hour. right now three men planning to join isis with ties to new york city and are now under arrest. we are waiting to hear from the nypd commissioner on this breaking news. here is what we know so far. the feds nabbed three brooklyn residents accused of planning to join isis overseas and if they didn't succeed with that plan the trio allegedly planning to carry out attacks here at home. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams is on the story. these men apparently voiced even a willingness to kill president obama if that is what isis wanted down the road. explain why the fbi made their move today and what we know at this hour? >> well they made the move today because one of them was boarding a plane the february said to turkey to go on to syria and another had a ticket to go there next month. so that explains today. one of them talked about shooting the president. the fbi clearly got on to all of this last aug when it discovered a entry on a website overseas

when one of them wrote the following according to the fbi. is it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated martyrs. i'm in the usa now. what i'm saying is to shoot obama and then get shot ourselves? will that do? that will strike fear into the hearts of the infidels. and curious thing about this is after finding this the fbi went to his apartment in brooklyn and questioned him about this and he freely admitted yep, that is what i wrote and that is what i would do. the command wouldn't have to come from al baghdadi, the head of isis, it could come from any legitimate isis person. he didn't have any gun or wherewithal to carry this out but it is clear the fbi kept him under close surveillance. even dangling an undercover operative in front of him but nonetheless, he kept right on planning and communicating with

people who ran an isis website overseas and persuading a friend of his to also go to syria, that is the person arrested today at jfk boarding a plane. and then a third man who has been arrested here the fbi said he was giving the other two money and there is some suggestion in court documents here, ari, that the third man arrested was tacking to other people -- talking to other people in the u.s. and trying to help them contribute to the airplane tickets for these two. so it appear that's the talk about shooting the president or if they couldn't get there, getting guns and shooting the police or the fbi or planting a bomb in coney island none of that got beyond the talking stage but the planning to go overseas did. and they did buy tickets and one of them was about to get on a plane when he was arrested. >> and you mentioned that talking and in your reporting you referred to sources of saying part of this was more aspirational than operational.

as we await for the nypd commissioner bill bratton to talk about the charges they've been forward with loretta lynch, the federal prosecutor. can you give us insight into what type of federal enforcement they are using here, the material support for terrorism and why that matters in a case like this pete. >> they are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to isis. and it is a window into a couple of things i think. one is the continued thing we're told by federal officials which is this is what they worry about a lot. people in the united states being affected by isis propaganda, willing to go overseas and further radicalized to the point of talking about staging attacks here. although, i must emphasize, there was never a suggestion they got guns or bombs or did anything about that. that was purely talk. and it is not just one person here, it is three. and the possibility of others who were contributing money.

so not quite a cell or a network, perhaps, but something beyond just one person. >> pete, we are awaiting bill bratton any moment now. there are reporters in the room and they will likely have a number of questions for him. one is what more can we be doing here in the city to prevent this from happening. how prepared do you think he is to answer that question? >> well very prepared because he thinks about it all of the time. the mayor talked about that earlier today. and he said that they are doing all they can. but i think -- another thing this reveals is the extraordinary extent to which some part of the united states if it is not the fbi, the nsa or someone is certainly keeping an eye on a lot of places. this is an use becky --s you becky website when this person in brooklyn was writing on this website and that raised a red flag. >> pete talk about how the legal process will unfold from here and where these individuals

will likely be brought to trial. >> in brooklyn. and that is where the charges are filed. one of the men was in florida today, the third man who was accused of raising the money, he's 30 years old, a native of uzbekistan and not clear why he was in florida but he appeared before a judge in jacksonville and then undoubtedly seeked his extradition back to new york to face the charges. >> pete wings, thank you for your reporting. and we're going to turn to the director of cyber security at george washington university. i think we are going to turn -- we are seeing nypd commissioner bratton getting up to the podium. we'll go directly to him as soon as he begins speaking. but your thoughts on the arrested today briefly, frank? >> it is emblematic of a trend we've seen for quite sometime. there have been a number of foreign fighters 20,000 total

traveling to syria and iraq. many of those from europe in the thoughts and up to 150 in the united states. so the foreign fighter phenomenon has been with us for quite sometime. and obviously at some point, many of the fighters return home. so this is a legitimate security concern. not only from the u.s. perspective, but also globally. >> frank, talk to us about the background of these individuals. we are learning that they are from uzbak, and extract, how common is it for them to be attractive to this ideology. >> foreign fighters are not new. when you go back to when you saw it in kosovo in the united states you had americans and the somali and the fly over to join up with april shab ab and then

yemen and then in the tribal areas of afghanistan and pakistan. what makes this unique is those were focused on those dais praus and what you are seeing play out in syria, is people all over the world, 90 different countries and backgrounds and many of these individuals will not go overseas but isis has put great emphasis on trying to inspire people not to come overseas but to engage in terrorist activity in the its. >> frank, back to commissioner bill braton later. and how do we stop our very own from wanting to go over and fight with isis. the president said this should be the focus of our concern and you are writing about what france has done in the aftermath. they showed the stomach churning videos of executions to remind people how sickening it is and

they used social media tag lines of like you will die alone and raise your children in war and terror. and we have our own campaign here in the states called think again, turn away and how effective and how important is it that we get this right? >> the missing dimension and our counter-terrorism is the counter ideological component. it is not the economy stupid but it is the ideology. so we need to do more to expose the hypocrisy and it hasn't just be from the government it has to be a thousand flowers blooming in different languages or communities that may have more sway or street cred from the individuals susceptible to the message. but we've seeded the cyber battlefield and we have to engage in that and it comes down to denying safe haven which requires military responses and

it ensures denying another safe haven which in this case is ungoverned space and it is internet. and they have been using the internet to recruit and radicalize. >> and we have the story developing in new york but the other thing in the news today sort of related to this the three british girls who went to syria, potentially apparently radicalizing the possibility there. in the coverage of that there is a quote from the lawyer for one of the families that jumped out at me the path to radicalization from a middle class background and smart and intelligent with their careers and the lawyer said it is the young people who are liked, who are smart, who are think, and who are caring who are right for ripe for radicalization not the outcasts. >> you've seen the outcasts and

people that are intelligent. you think it is for the downtrodden but the statistics tell you either wise if you look at it from an empiricalistic based objective. at the end of the day, we do know we need to use all of the instruments of state craft and enter the battlefield in terms of the ideological issues. we're going to get better but that is insufficient. >> and when we look at arrests like today of the three individuals, brooklyn residents here, how should we think about that. should we be comforted that clearly the authorities were tracking the individuals and arrest them before they got close to taking any kind of action here in the u.s. or elsewhere or should we be concerned that there is anyone here in the u.s. who potentially sympathizes with isis? >> well unfortunately, we do have those that sympathize with

isis and we have those that sympathize with al qaeda as well. the good news is we did get there before the bomb goes off. what most people don't know is that since 9/11 there have been approximately 90 plots in the united states home-grown jihadist or radicalizers that have been prevented. but if you look at what we've seen unfold in copenhagen and australia and sydney and ottawa and canada and elsewhere, unfortunately the numbers here are pretty big. and while we're pretty good we have to be batting a thousand all of the time and fielding 100%. so the good news is that the authorities do have many of the tools, they take these issues very seriously. the bureau has got a pretty good track record the fbi. but unfortunately it will require a sustained effort add not only at the federal level, the real action is going to

occur at the state and local level often with families themselves to try to turn these people away before it is too late. >> absolutely. it is reassuring to your point that they were able to catch the three men. but also they had been tracking them closely for some time now. and as you know they are sympathizers not just in the new york area but all over the country. how might they be thinking about this as we are breaking the stories with three men being arrested, folks thinking about doing similar things boarding flights to go fight alongside isis how might this change the way they are thinking about it? >> that is a great question. overseas territories learn from dead -- terrorists learn from dead terrorists. and so that does give a road map on how not to get caught. and so in this case clearly, i think those that are inspired by the jihadist ideology will learn from some of these cases, pain

be a little more cautious in terms of the use of the internet. but ultimately the internet is this double-edged tool. this is the breeding ground for some of these folks but also a valuable means to collect information on who could get on the radar screen. so we do need to be cog niz about that the bad guys learn from the mistakes of their predecessors. >> and they learn and the authorities trying to learn what the nature of the recruitment is. and you worked for bush when the main concern was domestic sleeper cells and domestic attacks that would occur here. what do you make from a challenge of a homeland security security perspective while trying to disrupt people like here, people trying to board a flight here at jfk, trying to leave here and hurt the united

states in other ways. >> i think the greatest threat are terrorists coming into the united states, as we saw with al qaeda. obviously we were concerned about the the home-grown threat. and what we've seen in the decade-plus since is the met aft izing and -- met aftizing and it comes from attacks coordinated centrally, by bagdadi and others all the way down to those that are inspired by the ideology or in essence, lone wolves acting on that information on their own. so i wish there were a one size fits all approach but the reality is we need to bring all instruments of craft to bear and the law enforcement is important and so are the activities we need to do overseas to deny them the ability to maneuver. i would rather them looking over their shoulder than plotting and executing attacks overseas. one thing worth noting.

the first big case that rang bells, also a new york target was bola zazi a naturalized citizen who attempted to go to pakistan to join up with the taliban. he was ultimately -- he was intercepted by al qaeda and said you are a greater value to target the west since you are in the united states. this was one of the cases that the bell was absolutely ringing. the system was blinking red and we were able to prevent it pretty close to when it went operational. so the foreign fighter phenomenon is not new. i think we have to recognize it will come in various forms. >> frank, in washington. please stay with us. we are going to continue to watch one police plaza in new york city. that is where commissioner bill bratton is expected to speak about the terror arrests today. we'll bring that to when you it happens. and the senate has moved one step closer to funding homeland

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back to our breaking news. the nypd reacting to the arrest of the three brooklyn men accused of trying to join isis. let's listen in. >> the two individuals arrested in jacksonville, florida, by fbi is being detained in jacksonville. so the initial actions were to go to syria and attempt to join isil in syria. >> by taking the complaint in the filing today they said if they couldn't do that they would do things here. >> that is correct. >> how serious is that? >> we treat that very seriously as alleged in the filing the idea that it was quite plain based on their own statements if they were not able to go that

they would seek to acquire weapons here handguns machine guns and seek to attack very specifically police officers. and so that -- those aspirations were made quite clear by their statements. >> commissioner two of them were arrested and do we know how long the suspects were in this country? >> i can't speak to that. anybody here know the specific time? okay i can't give you that at this particular time. >> but they were not u.s. citizens? >> they were legal residents -- and a third individual in florida was here legally and overstayed. >> and the person in florida, the person being indicted in florida, they used to live here in brooklyn or can you clarify

that? >> she's asking about the permanent residency and where he is based at? >> all three of them resided in brooklyn yes. and two of them were uzbeki citizens and two of them were legal -- residents here. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> just the way it works out investigateive investigatively. we concentrated on the person leaving new york city on the way out to syria. >> we've been seeing with [ inaudible ] about homeland security and your concerns about that and in light of what we're seeing here today [ inaudible question ]. >> well as we previously stated with all that is going on in washington at the moment the debate about with holding of funding for homeland security

this is not the time to engage in activities that would threaten our counter terrorism capabilities such as have been exhibited in the movement on this case. and effectively to hold our counter-terrorism agencies hostage to political machinations in d.c. i think our case reinforces that contention on our part. this is not the time to be engaging in political rhetoric or political grandstanding. >> there is talk lately about what is happening in the. [ inaudible question ] >> oh, certainly. that we have talked about this over an extensive period of time. i think i've references when john and i came in january of 2014 and took on our new positions that the threat at that time was that of al qaeda and al qaeda and the arabian peninsula and charged with the

mission of carrying out attacks against the united states and quickly and in a short period of time after our appointment, the emergence of isis or isil as it is known became quickly apparent as we've seen with the events in syria and they are now a new significant addition to the terrorism threat and their capabilities, while this past year have been limited primarily to the mideast, that their ability through social media propaganda skills to inspire those, as these individuals were inspired to travel to sear to fight. but for those who cannot travel and don't have the resources, they are encouraged in the most recent outreach efforts in december i think, john -- >> september and december. >> encouraging attacks where you live. here in the united states or europe. you can't get a gun, make a bomb or get a knife.

and we saw a sample of that on the attack of our four police officers. that individual when we did the backtracking on his computer activity among the 150 some odd different sites that he was visiting, were some of those that were controlled by isis or isil. so this is real. this is the concern about the lone wolf inspired to act without ever going to the mideast or the concern of once they get to the mideast, the fighting -- acquiring fighting skills and attempting to return to the country. >> is this the first time that you know of that you've seen isis or isil sympathizers from new york city trying to make their way overseas and into syria? >> this is an ongoing investigation and is among of number of investigations that we're engaged in so i won't -- so this is the first public example of that that would be correct. >> commissioner.

[ inaudible question ] . . >> for the purposes of this investigation, the mosques weren't relevant. if it is not in the complaint, we won't discuss. it was not relevant to this investigation where they worshipped. >> [ inaudible question ]. according to the complaint, there were recordings. >> i'm not going to discuss the recordings and there are resources and the joint terrorism task force does that on a regular basis.

>> [ inaudible question ]. did they come as -- were they coming to [ inaudible question ] [ inaudible question ] >> i'm not following what specific example you are referring to? >> to answer the question they came -- they came as federal agents, as members of the joint terrorism task force and identified them as such. they interviewed both gentlemen and as it reflected in the complaints, both gentlemen made statements at the time. so it was what it was. >> you've been listening to nypd commissioner bill bratton speaking about the three brooklyn residents arrested for planning a trip overseas to help join the fight against isis.

he said, quote, this is war. also speaking about the seriousness about the threat we face dealing with isis. and also playing to congress saying we should not hold hostage our effort of counter-terrorism for politics. i want to bring back in frank cal you'vo what is your reaction? >> i think the commissioner failed it. i think he recognized the significance of the threat. one thing we tend to forget sometimes is that the federal authorities, while obviously they play a very significant role that state and local law enforcement does as well and nypd is clearly the gold standard for counter-terrorism and i think he was right to recognize the challenges vis-a-vis congress shouldn't be playing politics with the department of homeland security. we're at a pretty significant

woepd of vulnerability and the threat window is running high. >> you are right. and it is an interesting presentation from the commissioner connecting the dots to the homeland security fund as you and abby were mentioning and how the feds work as you were saying, with local authorities, this is of course a brooklyn investigation which means fbi working with the prosecutor there, loretta lynch who is up for a vote to be the next attorney general this week at a judiciary. when you talk to the federal prosecutors, they are working with the fbi on the monitoring and the surveillance to strike at the right time. speak about the shift from post 9/11 where they try to go in earlier and disrupt rather than waiting too long. this case seems like they waited a while and it was the flight as best we know from what they put out in the indictment it was the flight that made them act today. >> i think you are right. he was actually about to board a plane that they felt they needed

then unravel his other two accomplices. overall, the idea is to get their well in advance of when you have be able to counter an operational threat. now there was some debate how early do you move in and how late. in this case i think they played it out as long as they possibly could. and i think it had obviously the right net outcome. so i think that by enlarge we're in a good place here. the u.s. attorneys and the role the attorneys play in the counter-terrorism efforts is instrumental. we have to bring more instruments to the fight, including obviously most notably, prosecutorial tools and if you look at today's u.s. attorneys they are so much more versed and awared of the -- and aware of the issues and the next

issue is cyber where we have to get our attorneys up to speed there. but you can't do this as a federal government alone. even nypd can't do it alone. and it is making sure that that relationship which was sometimes bumpy between the fbi and nypd but it has to work or we all suffer. >> and frank, talk to us a little bit more about specifically on a case like this what the coordination looks like between the federal authorities and the local authorities. how would they go about working together to track three individuals such as these. >> ultimately there is -- and i think jon miller discussed it the deputy chief there, the joint terrorism task force. and so that would be an fbi-led effort but it brings in nypd officers and other agencies as needed. within that process where the investigation itself occurs. once something is triggered and

deemed appropriate to actually open an investigation, it is through that cell where everything from soup to nuts is run. the u.s. attorney side obviously you need to make sure that you have the authorities to address some of the issues and to determine whether or not when you string them up as opposed to keeping -- keep stringing them alone.a a -- along. and in this case they decided that because the uptempo dictated it. he was ready to go overseas. new york is unique. new york and d.c. have been primary targets of terrorist activity for a number of years so they have worked out many of those operational and tactical issues but it seemed to work pretty well here and frank, i want to ask you, there is a lot of talk as you know about countering the religious roots or perversion of religion in

this debate and the white house had a big summit on that. i want to read you a line from the u.s. attorney release that we just got breaking here along with the indictment. they say that with regard to the plan to kill fbi agents or otherwise support isis the defendants, quote, violated the true tenants of their faith in pursuit of their radical violent agenda. that struck me as a little unusual. what do you make of that line there from the u.s. attorney today? >> i do feel that we need to attack the ideology. whether or not we should be in the business we the government which i'm not part of, but the united states, in the business of determining who, what when and how and where speaks for the faith is not in a business to address. but i do think it was a short coming in the recent summit when we talk about countering violent extremism, we are talking largely about violent

schemeism. there is a law enforcement tool and a national tool and community engagement tool so we have to bring all of those together to make sure they are working in concert. >> that is well said. frank, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> there is a lot going on on the hill. more breaking news. the senate is moving very quickly to hopefully class the clean funding bill. we'll bring that to you right next.

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welcome back. and it is another afternoon of fast-moving developments as time runs out to fund the department of homeland security. as we first reported here on the cycle yesterday, mitch mcconnell cut a deal with democrats on a clean bill to fund the agency without tieing to immigration. the senate wrapped up a first test vote on the bill. the one thing that could hold up the deal is house republicans

not being on board. today's speaker boehner played coy with reporters after meeting behind closed doors with his caucus. >> i'm waiting for the senate to act. the house has done its job to fund the department of homeland security and to stop the president's overreach on immigration and we're waiting for the senate to do their job. >> i don't know what the senate is capable of passing. and until i soo what they -- and until i see what they will pass no decision has been made on the house. >> and it is politics like that that have jeh johnson fuming. and he had two heads that stood with him that called for an end to the bipartisan bickering. and he also spoke exclusively with our own luke russert. >> we are days away with our department running out of gas and to have a conversation about a potential shutdown of homeland

security is incredible and absurd. >> let's bring in now friend of the show, john stanton from buzzfeed, and john this is the first test for the gop congress and here we are once again at the 11th hour getting way too close for a shutdown it. makes you wonder if we are getting -- and funding homeland security at a time like this is that too much to ask for? >> unfortunately, it is. if you look at what is going on in the house right now, they are not going -- in a mood to pass this bill. at least if they do it as a republican-only kind of operation, they can't pull this off. speaker boehner will end up having to pass a short-term extension while he tries to fin angle his caucus into supporting this plan that mitch mcconnell has put forward. and politico this morning was reporting that neither mcconnell

or boehner have talked to each other in two weeks. while the staff is talking it says a lot of tensions within the republican party, particularly between the house and the senate over the handling of these senates. and house republicans are okay with it so it looks like we'll have forge one of these. >> and as the clock keeps ticking on this. and at the start of the show we are talking about at rests in new york and you saw commissioner bratton in his press conference and said this is not the time for washington to be shutting down over -- over politics to shut down the dhs. and we had reports that maybe the mall of america might be on a target list. so with these things in the air this week, does that change the calculations at all potentially for republicans looking at this and saying maybe this isn't the time to actually go down this road 100%? >> i think certainly there are some members of the house republican caucus will look at this and say we have to deal with this now and can't keep

having this fight, this is too dangerous. but most members think correctly that the dhs, most of the functions that are operating on these kind of issues will not be shut down. these people will continue to go to work and they feel strongly that they have to have this fight with the president over his use of executive power or what they believe to be sort of overreach by the white house on immigration and health care and other issues. so i think there may be some republicans that are going to say, okay enough is enough in the house. but i still that it will be a tough road for the speaker to get enough of them to move by friday so there isn't a shutdown. >> and i mean, john, even if immediately, the vital functions of counter-terrorism aren't impacted, we are talking about a major impact and eventually the department of homeland security does need to be funded. did republicans really think this through? like, how did they expect this would end in a best-case scenario for them?

because i can't understand the logic here from the very beginning? >> no. they didn't really think this through at all. i think in the fall when they came up with this idea and during the crom anybodiousnibanybody -- during the fight, there was a vague hope that once they had control of the new chambers an the new members seated and getting everybody together they could forth a new way of operating and it just hasn't come together for them yet. and i think this is -- the timing of these arrests and of the -- the al shabab threats against mall of america is helping probably speaker boehner's position but there are still members that are just so adamant they have to have this fight with the white house now and they won't give that position up. >> and john i know you are a fair reporter and i say that seriously, but i'm worried that you sound like a pundit trapped in amber, because everything you are saying tracks with an an

analysis of this situation from a week or two ago, right, saying well we're fighting to stop this executive action. this executive action has been stopped. but we've been reporting that -- a federal judge has stopped it. and so to the extent that anyone wants to say this is about stopping a thing that has already been stopped, i worry that more than being fair we're falling into sort of this narrative about what this is about. clearly, as a factual matter this is no longer about stopping a thing that has been stopped. it has to be something more than that. can you speak to that? >> you are right. i'm surprised that the lawsuit and the judge's stay on the executive order hasn't had more of an effect on republicans, but it has on democrats. they want to vote to -- >> to your point. they are saying the goal they had in mind at a policy level has been achieved. >> but this is not a policy fight.

this is a political fight. this is republicans wanting to make a point and to definitively say you are not allowed to do these things. their base wants this fight. they don't trust that the fifth circuit will going to continue to keep the stay if place. and i think -- >> or they don't care whether the fifth circuit keeps the stay in place? >> that is possible. and i think that members look at this as a thing they have to do. >> this is a fight they want to have. whether or not it is defacto material. >> and we know republicans are doing this because they want to make the base happy especially those thinking about running for election in 2016 john you know this. and how will the base react to how this played out because the bill being extended potentially now to september, aren't they still frustrated because they will say you didn't fight for it? >> no that is right. you are seeing talk radio hosts and folks on the right accusing mitch mcconnell of capitulating

to the white house and the democrats. and it has been drawn in the base that almost all of the voters are base voters and they are very worried about primaries and having a person from the right attack them and they don't want to get accused of being weak when it comes to fighting with president obama over things that the base wants. >> well i'm still very much struggling to understand the logic, but john stanton we appreciate your help in figuring all of this out. thank you so much. >> any time. >> and up next we head to the white house to see how today's breaking news is playing there. both from capitol hill and the terror arrests here in new york city. that is next. i could use some help. smart sarah. seeking guidance. just like with your investments. that sets you apart. it does? it does. you're type e*. and seeking another perspective is what type e*s do. oh, and your next handhold...

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thanks to angie's list now it is. start shopping online from a list of top-rated providers. visit angieslist.com today. welcome back to breaking news coverage this hour. three suspected terrorists new york city residents arrested as one of them attempted to board a plane to leave the country to go help fight with isis. let's head to chris jansing on the north lawn. right now the president is in florida for the town hall and the security of the country a priority number one for him? >> absolutely. and it is so interesting that this is happening on a day where administration officials have been out talking about this very thing. first you had the fbi director james comey in a speech talking about how the threat from groups like isis is quote, evolving and real. and part of what he said was

that they use social media so well and he said they tell you will find a life of meeting for our so-called caliphate, and if you can't come, kill somebody where you are. so powerful words from the fbi director. in addition, tied into this whole fight over funding for dhs, we saw jeh johnson who has been everywhere this week starting on sunday doing the sunday talk shows, he did a press conference with two former homeland security directors, including tom ridge, who was the very first homeland security director, he happens to agree with the republicans on the fight and he thinks that the president has overstepped his constitutional bounds on immigration but he said you don't use this and you don't use safety and security and the backs of hard-working americans who work for dhs to make your point. and i think it was particularly striking that he said that again, just like we heard from james comey today, how the threat has evolved, the threat is greater, he believes now

than it was on september 12th 2011 -- i'm sorry, 2001. so this is the point of conversation apart from what happened in brooklyn from -- in new york with arrests that have been made. but you are the arrests that have been made but you're right. this is very much on everybody's minds. it will be, i'm sure even more so a part of the conversation. >> all right. appreciate that. let's bring "the washington post" in be us. picking up on the immediate politics of this the backdrop for all of this is this funding fight. we were talking about this a little bit in the last break. as this week progresses with this story in the air, the story about the mall of america a few days ago, republicans will look at this and say there's already polling out here that says we're going to get blame ifd if there is

a shutdown. they get a little bit more worried. >> a little bit more worried and that's a rational argument that you just laid out. we're talking about an irrational group of people in the house and that's the republicans. they send this bill over to the house. we have to keep in mind and remember that appropriations bills are supposed to originate in the house. this deal coming from the senate has to go to the house where speaker boehner has to convince his ruckus caucus of conservatives who don't want to do this to come around. i'm not sure whether the isis argument or the general terrorist threat argument will

sway them to pass a clean dhs bill so that the agency can be open and running with people being paid on friday. it's wednesday right now. >> if there was ever a time for them to think about what is best for this country, you would think it would be right at this moment when news breaks like this today where you had three that were arrested residents of brooklyn. bill bratton said this is war. the seriousness of this threat is very very real. he gave a plea to congress saying do not hold our counterterrorism workers hostage hostage. >> you are exactly right. my pessimism and why i don't think this is going to happen is because many other times when the good of the country was at stake, the debt ceiling, government shutdown, and republicans in the house, even then decided not to do

anything. they decided to put their political interests ahead of the country's. i absolutely agree with you, abby. until speaker boehner can prove my wrong, i will remain pessimistic. >> it had to feel like a punch to the gut today when commissioner bill bratton said counterterrorism should not be held hostage to d.c. politicians. we're so glad to have you with us today. first, if we can just get your reaction to the news of the day. three brooklyn residents arrested looking like they were wanting to go overseas and fight with isis. >> it's a frightening example of what's to come and that is individuals who are motivated by what they see on tv, by what they see online by what they hear from returning fighters and isis al qaeda, any other fighting group in the world that

offers them the opportunity to come to a battlefield and play a role and to give them a mission. >> the other question that is raised is when you look at a time where people are saying congress isn't being serious is something even bigger on isis the president recently asked congress for war authority power to take on isis. now legally it doesn't change the fact that the fbi can go in today and pick these guys up on federal terrorism charges. if you can tell us beyond the law, beyond the paper trail of what congress says it wants to do about isis should it matter? should congress look at these kind of incidents that show a homegrown potential threat and say, gee, that means we ought to weigh in on the war with isis? >> no doubt about it. all of these things are going in the midst of this debate and back and forth of politicking. having three guys who are from brooklyn who are attempting to

go and fight, who are talking about assassinating the president, this shows how serious it can be. these guys may be aspirational but we don't know where the real serious guys are and we need to make sure everyone is focused on this. >> yeah. tom, how should americans and the world be thinking about this? should we be concerned about the fact that this is going on and it is likely there are others out there as well or should we be comforted that they were watched closely and they were caught before it was too late? >> we should be comforted that police are very good. they're taking this very seriously. they have a lot of informants who can get these young men to talk about their plans. we should be comforted by the fact we have very good law enforcement and good intelligence overseas but we should be very frightened by the

fact -- or the likely reality that you do have hundreds of young men here in, in canada in europe that those young men could come here. they could go to other places and carry out plans as ordered or requested by the isis spokesman just last september. there's a lot to be afraid of here but there's also a good apparatus that is arrayed against them and that is our police and our intelligence. >> all right, tom sander son, jonathan capehart. appreciate you. that's it for "the cycle." your breaking coverage will continue on "now" with alex wagner. i hit the breakfast bar where i got my fuel for the next 26 miles. great endings begin here. and now when you

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terror raids in new york city. it's wednesday, february 25th and this is "now." three hours ago -- hours ago, three men ages 19, 24, and 30 were arrested in terror raids in new york city and jacksonville, florida. two of the men were planning to go overseas to join the isis terror group. according to authorities, the youngest man identified in a criminal complaint was attempting to board a flight to turkey out of john f. kennedy airport early this morning when he was apprehended by law enforcement. >> two of the individuals were seeking to fly to syria. one was arrested at the international