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Wolf

New Video In of Paris Terror Attack; TSA Increases Screenings; Paris Attack Video

Aired January 13, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 7:00 p.m. in Paris, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, 1:00 a.m. Wednesday in Jakarta. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, we have new video just in from the terrorist attacks in Paris. It shows the killers who unleashed the attack that killed 12 people at the offices of the magazine "Charlie Hebdo." Watch this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

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BLITZER: All right, dramatic video indeed. Let's go right to Paris. Jim Sciutto is on the scene for us. Jim, give us some context. What are we seeing here?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, riveting video all taking place just behind me on the street, just behind me here, as it happened. From best we can tell, this is after the moment that the gunmen had stormed the offices and killed the editors and cartoonists at "Charlie Hebdo." You see them leaving. They come downstairs. They calmly put -- you know, re-arm themselves, change their ammunition there. You can hear them shouting what appears to be, we have avenged the prophet Muhammad.

There's also a moment, which we're about to see here, actually we've just seen, where he raises his finger which is a symbol that can be something you will hear before you're going to die. And it's the equivalent of saying, there is only one god and his prophet is Muhammad, phrases that you would hear from Muslims before they die, that finger in the air, a physical symbol of that.

Now, you see this moment as the car drives down the street and this is where, after you see this bit of the jumble in the video, where it encounters that police car. You'll see the police car rapidly back up as the gunmen get out of the car again. This was the encounter where they opened fire on that police car, firing through the windshield.

And then, a few moments later, executed the policeman on the ground. You'll remember that video that we saw last week right in the wake of the attack when you saw the Muslim policeman executed, in effect, on the ground, even as he begged for his life. That's the encounter there at the end. And you'll see them now advancing away as they come up against that police car, again, on a main street. This all happened in the warren -- the rabbits warren the streets just behind us here, a few hundred yards away, and appears to be the moments after that attack inside the office and before they ran into the policeman who confronted them as they left. I mean, here's him raising his finger in the air. You can hear him in French shouting, we have avenged the prophet Muhammad.

What strikes me, Wolf, is just the amount of time they had here to calmly change the magazines on their weapons, taking new magazines out of those tan vests that they're wearing, re-arming themselves, loading up again. You hear the sound of lock and load as they do that before calmly getting back into that car and driving away before they encounter the police again down the street.

BLITZER: Yes, they seem to be very, very calm, indeed. Jim Sciutto, stand by.

Let's bring in some experts to assess what we've just seen. Joining us, our Global Affairs Analyst Lieutenant Colonel James Reese, retired; also, our Terrorism Analyst Paul Cruickshank; our Intelligence and Security Analyst Bob Baer; and our Law Enforcement Analyst Tom Fuentes.

Tom, let me start with you. Your reaction to what we just saw?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think, Wolf, it shows what we saw the other day in the earlier videos, just the complete calmness and poise of these shooters going about their business as if they do this every day, no excitement, just reload the guns, the sound of the -- of the bullet in the magazine getting locked back into the gun and handing each other the equipment they need, get back in the car. Then, they encounter the police car, immediately get out and start shooting at it. We hear two caliber of gunfire, I think. I hear a smaller gun that might have been the police shooting first. But then, you hear the louder sound of their assault rifles, and they clearly outgunned the police.

BLITZER: And, Paul, before they got in the car, we hear them boldly making declarations in Arabic, right?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: That's right. And, indeed, in French as well, that this is to avenge the prophet Muhammad. Obviously, they regard the "Charlie Hebdo" cartoonists who have impinged the honor of the -- of the prophet, Muhammad, by putting out all these cartoons. So, they're clearly saying that this is in revenge. They want to publicize this. They see this as a sort of terror spectacular that the media are going to talk about. And so, they want to get this message out very, very clearly so all the bystanders that they realize are around -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And, Bob Baer, you see these terrorists in that black Citroen. They're driving full speed ahead. It's the police car that, all of a sudden, goes back in reverse and tries to escape. These guys, clearly, are not scared.

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, exactly, Wolf. First of all, look at the grouping on the windshield of that police car. These people have fired weapons before. They've been around them. They had just murdered 10 people. They are not afraid. And, also, the fact that they were prepared for martyrdom is important. La ala ela ala(ph) is a statement that is, I'm ready to die for ala. And this makes these people particularly dangerous, understanding weapons and ready to die which make them a nightmare for all police forces.

BLITZER: Colonel Reese, what's your analysis of what we've seen?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Wolf, what I found interesting was is the one brother that's driving is the one that has more training than the other. The one brother comes around and what happens is his weapon has jammed and probably jammed during the executions in the magazine. He comes over to his brother and asks him to clear the weapon, puts the magazine out. The brother reaches in, removes the jam, then he goes back in, takes the magazine out of his vest and reloads and they're ready to go again. So, the guy driving is much better trained because of those issues is what I see.

BLITZER: You know, and, Paul, these two brothers, Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, 34, 32 years old, respectively, they're making bold declarations there. They're not trying to run away. They're declaring victory, if you will.

CRUICKSHANK: They're declaring victory and one has to recall that Al Qaeda, and other groups, have been trying to hit the cartoonists in a big way for quite some time. In fact, ever since these cartoons were first published in the Danish media in 2005, there have been a string of plots to try and attack publications linked to the cartoons.

Notably, in 2010, a plot by Al Qaeda central in Pakistan to target the "Highlands Proper" (ph) newspaper in Copenhagen. A Swedish cell were recruited in that. They wanted to kill up to 200 journalists in that plot. They've calculated, for some time, that by launching attacks against cartoonists, they'll get a lot of popularity in the global Jihadist community. It will be good for fund-raising and recruits. And, unfortunately, these images we're seeing right now are going to electrify these Jihadists around the world, Wolf. And, unfortunately, encourage more of these kind of attacks.

BLITZER: Colonel Reese, these two terrorists seem better armed than the police officers there, right?

REESE: Yes, Wolf, they are, unfortunately. And the guns they're carrying, it's a 308-caliber weapon. Folks here who deer hunt and elk hunt in the U.S., that's what they use. It's a big caliber weapon. It's actually bigger than U.S. troops carry in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's very powerful. When they make that right-hand turn, that's what I believe, they're going down. Then, they stop again and they kill that police officer on the side of the street. And if you remember from the other video, as the one runner -- as the gunners go back, they're pointing their fingers and saying the same thing they're saying now. So, I think this is just the -- it's a great video. It's a great video.

BLITZER: And, Bob Baer, why will this be so powerful, as far as propaganda, for the terrorists?

BAER: Well, this -- Wolf, this was an assassination which will have a great political influence. And it's not a random bombing. I think even the fanatics look at 911 or the tube bombing in London, it's just random slaughter. But this is more of a war, the war they would like to bring to the west. The fact that they used assault weapons. The fact that the targets were very specific, by name, and the two police officers were among the victims, for them, it looks like a righteous struggle in which will encourage other, as Paul said, jihadists around the world.

I mean, but what do the police do about this? This is what I'm -- what worries me is. You know, Colonel Reese's forces could take on an assault like this. But the average policeman is not prepared to go to war in a major city.

BLITZER: Well, that's a good point. Tom Fuentes, what do you say about that?

FUENTES: No, that's exactly true. And then, we hear so much, in this country, about the militarization of our police. We've seen an encounter here where every encounter, until the actual hostage situations, the police were outgunned dramatically. You've seen pictures of the police on the street and the military on the street now, even now you don't see the weaponry on the street.

BLITZER: I want all of you guys to stand by because this is dramatic new video of what we've seen. We're going to continue to follow the breaking news of the new video of the gunmen, the two gunmen in Paris, Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi.

We're also taking a closer look at some other new video, talking about the increased security here in the United States. The new chairman of the Senate Homeland Security committee, Senator Ron Johnson, he's standing by live. We have lots to discuss with him including this new video.

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BLITZER: We want to show you once again the new video just in from the terrorist attacks in Paris. It shows the killers, the two killers, who unleashed the attack that killed 12 people at the offices of the magazine, "Charlie Hebdo." Watch this.

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BLITZER: Dramatic video indeed. Watch this other development. Authorities say a French citizen arrested in Bulgaria had been in contact several times with one of the terrorists in Paris. The contact with Cherif Kouachi took place a week before the attacks in Paris. The French citizen, Fritz-Joly Joachin was arrested along the border between Bulgaria and Turkey. In Jerusalem, a funeral ceremony was held for four of the victims of

the attack at the kosher supermarket in Paris. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called for a unified response to the terror attacks.

The satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" went to press once again today despite new terror threats. This is the first new issue since the massacre at their offices. The magazine is printing 3 million copies, up from the usual 60,000. The cover features a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad once again.

Meanwhile, here in the United States, the TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, is also screening -- stepping up screening efforts at airports. It's a response to a bomb-making article in an al Qaeda magazine, not necessarily a direct response to what happened the other day in France.

Joining us now, the Wisconsin Republican senator, Ron Johnson. He's the new chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us. I know it's a busy time for you.

Let's first -- I want to get your thoughts on that chilling video that we just saw. These guys are pretty cool going about this attack, not only on the cartoonists and the editorial writers over at that magazine, which we don't see directly, but then going ahead and attacking this police vehicle.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R), WISCONSIN: Well, you used the best adjective, chilling. Here, two individuals have just slaughtered 12 human beings and they come out, they're cold-blooded killers, they're calm, they're cool, they're collected and they go about their business. And that just shows you what we are up against, this evil, this brutality, this barbarism. And we have to face that reality.

BLITZER: So you believe - and I assume you believe, this could happen in the United States?

JOHNSON: Absolutely. We've seen people sympathetic, inspired by this growth. I mean, let's face it, the war on terror is not over. Islamic terrorists aren't on the run. It's a growing threat. It is metastasized. It - you know, we saw it in Ottawa, we saw it in Sydney, we saw it in Fort Hood, Texas. No, this threat is growing and, unfortunately, that is not the exception. Those -- the people like that are growing.

BLITZER: But this doesn't look like those so-called lone wolfs. This looks like a well-orchestrated, organized terror plot with sleeper cells and presumably accomplices that are still at large.

JOHNSON: They've been trained. And, let's face it, it's our concern about the foreign fighters moving -- going from west -- the western world, with passports, 600 British passports, 1,000 in France, you know, people with American passports --

BLITZER: How many?

JOHNSON: Well, we don't know for sure. Far fewer than in western Europe. But it only takes two to cause that kind of disruption, that kind of evil.

BLITZER: And the decision now by the TSA to step up screening at major airports here in the United States, I'm sure you've been briefed on that.

JOHNSON: Right.

BLITZER: What's going on?

JOHNSON: Well, we are at a heightened state of alert. And it's not only that. We're trying to beef up protection at federal buildings. There's greater cooperation with intelligence services from around the world, which is really our first line of defense. We need a robust intelligence gathering capability if we're going to keep this nation safe. We're going to have to balance that against civil liberties. But this is a moment in time that we've got to really face the reality of what we're dealing with here.

BLITZER: And supposedly they're looking at the stepped-up security for a bomb that might not necessarily be easily detectable after this al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula magazine published sort of a how-to, how to build a bomb that might be able to slip through a TSA security provision.

JOHNSON: It continues to be something that concerns us all. You know, aviation security, we've certainly hardened our defenses in terms of aviation security. But there are people who have been trying to, you know, create new weapons and create new threats.

BLITZER: And that's happening all the time. Is the Department of Homeland Security, which protects airports, protects so much of the United States, prepared for this right now? Do they need more funds, more people? What's your analysis?

JOHNSON: Well, fortunately, I think we've got a very good secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, a pretty serious character, trying to organize that department. It's a department that's been in trouble. You know, it has not been staffed properly. It's somewhat demoralized. One of the commitments I made to the secretary is, I want to do everything I can to help him succeed in his mission in keeping this nation safe.

BLITZER: You know they run out of money by the end of February unless you decide to appropriate some money for them, the Department of Homeland Security.

JOHNSON: Yes. The security function of the department will continue no matter what happens in this dysfunctional place.

BLITZER: What's going to happen? I mean if you've got --

JOHNSON: I - BLITZER: Right now it's going to the president's executive decisions (ph).

JOHNSON: I can't tell you. It's - right, and it is one of the reasons why so many of us warned President Obama, please, give us a chance, work with the new Congress. Let's find the areas of agreement. I want to solve the immigration problem. I want to keep this nation safe.

You know, under my chairmanship, the mission of our committee is going to be to enhance the economic and national security of America and that's what I'm dedicated to doing.

BLITZER: So, senator, can you assure the American people right now, the Department of Homeland Security will continue to have the funds to protect Americans?

JOHNSON: Yes, that's going to happen regardless of what happens here.

BLITZER: So they shouldn't worry about --

JOHNSON: I mean let's look at the last shutdown, only 13.6 percent of DHS employees were furloughed. It's a national security imperative. It's deemed essential services. No matter what happens to this dysfunctional place, we're going to keep this nation as safe as possible.

BLITZER: How good is intelligence right now? Are you confident that the U.S. knows what's going on?

JOHNSON: Well, the problem - and I heard another intelligence expert say that, you know, we've always been trying to find the needle in the haystack. The problem is, there's more needles and the haystack is growing. So it's a huge challenge. We've got to be, you know, accurate 100 percent of the time. They've got to only succeed once, as we witnessed in Paris.

BLITZER: Because you have confidence in the Department of Homeland Security, in the secretary, Jeh Johnson. What about the intelligence community?

JOHNSON: Well, we have a number of different agencies. We have a number of different data centers. And what we need to make sure is we haven't created those stovepipes, that that information is flowing between the different agencies that are trying to keep this nation safe. And that's really one of the things I'm dedicated to making sure that's happening.

BLITZER: You know, the whole notion in Paris, for example, the accomplice, the woman, Hayat Boumeddiene, she, early in January, she apparently leaves France, goes to Turkey, a NATO ally, and then manages to not only go to Turkey, but then winds up supposedly right now in Syria.

JOHNSON: Right.

BLITZER: How does that happen? JOHNSON: Well, you know -

BLITZER: She was on a most wanted list, if you will (ph). She was being watched. They knew who she was.

JOHNSON: Sure. Here's the conundrum. What do you do with the not guilty yet? I mean what do you do with that? I mean we actually have protections. You know, there's due process. So until people commit a crime, what do you do with people without totally violating civil liberties? Wolf, if we really want to solve this problem, and this is kind of going in a little bit different direction is, we have to understand what is inspiring them. And it really has been the growth of ISIS. I mean first we had al Qaeda. Now we have ISIS. We really do need to accomplish President Obama's stated goal, degrade and defeat ISIS, the sooner the better, because as long as they're not losing, they're perceived as winning, they'll continue to inspire this type of home-grown activity.

BLITZER: Was the Paris shooting, or the Paris attack, ISIS or AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or something else?

JOHNSON: It's a combination. Obviously they were trained apparently in Yemen. But what finally inspired them? Did they get - did they get orders from Yemen or did they just take a look at what's happening with the growth of ISIS, the success that ISIS is basically having in not losing? That is why it's important we actually defeat ISIS.

BLITZER: Senator, you're the new chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Priority number one in the immediate days and weeks ahead for you is?

JOHNSON: Well, I want to make sure that, again, the agencies are talking to each other. But here's another thing we have to do. We have to secure our border. We have to secure the border, not only to solve the immigration problem, but as an imperative for public health and safety. We saw Ebola, tuberculosis, but from a national security standpoint as well. So that's one concrete action. The American people totally support. Let's once and for all secure our border. Take a look at our immigration laws. That's one of the problems that's happening in France is, you know, their immigration laws have been pretty liberal and people have not fully embraced the culture of France and they're separate and it creates these types of situations.

BLITZER: Senator Ron Johnson, good luck with the new chairmanship.

JOHNSON: Thanks.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.

Up next, more on this new video that's just coming in to CNN. We're going to assess what's going on. Stay with us.

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