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France on Guard After Wave of Terror; French Looking for Possible Accomplices; Grocery Store Terrorist Was in U.S. Database; Insight Into Paris Gunman's Time in Yemen; Centcom's Twitter and YouTube Accounts Hacked; Questions Raised Over U.S. Absence at Paris Rally

Aired January 12, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1 p.m. here in New York, 7 p.m. in Paris, 8 p.m. in Istanbul, wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, France on alert right now and on guard against the threat of terrorism of the wave of attacks that killed 17 people. At least 8,000 people and 10,000 soldiers are now being deployed across the country, that according to the French news media reports. The French minister tells CNN, a CNN affiliate, and I'm quoting now, "The threat is still very much present."

The female suspect who's the focus of an intense manhunt may be in Syria right now. The Turkish news agency says Hayat Boumediene arrived in turkey on January 2nd, traveled to Syria six days later. So, she may not have been in France at the time of the attacks. Video has surfaced of Boumediene's boyfriend, Hamadi Coulibaly (ph), pledging allegiance to the leader of ISIS. Authorities say Coulibaly carried out the deadly siege at that Kosher supermarket and killed a policeman the day before. A senior U.S. law enforcement official tells CNN Coulibaly was listed in a U.S. terrorism database, at least for a while.

The wave of terror in France started at the headquarters in the satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo." That's where 12 people were gunned down brutally.

CNN's Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto is on the scene for us in Paris. Jim, French officials, they're deploying thousands and thousands of soldiers, additional police officers. What are you hearing about the search for other possible accomplices?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the crucial development today is the French prime minister telling our own Christiane Amanpour that it is highly likely there are other accomplices -- there were other accomplices in these attacks who are still at large. And that's in addition to the partner or wife of Hamadi Coulibaly who carried out the attack on the kosher market who, as you say, it is now clear has left the country and has likely made it all the way to Syria so she's effectively disappeared.

But he made it clear that it's not just her that they're talking about. Other accomplices still out there that they believe provided money, possibly weapons and other support. That means there are others out there involved in this attack who could still pose a threat. And that's why, Wolf, you're seeing, really, this enormous display of manpower, 8,000 soldiers, thousands of police officers, to try to reduce the risk of another attack here.

BLITZER: Do French officials, Jim, believe that the attacks activated what are being called these sleeper cells that may now be prepared to carry out more attacks?

SCIUTTO: Well, that's what we were told over the weekend, a French police source saying that there was a security meeting on Saturday afternoon and the result of that security meeting was a belief that, in particular Amedi Coulibaly, when he was in the kosher market making phone calls, calling contacts in what they do believe was a larger group of like-minded terrorists and Jihadis, calling them, encouraging them, urging them to carry out further attacks, particularly on police officers. That's one reason why they believe that there may be others who have been activated or encouraged to carry out attacks and that's one reason that you're seeing this tremendous show of police and military force now to try to prevent those attacks.

But I'll tell you, Wolf, you know, we've talked about this before, five -- some 5,000 suspected Jihadis in France. That is an almost impossible number to keep track of.

BLITZER: It certainly is. That's a lot of the work to try to keep up with all of those potential, potential, attackers out there. Jim Sciutto, thanks very much.

We're also learning now that the Jewish market attacker was on the U.S. watch list. Our Justice Correspondent Pamela Brown is joining us now. Amedi Coulibaly, I take it he was being watched by the U.S. as well. Is that right?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So, at some point, Wolf, French intelligence officials shared information with the U.S. officials, perhaps having to do with Amedi Coulibaly's arrest back in 2010, I believe. Apparently, he was arrested, convicted of trying to get an Algerian out of prison. So, he was then put on the U.S. watch list, this terror watch list called tide (ph). And it's, basically, a database of known or international suspected terrorists.

And so, he was on there, we know that the other two suspects, the Kouachi brothers were also in that database, Wolf. But it's still a mystery whether Coulibaly's female accomplice was in that database. Sources have not been able to confirm that for us. And it's believed, Wolf, that she is now in Syria. Sources telling us, over the weekend, that she went to Turkey. She was last seen at the border of Turkey. It's presumed that he made her way into Syria. So, she's going to be very difficult to get to according to officials -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Have these terrorists -- all of them are dead now, they were on the tide watch list. Is that the same thing, basically, as a no- fly list? In other words, they had French passports. They were all French citizens. Had they tried to board a flight at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris for Washington Dulles airport, would they have been allowed in on this no viva -- no-visa waiver plan that the United States has with close allies or would they have been stopped at Dulles airport and prevented from entering the United States?

BROWN: So, they would've been -- we know the Kouachi brothers have been on that no-fly list for several years. I know at least one brother on that list for more than five years, Wolf. So, essentially, they would not have been allowed to board a flight to come to the U.S.

Now, as far as Coulibaly being on the -- in the tide database, it's unclear, at this point, if he was on the no-fly list. Just because you're in the tide database does not mean you're on the no-fly list. That is the, I guess you could say, the strictest list there is. So, people who have a nexus, a known nexus to terrorism in some fashion, would most likely be on that no fly list. And, as we know, he was arrested back in 2010 on terrorism-related charges. So you can presume he was on the no-fly list Wolf, but we have not been able to confirm that.

BLITZER: All right. Pamela Brown reporting for us. Thank you.

The ramifications of this case reach far beyond France. The suspects were known to other European and U.S. authorities. And now. we're also learning more about the brothers' link, direct link, to Yemen.

Our Senior International Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is joining us live from Beirut. He's been doing some exclusive reporting for us. What have you found out, Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, attention really focuses on Said (ph) Kouachi who, as far as we understand, was in and out of Yemen in a protracted period from October -- sorry, in October 2009 to mid-2011. But today, we've learned, interestingly, from a senior security official in Yemen that his younger brother, Cherif, was there also there at the same time. Unclear if they spent their time together but Cherif was there from April 2011 for about three months or so, as was Said. Now, while Said went to a language school in Sanai (ph) where he studied Arabic grammar for a substantial period of time.

And, Wolf, it's fascinated me as you reported earlier, for a brief period of time, according to one witness, they shared a room with a man known as the underwear bomber, one of the most notorious failed bombers in the past decade or so. They roomed together briefly. Said studied Arabic in Sanai. But they believe Cherif, the younger brother, in fact may have headed north towards Saddar (ph), another area in Yemen, and gone to a different Islamic school there in Damash (ph), which they are concerned, this Yemeni senior security official, he may have used as a base from which he could have travel the couple of hours or so you'd need to get to some of the training camps that Al Qaeda affiliates have in that area around there.

So, Yemeni officials, in the past few days, I think really scrambling (ph), it is a failed or failing state, to get together a coherent picture of these brothers' time inside their country. But increasingly more details coming to light. And they're chilling, Wolf, because they say these guys should have been on everyone's radar, a lot more, and subject to much more substantial surveillance Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Nick, stand by. I want to go back to Pamela Brown in Washington. Pamela, it now looks very embarrassing what's going on. Centcom's Twitter account, YouTube accounts have been hacked. What are you learning?

BROWN: Yes. So, that's what we're learning here, Wolf. This is a developing story, as we speak. And what we've learned is that Centcom, as you say, Twitter, YouTube have been hacked. In at least one of the tweets, there were what seemingly (ph) Pentagon documents. Of course, these could be public documents that look like they're coming from the Pentagon that have been hacked. But the tweets are made to look like they've been hacked by ISIS.

As you see right here, it says, cyber calafat (ph), and some of the tweets very disturbing here, saying, we won't stop. We know everything about your wives, saying that ISIS is already here. We are in PCs and each military base. But, as my colleague, Barbara Starr, reported, the intel community has been running a cyber program against ISIS for months. So, of course, Wolf, this could be someone unaffiliated with ISIS who hacked Centcom, Twitter, YouTube, to make it look like it was coming from ISIS. We are trying to get down to the bottom of it and, of course, will bring you the latest as soon as we find out.

BLITZER: I mean, this is really embarrassing, Centcom, U.S. Military Central Command, based in Florida, it's responsible for U.S. military operations in all of the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa, if you will. They've got a huge area of responsibility, including all of these countries like Syria, Iraq, Yemen. That's all part of Centcom, right?

BROWN: Yes, that's absolutely right. So, it's very -- it's a very big deal, regardless of who hacked the account, the fact that they were able to get in there and take over Centcom's Twitter account. And it's also disturbing, Wolf, because the hacker is basically saying that we know the home addresses of U.S. soldiers and their families, where they live. It's unclear if this is unrelated but you might remember earlier in December, Wolf, we reported that ISIS, the big concern in the law enforcement intel community is that ISIS was pulling together information from U.S. soldiers and their families social media accounts to try to figure out where they live.

Again, it's unclear if that's related at all. But it's very concerning, no matter how you cut it.

BLITZER: Yes. Well, clearly, somebody got the passwords for Centcom's Twitter account, YouTube account and they're doing some embarrassing work right now.

BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: We'll continue to stay on top of this story. Thanks very much for that, Pamela.

BROWN: Thank you. BLITZER: Still ahead, we're waiting for what's likely to be a pretty contentious White House briefing. The Obama administration under fire right now after neither President Obama nor secretary of state, Kerry, nor the vice president attended yesterday's unity march in Paris. Tough questions coming up for Josh Earnest, the White House Press Secretary.

Also ahead, we're going to take a closer look at the possible ties between the Kouachi brothers, ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Arabian Peninsula. Stay with us. Lots going on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're standing by the White House press briefing getting ready to begin. It was scheduled to begin a few moments ago. It'll begin very soon we're told. Serious questions, though, are now being raised about the U.S. participation in yesterday's massive rally in Paris. There was several high-profile dignitaries in attendance, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, among many other world leaders. And a lot of people are now wondering why President Obama wasn't there, at least the secretary of state, John Kerry.

But CNN has been told by a former senior administration official that sending President Obama would have created, quote, "pretty substantial risks," presumably security risk, "to the president." Our Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta is over at the White House briefing room right now. Are we expecting the press secretary, Josh Earnest, to address this issue? I assume he's going to be badgered with a ton of questions on it.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUOSE CORRESPONDENT: I think so, Wolf. I think Josh Earnest will be hammered with a lot of questions right out of the gate on this issue. It is, essentially, the first real challenge to the president's leadership, I think that you're hearing from a lot of quarters (ph) in the beginning of this new year. The president apparently made this decision on his own to not go to Paris, presumably, potentially with some guidance from secret service that it maybe would've been too risky to make this sort of trip.

We did get some background information from an anonymous White House official yesterday, Wolf, that there -- this would have been a security challenge, but this official also said that the event in Paris was really about the French and not the U.S. And so that gives you some hint as to what Josh Earnest will say when he comes out here in a few moments.

But, Wolf, as you mentioned, Secretary of State John Kerry potentially could have been diverted from his trip, although we should mention he was meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Modi yesterday when this event was going on. The vice president, however, you know, vice presidents, as Fareed Zakaria said earlier today, they're sort of made for these types of assignments. The vice president has no public schedule over the weekend. He was in Wilmington, Delaware, with nothing on his schedule. So, presumably, he could have been sent to Paris. So, Wolf, this was a decision that was made by this White House not to go and now they're going to have to answer for it.

I will tell you, though, in just the last several minutes, I heard from a senior Democrat strategist here in Washington who said that this was a huge mistake. That the president should be out there leading the world. That he could have gotten other important business done with these other world leaders in Paris. And so I think the question of the hour will be whether or not this was a missed opportunity.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, all right. Jim Acosta, stand by. We're going to have live coverage with the Q&A with the White House press secretary once it begins.

I want to get some perspective now from someone who's faced the cameras, the microphones, fielding these kinds of tough questions, our senior political commentator, the former White House press secretary, Jay Carney. He's joining us from Washington.

Jay, thanks very much for joining us.

Well, picking up on what we just heard from Jim Acosta, is it OK for a press secretary, once in a while, not very often, but once in a while to at least acknowledge to the American people the president of the United States may have made a mistake?

JAY CARNEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I don't think you'll hear that from my successor, Josh Earnest, today. And I don't think anything -- the problem with this kind of discussion, Wolf, is that while in retrospect you could say, boy, it would have been better to avoid this very news story by sending a senior official. I think that anyone short of the president appearing there would have still resulted in some of the criticism that we're seeing.

I think that what the White House is focused and what the president is focused on - and sometimes this is an asset and sometimes it's a liability in the day to day, in on the longer term. And his focus is going to be on, what are we doing to help the French, what are we doing to demonstrate substantively our solidarity with the French and not whether or not we're making all the right symbolic moves. I think that what is almost entirely the case in a situation like this is that the story is very Washington focused. I'm sure it will be a subject in the briefing today. I'm sure it won't be the most fun Josh has ever had. But I think most Americans are going to be focused on the broader issues here in terms of the fear that they might have about a kind of -- an attack like we saw in Paris happening in the United States, and also what we're doing to counter it with the French.

They're also going to be focused on what they're always principally focused on, which is how is the economy doing, how are jobs coming along. And if there's a missed opportunity here, I think it's that the White House will have to spend a day or two talking about this rather than the very good economic news that we've seen lately.

BLITZER: Did you ever - did you ever -- while you were the press secretary in the White House, did you ever acknowledge that a mistake was made? CARNEY: You know, I think the language you use is always something you

have to think very carefully about because you don't want to create something that's, you know, used to bludgeon you or the president. But, sure, I think there are occasions when you can say, you know, in retrospect we might have done this differently. The podium or the lectern is always a place that you have to be careful about doing that because it's on camera and can become instant fodder for political ads and things like that. So -- but I think there are way to signal that, you know, maybe we could have done something better. I think the president says that a lot and -- but that's usually a little down the road. When there's a moment like this where there's a bit of a frenzy, especially a press focused frenzy, I think you've just got to ride it out and focus on what the president has done, what we've done substantively as a nation to assist the French and what we're doing to counter Islamic extremism around the world.

BLITZER: Yes, because the American public, they acknowledge, everybody, you know, we're all human beings, we can all make a mistake. And if it was a mistake, it was a mistake, we move on. And because even the attorney general, Eric Holder, he was in Paris at the time. He could have gone, represented the United States, instead of the top U.S. diplomat there, the U.S. ambassador in Paris. Even Eric Holder didn't go and a lot of people were - well, why didn't he show up?

CARNEY: Well, again, I would suggest that had he gone, that would not have satisfied critics here. They would have said that the United States sent a cabinet level official rather than the president or the vice president. And I think that, you know, the question here is, should the president have gone. There are enormous challenges, as you know, having covered the White House, to moving a president that are quite different from moving any other leader in the world. There are security issues that are - that we approach differently from any other nation in the world.

And also you create huge distraction and disruption when you inject a U.S. president into an event like this. And I'm sure those were all consideration the White House undertook. I'm not saying that in retrospect they didn't - they might be thinking, well, maybe, just to avoid this story, it would have been good to go. But as you know, Wolf, this president doesn't often think like that. He thinks more long term. Sometime that hurts him in the short time politically, but I think he believes and the team believes that it serves him better in the long run.

BLITZER: Now, I was just thinking, in my own experience, and, Jay, you probably remember this as well, when Bill Clinton was president of the United States back in the '90s and Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister of Israel was assassinated, and then the funeral was going to take place right away, Bill Clinton did not hesitate at all. To the -- a lot of the Secret Service guys said, you know what, it could be dangerous. He was on that Air Force One. He flew to Jerusalem for that funeral. He wanted to be there with other world leaders. And even though the Secret Service was upset and they were worried about security for the president of the United States in such a hastily organized event, a lot of world leaders were going there, he made a point of going. And, you know, obviously, the Secret Service is always understandably cautious about these kinds of things. But the president of the United States, if they -- he's the president of the United States. If he wants to tell the Secret Service, work it out, we're going, this is too important, obviously the president can override any of those concerns from the Secret Service, right?

CARNEY: No question the president could have overridden the Secret Service. I would - of course I remember that trip very well. The world's quite a lot different and security for the president is a lot different post 9/11 than it was then, which is not to say that a trip like that is without risks. I do believe, as you saw with Nelson Mandela, that in a circumstance like we saw with Yitzhak Rabin, that President Obama would also make the trip.

I think that the march that we saw yesterday in the White House's view is one that was focused on French solidarity, the diversity of that crowd, the fact that there were French Muslims out in mass is what really the message was about. And what we haven't heard, Wolf, and I think this is important - maybe we will, but we haven't heard it yet - is any criticism from the French, the French government or from French organizations about the absence of the president at this march. What I think they'll be looking for is substantive assistance and substantive demonstrations of solidarity in the days coming ahead.

BLITZER: Jay Carney, thanks very much for joining us. I'm sure you're not envious of your successor, Josh Earnest, what he's about to go through over there at the White House, but we'll have live coverage of that as well. Thank you.

CARNEY: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: When we come back, we're taking a closer look at the hunt for Hayat Boumeddiene. What was her role in last week's terror attacks in Paris and how was she so easily able, apparently, to get to Turkey and then on to Syria?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The breaking news we're following, and it is very, very embarrassing to the United States military. The U.S. military's central command, which is in charge of all U.S. military operations in the Middle East, the Twitter account, the Twitter feed for the U.S. military's central command appears now to have been hacked. ISIS activists, they're taking credit, they're posting what looks like confidential information. Joining us now to assess what's going on, our terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank, our intelligence and security analyst, the former CIA operative Bob Baer, and our law enforcement analyst, the former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes.

And I want to just point out, we're standing by to hear from the White House as well, so we - I may have to interrupt you. But let's talk a little bit about this. On this CENTCOM Twitter feed, one tweet they just put out in the name of Allah the most gracious, the most merciful, the cyber caliphate continues at cyber jihad. How embarrassing, how awkward, Bob Baer, is this for the U.S. military? BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, extremely. I mean

these accounts are supposed to be secure. They've got IT people that should be able to manipulate this and make them secure and they can't. Twitter is not secure. As we were talking about, Wolf, even if you shut off the GPS location, people can turn this on with certain software and still find people. So this is a huge breech for CENTCOM.

BLITZER: You know, and, Tom Fuentes, you know, you used to work at the FBI and a lot of people are watching us and listening to this and they're saying, how could this possibly happen? We don't know if it really is ISIS or some ISIS sympathizers or just some hackers who are pretending to be ISIS sympathizers. I'm sure eventually people will find out. But it's so perplexing that the U.S. military's Central Command has now been hacked.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think, Wolf, it's an example of modern warfare. Our systems analysts and controllers against yours. And that's, you know, and that's what we have now is a battle of the technical wizards that set up these accounts. They're supposed to be securing them. And the other people around the world who are supposed to be in their mind trying to attack those systems. So it's an interesting thing. But it's the warfare of the future.

BLITZER: And it's so awkward, Paul Cruickshank, does this have the fingerprints of a real ISIS - really ISIS or ISIS sympathizers or is it just a bunch of hackers having some fun out there?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, Wolf, it really could be any of the above. But I think it's important to point out that CENTCOM itself has not been hacked. This is YouTube and Twitter that have been hacked. That's much easier to hack, obviously, than CENTCOM's mainframe systems. So that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about a hack into these social media sites.

But, nevertheless, it's obviously embarrassing for the U.S. military. We know that ISIS does have a bunch of cyber guys who operate in Raqqa, for example, in Syria, also perhaps in Mosul, in Iraq. But they're not thought to have a huge capability when it comes to this kind of cyberattacks.

BLITZER: And, Bob Baer, give us a little perspective. How important the Central Command really is to the U.S. military in this war on terror.

BAER: Well, Wolf, it's absolutely key. It's in charge of the Middle East. It's our most important command. And the best people go there. And it's our face in the Middle East and in the wars in Syria and Iraq and in Yemen. And, in all -- and, you know, but Paul's absolutely right, they cannot get into CENTCOM computers. That would just be extraordinary if they could, a miracle in fact.