>> i think that isis is under pretty heavy pressure right now and i'm just offering an off the cuff opinion, that it might be inspired by isis but it may well be one of the more traditional groups in place like the gia that has the people in place, the wherewithal to plan and train and know the terrain rather than something spawned in syria and brought into france overnight. >> olivier, what about the security situation in paris generally. this would be the third tragic incident this year. i should add though that august attack was meant to have multiple casualties. it did not. it was thwarted, so thiwould be the second of the scale. much larger than what we saw in january. and that shocked the world. what would you say about the timing of these three events and all of this taking place in the french capital? >> well, the french capital is -- is no more vulnerable than any other place in europe right

now. every major city in europe is extremely vulnerable. there has been a mass influx of people, some of them are legitimate refugees, some of them are -- essentially terrorists using the cover of the refugee crisis and virtually every town and city from turkey to the u.k. has a potential problem of the same magnitude that paris is facing right now. it's probably the most difficult time for counter-terrorism since we saw at the 9/11 era. it is a time when there is great disruptions and the police are being -- the police and counter-terrorism services are being torn in many different directions. >> that is right. there is, as we mentioned, the french have been trying to have a more overarching approach to cyber security. i'm wondering about the physical security as well and whether you expect the city to be on further

lockdown in the weeks leading up to the climate summit that will have leaders from almost all of the world's countries. >> oh, yes. i think you'll see that similar to the pope's visit here in new york and washington. will you see everything lock -- you will everything locked down and as tight as humanly could be. but let's face it, if people are willing to sacrifice their lives they could find a way to penetrate a protective shield. so you have to have it in place and protect it. but it is your best effort to provent it. >> olivier, thank you for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> former fbi counter-terrorism chief. top of the hour. there is a situation in france within the last many minutes. there are several different things happening here. the first is a restaurant shooting, reportedly a mcdonald's in the tenth. that is around the right bank. the second, explosions heard out

stied of the stade de-france stadium. the third hostage situation, apparently still ongoing at a paris concert hall and possibly a force situation with the nightclub shooting as well. our sue herera is monitoring the situation for us. let's bring in sue. if you would, could you update us and the last that we heard 26 dead and counting? >> yes. 26 dead. that is according to paris police officials. we do not know the breakdown of where those deaths occurred. basically they are just giving us updated numbers right now and it is holding at 26, kelly. i should let you know that british prime minister david cameron just tweeted out saying i'm shocked by the evens in paris tonight. our thoughts and prayers are with the french people. we'll dough whatever we -- do whatever we can to help. and we're trying to firm up -- now police gave nbc nancy ing

this update that the bomb blast outside of the stadium occurred at a mcdonald's. that is according to nbc news. we're starting to get some other confirming factors on that. but we do not know whether there are any fatalities or injuries at that particular site, kelly. so 26 dead. a hostage situation taking place in at least one area of paris. some report two areas. one is at the pal is and the other -- palace and the other at a nightclub. but 26 fatalities. one of the worst in decades in france. kelly, back to you. >> sue, thank you. let's bring in freelance journalist seth borges on the ground in paris. seth, where are you? >> i'm several blocks from the shooting at la public. it happened in front of the apartment i'm staying at. i wasn't quite sure what had occurred. there were gaggles of people and at first it looked like any

normal police activity. people were standing on benches taking photos. the roads were not immediately closed. there were a lot of people around there. and then the number of police became incredibly apparent. there were lots of police and dozens of firefighters. and at first i thought it couldn't have -- i wasn't sure what was going on because there were a dozen of firefighters. and then police were huddled behind vans with guns it. looked like a scene from a movie. huddles with vans. and i saw blood on a sidewalk. i don't know if that is related. i can't verify that. i asked around what people had seen. i had stepped outside about ten seconds after it occurred and people told me they heard five or six gunshots in quick succession and reports now it was a callish nick off. and somebody that i spoke to said they saw bodies. and they believe that somebody was alive at the time, they might have passed.

i don't know. i saw one individual hiding in the gateway of the apartments i'm staying at. i don't know if it is related or not but he a bloody hand with a rag tied around it and a bunch of firefighters hurried him into an ambulance. there was blood dripping off of him. he was a male in his 30s. i don't know if it is related. >> thought he cut his hand on a window. i couldn't tell what happened. >> seth, what time -- i guess it is 11:05 p.m. there now. when did all of this happen? >> about 15 minutes ago, 20 minutes ago. >> okay. and you were -- okay. 15 or 20 minutes ago. seth, what other -- just from being on the ground there, and everybody trying to figure out what is happening, are you able to walk freely around the neighborhoods now? because we've heard reports they are trying to keep people indoors in france right now. >> yeah. i got away from the neighborhood as -- once i heard people say that a gunman was on the loose and that was the word coming

from the street. walking around the neighborhood, that is about half a mile from that now. the streets are empty. that wasn't the case ten minutes ago. there were people at bars. word seems to have gotten around pretty quickly though. >> and seth, you're there unrelated to, you were looking for locations for a project you are working on. now as you said quite quickly, trying to glean more information about the situation there. i'm sure this is something quite different from anything you've experienced or perhaps it isn't? >> yeah, well thankfully this isn't like anything i've experienced and hopefully it won't be again. but i -- >> seth -- what kind of information is everybody getting now? >> well, the streets are pretty empty now so it is hard to ask people. people are clearing out. there are a couple of people stumbling around. it is a friday night and it is a big nightclub area. it is a lot of bars around and a couple of people who seem like they don't know what is going on.

and i think word is still getting out there. not everybody has got the word. people are laughing and talking on their phones. but you are seeing fewer and fewer out by the minute. >> seth, thanks for joining. >> of course. >> a freelance journalist who found himself in the middle of the situation in paris. to eamon javers with reaction in washington. >> in terms of world leader reaction. you just talked about the tweet we saw from prime minister david cameron. he said i'm shocked by events in paris tonight. our thoughts and prayers are with the french people. we'll do whatever we can to help. and i could tell you in terms of the white house reaction, president barack obama was, in fact, talking to reporters on camera just as the first reports of this incident came through over twitter, over the wires, over social media. it does not appear that the president had any time to respond to that. was apparently ub aware -- unaware of it as that briefing was on going and didn't offer any statements about paris

there. separately, we know from nbc's keith williams that administration officials are saying that they don't have any independent information beyond what they are seeing on vision about what is -- television about what is going on in paris. for now officials in washington are monitoring this and trying to gather information as best they can to understand the full scope of what is is happening here in paris. but it would appear to be a massive incident here and a significant tragedy in paris. i'm just being handed some more information here that we're getting from the fbi. the fbi now we are told by nbc news that is monitoring at tacks in paris as of now, and no new threat information for the new york or new jersey area. so that is an important measure of just the scope of concern here as officials begin to get their arms around exactly what is happening and figure out how big is the threat and is there an international component to

this. when you see multiple sites, immediately officials think was there coordination and how big was the group behind this and how many of them are they and where are they in france and around the world. >> and this is two weeks before the climate summit that will have leaders from around the world gathered in paris. how could this not upstage that event? >> obviously this is going to be front and center on all of the nation's newspapers tomorrow and through the weekend. we remembered in the charlie hebdo attack situation, you had had unknown assailants who then fled and were able to get away. if that is what we're looking at here, with a potential hostage situation, you could be looking at an effort -- a manhunt potentially throughout paris, potentially nationwide, in france. it took three days as i recall in the charlie hebdo situation for them to bring everybody to justice in that situation. it is too early to speculate how long it will take to fully resolve this situation, particularly if there are lives hanging in the balance of the

hostages that we are told have been taken at this point. it is unclear how many people are under threat of their lives right now as you and i are talking. but this is an ongoing law enforcement and national security situation for france. >> thank you. eamon javers in washington. let's get to sue at the news desk for more. >> an updated fatality list right now. afp, which is a french news agency, as you look at that live picture from french television, is saying at least 30 now are dead in the paris attacks. that is a quote from the police according to afp. so at least 30 fatalities in the attacks. just a short while ago, there was a bit of a breakdown in terms of those fatalities given to associated press by police officials. and they break it down this way. 11 people were killed in the paris restaurant. and about 15 killed in the batta clan theater, which is where

reportedly there are hostages and that situation is still very fluid and still underway. the explosions, there are some reports of two explosions, some reports of one very large explosion at the french stadium just north of paris. that reportedly, according to nbc news, was at a mcdonald's which is just outside of the stadium. that blast was loud enough to be heard on the broadcast television networks of that match, which was between france and germany. president holland and the interior minister were at that event and they were evacuated and taken back to paris to the interior ministry to monitor what is an ongoing situation and a very fluid situation. now according to the a.p., this is the latest that we have, kelly. a police official telling the associated press about 100 hostages have been taken at that paris theater. updated count of those deceased,

35 people dead, 100 hostages taken at the paris theater. so as we get more information, unfortunately, the death toll is mounting and rather rapidly. this is the first time we have a number on the hostages taken at that theater. and they put it, according to the associated press, quoting police officials, 100 hostages taken. kelly. >> thank you, sue. for now let's bring in former fbi chief hostage negotiator gary necessarier. 100 hostages in the paris capital, your reaction? >> this is obviously about as difficult a situation as law enforcement agency negotiation could face. we have some real challenges here to try to stabilize the situation and open a channel of communication and trying to do everything possible to prevent further loss of life. >> this is at a nightclub, gary. what precedents come to mind? >> i'm sorry?

>> what precedents come to mind, this being at a nightclub? >> well, i don't know that there is a suitable precedent for this. i mean, we certainly had a situation in england and even in berkeley, california, where we've had people hold hostages in a nightclub. but the location is far less important than the motivation of the hostage-takers. and in this case, from what little i know about it and i don't want to speculate too much, it could be a very different and more challenging situation than merely a deranged individual with a grievance. this could be far more critical in terms of what they are facing. >> the first move by the authorities here, gary, will be to try to make contact with the people holding the hostages or get more information from people on the inside and presumably on a mobile device? >> well, the first thing the

authorities try to do is -- is to make sure the violence doesn't spread beyond where it is at. so containment is the critical issue. and then we open up dialogue to start some communication in order to let the individuals know that we are in communication with them and to try to engage them in a way that -- that discourages them from engaging in further violence to get our attention. and after that we have to determine what their motivation is and what they are trying to accomplish. and we go from there. but the first and foremost is whatever is happening, we don't want it to get any worse and we want to do everything we can to get everything out alive. >> does the taking of hostages on this scale tell you who might be behind this attack? >> no. i wouldn't want to speculate. we certainly know what happened previously in france. you know, there is certainly a lot of issues relating to the middle east and one could

speculate that is going to prove to be the issue here. but it is not -- nothing more than speculation at this time. we have to wait and see what we're dealing with. that is the most likely scenario at this terrorist event. >> gary noser, fbi chief hostage negotiator. let's get to aim on jafrs in washington. >> routers is saying u.s. security officials believe the paris attacks were, in fact, coordinated, according to a source from reuters. u.s. security officials believe the attacks were coordinated and the associated press saying the u.s. homeland security officials are monitoring the attack in paris and saying there is no known credible threat against the united states. reporting that officials are in contact with foreign counterparts amid reports of multiple shootings in paris. police officials in france -- this is an older update with a older death count from the associated press. but i could tell you as we've

been watching the live pictures from paris, what we're seeing on french tv is a picture of the stade defrance where the friendly soccer match was taking place and you could see in those pictures there people milling about on the field it. would appear, we don't have any information on what is going on there exactly, but it would appear that security officials are not letting those folks attending the soccer match which just ended a few minutes ago leave the stadium or at least making it an option for some people to stay in the stadium. bizarrely, as all of this was going on, they continued to play that soccer game. germany versus france. obviously a well-attended soccer match. it would be the focus of the night life tonight in paris. very big game. they played out the remaining 15 or 20 minutes of that soccer game even as the news reports were hitting the wire, television and social media. a lot of people in the stadium must have been aware through smartphones of what was going on in the neighborhood around them and now we are seeing these pictures, kelly of people

milling about on the field. so it looks like officials have decided that that, at least for now, is a safe place for the people who are attending that match during this ongoing tragic incident in paris, kelly. >> thank you. aim on jafrs with the latest out of washington. let's bring in clint van zandt, a fbi profiler. as we're told by the a.p., by a police officer that the death count is 35 and 100 hostages taken at a paris theater. the scale of this alone means ramifications will be enormous. it all hangs on who claims responsibility. is there anything you could read thus far into the situation? >> well, i think once again we have to be careful what we read into it. i've heard those numbers of dead anywhere from 15 to 30 or more. which is a horrible tragedy. the hostage situation becomes more of a challenge too. i mean, we can all think back 15 years ago or so when the

russians had a hostage situation that took place inside of a theater. they made a decision to use a combination of force and gas and the gas was responsible for the death of many, many inside. so it is going to be a challenging situation right now. and realize that many times when we have a hostage situation, as you just discussed with the previous guest, that people are trying to bargain, they want money and means of escape and they want political recognition. but unfortunately, sometimes they want something far worse, which is to supposedly die for their cause. so i would think that the paris authorities are going to be challenged on a number of fronts right now, with the explosive devices that have gone off, we're told there may be more. we have this take care of the wounded and deceased. and the hostage situation of this size, even though it sounds unmanageable, it really is. this is something that they can

do. i've worked with french hostage negotiates over the years when i was an nib agent. they are capable individuals and know what they are doing in a situation like this. but the best thing negotiator could offer is to help the other person surrender with dignity and live. well, you have to want to live and that is something that the negotiators will have to determine in the early stages of this situation. >> clint, also in paris, obviously this is now the third -- we had in january the tragic attacks on charlie hebdo and the kosher grocery and the thwarted intend add tack in august and now we have this. one of the worst in terms of the scale already with 35 dead and 100 hostages, situations in paris or in europe in some time. i just wonder, how does this not have a cataclysmic effect on the security conversations taking place on everything from the

migrant crisis to the border concerns that we're already hearing about and now with world leaders getting set to descend on paris in a couple of weeks. >> this is going to have an impact. not just on france but all the way across europe. we have to find out who is responsible. i mean, many will be quick to say, well, islamic terrorists have suggested they were going to do things like this, that the chatter -- the term we hear for the intercepts on terrorists talking together, that the chatter has suggested there might be some type of attack like this in europe. perhaps in france around this time, that the authorities have been leaning forward in the saddle. and yet obviously multiple individuals have still been able to carry this off. so i think the challenges for the rest of europe now to consider the vulnerability that they have and of course we know that we have threats from isis

and other islamic terrorist groups to carry out similar attacks like this. to be able to coordinate this in europe takes some type of work. but i think many doubt that they could coordinate it in multiple countries at the same time. but i could guarantee you, here in the united states, the fbi, homeland security and other agencies are going to double their efforts right now. we don't want to see a one-two punch that might take place. and i think every effort will be made on intercepts, on known terrorists and known terrorist suspects to try to see as many as we can and make sure this action doesn't take place in another country or in the u.s. >> clint stay with us if you woxt we want to get back to sue herera with the news desk. >> we are watching this situation unfold live on french television. and we now have at least 35 fatalities in these various attacks with one report from bfm

television, which is a french news agency saying 40 are dead in the paris attacks. so the numbers are fluid but we know it is at least 35 because that is from a police source. but one of the french news agencies is saying it could be as high as 40. the hostage number at the theater, the paris theater, the batta clan theater which you see on the lower part of your screen there on the right-hand side, that hostage number has remained at 100. we don't have any update on that particular situation. we should say that the national security administration gave a quote to nbc news saying, quote, we have no credible or specific threats against the u.s., end quote. and added, obviously we're staying looped in with our counter-terrorism parts here and in the region, end quote. that was given to nbc news just a short time ago. as we see some of these vans and there have been ambulances on the scene there in paris on the

right bank as well, kelly. back to you. >> and sue, earlier there were confusion and again i'm sure it is going to be difficult to sort this all out for sure. so we'll be careful on that. but is it looking like this is just three or is it four different incidents we're talking about? >> it is increasingly looking like it may be four but nbc has not been able to confirm that. because we don't know whether the interpretation of a bar and the interpretation of a nightclub specifically in that particular area of town, where there are a lot of bars ab nightclubs, we're not sure whether that is one incident or two incidents and nancy ing is trying to confirm that. so we are going with three. but it may very well be four. >> okay. sue, thank you. bringing back in former fbi criminal profiler clint van zan zandt. the high-profile was the potential killing of jihadi john by international forces. could any type of reprisal take

place this quickly after an event like that? >> well, it could be a combination of things. number one, as we previously discussed, there has been information picked up on the chatter between terrorists and threats the last few weeks that something may have been brewing, some type of situation was being focused in on france and perhaps paris itself. so if, in fact, that was already in the works, a situation like this, it isn't put together overnight. it could take weeks to get individuals in place. but coincidentally, could that threat, could that attack have already been planned and in place. it could have been put in place sooner just to coordinate it with the alleged killing of jihadi john. >> clint. thank you for now. appreciate you joining us. clint van zandt. former fbi criminal profiler. we want to bring oliver bell

back, former counter-terrorism chief. counter-terrorism, for all that has happened in france in january, for the attacks in august, this is a shocking scale of coordinated attacks to be pulled off in one of the most important capitals in the world. you know, what are authorities -- forgetting how they handle this particular situation, the entire strategy, doesn't it have to be rethought, the approach, the funding, the coordination, everything from here? >> well, i think that -- i know clint and he is a very fine profiler, but i disagree. i think this is probably planned around that soccer match and the two presidents -- the current and former president being there together, that is the kind of thing that would bring them out. although, it may have been put together on the -- the news that jihadi john was killed. but he was from u.k., not from france. and it more likely was something that was internal to france.

yes, we've already reached the scale now of where there is very little else that could be done when you have a special event. when you have a situation which has the president -- you have high-level foreign visitors, olympics and so forth. there is only so much you could do. so the rest tv relies on intelligence. and all of western countries have got to bear down again on the intelligence collection process and realize that we have a international jihadist movement that we have to forget about the political correctness and deal with the jihadist. this is not all of islamic. it is within islam and we have to focus on it. if we don't. they'll continue to do this and frankly the public will not put up with it for much longer. >> do you think it is targeted because it is a symbol and has this meeting that is coming up or because it is vulnerable?

>> well, as i said earlier, i think all of the cities of western europe are vulnerable right now. paris is always -- it is somewhat like new york city. it stands out as a place where everybody in the world knows of paris and its -- its major features and attractions. and it is certainly a prime target. but on the other hand, so is london, so is rome and so is new york. and so i don't think that paris is any more of a target because of the isis or al qaeda or gia, well it is for gia but not for the other two. but the fact of it is, they are going to go where they get the most attention and the most reaction and right now that is paris. >> olivier, thank you for the time being. olivier raffle. let's get back to aim on javers in washington. >> a new dispatch from the white house pool on what is happening at the white house. saying the president was briefed on the situation in paris by

lisa monaco, the assistant to the president, the homeland security and counter-terrorism, coming from a white house official. also nbc news's kelly o'donnell is reporting that a national security administration official tells her we have no credible or specific threats against the united states. this official adding, obviously we're staying looped in with our counter-terrorism counterparts here and in the region. and so you could imagine that at this point, the full national security apparatus of the united states government is on high alert on this issue. the president has been briefed, as we say by lisa monaco, the assistant to the press for homeland security and counter-terrorism, kelly. >> thank you. let's get back to headquarters to sue herera if we could, sue. for those of you joining us right now expects "options action" there is a live situation in paris now. 100 hostages. 35 deaths, possibly up to 40, as you just reported. what is the latest. >> the latest is that basically

they are restricting, according to french television, anyone from leaving the soccer stadium because it is still, of course, a fluid situation. there was one, maybe two explosions at the stadium which is about half an hour north of paris. and a lot -- although they could hear the explosions, a lot of people, kelly, reportedly did not know that it was an explosion. they thought maybe it was fireworks. as you know, they are very passionate fans. it is a match between germany and france. and so people didn't realize at first what was going on. but authorities did. that blast reportedly, according to nbc news, occurred at a mcdonald's which is basically on the stadium property. but not in the stadium. that is at least what we have on that. so they are keeping people on the field, in the stadium. they want them, according to one source, down on the field, not up in the stands. and the reason that they basically kept playing the match