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News coverage of the massive rally in Paris, France after the "Charlie Hebdo" massacre;

Aired January 11, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. You've been listening to the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu at the Grande Paris Synagogue right now in the aftermath of that terrible attack at the kosher supermarket in east Paris that left four hostages dead and police -- after police stormed the supermarket, the four hostages, it is believed killed by the hostage taker and terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, whose girlfriend now is now in fact believed to have left France a week before the attacks.

Let's quickly sum up what Benjamin Netanyahu had to say much. He was talking about the values of France. That he saw reaffirmed on the streets of Paris today. And then he also equated what happened in Paris over the last week with what he says his country has faced for years in terms much terrorism, saying for years we've been fighting terror and the pains of terrorism.

Arwa Damon is outside the Grande Synagogue in Paris with more on the reaction of the Jewish community on what's going on inside.

Because, Arwa, it's not just Benjamin Netanyahu, it was the president of France, the ex-president of France and leaders of the Muslim and catholic communities as well.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Hala.

Although they did leave before Netanyahu's speech began. He was not just talking about the terror threat that he said Israel faced from extremist Muslims, but he was also talking about how he was expressing his condolences to the families of all those who have lost their lives in the violence that transpired here over the last few days. And he was additionally talking about how it was going to be ever critical to try to create some sort of unity moving forward.

Of course, when one is speaking about the threat from radical Islam to Israel as Netanyahu was, it does go to the very core of an incredibly sensitive issue in the Middle East. And also, what a lot of Muslims will tell you is at the very core of not perhaps the hatred born by radical Muslims towards Israel but a frustration that many mainstream Muslims do share as well. This, of course, what we've been seeing happening here in France today, not meant to be politicized in any way.

We've been seeing the masses out on the streets really trying to express that message of unity. Because it is not just the rise, significant rise in anti-Semitism that is one of the many challenges that France faces at this junction, but it is also the concerns of its Muslim community. Many of them that we have been speaking to saying they are worried about because of the violence that took place, because it was at the hands of Muslim extremists that they too, although they most certainly do not share those ideas and ideologies in any way whatsoever, but they do fear that they too could be potentially be stigmatized by what is taking place.

A lot of people have been speaking to have also been saying that they feel as if the country and perhaps the world needs to look at what happened here as being something of a wake-up call when it comes to trying to deal with violence and terrorism as a whole, but also to have capitalize on the compassion, the extreme compassion that we have been seeing so that perhaps we can move past this era of bloodshed, Hala.

GORANI: And what I found interesting as well is that, inside the Grande Synagogue in Paris, people broke out into what appeared to be at least spontaneous La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. As many of our viewers know, this is a very musical manifestation of secular France, of the republic. And I wonder, was this something that was planned? I mean, this notion that you're going to sing the French national anthem which is as far away really from religion as you can get. Was that a planned event?

DAMON: We don't really know, Hala. We've been really watching this from the outside. Unclear if it was something that was planned or if it was something that did just happen spontaneously. It happened outside the synagogue as well. People also sporadically erupting into applause and cheers as the different dignitaries arrived to this event.

But we have been seeing outbursts of emotion, outbursts of people, the anthem, expressing themselves in so many different kinds of ways and perhaps this does go to the core, though, of France and the French trying to define themselves. Do define themselves as a nation or whether they define themselves by their various different religions and ethnicities. A lot of what we have been seeing here today, very significant in terms of where does France go next.

Also, not necessarily where does France go. But what are the lessons to be learned? Very harsh lessons indeed. But perhaps there is something to be taken away from the horrific events that have happened in this country over the last few days and try to move forward. What is it that causes this kind of severe radicalization? How can a country like France and other nations facing the same kind of threat begin to overcome them?

It's been a very emotional time, a lot of the French we've been speaking to have been telling us. And some of them have also been expressing their concerns for the future. Very wary of what it may hold. Many of them sadly saying they're not necessarily optimistic, but at the same time, we did see those very stunning numbers of people taking out to the streets, all carrying that same message of unity, that same message and determination of standing together. That desire to want to stay together and remain united. GORANI: And of course, there were in total 17 victims, I think, over

the entire week, the three terrorists as well were killed. It's not just Jews, it was a cross-section of the French population. Very much so, Christians, Muslims. We saw one inside the newsroom -- the police officer was executed on the street of Muslim. Of course, these four Jewish victims at the kosher supermarket as well.

But you're outside the synagogue. Have you had an opportunity to speak to people? We've been quoting this figure of 7,000 French Jews left France in 2014 because they maybe be feeling insecure about the environment. That's one of the reasons they're giving.

Are you speaking to Jewish people outside the synagogue? What are they telling you about whether or not they feel comfortable living in France after this attack? What are they saying?

DAMON: Well, we haven't had the opportunity to speak with very many. The press has been cordoned off into one direction. But people that we have been talking to, whether here or elsewhere, but the Jewish community here at this stage is very concerned about the future. People are weighing their options.

Netanyahu has said that any Jews that do want to leave France would be welcome in Israel. But, of course, we heard from the French government saying that it would do all that it can to protect the rights of the Jewish minority, urging them to stay in France, underscoring how important the Jewish cross-section of the French population is in maintaining this nation's diversity.

Interestingly, Hala, it's not just perhaps the Jews in France who are maybe thinking about leaving, not just because of what happened, but because of the significant rise in anti-Semitism, especially over the last year.

But some Muslims that we have been talking to as well saying that they are also weighing their options, wondering whether or not they can fit in to this country, whether they can continue living here and blending their identities as French nationals with their identities as the being Muslim. This is as we have been saying all along, a significant juncture for this nation in terms of how it is defining itself and how it is going to move forward.

Yesterday, we have been seeing this phenomenal manifestation of unity, but the reality is that the country is going to have to deal with these very critical underlying issues, not just ranging from trying to establish exactly what took place the very many questions that surround how it was that these gunmen were able to get the weapons, carry out you such an attack. Fall off the intelligence radar. Effectively become radicalized.

Because in the case of these three men, these were not foreign fighters that had returned from the battlefield in Syria. These were not people that were not a part of the culture. They were born here in France. They were raised here. The country has to deal with that. And the bigger picture, it has to deal with its own identity add the numerous underlying issues. GORANI: All right. Arwa Damon, outside the Grande Synagogue in

Paris. Thanks very much for that.

Let's go to my colleague Fred Pleitgen who is at Place De La Republique, the starting point of this unity rally.

And let me ask you about the investigation itself. Because France has come together to tell the world the terrorists will not win, but it's still very important for investigators to piece this whole thing together because it appears as though there were some very significant intelligence failures, especially in the light of reports that two brothers who were now being blamed for that massacre at "Charlie Hebdo" may have spent some time in Yemen, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And there's a lot of things that can have come to light where apparently there were instances where French intelligence was on to the Kouachi brothers but then sort of lost them off their radar.

It's clear that said Kouachi spent a considerable amount of Yemen. Apparently, the first time he went there was in 2009. He then went back again in 2010 and 2011. Now remember, one of the things that he said when a French television journalist managed to reach him while he still had that printing shop northeast of Paris under siege was that he said that he had been sent by Anwar al-Awlaki who, of course, was killed a long time ago. But he said that he Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. So at some point in time, we don't know whether or not that's true. That seems to have been an inspiration for himself.

We also know that the Kouachi brothers were both on a no-fly list to America. So there were a lot of instances where it seems as though French intelligence did have them on their radar, but then at some point lost them. That probably shouldn't come as a surprise considering that French intelligence is tracking a lot of people. There's apparently more than a thousand radical Islamists being trace by French intelligence. And they say it's very difficult for them, as they need 30 people to trace of one radical and keep on that case. That at some point, they have to decide which people are the most prominent and which one they have to trace. And so, therefore, at some point it appears as though these people just simply got lost off the radar.

The other new development, of course, Hala, that we have today is that we have a video that apparently has surfaced of Amedy Coulibaly pledging his allegiance to ISIS. And that's certainly something that's very troubling, but also something that is very interesting in the mix when you talk about how close the alliances to these organizations are that these people actually have. Because of course, we have the Kouachi brothers who pledged their allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or Al-Qaeda in Yemen. And now you have Amedy Coulibaly who seems to have closer ties to an organization that is essentially based in Iraq and Syria.

We also know that apparently his wife or girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene appears to be trying to make her way or has already made her way to Syria. But that video certainly is one that's very significant. He's seen there with the ISIS flag behind him, also with an automatic weapon as well.

And then we also know that apparently his stash of weapons was found also, which is considerable and, of course, we also know the Kouachi brothers were very heavily armed.

So a lot of -- as you said, a lot of things that French intelligence probably should have picked up on, probably must have picked up on. However, it was simply something where these people apparently fell through the roster. And that certainly is something that this nation paid for with a very heavy price.

And one of the things that I found remarkable was that the French interior minister came out and he acknowledged yes, there were failures in intelligence. There must have been failure in the intelligence. Otherwise, it would never come to this. But it also, of course, showcases what a difficult job these intelligence agencies have as they try to keep tabs on the extremists that are here in this country.

GORANI: All right, Fred Pleitgen, Place De La Republique here in Paris, not too far from we are, about a 45-minute walk. That was the start of the big unity rally.

We were discussing with Fred Pleitgen there new elements emerging as part of the investigation. The potential and intelligence failures that led to a situation where these three individuals, the Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly were able to carry out the attacks first on "Charlie Hebdo" and then on that Kosher supermarket and, of course, we must not forget as well that a female police officer was shot and killed by Coulibaly, we believe, on Thursday.

Let me bring in Samuel Laurent once again, a terrorism expert who has been working with us. I'm trying to understand a little bit better what's going on.

Let me first ask you about Coulibaly. When I was here a little bit earlier when it was a much bigger crowd, one gentleman we spoke to sounded very frustrated. He said, how is it possible that this guy, Coulibaly was in prison, was being tracked by authorities here in France, was under surveillance for a while, how is it possible that he was released and then was able to do what authorities say he did at that supermarket? Where was the failure?

SAMUEL LAURENT, CNN TERROR ANALYST: Well, the failure I would say, was a very long way. It started when Coulibaly basically started to radicalized, to get radicalized in jail with a man that was basically the headmaster and also the one who radicalized the two Kouachi brothers. His named Jamed begal (ph). And he planned a bombing of the U.S. embassy in France in 2001 and he spent a long time in jail for that.

Actually, you know, there's a series of failure and a series of events that are hard to understand and hard to believe. Let me give you a fresh example. The emmer of the Al-Qaeda cell which was channeling foreign fighters into Iraq and that has been dismantled in 2008, has been released and his name is Benyettou (ph). And actually this man -- can you hear me? Hello?

GORANI: I sure can. Go ahead, Samuel. I can hear you.

LAURENT: Thank you. This man is actually a nurse in the hospital where most of the wounded people from the "Charlie Hebdo" killing has been transferred and this is a post -- this is an occupation that shall not have with such a criminal, heavy criminal record and terror record, track record in the French law. So that shows how crippled and how basically un-efficient the tracing and the monitoring of terror suspects in France is now done. The job is extremely poor. And I think in the next couple of weeks, some questions need to be answered. Sorry. Back to you, Hala.

GORANI: All right. Samuel, but of course, authorities aren't going to share with us those plots they're able to foil, those investigations that lead to intelligence that allows them to prevent attacks in this particular case, it was a very public and tragic intelligence failure that allowed these three individuals to conduct these operations.

But let's also talk about what happened in Turkey. Because we understand the girlfriend of Coulibaly made her way to Turkey on January 2nd. She might even be in Syria right now. Why wasn't intelligence shared between the two countries in order to prevent her from getting all the way inside Syria, do you think?

LAURENT: Well, we have France and other countries real problems about the exchanging intelligence with the Turkish. Turkish are pretty efficient. They usually spot, monitor, follow the foreign jihadi and they do it in a pretty efficient manner. But actually, I would say the uploading of information back to western countries like France, Britain or even U.S. is sometimes a problem. And it looks like it was the case. It looks like basically the information hasn't been handled quickly enough. And this is extremely damageable for the investigation that will follow regarding that all the funding and all the logistics has been basically handled by this woman and also the wife of the Kouachi brother.

So therefore, we have a lost a lot of information probably because of miscommunication between the two intelligence services.

GORANI: All right. Samuel Laurent, thanks very much.

We're going to have a lot more from Paris after a quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: The end of a remarkable day here in Paris and indeed, across France. We understand that the unity rally that happened today in the aftermath of this terrible terrorist attacks on Wednesday, Thursday and then Friday and that kosher supermarket, this unity rally may have been the largest march in modern French history. Some people are saying up to two million people came out on the streets of Paris and other large French cities. But the big question going forward now is, how did this all happen?

How did we even get here? How is it possible that three young men born in France could become so radicalized that they believed that the best way to confront some of the issues, some of the identity issues they have, that they can allow themselves to be brainwashed by some of these extremist groups such as ISIS or Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as investigators now believe they might have been.

Let's go to Jeremiah O'Keefe. He is in Dallas. He's an expert on radicalization and worked with the Bush White House over several years.

Mr. O'Keefe, thanks for being with us. When you read the reports about these men, the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly and what they did and how they might have gotten radicalized, what goes through your mind?

JEREMIAH O'KEEFE, MIDDLE EAST EXPERT: Well, the radicalization of individuals, be it fascist, communist or present day radical Islam, there's plenty of research that describes that whole process. The seminal work was done by Eric Hofer. It is called "true Believer." He has written about 40 years ago. It's a magnificent piece that profiles and captures the personalities and events and situations that might lead individuals to radicalization. And again, this is a global phenomena for folks that are radicalized within their various nations or country.

But the real crux here, and I admire tremendously what you said earlier in this hour, that the French people have decided they're not going to let anyone hijack their freedom of speech. I think we're at a very critical point right now where Islam itself, the Muslim world has to say, we are not going to allow radical Islam to hijack our beautiful faith of 1300 years.

And to take that a step further, if one wants to understand where this intellectual strain of Islam comes from, we're going to have to start setting our eyes as the former chief of staff of the British military said on Friday, on Saudi Arabia and on Qatar where wahabism (ph) is the dominant Islamic force in those two nations. And the Saudi government, the house of Saud, and I'll state it plainly here on the air, has allowed the Wahabists (ph) to export their radical Islam for 50 years throughout the world and that is -- this is the results that we have today.

So we have two things going on. The tactical level of these folks in Paris committing these barbaric acts, but then the next step we have to do is follow the money back to Saudi Arabia, back to Qatar that provides all the funding for these camps, terrorist camps throughout the globe.

GORANI: Well, Jeremiah O'Keefe, you mentioned Saudi Arabia. And of course, as many of our viewers know as we follow that country also very closely, a blogger was publicly plugged for quote "insulting" Islam in that country. That everyone to understand did send a lower level representative to this unity march. So I just wanted to bring also that piece of news to our viewers as

France marched -- French people marched in their millions to defend freedom of expression.

But let me ask you about the psychological trajectory of a young man who becomes as radicalized as we believe these two Kouachi brothers do as well as Amedy Coulibaly. What happened? Because many young men are jobless and frustrated and have many issues with identity. But that tiny, tiny minority that ends up taking violent action, what's the difference there?

O'KEEFE: Well, you know, I'm speaking from the United States and I'm the son of Irish immigrants of this country. Got off the boat in New York without a dime in their pocket and assimilated into the society, thank God for their hard work and effort and the community in which I lived in Chicago where I was raised.

But unfortunately, there are a small percentage of folks that don't make it through that process. And those are the folks who feel like they're not part of the community, they're deeply disenfranchised. They look for meaning in their lives. They look for comfort. They turn towards their faith. But they're frustrated, angry individuals.

And unfortunately, instead of tapping in to the beauty of 1,300 years of Islam, they tap into this ugly, ugly radical Islam that's only about 200 years ago was founded in Saudi Arabia by the Wahabi (ph) tribe there. Which is the dominant aspect or sect if you will of Islam in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Wahabists make up about 25 percent of the Saudi peninsula or Saudi nation and about 50 percent of Qatar.

And so unfortunately, they have been exporting that belief system with their wealth throughout the world. And so, when you have angry, frustrated young men who have not been able to assimilate into their society, instead of, again, tapping towards into the beauty of Islam, one of the major, the three major faiths of the world, they just tap into this very, very ugly aspect of it and that's the root cause that has to be addressed now at this point. This has been a monumental week when people talking about radical Islam. Now we need to look at the source, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

GORANI: All right. Jeremiah O'Keefe. Some strong words there against Saudi Arabia and Qatar there in your explanation of why some young men choose radical Islam. Thanks very much for your take on this.

We're going to be right back here on CNN with a lot more. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta along with my colleague Hala Gorani in Paris as we continue our live look at Paris, what was once terror and now a real show of strength in this day of unity. A day in which we saw perhaps more than a million people descending on Paris and being led by leaders of France, Germany, Great Britain, Jordan and Mali.

And Hala, it's been an extraordinary show of solidarity with the arms of those leaders locked as they walked leading the parade of marchers throughout Paris and beyond. And then, of course, seeing the signs from people who say, you know, I am Charlie, talking about the magazine, "Charlie Hebdo." I am Jewish. I am Muslim.

But now the question, of course, is, with this incredible show of strength and solidarity, there is the what's next? We saw that Benjamin Netanyahu and Francois Hollande were in the Grande Synagogue and we heard the powerful words from Netanyahu. But there is that remaining and burning question of after this show of strength, then how do people carry on there in France and in the rest of Europe and, you know, including other western countries, including the U.S.?

GORANI: Well, Fredricka, you know this idea that western-born young men can go to the Middle East, radicalize there, come back with combat experience, military training in some of the extremist groups, whether it is ISIS, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, that nightmare scenario appears to have become reality in this country for many years, especially since the beginning of the Syrian civil war and the expansion of some of these very radical extremist groups and over the last year of ISIS, for instance. That has been the worst case scenario that people have been warning against.

And it's France that has experienced it first. Some experts are saying probably not last.

So it's happened. So now that it's happened, is it a game-changing event? In the sense that the country is going to have to come together and decide, how do we make sure it doesn't happen again? And what tools will we use to prevent it to avoid another attack such as the one we saw on Wednesday, another attack such as the one we saw on Friday at that kosher supermarket?

Do we increase surveillance? Do we add more police officers? Do we get more military troops out on the street? Do we turn our streets basically into streets where checkpoints are set up and that kind of thing? Do we increase outreach into Muslim communities? It's going to be a set of questions that will have to be answered because France was traumatized this week.

Fredricka, in a way I haven't seen a single event or single series of events affect ordinary French people. So that is going to be the next step, if you will.

WHITFIELD: And in large part, it seems the driving emotion today was a sense of resoluteness among people. But it doesn't appear as though many of the conversations were driven by the mistakes, intelligence mistakes that may have taken place, how these young people were able to train and blend in with society so to speak and then carry out this plan. And then, of course, the investigation involving this fourth potential player or the accomplice. I'm talking about the 26-year-old young lady who may be in Syria. However, it's unclear, even though Turkish authorities have been able to say they did track her in their country at the beginning of the year, and so she may not have been with the other three to carry out the terror attacks in Paris. But still there's an ongoing effort to find out her role, where she might be and what could be potentially planned next.

GORANI: Yes. And you know, it may -- this may have been a unity rally, but among the people I spoke with in the crowd, already there are questions emerging. Why the intelligence failure? How is it possible that a young man who spent time in prison precisely for the crime of trying to recruit people into a terrorist organization was then not under surveillance, was not being tracked by authorities to the extent that he was able to plot and plan an attack against a Jewish supermarket?

So these are obvious targets you would think, "Charlie Hebdo," a Jewish supermarket. Two years ago, for instance, a Jewish school as well in Toulouse. So people are starting to ask that question right now.

But I think beyond that, it's going to be a bigger national conversation about how you use these tools to prevent another attack because people in this country hold their right to privacy or consider it a very precious commodity, if you will. And so there may be some resistance in that direction.

But you're right, the intelligence failures in France that led up to this are something -- are issues that are already being discussed, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, how are federal investigators remaining tight- lipped on the questions even they have about what gaping holes there were in the intelligence gathering and dissemination of that information, or are they willing to say anything at this juncture? We realize the investigation is ongoing, but what, if anything is being said by French investigators?

GORANI: Well, they're not, of course, divulging confidential elements of the investigation. Certainly, they're working round the clock one can imagine trying to figure out how they, for instance, lost track of that presumed girlfriend of the man who held that kosher supermarket, who held those individuals in the supermarket hostage.

But the interior ministry did confirm that the Kouachi brothers, for instance, were suspected of having traveled to the Middle East, of having spent time there. Potentially of having been radicalized there and then having come back to France and conducted these operations.

So these important elements are being communicated by the -- by officials in this country. The intimate and operational details that are being uncovered, presumably by authorities right now are not being made public.

WHITFIELD: All right. Hala Gorani there in Paris. We'll check back in with you momentarily. And of course, we will have much more from the NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. Hello everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We'll return to our coverage and join my colleague in Paris momentarily.

Right now, we are hearing, just in, a warning from the FBI and homeland security here in the United States that a new threat from ISIS is calling on its people to kill government officials, members of the media and civilians in western countries.

More specifically, sources are telling our justice reporter Evan Perez that this bulletin states in part that the ISIS mouthpiece has issued a new call for all mujadin (ph) to rise up and kill soldiers, government employees, media and civilians and cites the risks of attacks in the U.S., UK, France and possibly elsewhere.

Let's talk more about this. We're also trying to get back in touch with our justice correspondent Evan Perez who will join us momentarily. But right now national security Juliette Kayyem and retired lieutenant colonel Tony Shaffer.

All right, good to see both of you.

Juliette, what do you think when you hear that? Is this to be expected nowadays following this attack in Paris or does this kind of, you know, raise the alert level in your view?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the alert level was raised Wednesday morning in particular here in the homeland in terms of reaching out to local and state first responders, police departments, getting everyone sort of aware that obviously something was unleashed on Wednesday. Now, whether it was just the events in Paris or that this is the beginning of a number of incidences, we don't know.

But the warning to law enforcement and the press is accurate at this stage. I mean, basically, sort of -- the specific call to not make your presence known on social media, I think, is really important. Do not put your kids on social media, say that you're going to a movie at a certain time just for the time being. People should, in particular people in law enforcement and the media should essentially be smart about projecting their persona, at least until we know this was one incident, a horrible incident or the beginning of something a little bit -- something more violent for other countries.

WHITFIELD: And lieutenant colonel Schafer, this continues, of course, to spread fear. But what does law enforcement in the U.S. or even in other countries such as France or the UK do with this kind of information?

LT. COL. TONY SHAFFER, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR ADVANCED DEFENSE STUDIES: Well, I received a briefing on Friday from local senior law enforcement here in Washington and yes, there is a threat. And Senator Feinstein has actually said in more of her recent comment that there are cells here tonight. Put this two things together, and I think there's things to be concerned with. What we have to remember, Fredricka, when we saw the attack, this was

a professional attack. This cell was activated. If you recall, you probably saw the movie at some point "Heat" where they had to shootout in the street with the law enforcement and the guys robbing the bank. That was filmed using military experts. Those guys moving through the street were militarily trained in Paris. So I think we have to recognize that this may have been a probing action, this cell was activated by someone in Al-Qaeda. It is done to make a point. I think we have to understand that there's something more coming. And that is why it's so important this renewed international focus needs to result in renewed international information sharing.

Clearly, those brothers were on our watch list. The French knew about them. They traveled to certain places. So we have to start putting these patterns together to figure out what's next.

WHITFIELD: And then, of course, there was a video that was made yesterday and it's a video that, you know, really highlights Amedy Coulibaly who was the gentleman who held up the supermarket and then, of course, died. And in this video you see him in various demeanors. You see him in what appear to be fatigues and even like a Kevlar vest. You see him in the white robe and you see him in athletic gear. You see him training. You see him also making statements. You see a transcription of a statement, a commitment, a pledge of allegiance to ISIS even though we understand it's Al-Qaeda of the Arabian peninsula that has claimed responsibility for this attack.

So Juliette, this video and the release of the video is timely with some purpose to continue the terror that was spread in that three-day siege and to reinforce what you all are saying is more potentially could be next.

KAYYEM: Right. I mean, they're using the very media that lets us all communicate with each other to amplify what it is they want to do, which is essentially terrify. That's what was so beautiful, if I can use at that word of the French rally today. That it was in sheer numbers, it was pushing back against the use of twitter and facebook and these videos to get people very scared.

But let's just, you know, be realistic here. Also, instead of, you know, inciting fear everywhere, I mean, the point is they are targeting particular communities and whether it's law enforcement or media or Jewish communities, and those should be on sort of more keen alert at this stage. And that is what's going on both in the United States in terms of who is coming here, who is here, who is under surveillance and then obviously in Europe which is, you know, suffering right now.

WHITFIELD: And then, Colonel, as you look at say, you know, for example, this videotape, what do you suppose the intelligence community will try, you know, to glean from this tape? What more perhaps can be extracted to perhaps use it in some sort of preventive kind of pressure to make sure another attack doesn't -- is not carried out?

SHAFFER: I think, first, the words that he uses in the video when he talks the way he does things, that tell us something about how they trained or what they are thinking is. And then we look -- we take that as kind of the baseline and look for others who fit that pattern.

And again, it is not about radical Islam. It is about radicals who actually maybe here. I mean, we understand the radical Islam we have to address. At the same time, we have to look at the larger level. Egyptian president el-Sisi actually made a critical speech on the first day of this year talking about the need for Muslim to walk away from the violence.

So the other thing we have to that due now is work with the Muslim community to have them help us go after these very folks. I work for the association of British Muslims in London, they should very strongly words statement about how this just not -- they should not stand for this. So we need to work with those who want to work with us as long we look for the patterns to discern who the really bad actors can be and we put a stop to it.

WHITFIELD: And Juliette, what do you see in that video that could also be further examined?

KAYYEM: Well, it's going to be examined by both our intelligence agencies and of course European to see if there's actually any clues about location and where these videos are taking place, who is distributing them, who is -- where are the cameras (INAUDIBLE)?

It's just as simple as that. Because right now we have a terrorist incident and now the investigation is just going to be concentric circles out to try to figure out who knew what when. As you were saying earlier, there's also going to be an after action about what did French intelligence agencies know? What did the U.S. know that put these two brothers on a no-fly list? Because my guess is there's not that many French terrorists on a no-fly list. So they were in particularly, we were focus on the two of them, So there's going to be the after action to learn from it. And then, of course, this investigation. This investigation is going to be ongoing for years as we saw with 9/11, as we saw with July 7th in Britain. These take a long time to unearth.

WHITFIELD: And if there was a disconnect or a lack of sharing of resources between whether it be the U.S. or even, you know, France or that they were on the same page as pertains to these brothers, do you think this is now the impetus, Juliette, that there will be a greater sharing of information, a more concerted effort for all of these countries that have counterterrorism pledges to work better or closer together. Share more information.

KAYYEM: Exactly, Fred -- I mean, Fredricka. Ever after every incident, you know, this was an intelligence failure. There is no -- too many people are dead, right? I mean, we know that and so people commit to it and now we're just going to have to see whether it's put into action. And what we're -- I think what we're likely to see on the U.S. side what led the U.S. to put the two brothers on the no fly list that did not spark, I guess, enough focus by the French? I think I've been saying all week, I think there's a disconnect between these two. WHITFIELD: Real inconsistencies.

KAYYEM: Also, it's not a coincidence -- yes. It is not a coincidence that the White House announced countering violent extremism conference next month. It's a program they've been working on, this administration has been working on for some time. That it' 's essentially the Muslim communities and the immigrant communities in democracies, not just the U.S., as Western Europe and other democracies that are really going to have the tools to both assert themselves and their commitment to peacefulness and also see what's going on in their communities weather radicalization is occurring. So this is a new effort as being mash (ph).

WHITFIELD: Great, we'll leave it right there for now.

Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer, Juliette Kayyem, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

SHAFFER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And we'll have much more continuing coverage right after this.

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WHITFIELD: Heads of state from all over the world came together today in Paris, the leaders locking arm, in fact, in unity against terror. President Obama, however was not among them. But the White House announced today it is planning to host an anti-terror summit next month.

CNN's Erin McPike joining me now from the White House.

So neither the president of the United States nor the secretary of state John Kerry were there at the rally today joining the leaders of Germany, Israel, Mali and Jordan as well. What is the explanation from the White House?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, first keep in mind, of course, that whenever President Obama specifically travels anywhere it does activate some complex security protocols. And that could, of course, distract from the event and take away from its significance.

But, of course, also we know secretary Kerry is in India and he has some commitment there that he could not break. But also vice president Joe Biden did not go, either. But what we're hearing, of course, is that attorney general Eric Holder and the deputy homeland security secretary here in the U.S. were in Paris for meetings and then, of course, the U.S. did send Jane Hartley, the U.S. ambassador to France and she was very active on social media today talking about how she is representing the United States.

Of course also President Obama over the past couple of days has made a visit to the French embassy. He has called President Hollande and there has also been a lot of coordination between French agencies and U.S. agencies. And that's kind the explanation that we're getting from some U.S. officials. But obviously it's open to debate because, as you mentioned, there have been a number of world leaders spotted in Paris today.

WHITFIELD: And then, of course, the attorney general Eric Holder was there in Paris for another event. It was a commitment to that he was carrying out, a prior commitment. So what exactly came from this anti-terror summit?

MCPIKE: Fred, Eric Holder did talk to these foreign leaders about how the White House is going to be hosting its own summit with President Obama for foreign leaders on February 18 so they can discuss more counterterrorism efforts, especially light of the fact that U.S. officials and British officials and others are saying these attacks are going to continue.

Yesterday, we were talking about how U.S. officials have compared it to the war on drugs, that these attacks are happening in perpetuity, they're hard to detect. They're trying to come up with new strategies to combat them. Eric Holder was also making the circuit of Sunday shows from Paris this morning. He was on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" and he addressed some of what came from this morning's meeting. Listen here.

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ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: In the fight, but we work with our allies. We share information and it's one of the things I think we frankly have to do better. We have to monitor each other's citizens because the reality is that any one nation can be hurt by the citizens of another nation given the way in which people can transit from one country to another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: And we also heard from other lawmakers this morning including Dianne Feinstein. She was also on "STATE OF THE UNION" talking about some of the specific things that the U.S. can address. And obviously, we will be hearing about that in the days and weeks to come, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Erin McPike, thanks so much from the White House. Appreciate that.

We'll, of course, have much more from the newsroom right after this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: As many as a million people, look at them here. Hundreds of thousands have collected already, expected to take part and they want to send a message. Terrorists who grip this country in fear for three long days will never win.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: World leaders are here ranging from Benjamin Netanyahu to prime minister of Israel to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian authority, to British prime minister David Cameron and German chancellor Angela Merkel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we are in an all out situation, France has declared war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: On the square which you can see right there in the middle of your picture, three status of mythical women, they are the women of Liberty, (INAUDIBLE). And that s what country and the world is standing together.