appearance this is a terrorist attack. one thing to that this is a terrorist act. president obama spoke by phone with president hollande, or earlier today, not about the climate talks that will bring president obama to paris in a couple weeks. so far, u.s. officials being briefed, very aware of what is going on, but not as yet willing to speculate what is going on on the ground there. bloomberg reporter joining us on set, this is sort of in your wheelhouse, what leaders can do to support france? reporter: there will be ongoing conversations the tween the president and the leaders. we have seen support from u.k. prime minister david cameron and i'm sure the president will be calling president hollande as

well to coordinate efforts and i think there will be support not only from france's allies, but around the world. terrorism is something that many governments. i think this support, especially the support is what you can expect to hear. alix: i want to update you in terms of responses. we are now hearing from jean-claude juncker. he says, we stand in full solidarity with the people of france. he was removed from a soccer match. the paris mayor is at the hostage scene right now. we will keep you on those headlines as well. alix: mark crumpton also looking at all of the headlines. alix, scarlet, joe, we would like to alert all of our viewers and listeners to the

violence in the french capital. the associated press reporting 35 people are dead during multiple acts of violence in paris. a restaurant, explosions near a sports stadium where a match was underway. police say at least 11 people were killed and the restaurants, while another 15 were killed in a theater grid at least 100 hostages were also taken at the theater. there were reports that police were preparing to or had stormed that theater. separately the explosions that atk place, they took place the stadium. in attendance the president of france, françois hollande, he was evacuated after those explosions. and the videotape we show you a few moments ago, the explosion outside the stadium could be heard as that match was taking place. the french president was taken to the interior ministry and

here is that video i was referring to a moment ago. [explosions] mr. hollande was taken from the stadium. he is now at the interior ministry, meeting with top security officials. phil mattingly has just told as the white house is aware of the situation and is monitoring it. lisa monaco, the president and chief of counterterrorism operations also meeting of the white house. mentioned, inphil just a couple weeks, president obama is scheduled to be in paris for climate talks. back to you. mattingly from bloomberg politics also joining us on the phone. have you heard anything about security levels are in the u.s. perhaps being raised in response to these attacks? phil: i was going back and forth with homeland security

officials, and they are not willing to make claims related to something going on in the united states. obviously, they are fairly -- barely -- very closely watching this. our intelligence resources immediately spring into action and start working with the ifnch to try to identify they have possible suspects. they start crosschecking lists. there are a number of lists the u.s. government is keeping to try to identify assailants. obviously the department of veryand security concerned. officials making clear there is no indication anything is going on here. what you're seeing right here, guys, while the president is being briefed and they are keeping a loci on what is happening in france, ucb law enforcement and the intelligence side of things spring into action, offering support, it

also offering resources. they have attaches and law enforcement on the ground in paris already. that is part of the normal course of things. those officials are likely involved in the talks as well, guys. ofrlet: phil mattingly bloomberg politics, stay with us. parist to go back to where caroline conan, a bloomberg producer is joining us. you are at the restaurant. can you tell me about the activity around you? hostagewhere the situation is taking place. i am quite close. i a few hundred feet away. i have seen in the past few , taking maybe a dozen injured people. the situation is very difficult

to describe. the street is completely empty now. ofis a very, very busy area paris. cafés near me. they are both closed down. i saw some emergency care units running into the café. they were trying to get something from the café, to go outside, maybe to give something to the injured. unclear whether a rate is going to happen anytime soon. the sirens, police, different special forces coming out of the area from vehicles leaving the area, probably with injured inside. see there are firemen.

there is approximately, i would big firemen vehicles. what is very ironic of the situation, if you remember what happened in january, we are just a few streets away from the headquarterso" where 13 people were killed on the seventh of january when we had these attacks in paris this year. sang, we talked earlier about how david cameron tweeted out his support. what tends to happen to an event --ter diplomatically after an event like this? reporter: after 9/11 it is increasingly difficult for governments to take action against terror attacks. you dealing with nonstate actors. .t is an act of war

there can be official condemnations, there can be international law, a consensus retaliatory approach. but as we've seen terrorist groups evolved everywhere from al qaeda to ball boko haram and really made it difficult. if we assume it might have been forlamic state responsible these attacks, there is a multinational coalition that now involves russia. they are working together to fight these terrorists on the ground in syria and iraq. so, it is difficult to say diplomatically how much more upy can do beyond ramping ,he border control communicating with washington talked about.

we're not going to see emergency s security council meeting. not yet, i don't think. there will be high-level conversations, perhaps behind the scenes conversations. military officials. cross-border agencies like interpol, etc. alix: i would to update your news crossing the bloomberg terminal. the name here in new york has heightened alert after the terrorist attacks. here in new york, the mi pd is heightening an alert here due to the paris attacks -- nypd is heightening alert here due to the paris attacks. scarlet: absolutely. and president barack obama will be getting a briefing at 5:45 p.m. from his advisers. was the president has been briefed, when does he take action?

does he meet with francois hollande in paris as they plan to on climate change? does that get suspended? what goes on business as usual and what can't? reporter: the primary objective is to figure out how much do we know? i think it is too early to tell. we will probably have to wait a little bit or the white house officials to decide whether the forident should go ahead those climate change, climate talk meetings. i think there will also be military and law enforcement officials, they will need to come up with options that would deal with what had happened in paris and now that would unfold. i think first it is probably informational session for the president to be aware of what exactly happened. president obama was

briefed on the attacks earlier. p.m.ll be speaking at 5:45 , that is just in a few minutes. we want to update you on the headlines. mark crumpton has more. hey, mark. mark: we would like to update our audience from around the world and listeners on bloomberg radio, the president of the united states, barack obama, scheduled to deliver a statement on today's violence in paris, statement expected shortly. there is a room at the white house. the brady press briefing room. the president is expected to theess reporters there and nation in a few moments at 545 p.m. washington time on this violence in paris, a wave of violence in paris. the death toll now between 35 and 40 people. there were shootings at a restaurant. there were bombings outside the main soccer stadium and hostages were taken at one of paris's theaters there.

police saying 11 were killed in the restaurant. connanter there, carolyn she saw some people who were apparently injured during that confrontation at the theater. about 100 people remain as hostages at the theater. the two explosions taking place outside the stadium during a soccer match. explosions were heard during that match. the french president francois hollande was a member of the crowd there. he was taken to the interior ministry to meet with his officials and the mayor of france, and hill delco -- ann hildago. taking place -- as we reporting, still no claim of responsibility for this wave of violence today in paris, that it does come on the heels of

today's announcement by u.s. officials that they are reasonably certain the man known john, the masked militant in those graphic videos beheading western hostages, we have received word today that u.s. officials believe he was killed in a targeted drone strike in syria today. we will continue to follow this story of course. we will break into our coverage when the president of the united states begins his remarks. that is scheduled to take place in just a few minutes, live from the white house. back over to you. police in paris requesting a stop to outdoor events. police will not confirm the number of people dead and attacks. in reports, we have heard as 36. we have also heard 28. i want to bring in peter newman,

professor from king's college london. you heard our polycarp crumpton give a recap of the numbers and the fact that there is no claim of responsibilities. who do you presume is behind the attacks? it seems very much like a jihadist attack, even though we have not had confirmation yet. i think that is what you'd expect. i do not think there is any reasonable text one nation other than that. of course we have to wait. we have to wait to see who claims responsibility. but right now, that seems to be the prime suspect. iarlet: professor nuemann, want to bring in my colleague sang won yoon who covers diplomacy for bloomberg news. >> why is this happening after "charlie hebdo"?

toight security forces upon pains to make sure this does not happen again. what does this say about security after "charlie hebdo"? eumann: sure. we have them watching the situation in france for a long time. it seems of all of the european countries, france is particularly affected by this islamist wave. a lot of supporters of the france.state are in even if you take all of the security in the world, you cannot guard every restaurant in at thatncert hall particular point i &. so, i think france is particularly affected for sure. also want to bring in james woolsey, a former cia

director. he joins us on the phone. we are learning from europe one, reuters reporting the shooting -- it's unclear if this is an additional shooting or what that is. what is your take on today? what seems to , from the war in syria and the middle east mes s generally, simply heads toward france. it's partly because france -- alix: james, i'm sorry. hold on one second. the attacksama: across paris tonight. once again we have seen an outrageous attempts to terrorize innocent civilians. this is an attack not just on paris. this is an attack not just on the people of france, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share.

tostand prepared and ready provide whatever assistance that the government and the people of france need to respond. .rance is our oldest ally the french people have stood shoulder to shoulder with the united states time and again. very clear we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism. paris itself represents the timeless values of human progress. those who think they can terrorize the people of france or the values they stand for our wrong. the american people draw to the french people's commitment to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. we are reminded in this time of tragedy that the bonds of a gala, fraternity, and

jerian values are values that we share. and this will go far beyond any hateful act of those who perpetrated the crimes this evening. we are to do whatever it takes to work with the french people and nations around the world to bring this terrorists to justice any terrorist networks that go after our people. we do not yet know all of the details of what has happened. we have been in contact with to communicate our deepest condolences to the families of those killed, to offer our prayers and thoughts .o those who have been wounded we have offered our full support to them. these situation is still

unfolding. i have chosen not to call president launched at this -- president hollande at this time because my expectation is he is very busy at the moment. by coincidence i was talking to him earlier today in preparation for the g-20 mating. i am confident i will be in direct communications with him over the next few days and will in any way they think is helpful in the investigation of what is happening. this is a heartbreaking situation and obviously those of us in the united states know what it is like. we have gone through these kinds of episodes ourselves. whenever these kinds of attacks happened, we have always been able to count on the french people to stand with us. they have been an extraordinary counterterrorism partner, and we intend to be there with them in that same fashion. that in the days ahead

we will learn more about exactly what happened, and my teams will make sure we are in communication with the press to provide you accurate information. i don't want to speculate at this point in terms of who was responsible for this. it appears there may still be live activity and dangers that are taking place as we speak. until we know from french officials the situation is under control and we have more information about it, i don't want to do it. ok? thank you very much. scarlet: we are watching the president give a briefing on what he is learned with regard to the attacks in paris. he says he does not want to speculate on those as possible. he describes the situation as heartbreaking. he mentions that the u.s. has been in contact with french officials, though he himself is not spoken with francois he is very busy at

the moment. he reiterated the u.s. will provide any assistance needed to france, even if the country does not yet know the details of what has happened. i want to bring in james woolsey, former director of the cia, on the front. we heard the president pledging he can. any assistance the u.k. prime minister has done so as well. what form will that take in the coming days? i would think in the near term it would be intelligence. it would principally be working with the french, which we do a great deal, to help them understand as much as possible exactly who pulled this together and how they did it and where they are in who they are. -- and who they are. there are very good easy to make guesses to make right now, but they are still guesses. i have seenpeople

talking on social media have said where we have seen the attacks -- a restaurant, a stadium, classically soft targets. no government, no business, no military. what do you take from that? assuming this is a isis, which ever you want to call it, likelyhink that's pretty , you have, i think a situation going after soft targets in order to kill the maximum number of people. they want headlines. they want attention. they want to be a caliphate, a state, as it grows and conquers nearby states and one way to do that is to intimidate those him you want to conquer. and i think that is largely the way they think. mark: mr. woolsey, mark crumpton. city ofndering, if the

paris considered a soft target? that allwould think major cities, for all practices -- practical purposes, or soft targets. western cities may be. beijing may not be. they would be glad to go after a say, the targets -- pentagon -- and kill large numbers of people, but they want to intimidate. beingant to be known as so fear some they should not be opposed. they call to mind a quote from leon trotsky, that you may not be interested in war, but war may be interested in you. situation now. they are at war with us. they are behaving that way. they are a particularly terrible and they don't care if we

are not interested in fighting back. they are very glad if we don't write back. mark: mr. director, could today's violence be a de facto declaration of war? did thatwoolsey: isis a year and a half ago when president obama called them junior varsity. that is one of the most ill chosen words or terms he has come up with. i think they are already at war and they probably think that it's really very weak and stupid of us to behave the way that we generally have and just call them violent extremists and not admit that what they are doing has some roots in some parts -- not all, some parts of islam. can't fight somebody if you

can't understand them and you can't understand them if you can't talk about them, and to treat all of this as if it is some kind of random violence is just not -- just nuts. can you evaluate how the global fight against terrorism has been. how you evaluate the coalition against my soul? if more understanding is need to be done, what more do laundry's and agencies need to do ? -- how do you evaluate the isil?ion against director woolsey: when we went into desert storm, we were flying 10,000 sorties a day. the targets were well screened and designated by special forces people and so on. -- when went on to went on to keep the service from

massacring the hose of ours, he bombed serbia pretty much -- ars, heing the kosov bombed serbia pre-much every day using all of our ordinance. of state of the united states said what we were flying against isis were eight sortiesnot 80 -- eight a day and we were delivering ordinance about half the time because we did not have sorties. you can say you are at war when your enemy behaves the way isis does, but we are not really fighting. alix: hang on one second, because french president francois hollande is speaking. we are getting headlines. he is saying several are dead, injured in paris.

there is a state of alert now in paris. according to ap, he is saying the military is being deployed unprecedentedfter attacks. you can see him speaking. he is speaking in french. we do not have a translation. we are bringing the headlines as they cross. also, hollande is closing the french border. of, have you ever heard something like that in recent history when something like that has happened? again france closing its borders? director woolsey: that is new to me. for a terrorist attack, and it may say that they fear and believe that quite a bit of what has supported the attacks on comeare people who have from syria and that part of the world, that part of the mediterranean and the levant during these hostilities in -- and thee bird

birth of isis and the rest. about what ised coming across our borders. everybody is arguing. it's a real risk to the continued existence of the european union. i think the french are just putting a block on things for a while while they get on top of it. mark: director woolsey, what is next? in the wake of these acts of violence. we have seen this before. there is a conversation about it or a couple weeks, a couple months, and things seemingly go back to normal. this is one of those incidents where it shakes the confidence. what is next for france? what is next for the european continent? director woolsey: i'm afraid what maybe next is more limited , in partagainst isis

because the americans are not doing that much. even in the current weekend state of our military, we have a larger and very capable military, and particularly special forces and marines and our air forces and the like. if we were taking the lead and really fighting this war, taking thoses and taking on trying to support a side in stir theen we might europeans to get going and work with us and we would all together try to crush the enemy. but that's not what we are doing yet. we are just fiddling around. you don't go to war that way. if you are going to war, you have to destroy or so completely intimidate your enemy that he gives up, and that is very hard

but weith isis/isil, can't just sit here and do what we have been doing so far. jim, hang on with us, because we do want to get to mark crumpton who will update us on all of the headlines as they keep trickling out. french president runs what a -- fridge the president francois hollande now requesting military reinforcements. mark: thank you. we would like to update our audience around the world and listeners on bloomberg radio. it is 6 p.m. in new york, midnight in paris. friday night, a night of violence in the parisian capital. a wave of attacks including shootings and bombings and hostage takings. we just heard from the president of the united states a few moments ago and he said "once again we have seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians." mr. obama continued "this is an