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France Expands Highest Terror Alert After New Style of Attack; Manhunt for 2 Brothers in Paris Terror Attack; Terror Attack Has Chilling Effect on Europe as Security Is Beefed Up; Cartoonists, Journalists Honor Paris Terror Victims.

Aired January 08, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: One of the suspects, the two brothers, the 32-year-old Cherif Kouachi, was convicted of being part of a jihadist recruitment ring in Paris that sent fighters to Iraq. How significant is that? He actually spent some time in jail. He got off early. But it looks like he was, potentially at least, getting some help from al Qaeda.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It could be significant, Wolf. I think if you can -- if we can apprehend this individual, we could certainly gain a whole lot of intelligence about cell networks within France, within Paris. We might be able to see the mule network of taking jihadis in and out of Syria and Iraq. We might be able to identify other members of the network of the cell, of the organization. But truthfully, I don't think we're going to -- the Police National in France are not going to capture this guy alive. That's my prediction. He's going to try to kill as many people as possible. And I think that's why the French police are now doing the kind of tactics they're using to make sure you're not only cordoning off an area but being very careful about an entire surrounding area to make sure there aren't things like roadside bombs, suicide vests, other members of cells that might contribute to the attack. You know, you take a real transformation between simple police tactics and incorporate some military tactics and that's difficult to do in these kinds of situations. These are not criminals we're dealing with. These are terrorists.

BLITZER: So what I hear you saying -- and Tom Fuentes was speculating about this as well -- these guys may be ready to commit suicide rather than being apprehended and going to jail?

HERTLING: I think that's a very high probability and it's the thing that concerns me the most. They might be trapped in an area, and when these kinds of individuals get trapped, as we've seen in combat -- and we've had many-high value targets we've gone after and it caused us as commanders to be very careful sending troops in. You have to make sure that individual is not going to plant bombs around the area, is not going to have a suicide vest on himself so when you open the door to a arrest him, suddenly, you not only have no suspect anymore, but you also have several dead law enforcement or military soldiers. It's very challenging. This isn't just a knock on the door go in and arrest somebody. The French national police are going to have to be very careful because I'm convinced these individuals want to kill more people. BLITZER: And you heard Tom Fuentes, our law enforcement analyst, say,

there is concern, all of a sudden, this guy, one of the brothers' I.D.s was left in the abandoned vehicle. How did that happen? Was that deliberate? Was that just a blunder? We're going to continue to watch what's going on.

General, thanks very much for joining us.

As we've seen from the video, the Paris attacks were well orchestrated, but no group, at least yet, has claimed public responsibility. Just ahead, a senior member of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Adam Schiff, standing by to join us. What are U.S. officials learning? Stay with us.

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BLITZER: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Nerves are clearly on edge right now as security is very tight in France as police launch a massive dragnet to try to catch two brothers wanted in the deadly terror attack on the Paris headquarters of the satirical magazine, "Charlie Hebdo."

Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, of California, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

What are you learning, because I know you're well plugged in, getting briefed? What are you learning about these two suspects? Can you share some details with us?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, (D), CALIFORNIA: I don't know if I can share details but I can tell you we did get briefed again today. We do have information about the two brothers, some preliminary information about possible affiliations. And I can say this also, Wolf, that is, if you look at some of the public reporting, one of the witnesses claimed that one of the assailants said he was associated with AQAP. If that turns out to be correct, it represents a very serious diversification of the tactics used by AQAP. They put a lot of focus, for example, on bomb making, on trying to develop new ways to smuggle explosives on aircraft. This will be a very different kind of attack.

Obviously, we'd like to find out whether there is an AQAP association and, if so, whether they were instructed to undertake the attack in this way or this is something they decided to do really because they were inspired by AQAP or some other organization.

BLITZER: AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, that's the al Qaeda branch in Yemen right now. And you say there's no previous experience of AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, actually recruiting individuals to go back to their home countries and commit a terror attack, as the one we saw yesterday?

SCHIFF: No, no, no, in fact, quite the opposite. They have tried to recruit people and have encouraged people to go back to the countries of origin. But most of the focus, most of the predominant risk to the United States and Europe has been in the effort to smuggle explosives on aircrafts. They have some of the preeminent bomb makers in the world. We haven't seen them successfully recruit people for kind of a military-style assault like this in Europe or the United States, thankfully, so this would be a different kind of a terrorist attack for AQAP, certainly, different in its degree of sophistication and success. But for some time, they have been interested in recruiting Westerners and sending them back for attacks like this.

BLITZER: We also know that these two brothers, at least one of them, spent some time in jail. Do you know whether, in fact, they both or one of them was in Syria or Iraq or Yemen or some place else and got specific training?

SCHIFF: You know, I don't think we know definitively yet whether either of the brothers traveled to Syria or Yemen. That's obviously something that we're desperately eager to find out. I'm confident we will get to the bottom of that in fairly short order. Obviously, if that's the case, it would be some of our worst fears materialized about foreign fighters coming home. We saw that in the attack in Belgium. That's something of keen interest to all of us, particularly when you consider that they do appear to have some kind of military training. And the question is, where did they get that? And if, indeed, they were able to train themselves purely domestically within France, that would be a different kind of a concern.

BLITZER: Do you know if this terror attack against this policewoman in southern suburb of Paris today is linked to what happened yesterday?

SCHIFF: You know, I don't know definitively whether there's a link or not. And, of course, even if none of the same players were involved in that attack, it could be a situation where someone was inspired to commit that kind of murderous violence against a police officer as a result of what happened within 24 hours earlier. So there may be a connection, even if the two are not related to each other directly.

BLITZER: CNN has been reporting that the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, various intelligence agencies have been scrubbing their data bases, evaluating high-priority targets in the United States in light of the attack in Paris. What can you tell us about that?

SCHIFF: Well, I think that's right. We're scouring our intelligence for a couple of purposes. Certainly, to see what we know about all of the suspects that the French have alerted us to, whether there's some intel we have that we can provide to the French that might assist them in finding other coconspirators that may be out there. That's the most immediate priority for France. But for us, as well, we want to look and see who our potential candidates for this kind of a homegrown attack -- if it's homegrown -- who are some of these -- we've talked about lone wolves. These are "known" wolves. The Tsarnaevs were known. These brothers in France were known. Some of the assailants in Canada and Australia were known. We may be looking for those on our radar screen, but where we want to, you know, bring our attention back to make sure that we're not subject to an attack like we saw in Paris.

BLITZER: Any indication the U.S. is getting ready to raise its threat level?

SCHIFF: I haven't seen any indication of that. That won't take place unless we get very specific intelligence about a threat to the country. The fact that there's been a successful terror attack somewhere else or even a terror attack in our own country, unless it's -- there are indications that is part of a broader plot or there's a specific, you know, time, place and manner indication of an attack, I don't expect we'll see a change in the terror level.

BLITZER: Adam Schiff, Democratic Congressman from California, member of the Intelligence Committee.

Thanks, Congressman, very much, for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: European leaders are also responding to the terror attack in Paris in words and deeds. You will see what action they're now taking to protect their citizens, help catch the suspects that are still very much on the loose right now.

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BLITZER: The terror attack in Paris is having a chilling effect across Europe as countries beef up their own security to foil any potential copycat attacks and also to prevent the two suspects from potentially slipping over the French border.

CNN's Max Foster reports from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If it can happen in Paris, it can happen anywhere, and that's why it feels like this was an attack on Europe, not just France.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): How much cruelty is man capable? We pray in this mass for the victims of this cruelty. So many of them, we pray also for the perpetrators of such cruelty that the Lord might change their heart.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: What has happened in Paris is an appalling terrorist outrage and I know that everyone in Britain will want to stand with the French government and French people at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): It is a barbaric attack against the value we share. All of us that live in Europe condemn these attacks UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): It is not possible to let

terrorism win the challenge against freedom and reason.

FOSTER (on camera): Governments across Europe expressing sympathy for what happened in France, but also assessing what it means to them. Could a similar attack happen here in the United Kingdom, for example?

(voice-over): Security has been tightened at British ports and for passengers coming in on trains from France while Spain has heighted its general terror threat level.

(SHOUTING)

FOSTER: Europeans reacted passionately, spontaneously, in defiance. Vigils in support of those who died, but also for that ultimately French value of liberty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They should know they will not be able to succeed by killing us, killing someone, for drawing, for writing, for expressing an opinion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm angry tonight, really angry, and I'm shocked and confused.

FOSTER: In London, there's no intelligence to suggest an imminent threat.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: The public will be aware the threat level has been at a heightened level for some time, the level we call severe, and consequently, we've already had for months heightened protective security measures in place.

FOSTER: Allowing a moment of remembrance for French police who died in the face of the continent's worst fear, terror.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Max is joining us live from London.

Max, Has the attack in Paris -- I suspect it has -- it's really fueling the already tense debate surrounding Europe's immigration policies, right?

FOSTER: Over the last year, we've had European elections, national elections in Sweden, for example, where you're seeing the far right doing extremely well in Sweden. They got 10 percent of the vote. It's a traditional -- traditionally socialist, liberal culture. You've got a similar story happening in France, National Front. Here in the U.K., you've got U.K. Independence Party. So what these terror attacks do is inflate the racism within that debate, that anti- immigration debate. And it's confusing, isn't it, because what you've got in France is home-grown French terrorists. They were born in France. They were of Algerian ethnicity. That was it. People are confused by this. But it does fuel this quite dangerous, provocative debate in British politics, in European politics, French politics, and I think that's increasingly going to be the trend now. BLITZER: You make a good point. This terror attack in Paris was an

attack that everyone in Europe resonates with, and it certainly has had a huge, huge impact over these past few hours.

Max, thanks very much.

Support is clearly pouring in from around the world for those affected by the attack on the magazine, "Charlie Hebdo." If you want to know more about ways to get involved, go to CNN.com/impact.

Worldwide support for the targeted magazine sprang up quickly. So did concern among journalists. Those reactions and more, that's coming up next.

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BLITZER: Police in France still looking for the two men who stormed the "Charlie Hebdo" headquarters in Paris, on Wednesday. killing 12, injuring 11. Among those killed, some of France's most well-known cartoonists, including the magazine's outspoken editor, Stephaney Charbonnier (ph), and four other cartoonists known as Kabu (ph), Tignous (ph) and Wolinski (ph) and Honore (ph).

In the hours after their deaths, fellow journalists and cartoonists set out to honor them and stand up with the best weapons they have. That would be their pens. A London graphic designer, Lucille Cleft (ph), twitted this, "Break one, a thousand will rise." An American cartoonist tweet this, with the hash tag, "I am Charlie." And this from Australian cartoonist, David Pope. His image with three simple words, "He drew first." That image has now gone viral.

BLITZER: Let's bring in our senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources."

Brian, these are very moving tributes to those who died, but it's really escalating, isn't it? It's growing by the hour.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: It is. And it's very rare to see so many journalists, so many groups, so many organizations all unite. Journalists tend to be a competitive bunch. Lots of rivalries out there all around the world. We've seen 35 journalism organizations of all kinds come together to support "Charlie Hebdo," and we'll see more of this as the magazine plans on publishing an issue next week. There's already financial support being pledged. There's a French fund supported by Google that's said it will step up and others to help get this magazine back out to the public next week.

BLITZER: Cartoonists weren't the only ones playing tribute, Brian, to the victims. Journalists around the world also took to social media to show their solidarity. Many newsrooms pausing for a moment of silence to remember the victims. These are powerful moments.

STELTER: They are. I was just pulling up a statement from Reporters without Borders, one of the best-known journalist freedom groups. They say, "We will continue our fight for freedom and tolerance. We'll do it for journalists that have died and those that have fallen in defense of these fundamental values." We saw here in New York yesterday, Lewis C.K., the comedian, come on stage with a "Charlie Hebdo" shirt. We've seen a lot of those sorts of messages as well, not just from journalists and cartoonists but from comedians. Since we're talking about among those dead several very well known cartoonists who told stories and who conducted acts of journalism through the images they produced.

BLITZER: Are media outlets, organizations here in the United States and elsewhere around the world taking extra security measures in the aftermath of the terror attack in Paris?

STELTER: There has been some of that. There's been very little publicly said about it, for understandable reasons. These outlets that do want to take stepped up security measures don't want to reveal what they are doing.

There was security outside this magazine's office. We know that because we heard about the police officers who were tragically killed yesterday. There are other outlets that are taking those sorts of steps, but like I said, not talking in much detail about them.

BLITZER: That's totally understandable. I know that there is concern out there, understandably. So what happens next?

STELTER: When I saw -- I saw, Wolf --

BLITZER: Go ahead.

STELTER: -- on the front page of the "Wall Street Journal" this morning, one of the biggest headlines is, "We're Not Afraid." They are quoting someone saying that. But I interpret that headline to mean something more. It's a moment where a lot of different journalism groups and cartoonists and producers think about safety measures they take and want to make a statement that they're not afraid.

BLITZER: The magazine, the new issue that will come out next Wednesday. Normally, they have only 30,000 circulation, relatively small. I heard one number, they may print a million copies. Is that right?

STELTER: That's what's come out today, yes. The lawyer for the publication said that's the goal, a million copies. You wonder how are they going to afford that, and that's why these pledges of financial support are going to be so important. Of course, they won't be able to produce it from their offices. This is the kind of thing we'll see some rivals, some other magazines and newspapers in Paris, step up and help them get it published.

BLITZER: All right, Brian. Thanks very much.

Brian Stelter, reporting for us.

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 coming up next.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin will start right after a very, very quick break.

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