our goal is to degrade and destroy them, and our troops have been given the order. our obligation is to support them no matter what one's feelings are about the perils of the fight. we'll

when they're able to use their skill and apply their courage to help secure america, protect america, they're at the best of their feelings, and so the pilots that are striking tonight and knowing they're protecting america, protecting their families, protecting what this country stands for, there is no better feeling and they have the skill sets to do that and not only that, they know they can do it without hurting other people that should not be hurt unintentionally and they have extraordinary skill and extraordinary courage in doing it. they will feel good about it. >> the enemy is among us. the white house now confirming american fighters for iceis are back here on u.s. soil. this marking the first official confirmation of these homegrown

terrorists returning to america. this comes as a chilling new threat from iceis emerges telling americans "you will not feel secure even in your bedrooms." former new york city mayor rudy giuliani sounding off on the record about what we have to do on this latest threat. >> we have to redouble our efforts to try to find these people, to gather the intelligence. unfortunately, this is a situation iceis that we were caught really with our pants down not knowing enough about them, not having enough information about them. this is something that we have to take extremely seriously and then of course the call from iceis to, for people to go act on their own, that's very, very difficult to detect, because you're not going to get communications that you can intercept. you're not going to have informants that are going to get you the information. you're just igniting all these people who are self-proclaimed jihadists to do whatever crazy

thing they want to do. >> an official from the national counterterrorism center estimates 15,000 militants from 80 different countries tried to join isis with at least 100 from the office. coming up, some brand new developmentments in the search for missing uva student. what police are searching for in the apartment of the person of interest. then, he had 800 rounds of ammo and a machete in his car. the shocking new details about the man who scaled the white house fence and made it to the front door.

a new twist in the case of missing uva student hannah graham. charlottesville police back at the nursing assistant issuing a new search warrant. they left with bags of items. police say they're looking for clothing wanted by jesse matthew. this poster released, matthew sped away after going inside with family members and asking for a lawyer. he's for reckless driving. the 32-year-old is believed to be the last person seen with hannah at the mall before she

vanished more than a week ago. >> i need to talk to you. if there came a point in time where the two of you parted ways, then i need to know that. and i need to know where that was. >> investigators are testing matthews' cars for fibers. they think he and hannah left in that car together. it's only a matter of time time pence state police say that they have accused cop killer eric frein cornered. officials say they have received "credible tips" on the 31-year-old's whereabouts, believed to be moving on foot in the dense woods of the poconos. he's accused of killing one trooper and leaving another seriously injured. an embarrass the secret service beefing up security around the white house. more patrols and surveillance. >> this as we find out the man that made it into the executive mansion his car was full of

ammunition and weapons. >> reporter: what was 42-year-old omar gonzalez doing friday when he allegedly charged the white house with a knife? it's a question made more disturbing with the discovery of 800 rounds of ammunition, a machete and two hatchets in his car, according to federal prosecutors. president obama and his family had just left the white house for camp david when gonzalez jumped a fence and made it inside a door at the white house. back at the white house monday, the president with words of support for the secret service. >> the secret service does a great job, thank you. and i'm grateful for the sacrifices they make on my behalf and my families' behalf. >> reporter: in court, federal prosecutors said this u.s. remember ai yet van was arrested over the summer on weapons charges in virginia. among the weapons seized in that case two semiautomatic military style rifles, three .45 caliber handguns and ammunition. few weeks ago he was stopped walking near the white house with a hatchet in his rear

waistband. he was not arrested. in friday's security breach gonzalez scaled the fence and made it inside the front door of the white house before he was stopped. >> the secret service has the challenging task of balancing the need to ensure the safety and security of the first family while also ensuring that the white house continues to be the people's house, and balancing those equities is challenging work, but it's clear that in this case a review of that work is warranted and that review will be conducted. one of the first big security changes made by the secret service? locking the front door of the white house. >> you'd think that would be a given. oh, well. the time is 18 after the top of the hour. the u.s.-led strikes in syria including bombers, drones and missiles launched from ships in the red sea and the persian gulf. and what happens next in the operation? a retired naval intelligence officer with 23 years of active duty will join us next.

more now on our top story. the u.s. and a coalition of five arab allies leading air strikes in syria, using bombers and drones and missiles launched from ships in the red sea and the persian gulf. >> so what happens next in the operation? retired naval intelligence officer with 23 years of active duty is here joining us now is frank wucho, ceo of red mine solutions. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, good morning. >> it has been 12 days since the president announced that there would be air strikes over syria. what happens next at this point? >> well, i think you can expect from the isis point that they're going to hunker down. they're going to go to ground especially in eastern syria and in iraq. they're going to stand by. they've been through this before, so they know what to expect when american air strikes

come. on the other hand, i will tell you that the people who are on the ground where the air strikes have occurred are feeling a real sense of shock right now. there is nothing to compare with dozens and dozens of 2,000-pound, 1,000-pound bombs going off for hours on end. so there is some fear setting in now. >> frank, we were talking to another guest earlier and he said weakening isis is only going to strengthen other groups like al qaeda. will these be effective, these air strikes? >> they'll be effective in the short term, where they're occurring. lot of damage has been done. like i said there's nothing that can compare with the amount of explosive fire power they're seeing up close and personal now, something they've never seen before. but again, if it doesn't strengthen other groups, it will, indeed, strengthen isis' ability to recruit especially if they don't sustain the operations in the long-rm >> frank, do you think in the 12 days where we said there would be air strikes and when they

began, which is last night, that isis had time to move some of their weapons and go into hiding? do you think that we really are hitting targets that will make a difference and then do we need to go in with boots on the ground in order to do that? >> i think as isis continues to move east through iraq, the only way to stop that is with boots on the ground. the argument is whether it's our boots on the ground or somebody else's boots on the ground. it could be members of the arab coalition partners and if they keep moving eastward iran, we could see the iranians get involved there. these groups have been through this before and they'll generally wait out the initial wave of air strikes, then they'll get to work. >> frank, thank you so much for being with us this morning. you're right, the advantage of having boots on the ground, the infancy can call in the air strikes. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. the time now is 25 after the top of the hour and coming up, syrian president bashar al assad already waging a civil war

against opponents of his regime. so how will he respond to the u.s.-led air strike? we'll have a live report from the region. and missing afghan soldiers, in the u.s. for a training program, found at the canadian border. so what were they trying to do? those details straight ahead.

it is tuesday, september 23rd, a fox news alert, breaking overnight, the u.s. stepping up its fight against isis, launching air strikes in syria. more on the military operation and the historic coalition of forces from the middle east now assisting in those efforts. and welcome back to an early

edition of "fox & friends first." >> let's get right to the fox news alert. overnight the u.s. and arabb allies launching air strikes in syria against the brutal isis militants. >> the air strikes targeting isis command. peter ducey is live in washington with the breakdown. >> the islamic state says their capital is in the northern syrian town of raka where the first explosions were reported shortly after 8:30 eastern time last night with isis command and control centers, training camps and weapons depots all in the crosshairs of tomahawk missiles as well as ordnances dropped by predator drones, b-1 bombers, f-16 and f-18 fighters and for the first time ever in combat the f-22 raptor, stealth raptor. release from centcom in the last

hour lists 14 targets damaged by the missiles. the united states is not alone in this air assault that lasted several hours. four arab partners also flew over searia, the united arab emirates, saudi arabia, jordan and bahrain. fifth arab partner, qatar, contributed in some ways, just not with help in the air. we're told the decision to strike overnight was made early monday by a commander at centcom who is authorized to do so by the president. president owe baja has been receiving regular updates overnight and the president dialed capitol hill to fill in the speaker of the house, john boehner and house minority leader nancy pelosi with details about this operation and officials with syrian president bashar al assad's government say they also got a heads up about these isis strikes before they started from someone in washington, according to an ap wire that crossed in the last few hours. there should be more details on that soon.

also one additional note at the end of the centcom release we received last hour there's a separate note about eight strikes in syria west of aleppo against korazan group an al qaeda offshoot apparently to disrupt what the u.s. military calls eminent plotting against the united states. back to you in new york. >> thank you, peter. fighting to destroy the terror group an historic alliance, five arab nations now joining forces with the united states. >> kelly wright is here with the details of this historic coalition. >> good morning to you. president obama has been trying to put an arab face on this mission. he's done it and being applauded for it. the attacks on isis in raka, syria and other parts of syria are not from americans alone. the air strikes are from a coalition of arab nations working side by side with the united states military to destroy isis. saudi arabia, united arab

emirates, bahrain, jordan and qatar are involved in this campaign against isis. they a moderate sunni nations according to their description that are joining the fight against the sunni extremists of isis. general jack keane adds it's a significant steps towards defeating isis. >> it's very significant that we have four arab muslim countries, all sunni-based countries attacking a sunni-based terrorist organization, and that did not come easy. many of these were urged in the united states to do something about assad before but now this is isis, so it is significant in my judgment. qatar not attacking, qatar i think has problems because they've been aiding isis financially from the beginning, and they also aid hamas, and i've always felt we have to do something about this country. maybe this is an indication that they're willing to change their

stripes. >> could be but he says he doubts it and the united states should continue to look at qatar. former assistant secretary of state p.j. crowley says the coalition is starting to move and we need meaningful action of both sides in iraq and syria. >> thank you, kelly. the obama administration giving syria ample warning before launching those air strikes but the question now is, how will president bashar al assad respond to that? and for that answer we'll turn now to john huddy live in jerusalem. >> reporter: it's a great question if president assad will spo respond. he hasn't spoke in several months and the last time he spoke was in july and had nothing to do with the fighting in particular against rebel factions, anti-government factions battling syria's government. whether we hear from him or not, that's the question. we do know that the united states told syria's u.n. envoy

that the strikes were going to happen, and in fact, syria's foreign ministry issued a statement, take a look, saying "the american side informed syria's permanent envoy to the u.n. that strikes will be launched against the daesh terrorist organization in raqqa. daesh is an arabic term for isis. the city of raqqa is isis' itself declared capital. there's been heavy fighting between syria and isis in the past few weeks as we've been reporting. when president obama told the nation 12 days ago that the strikes would happen in syria, syrian officials said without its government's consent it would be considered an act of aggression. whether syria and the syria envoy gave its consent at the u.n. remains unclear. syria's deputy prime minister, by the way, is in new york for the u.n. general assembly and is scheduled to speak on sunday

followed by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and coincidentally today israel shot down a syrian fighter jet that apparently strayed into israeli air space. as i mentioned at the top, syria has been battling anti-government rebel forces to the south along the israel/syrian border, and along with while fighting isis to the north so it's, it has fights on several fronts at this point. it doesn't look like that fighter being shot down over israeli air space has anything to do with the u.s. air strikes. this, of course, as we're waiting for any response from president bashar al assad. as i said we haven't heard as i said we haven't heard couple months. last time he spoke was in july and had nothing to do with the fighter. >> thank you, john huddy reporting live for us. for more on the impact of the air strikes we go to florida congressman and fox news

contributor lieutenant colonel allen west. >> good morning. how are you doing? >> i'm good. the president said the goal is to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. will the air strikes which began just after 8:30 last night be enough to accomplish that goal? >> well, it's a start, and when you look at what is happening now, this would be the phase one of an air campaign to degrade certain selected capabilities of isis, so i would look at their command and control being degraded, their logistical re-support capability and ammunition stocks being degraded as well as some of their training bases, because we know that they are recruiting young jihadi warriors from across the world so we want to take that away from them. so that's an initial start but we have to see this as whether it's going to be a dedicated air campaign or just the selected strikes.

20 to 25 stikrikes is a good stt but a serious air campaign you're talking 100 to 150 a day. >> what about these five arab nations, this historic coalition that we've put together. how significant is that and how will that assist us in our goal? >> well, when you talk about historic coalition, i was a young captain back in 19 the 1 in operation desert shield, desert storm. we had ground forces from syria, from egypt and the deputy commanding general the second to norman schwarzkopf was a saudi arabian general. we've been there before. george h.w. bush set that paradigm. i'm happy to see these countries step up to the plate. we know that the uae in conjunction with egypt has been flying strikes against islamist rebel forces in libya so they have engaged but to have the other air forces joining in is a key aspect, i applaud the president for that. we need to know we have their sustained commitment and also i'd like to see them be a part

of a ground commitment. as far as qatar i'm still suspect about qatar because the head of hamas resides in qatar. they have providing ample financial resources support to isis and other islamic terrorist groups, although we do have al eudid airbase outside of doha. >> do you think we should have taken action earlier? >> well, absolutely. i think that this has been a cancer that has me ttasthesized back in january when they crossed into al an bar province, isis was 1,5 thoun 2,000 fighters. now they've grown to cia estimates 31,500 and we've got to cut off their ability to recruit and the flow of these fighters coming in probably from turkey. that's an important part. i think now the two major strategic imperatives is to deny this enemy any type of sanctuary and to interdict their flow of

of resources in man and materiel along with selected capabilities. if you defeat isis that means putting people on the ground to root it out and kill it. >> you speak of the flow of weapons going into isis, the flow of foreign fighters going in and you said that is through turkey, one of the countries that has not stepped up so far. >> yes. >> they originally said it was because there were hostages being held. those hostages have now been freed. what do you think that turkey will do, now that these strikes have begun and all of these other nations, these neighboring nations have joined in? they're the only nato country that has not, that is there in the region. >> that's very telling that turkey is not a part of this, and president erdogan is really more of an islamist. we know he's been supporting some of the islamist rebel forces there in syria, and also others such as hamas. so now the ball is in their court. they're saying they're going to open up their airbases for us to use for strikes, but i'd like to

see a firm commitment from turkey, number one, i believe that they are assisting in this black market oil revenues that are being used to fund isis to the tune of about $3 million to $6 million a day. so they're an important partner in cutting off that flow of their resource support and the flow of fighters that are going, and that's why i'd like to see them step up. >> colonel allen west, thank you so much for joining us so early this morning, we appreciate it. >> thank you, heather, pleasure. a key question now is, how effective are those air strikes? syria? k.t. mcfarland speaking out on the kelly file about what happens long-term if the strikes prove to be ineffective in combating isis. >> six months from now, we'll have a couple of choices, either we leave, we the americans leave and just leave it not having degraded and defeated ices or then put big american boots on the grouped or a likely alternative is if the syrians don't stand up and the iraqis

don't work is we turn to the iranians. americans have been beheaded. you got a growing cancer in the middle east of mad dogs, the head hounds of hell are just unleashed in the region. we don't belong in the middle of a civil war. we don't belong in the middle of a shiite/sunni civil war that's going to go on for 30 years. on the other hand we don't just walk away. we stand up, do what we've done. coalition is great. the question will be what happens next? whose boots on the ground? i don't think it's a terrific idea if it's only american boots on the ground. we don't need another iraq war. we've seen how badly that's gone. but on the other hand i don't think you just look the other way. >> the time now is 43 after the top of the hour. coming up, the manhunt for three missing afghan soldiers here in the u.s. is over. where they turned up and why, up next. and a terrifying lapse in security. two people walking right by a tsa airport checkpoint and they bored a plane. how does that happen?

the u.s. now conducting air strikes in syria to target isis, and are these air strikes a step in the right direction to defeat this terrorist organization? joining me now is retired naval

officer and former defense department spokesperson for the western hemisphere and the office of the secretary of defense, j.d. gordon. j.d., thanks for being with us this morning. >> thanks, i appreciate it. >> as an expert in foreign policy with all of your experience especially in the navy, is this the right path to take? do you agree with the administration, air strikes, no boots on the ground, and what was your reaction last night when you heard about the air strikes? >> ainsley, i think it's a step in the right direction. we have to degrade isis right now and destroy them as soon as we possibly can. i think it's positive that we have five arab allies also helping. back in "desert storm" arab troops were on the ground, they had combat troops in addition to air strikes so i think we need to get there. long-term, i think this is a band-aid. the u.s. has been attacked by radical islam ever since the 1970s, every single president has been stung by radical islamic terror groups. destroying ice sis good but what about the next threat? yesterday the big threat was al qaeda. the day before the taliban.

who knows tomorrow? it's a step in the right direction but not nearly sufficient to have air strikes and not sufficient to destroy isis. >> what would you do differently? >> i would pressure the leaders of saudi arabia, iran, the gulf states to stop exporting radical islam. it's positive that the saudis and qatar, bahrain and five different arab countries -- >> jordan. >> are helping with the air strikes, jordan, uae. most of the radical islamists is coming from saudi arabia and qatar, that's a sunni, wahabi version competing with the iranian version from tehran and tehran basically started it, if you will, if if you look in 1979 with the islamic revolution they started to export redical islam. the saudis consider the shia apostats. they have spent $100 billion since the '70s supporting rad cam islam. if you look at pictures of egypt and afghanistan in the 1970s,

women wore dresses and skirts, more equality. all of this has been exported out of saudi arabia. >> you mentioned the five nations that are allies. where is that an opportunity for isis to grow stronger? >> absolutely, ainsley. i think the president left the power vacuum in iraq that was filled by isis, so i think a lot

of bad things in the world happened when good people do nothing and speak being that, you know, i think it's important to talk a little bit about how flawed our acquisition process is right now. we just had about 47 tomahawk launches. you can believe, ainsley, that the president and his administration only have ordered 100 tomahawks for 2015 and zero in 2016. they'll get rid of the tomahawk program even though the replacement system is not going to be ready until 201. they're setting us up for failure on the acquisition front as well. >> thank you for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you, ainsley. thank you. the enemy is among us. the white house now confirming american fighters for isis are back on u.s. soil. this marking the first official confirmation of these homegrown terrorists returning to america. this comes as a chilling, new threat from isis emerges, telling americans "you will not feel secure even in your bedrooms." former new york city mayor rudy

giuliani sounding off on the record about what we need to do about this latest threat. >> now we have to really redouble our efforts to try to find these people, to gather the intelligence. unfortunately, this is a situation isis that we were caught really with our pants down, not knowing enough about them, not having enough information about them.g that w to take extremely seriously, and then of course, the call from isis to, for people to go act on their own, that's very, very difficult to detect, because you're not going to get communications that you can intercept. you're not going to have informants that are going to get you the information. you're just igniting all these people who are self-proclaimed jihadists to do whatever crazy thing they want to do. >> an official from the national counterterrorism center estimates that 15,000 militants from 80 different countries have tried to join isis with at least 100 from the u.s. meantime a brand new video

shows an isis-linked algerian terror group threatening to behead a kidnapped frenchman, in the video a man identifies himself as herve gordell saying he was kidnapped in algeria. masked kidnaper says they will kill him within 24 hours if it france does not stop air strikes in iraq. the french foreign minister says the video appears to be authentic and france will do everything it can to free gordell. while you were sleeping shots reportedly fired inside ft. carson in colorado. the base was put on lockdown for several hours. people are now allowed pack ee the post. they just can't leave. no reports of injuries and an investigation is under way. a minnesota airport temporarily locked down after a man and a woman slipped by tsa agents to board their plane. the couple leaving the terminal to go out and smoke outside of the minneapolis st. paul international airport. instead of going through security again they walked through the out door, past a

distracted agent. limo driver saw the breach and alerted security, but the two had already boarded their plane to north dakota. the man and the woman were questioned upon landing and released without charges. nearly 150 firefighters struggling to extinguish a massive dock fire near leos angeles. firefighters attacked the flames by air, land and sea. ships threatened by the fire have been moved to safety. the wooden dock is coated with a chemical material that protects it from marine erosion, but that makes it highly flammable. three afghan soldiers who went off the radar while on a training mission here in the united states found at the canadian border. >> so what were they doing there, that's the request he? wfxt's crystal haines has the latest. >> reporter: found crossing the border, three afghan officers who went missing from training exercises at joint base cape cod located monday near the canadian border in niagara falls. the massachusetts state police

say they were being interviewed by federal authorities at the rainbow bridge. fox news confirmed these are the officers' visa photos, 48 major john mohammad arash, 18-year-old captain mohammed nasir azkarta and a 21-year-old captain were reported missing while off duty on saturday. federal officials say they are valid and that each man was vetted thoroughly before being invited to the u.s. for the week-long multinational training exercise. the three afghan officers were last seen at the cape cod mall. local police departments were notified but tell fox 25 they were given little information. residents assumed the worst. >> i got kind of nervous, because i mean i live in a sensitive area with otis air force base, president always comes here and the nuclear plant. i didn't know what was going to

happen. >> makes you feel better knowing you could label them simply deserters. the worst i was thinking what if it's a terrorist cell that's already here. >> reporter: federal officials say the officers never had any access to weapons and hadn't committed any crimesecause they were legally allowed to be in the u.s. it's unclear what their status is now. the u.s. is launching air strikes against isis in syria. >> inside the military operation and the retaliation that could come when our coverage continues, up next.

test >> it is tuesday september 23rd, a fox news alert. breaking overnight the u.s. stepping up its fight against isis launching air strikes in

syria. (explosions) >> at this hour an historic coalition of forces from the middle east now assisting in this effort. >> good morning. welcome to the second hour of "fox & friends first". i am ainsley earhardt. >> i am heather childers. let's get right to the fox news alert for you. u.s. and allies launching air strikes in syria against the brutal isis militants. >> they are finally making good on the threats to hit inside syria. they are breaki-- peter doocy i with more. >> all military aircraft and personnel are safe this morning following a night that either destroyed or damaged 14 isis targets with 47 tomahawk land

assault missiles. they included isis fighter vehicles, storage facilities compound and command centers. the islamic state claims is the capital in the north. it was launched in the red sea and u.s. philippine sea in the north arabian gulf. air force and navy and marine corps fighters, bombers and drones helped in the fight. they are all safe now as are those who flew along side partners from the united arab emirates and qatar is helping out but they are not flying over syria at all. isis was not the only target inside syria overnight. a group wa