paper legality so that the things they need to do in order to do their jobs effectively they are legally able to do, not that they were not doing all this, but operating at times this is what they like about the job, they were forced to operate in a legal no man's land where it was not quite illegal, was not quite legal. once again the french intelligence services have grown by leaps and bounds and have a lot of sophisticated capabilities. clearly, as we have seen from

the nsa scandal, it still pales in comparison to the intelligence tape abilities and tracking capabilities of what is by far the largest data gathering digital eavesdropping apparatus in the world, the national security agency. there are a lot of french officials this week who are thinking, we would love to get our hands on all that spying equipment on the roof of the u.s. embassy in the middle of paris. essentially, to do this job effectively, you need to be there almost with that vast sweeping ability to get in on all of your possible suspects. what this new law will do, and francois hollande went to great lengths to assure people he would cross all of the constitutional t's, that this would be done in the full realm of legality without violating liberties and freedoms and civil rights of french citizens.

before they can go through this intelligence, before they can operate, with these new powers, they will need to get a go-ahead from a clearinghouse panel composed of judges politicians from different parties, who will say, yes week, grant you the right to do so. they need that seal of approval so that it is fully legal and not perceived as, or downright does not finally people's civil liberties, it is a fine line. people against these say it is impossible to carry out this type of intelligence effectively without in some way by letting what some people would consider their freedom not to be spied on. >> thank you for that. for those of you just joining us, we are following the ongoing

story of an attack which took place just over three hours ago in the southeast of france. we heard from the french president who spoke from brussels where he is attending the eu summit. he had dressed the press saying laying out the details of what we know so far. it stands that this has indeed been confirmed as a terrorist attack. where at least one suspect, not been confirmed of whether or not there were multiple suspects, at least one suspect carried out an attack on a gas and chemical industrial facility, factory. two people were injured when small explosive explosions -- explosions went off. the body of -- a decapitated head was found at the gate outside the air products

facility. later on, a torso of the victim was found. francois hollande has called for calm as emotions are running high. he will be returning to france from brussels to meet with cabinet member -- ministers. the suspect that has been taken into custody was in his mid-30's, known by authorities. the identification has not been made public, the identity of the at least one suspect, francois hollande says they cannot confirm if there is another suspect along with the first one who has indeed been arrested and identified. he was known to authorities. an anti-terror investigators have been sent to the scene and the interior minister is on the scene as well. security measures step up around

sensitive sites around the country as the french prime minister calling for that measure, he is overseas, but calling for that measure. we have got the french government going to be in full affect, trying to first take in all the facts about this terror attack. then to seek what measures need to be taken moving forward. i would like to bring in our political editor who joins me in the studio. mark, we heard from the president, he is coming back here to paris and will meet with his cabinet ministers, what can we expect moving forward? >> we know the interior minister who happened to be in the region rushed to the scene early. there was speculation that he would be the first to speak however it was decided that it would be the president.

it happens that both the president and prime mister are abroad, so one of them had to come home. francois hollande is in brussels , and the president will come back and was the first to speak, he announced that the interior minister will assume -- soon speak to give more details about this ongoing investigation. and police operation. as the president said, one suspect has been arrested, but there is possibly another one. clearly, there is the possibility that would be more attacks, if they are coordinated, or copycats. several months ago, we saw that. the french president was trying to convey a sense of emergency but also trying to tell people to stay calm. the fact that he quickly announced this was a terrorist attack. he urged the french to stay calm probably indicates that it

will indeed come out that it was a terrorist attack, probably by islamist groups and he does not want people to jump to conclusions. and see catches with the muslim community in france -- tension with the muslim community in france. the president warned against such extremist attitude, it probably means they know who the person is, what his ties were at it is likely, we have to be quiet, that they were beat ties or analogies with some of the past attacks. >> we see some latest images. things -- many things remain up in the air at this moment. one thing that has been confirmed is that the suspect was known to authorities, after being identified. we do not have the man's name. this will be an issue or the

government moving forward. >> it has been the issues in the past attacks what did we know, who did we know, did we follow him closely enough? this has not been the case in the previous attacks, where the perpetrators were known to the police, some of them were followed by the police, they dropped the ball at some point. there was some witticism, way too early to begin with that. -- there was some criticism, way too early to begin with that. we will probably hear, some people wondering if the police is doing the job. they will then answer that they do not have enough means, enough logistical means and legal means to properly do their jobs. in running the base in france. we have to know the facts, the interior minister, who is the one in charge of the investigation, will probably

give more details, maybe the identity of the suspect, unless it could hamper the police operations. if he has accomplices, maybe the authorities will not want to show their hand and give indications to his accomplices although, we could assume those a couple is is will probably be aware of what happened. >> stay with me in the studio. we are discussing the attack which took place a little over three hours ago in france. we can listen to one of the people there in -- describing the scene. >> roads are blocked by police, security is everywhere, people in panic. a police helicopter had just arrived, we hear sirens wailing nonstop.

it is a small town with only a few thousand people. the industrial site is very big. usually very quiet, nothing violent has ever happened. we are very shocked. >> that was one eyewitness describing the scene, and aftermath of that attack which the french president has confirmed as a terrorist attack in nature. he made the confirmation from brussels where he is currently attending the eu summit. he is canceled all future meetings and will be returning to paris. i want to talk to christoph in brussels covering the summit for us. things have shifted because of the events in france. what do you have for us. ? >> the french president spoke to

the media shortly before 1:00 harris time, the french president was here in brussels to attend a council meeting on immigration and the greek crisis . when he heard that the president was holding trilateral talks with the greek prime minister and angela merkel when they all heard the news. they switched on the television to see the first footage of what happened in the city. the french president said that there is no doubt whatsoever about the intention of the attack. it is a terrorist attack, the french president said. however, we do not have to it into emotions and to panic. that was the message of the french president who drew parallels with earlier attacks in france and elsewhere in europe. the president cutting short his eu summit, heading back to paris to hold a special meeting at the

elysee palace at 3:30. he said there was a great deal of emotion in brussels because everyone is affected by what is going on in france not only about france, but about terrorism, the terrorist threat in europe and we will hear possibly more from other leaders who will express solidarity when they hold press conferences later today. >> thank you. we will check back in with you throughout the day. we have heard from the fact that the british prime minister david cameron has voiced his condolences for the attack. saying that it is appalling in the nature. it has been confirmed that a body was discovered, decapitated, with inscriptions. we are waiting for a complete confirmation as to what those inscriptions said. there are indications that it

was written in arabic, which is leading authorities to say this was a islamist extremist attack. we have spoken to intelligence authorities that say indications point to the attack appears to follow the line of indications from websites, a jihadi movement saying you cannot travel abroad to carry out an attack. what to do in your own country. we have to wait for all of the details to continue to come in, as an investigation is underway. we have the anti-terror teams have been deployed at the scene as we heard the french president confirm, a massive number of forces deployed in the area. we heard from one eyewitness saying that the entire area, a large industrial facility in a rather small town, it has been section off. i would like to bring mark back in as we are waiting to hear

from the interior minister. we have heard from the prime minister calling for a sensitive site to have security, security to be stepped up. >> we have seen security beefed up around jewish schools or institutions in paris. you could see guns -- gun toting soldiers. you do not see them. in recent weeks because, as months passed, the security, while not officially being downgraded clearly this has been loosened to a certain extent. industrial sites are an obvious target, even before the attacks. the fact that there was an attempt, a missed attempt, there is this very tragic decapitated head we are hearing about, but

clearly the intention was to rent a vehicle -- ram a vehicle into a chemical factory and cause major damage by attacking an industrial site. it is supposed to be protected. this is why the prime minister announced that similar sites in the region would see more security because, this has been a target for a terrorist group -- terrorist groups aiding back to al qaeda. in new york, there were alerts about the water system that could get targeted, several years ago. this has always been a major concern. chemical factories -- chemical factory has never been attacked in france. this would be a first such attempt. it is -- it seems they did not work to a large extent. >> this is a u.s. gas, chemical company, air products, that had

a factory hit and one suspect carried out this attack. there are indications that there could be an accomplice, however that has yet to be confirmed. i want to bring back in douglas when we are speaking about sensitive sites, this is a gas explosion. you touched on it before, we have seen a boost in security in paris after events in january but that was not necessarily the case elsewhere in the country. we are seeing all sport reinforcements -- a call for reinforcements in security measures. >> we reported at the time, there were 10,000 security forces deployed throughout sensitive sites in france. talking about sensitive facilities, mostly talking about places of worship, schools obviously in heavily monuments

landmarks. in the days and weeks after the charlie hebdo attacks, anyone who lives in the paris region, especially in the capital, it was a visible presence of machine-gun toting camouflage clad soldiers. as mark was saying a little earlier, that presents, it is not as visible. it does not mean it is gone. there is a sense that there has been a little bit of moderation in that intense level of clear and present security everywhere in the wake of those attacks. other areas of france, france is a giant country, 60 million people. there were vast regions of france which were not heavily blanketed with this type of security. when you have an incident of this nature, the program was rolled out in a way in a

different code level color-coded, and what france has been on is terror alert. it means as the name suggests, that the security forces are implementing measures on the operational assumption that there could be a terrorist attack at any given moment, almost anywhere in the designated area. when you hear that they will heighten the security vigilance in this area, in southeast france, a lot of reports saying, it is really southeast of lyon. in a large suburban area outside of that city. when he says he is stepping up and that region, what he probably has in mind is a lot more of the types of stuff you saw in the immediate paris region in the wake of the charlie hebdo attacks. the program is meant to be adaptable to specific areas.

very quickly able to mobilize security where it is needed at a given time. for given circumstances. >> as we see the images the hind you, the interior minister speaking right now, we have not did then because for translation reasons. what he is saying, he is breathing the presser, he happened to be nearby, he has rushed to the scene a few hours after the attack. in the southeast of the country. giving more details on what we know and he has said that the suspect in the attack, that he had no prior record to authorities. i believe we can listen in now to the interior mr.. -- minister. >> for several months, the government has been appointing

everything needed to protect the safety of the french people. along with the president and the prime minister, we have maintained our security at a high level. for instance, towo acts that have reinforced the government is -- governments ability to act. relating to intelligence was approved by parliament. that will enable our intelligence forces in the fight against terrorism to enjoy new resources that they sorely lacked until now. i would like to report that throughout france, in my responsibility, a powerful wave of protection has been introduced to protect religious

sites. french people who are targeted by terrorist acts. after our country lost many jobs and resources. the prime mister and president have decided in january to increase significantly the compensation paid to our law enforcement services. that is true also in terms of a number of positions that are being created. 330 million euros dedicated to intelligence forces to a compass their task. such measures reflects the government's determination to ensure, in these tough times for france, a high level of protection for french.

view of this morning's -- just like the president said, we call on dignity and responsibility and everybody who is attached to the values of the republic and are aware of the way in which the country has mobilized to face the terrorist risk. this innocent person who was murdered decapitated, as well as the victims of the terrorist attacks in january. given the situation facing our country, violence of such terrorist attacks repulsive nature of these attacks, i would like to emphasize that our

country will be stronger. everybody can do so who speaks -- >> how old was the victim? >> this person reportedly lives close to lyon. we are carrying out ultimate checks, and if we do not have definitive data, we need to because just. talking about the terrorist who carried out the attack, he has been followed by french police since 2006. he had been in touch with a group, but not detected as being involved in any terrorist activity. did not have any criminal record, unlike other individuals who carry out such crimes the last few months.

he was not closely watched recently. he had no longer been followed since 2008. 2010 he was in touch with a movement, but no data showing he was in touch with terrorists. currently, a lot of forces are working throughout france on the basis of the instructions i have given them to monitor everybody who seems to be radicalized and in touch with anybody who has any link with terrorists activities, that was not the case with the person who carried out this attack this morning. isis, any link with isis?

>> there were flags that will be analyzed, we have not translated everything. the investigation is underway and once we had that information, the prosecutor will comment on them. i cannot give you any precise information on that point, for a simple reason. there might be more people who will be arrested. >> when was this planned? >> i cannot answer that question. i have given you all the information i have. more information appears, the prosecutor from the paris court and i, myself, will communicate that information as we get it. as always, when we are dealing with such serious actions, we cannot give any information that

has not been precisely checked. this investigation has just started. it needs to be carried out in compliance with the provisions of the law and it will be supervised by the antiterrorist cause in paris. an investigation is underway, and is always -- as always, when such serious acts occur, we will communicate the information we have as we receive it. and it is confirmed. we cannot say anything that proximate in relation with such

>> start of the game. [cheering] >> what is it? >> tony came to new york for christmas. the boys found a football and they started playing. they noticed a police car that was parked in front. and about an hour after they were in the game, um, another police car came and parked parallel to that one.