do about a situation like this?

BAB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, yes, Colonel Francona is absolutely right, it's data mining. Any of this stuff I could find your address, you could find my address. You get on the Internet. You get do credit checks. You go to a bank. Any of this stuff is available. But it's even worse on social media where people post this stuff and the special forces, Delta Force, the SEALs, they all keep this off because they know they're potential targets.

And what this is, Wolf, is a - is a call to these lone wolves. You know, where it - you know, this is the list we want you to go after. And whether this is actually the Islamic state or al Qaeda, it doesn't really matter. They're looking for that one lunatic to go out there and attack uniformed military personnel. And I would take this very seriously if I were the military.

BLITZER: What's your analysis, Paul?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I think - yes, I absolutely agree that this needs to be taken seriously. We've seen past attacks on soldiers in the west, in Canada. We saw two Canadian soldiers being killed in two separate attacks last October. In the U.K., on the streets of east London in May 2013, a British soldier being hacked to death right out there in broad daylight on the streets of east London.

ISIS are calling on their supporters in the west to target soldiers, particularly American soldiers. And we saw a plot in the United States last May, an ISIS supporter in Rochester, New York, discussing, planning to hit returning servicemen from Iraq in the United States. So there is precedent for this and I think it's of concern.

BLITZER: Certainly is. All right, guys, stand by. We have more to discuss. Just ahead, medical students who may be working in hospitals

controlled by ISIS in Syria. One lawmaker says they were brainwashed. Our panel is standing by. We'll talk about the lure of ISIS and its ability to recruit medical students to enter their battle.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:23:04] BLITZER: They've been brainwashed by ISIS. That's what a Turkish lawmaker says about 11 medical students. They're suspected of traveling to Syria to work in hospitals controlled by the terror group. Nine of the 11 are seen in photos here. Check them out. The Turkish lawmakers say the parents have asked for help in tracking down the students. He says seven are British, two are Sudanese, one is Canadian and one is American. You may remember last year a 19-year-old woman from Colorado was arrested at the airport in Denver. She was about to leave for an ISIS camp hoping to work there as a nurse.

Let's get back to our panel to talk about ISIS recruitment, the lure of the terrorist group.

Paul, we hear a lot about these disillusioned, disaffected young people, but these are medical students. Some of them were finishing up their fourth year of medical school, getting ready to start their residencies. How unusual is it for ISIS to attract medical students like this to leave their schools, go to Turkey, sneak across the border and start helping ISIS?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, Wolf, well believe it or not, quite a few medical students have actually traveled to Syria and joined up with groups like ISIS. Many originally sort of went there for humanitarian reasons and then were radicalized. We saw a kidnapping plot in 2012 by a British NHS trainee who was accused of wanting to kidnap John Cantlie, the first time that John Cantlie was kidnapped. Another British medical student who was actually at the same university in Sudan, as these other nine, was recently arrested in the U.K. in October in a plot to target British soldiers and British police on the streets of London. So there's been some precedent for this. And, of course, the paramount leader of al Qaeda worldwide is Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri.

BLITZER: Yes, he is a medical doctor, Doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al Qaeda right now, now that bin Laden is dead.

[13:25:05] Bob Baer, many of these medical students families, they're now - the family members, they're camped out on the Turkish side of the border with Syria. A Turkish newspaper says they vowed not to leave without their children who are now with ISIS inside Syria. How difficult is it, let's say, for one of these medical students to get out of Syria once they've joined forces with ISIS?

BAER: Well, Wolf, once - once they've taken in by this cult - and it is a death cult -- very few come out. I mean it's the rare ones that gets away, escapes, breaks this brainwashing. So I think the chances of these families actually convincing their children or convincing the Islamic State to release them is zero to none. I mean it's too late. The switch went off in their heads that they have to go to Syria or Iraq and defend Islam, the caliphate. It's - you know, once the brainwashing has taken effect, it's really hard to get them back.

BLITZER: Let me get your reaction. A lot of people are pointing to the quote from the president of the United States, colonel. A year ago the president was interviewed by "The New Yorker" magazine and he said this. This was January, 2014. A little bit more than a year ago. "The analogy we use around here sometimes and I think it's accurate, it is if a JV teams puts on Lakers uniforms, they doesn't make them Kobe Bryant."

He was really belittling ISIS, saying it's a JV team. And clearly we now know, a year later, it's not a JV team. This is a major international terror threat. And I'll ask you the question I asked Bob Baer earlier, is this an intelligence community blunder? Is the president simply getting bad information here or is he misinformed by his senior advisers over there at the White House?

FRANCONA: I'll have to say it's probably a combination of both. Bob and I both talk to people in the intelligence community and the ones I talk to seem to have a fair appreciation of what ISIS is and how dangerous they are. And they tell me that they're sending up the reports, but they're not sure they're being read or they're being heeded. So I'm sure there's blame enough to go around. But I think everybody under estimated the ability of ISIS to not only operate in Syria and Iraq, but to expand now to a region wide operation.

BLITZER: Sort of reminds me of when the intelligence community assured President Bush that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, stockpiles, it was a slam dunk. The then secretary of state, Colin Powell, went before the United Nations and assured the world that the U.S. intelligence community was right, only to see after the invasion it was wrong. It sort of reminds me of what was going on then. Clearly some of that is probably going on right now. There's some intelligence community explaining that's going to have to be done as an aftermath of what the president has now been saying.

And, guys, thanks very much.

Up next, we'll switch gears. Here in the United States, Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas, he's officially in the presidential race. We're going to hear how he announced his bid. We're going to talk about the road ahead. What it means potentially for someone who wants to be the next president of the United States.

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