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U.S. Bases Raise Security Due to Terror Concerns. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 08, 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, 6:00 p.m. in London. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with --

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: We begin with breaking news. Military bases across the United States are now on a heightened state of alert. The move is in response to the growing threat of attack by ISIS or other terror groups.

A U.S. official telling CNN the bases are now at what's being called force protection bravo which is defined as an increased and predictable threat of terrorism. It was raised from force protection alpha. The change also applies to U.S. National Guard installations around the country.

Let's bring in our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara, explain what prompted this decision, specifically, is it based on a specific threat?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the orders were signed last night by the four-star admiral in charge of the U.S. northern command which oversees bases in the United States. Not because there was a specific and credible threat, meaning no information about an attack coming at a point in time in a particular place. But, as one official said, the temperature has been raised. Growing concern in the U.S. military, intelligence community and law enforcement, about home-grown violent radical extremism. We saw it this week in Garland, Texas. This has been something that has been growing in concern.

Just yesterday, the FBI director, James Comey, said there may be thousands of people in the United States on-line with groups like ISIS being radicalized joining militant ideologies. This is all a huge concern. I have to tell you, we've been told the military had this order in the works for some time as it was monitoring on-line communications, as it was monitoring social media, growing increasingly concerned about this trend.

So, what does this mean? If you have a military base in your town, in your community, military bases here in the Washington, D.C. area, you are likely in the short term to see maybe some traffic jams, more people, security personnel at gate, more checks of personnel going in and out of the military bases, checks of vehicles. Do they have permission to come on base? What are vehicles and delivery trucks carrying?

But keep in mind, this becomes, as one official said, a very expensive proposition to maintain this level of security. So, what the military is talking about is going very public right now but also being very random about it. Random security measures increasing the -- it is in order to show a higher profile for security in these very uncertain times right now with this jihadist threat but also to keep any would- be attackers off balance. To hope that they can't look at the security measures around the military base, make some predictions about what the military is doing and plan some sort of attack. Keep it random, potential attackers off guard, that is the hope of this strategy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What about U.S. Military installations around the world? And we're being seen around the world right now, whether in Britain, Germany, Japan, Korea? I assume they're always on a little higher state of alert, right?

STARR: I think that's a really good point. Let's go around the globe for a second. In the Middle East, in the Persian Gulf, you're essentially, if you're in the U.S. military or you're a military family, you're operating in, essentially, what is the equivalent, if you will, of a potential war zone environment because of the high threat of a terrorist attack. U.S. military installations in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf are at some of the highest states of alert around the world. Also, of course, obviously in North -- in Korea, on the Korean Peninsula because of North Korea at a very high state.

In Europe, the U.S. bases in Britain, in Germany, across Europe, they have been at this state known as bravo since late last year. And, in fact, personnel are restricted from wearing their uniforms off base. There has been a lot of effort in Europe to lower the profile of U.S. military personnel and raise security at U.S. bases at the same time as they have seen the jihadist threat in Europe grow, of course, with attacks in Paris, Copenhagen and other places -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks very much. Barbara reporting the news that U.S. military installations, here in the United States, going on a higher level of alert.

Let's go and get some perspective from our panel. Joining us, Lieutenant Colonel retired James Reese. He's a CNN Global Affairs Analyst, a former U.S. Delta Force commander. Also joining us, J.M. Berger. He's co-author of the book "ISIS: The State of Terror." He's a fellow at the Brookings Institution and a founder of the Web site, Intel Wire. And Tom Fuentes is a CNN Law Enforcement Analyst, the former FBI assistant director.

[13:05:14] Colonel Reese, give us a sense of what this means in a practical sense to you at these U.S. military installations, the change that the troops, the civilians there are about to see.

LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RETIRED), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, Wolf, I mean, the bottom line is this. On the military installations, it's normalcy. They're used to seeing these ups and downs in the threat perspective. One of the major thing is these soldiers will go home to make sure their families understand that there is an increased risk to the base. But they understand how to do this.

The big thing like Barbara talked about, this really becomes is how long can you sustain these aspects at a higher risk? There's a higher budgetary piece. And then, just for the soldiers and families alone, to stay at a higher risk awareness, what I would call being in the amber or red zone. You can only do that for so long until you start losing your perspective of what's going on.

But, you know, like I said, for most of the folks, this is, you know, everyday aspects that happen and they'll deal with it. And, really, like they said, they'll want to keep ISIS or any threat off balance by continuing to change the threat postures.

BLITZER: Dan Berger, I know you testified before the Senate yesterday. This latest move prompted, in part, by comments from the FBI director, James Comey, who says the attack in Garland, Texas outside of Dallas by Elton Simpson and his roommate, Nadir Soofi, highlights the dangers of attacks in the United States. He told reporters this. I'll put it on the screen. I know there are other Elton Simpsons out there. It's almost as if there is a devil sitting on their shoulder saying, kill, kill, kill, kill. All day long, they are recruiting and tasking at the same time. In fact, Comey says -- J.M., he says, there are thousands of ISIS supporters or followers in the United States right now. So, what kind of threat is the U.S. facing from these people?

J.M. BERGER, CO-AUTHOR, "ISIS: THE STATE OF TERROR": Well, ISIS definitely casts a very wide net, Wolf. I mean it's -- they're out there every day really putting out a large volume of material. But they also -- you know, they're not just broadcasting incitement and threats. But they're also trying to develop relationships with people. One of the things that social media is good for is to give you a sense of intimacy with somebody who might be all the way on the other side of the globe. And, you know, what we've seen in radicalization is very few predictable trends that show who's going to become violent but one is definitely who you know.

BLITZER: Tom Fuentes, what does it mean for U.S. law enforcement, whether state, local, federal law enforcement, with the military going on a higher state of alert right now?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think these days, Wolf, it means almost business as usual which is almost always at the heightened alert. The FBI director has been talking about this for months. He mentioned recently, the FBI has active investigations in all 50 states, Alaska just coming on recently. And that there is thousands of ISIS wannabes, would-be's, supporters, that are on-line and they're just really having a hard time keeping track of them all. They have all these open investigations. So, they're at this highest state of alert almost all the time.

BLITZER: Colonel Reese, the spokesman for the U.S. military's northern command which overseas bases in the United States that says this is now the new normal. I guess the question is this, how much of a target for these terror sympathizers or terrorist, whatever you want to call them, are U.S. military facilities?

REESE: Well, Wolf, the facilities themselves from the outside in, I'll tell you, are considered hard targets. Yes, people could walk in, find ways around, but they couldn't get their support system in. My biggest concern for our military bases is the insider threat. Can ISIS do anything? Can they recruit anyone who might be a soldier who's down on his luck, who's living on base and he's already on the inside, has access to weapons and this thing and can literally wreak havoc on the inside out. So, that's my biggest concern for our bases.

BLITZER: Well, we saw that happening, J.M. We saw that at Fort Hood, Texas a few years ago, as you well remember. How much of a threat is there from someone on the inside, whether a military or civilian, who works for the U.S. military being actually recruited or inspired to go out and kill people?

BERGER: Well, we've seen number of cases over the years with Al Qaeda where they specifically targeted military personnel for recruitment. What we've seen at Fort Hood is that it's become a recurring target now. And it's been -- you know, Nidal Hassan, we had Jason Abdo who was an insider threat. We also saw a recent ISIS related case in which somebody enlisted specifically to get insider access. So, I mean, this is something that we definitely have to pay attention to. I don't know -- you know, I haven't seen any strong signs that ISIS currently has anybody inside the military or that they're extremely focused on that. But I think this enlistment issue is probably one we're going to be looking at going forward.

[13:10:01] BLITZER: I think you're right. Tom Fuentes, we know the FBI leadership's having a conference call with local and state law enforcement around the country, today, right, on this issue, of suspected terror plots. What do we know about this?

FUENTES: Well, it's one of many continuing conferences that they have like that, secure video conferences with law enforcement, with the joint terrorism task forces, the state and local authorities to just keep them updated that, you know, stay awake, stay aware. This is going on. It continues to go on. ISIS recruiting is increasing. Not so much that they're -- that they're increasing their recruiting efforts, it's that it's being received more by their an increasing number of people who are sympathetic to it or want to join it or may carry out an attack here, as we've just seen in the Texas recent incident.

BLITZER: Yes. All right, I want all three of you, please stay with us. We have much more coming up, including more coverage on the breaking news, including a closer look at why ISIS now is targeting police and military personnel. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Let's get back to our top story in the breaking news. The raising of the threat level on American military bases all across the country due to the growing concerns over ISIS and other terror organizations. Those concerns have also led to the cancellation of a concert tonight at the National Museum of the U.S. Air force at Wright Patterson Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio. Joining us now from New York is Fareed Zakaria. He's the host of FAREED ZAKARIA GPS.

Fareed, the fear is that ISIS is targeting, specifically, military and law enforcement installations and people here in the United States. What's your reaction when you hear the U.S. military raising that threat level from alpha to bravo?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: It was a very odd announcement, Wolf, because on the one hand, they say there is no specific plot or threat that they detect but there is this general concern.

[13:15:07] Well, then why make it public? It sort of raises anxiety without providing anything specific anyone can do. My guess is that one of two things is possible. Either there is some information that remains so classified that they don't want to reveal it. More likely, there is this concern about the online recruitment that ISIS is able to do and there may be some chatter on the Internet, there may be online followers.

This is the crucial part about ISIS that is different from al Qaeda. They have been very good at using social media and at being able to get their message out so that it can inspire people who may not be directed by ISIS, but in some way take the - you know, become entrepreneurs, terrorist entrepreneurs in their own right and that there might be something that is being picked up there on the Internet that is of concern.

BLITZER: Like these two guys outside of Dallas over the weekend, who were apparently inspired but not necessarily specifically trained or sent in by ISIS. So what is a bigger fear right now? What's the greater threat, here in the U.S. homeland, ISIS inspired attacks or ISIS trained attackers?

ZAKARIA: It's a really good question. It feels to me like ISIS has, you know, in its core mission, its hands full. It is trying to establish the so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq. And by the way, on the ground, things are not going so great. They are finding alto of resistant. They're finding resistance from locals in Syria, the Iraqi army is getting better, the Kurds are getting better. They're finding pressure partly because the U.S. has been providing some help. So that part is - you know, they've got their hands full.

So my guess is, it's not ISIS trained or directed attacks, but they remain very good at this social media business. What they do, this is part of what we call - we've been exploring that documentary we're doing, which will air on Monday night. Part of what they do is they put these videos out, brutal, horrific videos, which go viral. That gets the message out as it will to hundreds of millions of people. The very brutality, the shocking nature of the video ensures that it goes viral. And then, because of that, they find the 0.01 percent of misfits, loners, alienated young men, and it's a very clever mechanism.

What to do about that? Nobody quite knows because it has been a very effective way to find, you know, the few people in each of these countries, including the United States, who are feeling that they want to do something violent, you know, to launch their own personal jihad, but they don't know quite what to do. And that's the - that's the part I think we're all very uneasy about.

BLITZER: And just to be precise, Fareed, and I'm sure you'll agree, it's not just young men. There are some young women out there who are inspired and lured into this terror organization as well.

ZAKARIA: It is young women as well. Though as you know, Wolf, the vast majority of people who are inspired by this, unfortunately, tend to be young, alienated Muslim men, particularly in western societies where they feel in some way or the other that they don't have a cause, a community, a sense of belonging, and develop these very violent, pathological views.

BLITZER: So why are they so good at this social media recruitment, if you will, and the U.S., which invented all this social media stuff, not apparently as successful?

ZAKARIA: Part of it, I think, is generational. I think a lot of the people involved in ISIS, they've grown up on all this stuff. You know, it - just as, you know, let's be honest, Wolf, you and I are not as adept at some of these things as our kids might be. I think part of it is that it is - they are young, they understand it, and part of it is that they have recognized, very brilliantly, that this is the most important battle. You know, what happens on the ground in Syria is less important than what happens in the bits and bytes of the Internet.

The U.S. government, at the end of the day, is a large bureaucracy and it, you know, I mean the U.S. Army is very good at what it does, but large bureaucracies have not been good at this kind of, you know, social media networking. This is a young, entrepreneurial, micro, bottom up phenomenon and the U.S. military is a large, top down, very well run but large, top down organization.

BLITZER: Fareed Zakaria, as usual, thanks very much.

I just want to make sure our viewers know you've written a very smart article on Israel. I recommend our viewers go ahead and read that as well. They should watch your program Sunday morning, "Fareed Zakaria GPS," 10:00 a.m. Eastern. And as Fareed mentioned, he's got a major CNN special report, "Blindsided: How ISIS Shook the World." The will air Monday night, prime time, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

[13:20:07] Up next, more on the breaking news that we're following, including how U.S. military commanders are trying to be unpredictable with security. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Let's bring back our panel for more discussion on the decision to raise the threat level of U.S. military installations across the country. In Mansfield, Pennsylvania, our CNN global affairs analyst, the former U.S. Delta Force commander, Lieutenant Colonel James Reese is joining us. Also here in Washington is Tom Fuentes, our CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director. And J.M. Berger is joining us from Boston right now. He's the founder of intelwired.com. He's the co-author of "ISIS: The State of Terror." He's with the Brookings Institution.

Colonel Reese, let's just talk a little bit about the strategy in dealing with, if you're a military base commander at a major U.S. military installation someplace around the United States and they tell you go from Alpha to Bravo, a higher threat level, what are some of the things you need to do?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Wolf, first off, they're pulling their contingency ops, or con ops, off the shelf for those next levels that they go up. They're sitting down with their security personnel, their military police, and they have a plan and they're used to doing this. There might be some extra contracted guards that are brought in. They'll bring their dogs out. All types of things to disrupt any type of chatter that they're hearing on the intel nets.

And that's what they're doing. They know how to do this. They work through it. I mean this is what they do for a living. We secure - the military secures things, especially the bases they work on.

[13:25:04] BLITZER: J.M. Berger, you testified yesterday before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. How do you deal with all the chatter that is out there on the Internet, the social media, whether FaceBook or Twitter or whatever? How do you deal with that because there's so much of it, there's no way officials here in Washington or elsewhere can monitor all of that, right?

J.M. BERGER, CO-AUTHOR, "ISIS: THE STATE OF TERROR": That's true. And really there's a very large volume of threat information. ISIS understands that the more specifically it makes threats, the more news coverage it's going to get and the more attention it's going to get from law enforcement. So they're trying to flood the channels with information that's going to distract and create disruptions. And then, you know, when you have the actual needle in a haystack, as we did with Garland, it can slip through the cracks. There were specific information about the garland threat prior to it happening.

BLITZER: In Garland, Texas, outside of Dallas.

It's a real problem. Let's say you're an FBI agent, and you used to be an FBI agent, Tom Fuentes, and some - you've got to point - you see somebody tweeting, bin Laden was a great guy, love bin Laden, too bad he didn't get the job done or whatever, what do you do?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well -

BLITZER: So what do you - everybody has a right - somebody has a right to say that if they want to say that, right?

FUENTES: That's right. They do. And several thousand people in this country are doing just that, praising him, praising ISIS, praising other terrorist organizations. When an attack happens, like "Charlie Hebdo" in Europe, they praise that. So there's thousands of people doing this, expressing support or admiration for the people that carry out beheadings and horrible acts. But you have to go from, they just praise it and think it's great, to, are they going to actually carry out an attack themselves?

BLITZER: So how do you determine? That's a huge distinction.

FUENTES: Well, they open investigations, they start to -

BLITZER: You can't open investigations on everybody though.

FUENTES: No, they can't, but they try -- what they're really hoping for is that friends, neighbors, classmates, colleagues report to the FBI, wait a minute, this person is going too far, they've crossed a line, they're indicating a desire that they may do an attack or may leave the country to join and they hope that they get that kind of information. I mean you have the mother of one of these attackers in Garland saying, oh, I got worried when he bought an AK-47. What did you think he was going to do, hunt rabbits?

BLITZER: Yes.

FUENTES: You know?

BLITZER: J.M., let's talk about one of those Texas terror attack gunmen who had contacted a member of ISIS, a member of al Shabaab via Twitter. It seemed that he was reaching out for any link to terror. So is that part of the fear now that these bases are open to attack from people like these two guys who, obviously, were killed in their effort to go after this controversial event outside of Dallas?

BERGER: That is part of the concern. And, you know, I think this really - the Garland incident really highlights the fact that when you're looking at these kinds of threat information, as we were just discussing, relationships are often more important than the content of what's being said. Relationships in sort of the tempo of activity. A lot of the analysis that I do on social media looks at those elements to try and figure out who's really more deeply engaged with this stuff.

For ISIS, this is a pretty easy proposition. They can, you know, they have ample number of supporters, both in and out of their territories they control. They can deploy two, three, four, five, ten people if they think they have somebody who might act out. If they want to put pressure on that person, if they want to encourage them. So, you know, they have a really large, large online presence that they can deploy and even in very inefficient ways. And if they get any kind of a win, it's a win for them.

BLITZER: Yes, it's not just the inspiration, the ISIS inspired activities that people have to worry about in this country, but it's the actual directed ISIS plots that could be out there as well. So it's a double-pronged threat.

Guys, thanks very much. Tom Fuentes, J.M. Burger, James Reese.

Coming up, Baltimore City Police getting even more scrutiny from the feds. The Justice Department says it will look for any systemic violations of the Constitution. We'll have a live report on what's going on when we come back.

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