her work is focused on the al qaeda network, particularly al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and al-shabab, which is al qaeda's affiliate in somalia. ms. zimmer-mass -- ms. zimmerman has testified before congress about the threats emanating from al qaeda and she's briefed members of congress, their staff and members of the defense community. so with that i'm going to turn the floor over to our first speaker, dr. gorka. [applause] dr. gorka: good morning ladies and gentlemen, or good afternoon. it's a real pleasure to be back here at heritage, an institution that's always a real pleasure to speak at. today, for truth in lending, i'm not going to address the topic. because i'm not coming back from the front lines. this was advertised as an assessment from the front lines. i'm going to tell you what the people who have been to the front lines have told me. i work very closely, as you heard, with our green berets, members of the intelligence community and our marines. and i'm going to report to you a very abbreviated summary of special -- especially of the work that we've been doing for uusoc.

al-shabaab remains loyal to al qaeda. e rumors that al-shabaab will move to isis because of finance and it has not been successful in somalia and kenya with what is doing. aqap is doing quite well in yemen without being a part of isis. there are rumors aqap might go to isis. we saw a leader we pledge the group's leadership. he has put aqap back in the al qaeda pile. why am i arguing al qaeda is still doing well? it is not most eminent threat to the united states. i think al qaeda is an enduring threat, and isis has raised the bar for intervention in a way it is dangerous long term for us. there is now a level at which al qaeda can operate with relative impunity, because it is not isis. i mentioned the al qaeda islamic system. that group has remained focused on france. what we see is the resurgence of attacks in mali. mali is not that important to the united states, but aqim has facilitated movement of fighters across the region. that is a major boon to any organization that is trying to enter europe. they're looking at lib

al shabab remains loyal to al qaeda. there are rumors that al shabab will move to isis because of finance and because it hasn't been successful yet in somalia and kenya with what it's doing. aqap al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and yemen is doing quite well. aqap might go to isis. we just saw their new leader come out and repledge their allegiance to zawahiri. so why am i arguing that al qaeda is still doing well? it's not the most eminent threat to the united states. i think isis is the greatest threat. i think that al qaeda is an enduring threat and isis has raised the bar for intervention that it's dangerous long term for us. there's now a level at which al qaeda can operate with relative impugnnity because it's not isis. i mentioned the magreb system. that's focussed on nigeria and france. but what we see is the resurgence of attacks in mali. it's not thatm portent to the united states but aqam has convinced and facilitated edd movement of fighters across the area. there's a smuggling network. there's a major boon t

he has put aqap back in the al qaeda pile. why am i arguing al qaeda is still doing well? it is not most eminent threat to the united states. i think al qaeda is an enduring threat, and isis has raised the bar for intervention in a way it is dangerous long term for us. there is now a level at which al qaeda can operate with relative impunity, because it is not isis. i mentioned the al qaeda islamic system. that group has remained focused on france. what we see is the resurgence of attacks in mali. mali is not that important to the united states, but aqim has facilitated movement of fighters across the region . that is a major boon to any organization that is trying to enter europe. they're looking at libya, and isis has a presence there. it has suffered setbacks in an area which was a flagship city is held in libya. i would argue one of the challenges isis will face in libya is libya is 99% sunni. isis has thrived in environments where there is a sectarian differences in the population. most sunni do not like living under isis role and they would find a softer hand, and al

and al qaeda. there was no iraqi involvement in 9/11. there was not even an iraqi foreknowledge of 9/11. they were surprised as we were. that's what we said. scooter libby did not like what we said. he believed there was a connection. he thought we were wrong and after we put this paper out and said what i just said the call that my boss and told her to withdraw the paper and fix fix it because it was wrong. we just put our hands up and said no i'm not doing that. i told you earlier we are nonpartisan and we call it like they see it. we are the umpire and we are the refereeing please call it like we see it. we didn't budge. scooter libby called john mclaughlin was the deputy director of the cia to complain about the paper and george tenet and john mclaughlin said no, stop. and president bush did something really important. my boss to scooter libby called and said that java's paper and she refused she briefed president bush on christmas eve in 2002. went to camp david to give him his daily intellige

you had some of the most experienced al qaeda people from al qaeda in iraq.d al baghdadi and suddenly this organization holding territory which i think inspired a lot of followers. that's still what we're confronting. >> i know you are being briefed. you met with the president of the united states together with some of your colleagues on the iran nuclear deal. i asked the fbi director about all the money that iran was about to get, $100 billion or so if the nuclear deal goes through, if they live up to the expectations that the united nations and everyone has put up to them. i want you to listen to what james comey, the fbi director told me about that potential cash inflow to iran. >> there's a huge debate under way right now about the $100 billion that iran is about to get if they follow this nuclear deal. and that that money will flow in over the next year or two. they could spend it to build hospitals and skills or bridges in iran or they could spend it -- give to it some of their terror partners if you will. and i'm wondering if you fear that some of that

homeland than al qaeda? >> yes. the threat that isil presents poses to the united states is very different in kind type and degree than al qaeda. isil is not your parents' al qaeda. it's a very different model. >> why is isis so powerful? >> well they have adopted a model that takes advantage of social media in a way to crowdsource terrorism. they have invested about the last year in pushing a message, a poison primarily through twitter, but through other parts of social media, which is a siren song with two dimensions they are preaching through social media, to trouble souls, urging them to join their so-called caliphate in syria and iraq or if you can't join kill where you are, and twitter is a valuable enterprise because it works to sell shoes or sell ideas. it works to sell this message to troubled souls. with al qaeda, if you wanted to consume their propaganda you had to go find it somewhere on the web, read their magazine. if you want to talk to a terrorist, you may send an e-mail in to their magazine and hope

american al qaeda cleric is al qaeda now posing a new terror threat to the u.s. >>> donald trump gives out the personal cell phone income of his rival on live television is trump breathing new life into a stale bit of politics? >>> nuclear ambition north korea rules out a nuclear agreement like the one with iran. it has no interest while it continues to build its stockpile.

he was a key figure in the syrian based al qaeda offshoot. the u.s.he knew in advance about the september 11th attacks. in yemen, the first aid ships arrived in aden since saudi-led air strikes began. it's carrying 3,000 tonnes of supplies, enough to feed 180,000 people a month. >> now the u.s. and cuba may have restored diplomatic ties and they are polls apart on the subject of guantanamo bay. the territory has been under american control for more than 100 years. cuba wants it back. guantanamo, a place that is a symbol of human rights abuses. for 13 years the u.s. naval base in cuba held up to 780 detainees, prisoners of the global war on terror. guantanamo is the u.s.'s only permanent overseas base in the america. sailors and marines stationed here respond to natural disasters and go after drug dealers and human traffickers. havana wants to fight back but the obama administrations the idea. >> no end to ses session or plan in relation to the guantanamo base in cuba. >> troops have been deployed all around the world. there's only one country where th

, to attack western aviation for al qaeda. syria has become a promise land. there are a lot of western recruits. thousands of them. al fadhli was leading european recruits potentially american recruits to send them off to training to launch sophisticated terrorist attacks in the west. so this is a very significant break through. this is a group that still poses a danger. that is still a number of khorasan operatives. a very dangerous man, still out there operating in syria, particularly in the inland province. >> so it sends a message. presumably this al qaeda offshoot someone else will now emerge to take his place. >> that's the thought. that one of the candidates will be a saudi, someone with a lot of experience in al qaeda circles. someone who is with al qaeda in pakistan. somebody schooled in explosives and toxins. he has emerged as a very senior figure in the group. there is a french bomb maker who is still at large. he was injured in november in a u.s. strike. he is thought to be quite skilled in making explosive that's

in anbar province. >>> the united states says a senior cal kidda member -- al qaeda member has been killed in an attack. muhsin al-fadhli was part of the khorasan group. >> 2 police men killed on the border of syria, two days ago a suicide bombing killed 30 people in the same area. >>> the death of a black woman after a routine traffic stop is now being vetted as homicide -- investigated as homicide. >> get out of the car. i will lock you up now. >> wow. >> reporter: police video recorded sandra bland being stopped by a white state trooper and threatened with a taser. she was pulled over for not using an indicator, and found hanged in gaol. three days later. >> friends of family of sandra bland have been holding memorial services in her honour. >> that was my favourite. >> he was my convict. >> she wasn't a suspect. she was my baby. >> yes. >> yes. >> it would beheave you to think about what you all were doing at her age. >> the manhunt offense for the world's most wanted drug lord joaquin guzman. he escaped from a high security prison in mexico. there was a mexican government. some in his

american al qaeda cleric is al qaeda now posing a new terror threat to the u.s. >>> donald trump gives out the personal cell phone income of his rival on live television is trump breathing new life into a stale bit of politics? >>> nuclear ambition north korea rules out a nuclear agreement like the one with iran. it has no interest while it continues to build its stockpile. the u.s. is dealing with one foe, could another amass as many as 100 nuclear weapons in the next few years? i'm wolf blitzer, you're in the situation room. >>> the pentagon just announcing a major success with the death of a long time al qaeda operative. his death comes as the u.s. led coalition is stepping up blomings of isis targets. some shrouded in mystery. we're covering the breaking news and more this hour cory gardiner is standing by to join us live. and mike huckabee is standing by as well. our correspondents and guests have full coverage. our position correspondent barbara starr is joining us. tell us what you have learned. >> good evening, the pentagon announcing a short time ago, the leader of the so-call

a key figure in a syrian-based al qaeda off shoot.ys he knew in advance about the september 11th attacks. >>> the death i've black woman after a routine traffic stop in the u.s. state of texas is now being investigated as homicide. a police video showing 28-year-old sandra bland being stopped by a white state trooper has emerged. she was threatened with a taser. she was found dead in her jail cell three days later. >>> u.s. defense second ashton carter is in the middle east trying to reassure regional allies about last week's nuclear deal with iran. but one consequence of that deal could be a weapons buildup in the region. now explained. >> reporter: the u.s. defense secretary isn't just offering moral support to allies in the region he's thought according to several news reports bill wraps of dollars of conventional weapons. the obama administration has broken records in its weapon sales in the middle east. it wayned arms export controls, one state department official testified that it was a major preoccupation of all top u.s. foreig

said that a senior al-qaeda figure has been killed. the pentagon said that he was one of the few leaders given advance notice of the september september 11th attack. >>> a new report in the u.k. has found that there are victims of female genital mutt mutilation in england and wales. the act has been illegal since 1985 but no one has really been charged. >> what some call cutter is defined as female genital mutilation fgm. and there are thousands of girls who are at risk of fgm and most of them are taken abroad by relatives. >> this part of london, suffolk has the highest prevalence of fgm affecting 4.7% of girls. the report puts the rate of girls born here to mothers who had undergone fgm as high as 10.4% largely due to migration patterns. >> these estimates are based on the 2011 census looking at migration patterns and place of origin where fgm is practiced. if you look at somalia and egypt, they have 90% of fgm being performed on girls there. but for those women and girls who have migrated to the u.k. it is likely they've also underg

homeland than al qaeda? >> yes.e threat that isil presents poses to the united states is very different in kind in type in degree than al qaeda. isil is not your parents' al qaeda. it's a very different model. by virtue of that model, it's currently the threat we are worried about in the homeland most of all. >> it seems hardly a week goes by without an arrest of an isis sympathizer, eight last month alone. many cad realized online and according to authorities hellbent on carries out a terror act. joining me is john cornyn of texas. thank you so much for being here. first, i have to tell you, your home state is being invaded right now by a presidential candidate and a throng of reporters. i do want to get your reacto what's going on in laredo right now. do you agreed with donald trump that mexico is purposely sending criminals and rapists into the united states and in the criminal element is most of who is crossing the border? >> well i do not. there's no question of course a porous border can let people with benign

american al qaeda cleric is al qaeda now posing a new terror threat to the u.s. >>> donald trump

the obama administration justifies on the ground that it has been successful in crippling al qaeda. just a couple weeks ago they're was a senior al qaeda official and libya was killed by predator drone strike. the obama administration has been deployed to these high profile highly -- high leadership positions that have been vacated things to predator drone strikes and to the body count if i can use that term for the war on terror. measures of success. what i find interesting about your book and i'm going to ask you in particular, but i we will do do it this way. what i find so interesting is that while most of us are focused on the threat for isis you remind is the fact that al qaeda far from being an extinct presence is very much alive and part of the terror networks and the growing threat that we have to deal with. what is the relationship between obama's much touted drones break counterterror strategy and the continuing viability and growth of al qaeda, not to mention isis. >> drones certainly can be tactfully useful and have scored formidable successes. the problem with the admi

than al qaeda. >> isil is not your parents' al qaeda. it's a very different model and by virtue of that model, it's the threat that we're worrying about in the homeland most of all. >> reporter: comey's words underscore a growing concern that isis wants followers to carry out attacks in the u.s. the fbi arrested 56 people in the past year and a half for isis-inspired plots. 40% of those arrested are 21 or younger. today homeland security secretary jae johnson acknowledged a weakness, the u.s. is lagging to counter isis on social media. >> i believe that message is being developed, but it needs a broader platform. >> reporter: unlike al qaeda which is secretive and hard to contact online, isis wannabes can send direct messages to the group which monitors computers 24 hours a day. >> isil is buzzing on your hip. that message is being pushed all day long. if you want to talk to a terrorist, they are right there on twitter direct messaging. >> reporter: counterterrorism experts says the u.s. needs to do a better job discouraging young people

it is no longer al qaeda. also tonight the battle against wildfires. this one forced hundreds from their homes as flames threaten to burn them to the ground. donald trump on the border, on building walls and mending fences. and now playing: the invasion of the mayflies. can anything stop them? >> shoo, may fly shoo, shoo! >> this is the "cbs evening captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> rose: good evening. scott is off tonight. i'm charlie rose. osama bin laden was once the face of international terror. and al qaeda the biggest terror threat to the united states but no more. bin laden is long gone, and today the head of the f.b.i. said that when it comes to threats to america, al qaeda has been surpassed by another terror group, isis. here's chip reid. >> isil is not your parents' al qaeda. >> reporter: f.b.i. director james comey told the aspen security forum that the reason isis, also called isil, has surpassed al qaeda as a danger to the u.s., is because it has mastered twitter and other social media. >> wi

this term al qaeda inspired extremism. i've said al qaeda didn't inspire extremism.s extremism that inspired al qaeda and then isis after it. even if we deal with isis we'll have many other groups as long as we don't deal with the jihadist ideology which has reached the scale. i'm delighted that the british prime gave a speech yesterday. which he said it must be addressed. >> always good to talk to you. thank you very much. >>> up next surfer versus shark. mac fanning and how he did it. shopping online... ...is as easy as it gets. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers carpenters and even piano tuners... were just as simple? thanks to angie's list now it is. start shopping online... ...from a list of top rated providers. visit angieslist.com today. why should over two hundred years of citi history matter to you? well, because it tells us something powerful about progress: that whether times are good or bad, people and their ideas will continue to move the world forward. as long as they have someone to believe in them. citi financed the transatlantic cable that conne

this particular death won't end the danger we may face from al qaeda. it's certainly not going to lead them roll up their tents and not continue to try and do things to the united states. at the same time we want to keep the threat in perspective. cold hasn't been effective in attacking the united states or its allies in recent years and the size of the threat it poses is greatly reduced. indeed some would argue there are others that pose more of a problem to the united states than al qaeda does. so i view this as a piece of good news but it's not the end of the campaign and it's also important to keep just how serious the threat is in some perspective. >> paul this was a targeted drone strike. what does that tell you? does this tell you this is just one data point? does this tell us a trend about where intel is at this point in capturing terrorists or targeting terrorists in the area? >> brianna, we don't know whether they had intelligence about where he was going to be at a particular point of time or they just got lucky through one of these so-called

there was a lot of intense focus on al qaeda. we wanted the administration to know that the there was another influence here and we didn't want them blind sided for it. >> his report was deleted and secretary napolitano apologized for it. he wanted them to take a step back from violent right wing groups. did not respond to specific claims about violent right wing groups. low law enforcement to combat violent extremism since 2011. and last year, established a commission, and regardless of the ideology that motivates it. thompson is struggle leng with the attack at the south carolina church. >> if the statistics are saying that right wing extremism and the results from it, is much higher than the extremism of individuals attached to the muslim community then we have to elevate it and let the threat stream drive resources. >> prompted thompson to write this letter could michael mccall asking for a hearing to see how the department of homeland security was dealing with the domestic terrorism. hate groups like white supremacists on he

again in the book i talk about the fbi was rolling up al qaeda in yemen in 2002. they were never informed that the cia was at that strike and an pakistan al qaeda have been destroyed in the cities and that's why they were in the tribal areas and the pakistanis couldn't get to them. so we tend to think of this very binary way back as always it doesn't have to be targeted killing but that is probably the liberal in me talking. >> have you looked at the israeli drone program in any detail? >> the israelis are fascinating and i got grade engagement from a fairly senior, very senior legal official who drew out the framework of the israeli program. >> there's a supreme court case in israel. >> a it would to the supreme court in 2006 at and israel pushed the idea and the ruling that they got in israel was interesting. it said targeted killings were neither lawful nor unlawful. each had to be judged on its own merit. >> that's a very solemn and neck neck. >> that's actually good response response. you have to judge every single killing on its merit and judge according to

. >>> a long time al qaeda operative with a $7 million bounty on his head killed in syria by a u.s. air strike. the pentagon confirming that al fadhli died when his car was struck july 8th. the jihad i didn't tellist was a leader of a group in syria. a defense department official says his death will degrade and disrupt the external operations of al qaeda. >>> the white house pulling out all of the stops to sell the nuclear deal with iran. secretary of state john kerry and other top officials meeting with house and senate members in closed briefings this afternoon. defense secretary ash carter nears the end of his tour to the middle east. little or no progress reported after his stops in israeli and jordan. carter is heading to saudi arabia today to meet with members of the saudi defense ministry. >>> the white house is opting not to retaliate or publicly blame china for the huge hack that exposed the personal information of 22 million federal workers. according to administration officials, the u.s. does believe beijing is responsible, but the obama administration does not want to rev

this group is an off shoot of al qaeda, operating in syria.y were -- they had two areas of focus, they were looking at -- trying to recruit western operatives in order to carry out attacks people who wouldn't draw as much suspicion particularly those with u.s. passports, and also trying to develop some very difficult or impossible to detective bombs that could be smuggled on aircraft, the kind of things that would be able on get through the routine security that's provided at the airport. society pentagon is tout this is as a very significant victory in their ongoing battle against al qaeda, a it shows that while al qaeda might be diminished it still has a core capability to flat attacks against the united states. pent got statement said simply this will degrade and disrupt the ongoing external operations of al qaeda. >>> at least 32 people have been killed in say series of he can please as cross iraq. the deadliest was in a shia neighborhood in the capital baghdad. 14 people died when a car bomb blew up outside a busy clothing store. >>> a u.

in this regard isis has a different dream than al qaeda. osama bin laden wanted to perpetrate large scale terrorist attacks against the west isis may do this but to further its aim of building a state, a caliphate. still you cannot understand isis without going back to al qaeda and its signature moment. it's most spectacular attack. >> september 11th 2001. 19 al qaeda operatives hijack four plane, knock down two skyscrapers, crash into the pentagon and kill almost 3,000 people the people that knock these buildings down at. >> at that moment the american people terrorized. the american government searched for a fitting response to this attack at that moment the seeds of isis were planted. it will take years and untold numbers of debt before isis would supplant al qaeda. but you can draw a line from the horrifying events of 9-11 and the american response to the creation of the islamic state. >> that line begins 18 months after september 11th. the united states invades iraq. >> my fellow citizens at this hour american coalition forces are in t

military officials say he was among the few trusted al qaeda leaders al qaeda leaders that receive advancen of the 9/11 attacks. we are also watching earnings this morning. disappointing guidance from apple and signs of weaker than expected sales of its new smart watch could have bolstered at the open. looking at stock market futures right now pointing to a lower open, dow futures tilt double digits up 75 points. the big story developing there. tech is to weakness off a 4%. nicole: 5% of the doubt. apple shares now getting hit hard in the premarket. a privately held stock at this rate apple will shave about 50 points from the doubt when it does open. a good quarter in the end. apple made 118 million bucks a day. if you dig in the report come there are concerns. iphone sales weaker than expected. they sold 47 million in the quarter. got a missed analyst estimates. the six passes 10 months old. then you have the revenue guidance for the current quarter and missed analyst targets in the watch on the bright side the category almost a million more in revenue. apple says the watch sold better th

this term al qaeda inspired extremism. i've said al qaeda didn't inspire extremism.aeda and then isis after it. even if we deal with isis, we'll have many other groups as long as we don't deal with the jihadist ideology which has reached the scale. i'm delighted that the british prime gave a speech yesterday. which he said it must be addressed. >> always good to talk to you. thank you very much. >>> up next, surfer versus shark. mac fanning and how he did it. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla apremilast. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported

al qaeda, afghanistan will go there, iraq is there. whatever you do the taliban in afghanistan different events with negative impact in the middle east, on a giant geopolitical board. again bush 43 didn't have any long-term strategic view, different strategy. the different strategy today, can't exit from this. you may criticize the invasion of iraq in 2003, but you should look at 2013 it was the related mistake and that is better than no plan and our greatest challenge today joy we do not have a plan, it can attract a small amount of people small amount of people could be millions because there are so many different people that are looking for some adventure or crazy stuff and we ask enemies of the free world from vladimir putin which i think -- to other -- isis, al qaeda, taliban, north korea, dictators, new opportunities to promote the agenda of destruction because they can't come up with the plan. only way for them to prove their relevance to attack our way of life. this is something more people in my door, we must understand there'

more than a decade after 9/11, it is no longer al qaeda. also tonight, the battle against wildfires. this one forced hundreds from their homes as flames threaten to burn them to the ground. donald trump at the border, on building walls and mending fences. and now playing: the invasion of the mayflies. can anything stop them? >> shoo, mayfly, shoo, shoo! captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> rose: good evening. scott is off tonight. i'm charlie rose. this is our western edition. a stubborn wildfire in montana is interrupting vacation plans at glacier national park. since tuesday, at least 4,000 acres have burned, forcing hundreds to evacuate camp grounds and hotels. no one has been hurt. another wildfire is burning in northern california near napa valley wine country. ben tracy is there. >> reporter: massive lines of flames chewed up the rugged hillsides, fanned by 15-to-20 mile-per-hour winds. the fire created what looked like a thundercloud of smoke. animals in this rural area fled the flames, whi

al qaeda focus on multipronged attack. gaining territory and building an islamic state in the middle east. >> in terms of i.s.i.l. bringing the fight to america, i'm not sure that that is part of the plan. >> as it pushes up against shia groups i.s.i.l. may search for ways to maintain momentum by citing attacks in the united states. >> the attacks are things that get a lot of publicity, and they can play back through the social media feedback group, and show members they are taking the fight to the enemy in different ways. >>> sticking to his guns donald trump takes his brash message to the u.s.-mexican boarder. next - a look at how the anti-immigrant message is viewed in mexico. >> the parliament votes on anti-terrorism in the wake of the beach front massacre. >>> a new anti-terrorism bill in tunisia is raising concerns among human rights groups. legislation comes after a string of attacks targetting tourists. >> reporter: a crucial vote for tunisian's parliament. m.p.s are debating a new counterterrorism law. for the gov

has degraded core al qaeda leadership in pakistan's tribal areas, we still face an al qaeda threat. it has evolved, we face more of a threat from al qaeda affiliates throughout the middle east and north africa. and here i would like to note a heritage foundation publication from four years ago titled "a counterterrorism strategy for the next wave" which drew attention to this evolution of al qaeda. and this report came out at a time when the white house was trying to down play the global terrorist threat and diverting resources from that fight. so in that report we call on the administration to step up the fight, to be proactive and develop a strategy that matched the evolving strategy of the terrorists. one major question is what does the rise of isis mean for the future of al qaeda? what is the impact on u.s. policy given that these groups share the same deadly anti-west ideology? for now they're competing for ideological influence and financial resources. but is it possible that they might merge in the future? or will one subsume the other? so the answer -- to answer these questi

exactly right. >> secrets of 9/11 lay deep in america's southwest. >> al qaeda has had a presence int since al qaeda was founded. >> con jours ourcon jurors it up. >> mark flat has been an investigative reporter in arizona. >> he's been here since '91 and taking classes at university of arizona. >> in the nine years since 1991 and 2000 he piloted a flight that hit the pentagon. moved in and out of arizona three times studying english. >> a lot of people who have subsequently connected to terrorism have been in school. >> he was in prison for the 1998 bombings in africa. >> in the 1980s he was playing. we were asked to purchase a plaechb. went to a location in air zone yeah which is called the bone yard. bought a fairly large cargo jet for bin laden. >> this is the plane bought for bin laden. it was transported to sudan so they could continue. >> the fbi and cia in fact issued a joint intelligence report that designated arizona as a nexus for al qaeda. i was able to obtain a copy of that report through freedom of information act. everything except the headers were destroyed. >> ken wi

al qaeda has been intend on multipronged attacks. i.s.i.l. is building what it calls an islamic state in the middle east. >> joining us. director of government regulations, strategist for the syrian american counsel. a counterterrorism analyst for the institute for the study of war, and jim hansen, executive vice president at the center for security policy. >> let me start with you. with re closer, and i mean we, planet earth, closer than we were the night the president announced a policy in the fight against i.s.i.l., denying fighters money, territory and equipment to make war. >> we are a bit closer, we are not where we need to be. we had success in targetting i.s.i.s.'s infrastructure and fighters over the course of the past year. that's one. we haven't recognised the natures of strategy and made a strategy. >> how is this country. >> it pay had be a distinction without existence. they are operating without a nation state. they control territory. they have as much military hardware and capabilities as a lot of nation states. i don't see a

ahmed, the leader of the al qaeda affiliate, gone. accused of bombing our embassies in africa, captured. accused in the attack in benghazi, captured. the list goes on. if you target americans. you will not have a safe haven. we will defend our nation. [cheers and applause] president obama: when threats emerge, real leadership means the united states rallies the world to action. we're stronger when we stand with allies and partners. no other nation in the world can match the alliances that we have. it's another source of our strength. it's a force multiplier. and i want to take the opportunity to commend prime minister david cameron and our british allies and friends to increase their defense spending to 2%. that's what every nato ally should do. they need to meet their commitments to our collective security so we stand together. when we stand together, things happen. right now we have a coalition of some 40 nations in afghanistan. the war may be over that our ground troops fight, but that country is still dangerous. so we will per see

airstrikes has killed a long-time al-qaeda operative. they described the man as the leader of a dangerous group planning attacks against the west. jamie mexican tire is in washington. >> the pentagon said that the airstrike two weeks ago killed the leader of the khorasan group, an off shoot of al-qaeda operating in syria and pleased to be plotting attacks against the united states. the pentagon statement gave few details of the killing except to say that it cured on--occurred on july 8th, and he was traveling in a vehicle when he was taken out. they're applauding the killing as a significant victory and said that he was a facilitator and leader of a veteran group of al-qaeda operatives who were operating in syria. they say he was an important member of al-qaeda, so important that's one of very few trusted members of al-qaeda who were given advance information about the september 11th attacks. pentagon statements said that his death will be grave and disrupt the external operations of al-qaeda against the united states. they said that he

homeland aqap al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. we heard today the first speech from al sawnnahadi the succeeded leader. he declared his allegiance aqap's allegiance to core al qaeda and its leader al zawahiri who succeeded osama bin laden after he was killed. crucially he called for attacks on the u.s. saying "all its policies and administrations are built on terrorism, the enemy can no longer hide its weakness." i think you can safely say there's some competition going on here between isis and aqap both showing that they are attacking america, both encouraging their supporters to attack america, in any way they can. particularly as you have some sympathizers out there even leaving a group like aqap to join isis. they both have to show their relevance. >>> tonight a powerful new warning that the biggest threat to this nation's security comes from russia not isis at president vladimir putin becomes more dangerous and aggressive. urpentagon correspondent barbara starr. >> good evening. the number of u.s. threats is rising. the number

and al qaeda. >> here is what i think. i think that when you look at the drone strikes, it's good to decapitate organizations like al qaeda or i.s.i.l. that is not sufficient in and of itself to take care of underlying causes of terrorism. when you look at it in that bay, and take a wholistic approach when you look at the social logical implications and economic implications that is where you can draw a better strategy, and we are not doing that at this point. >> as you see, the atrocities from boko haram, i.s.i.l. ooupizia and kuwait -- tunisia and kuwait. and we are not talking about al qaeda, no wonder the head joint chiefs of staff general dempsey says the pentagon need to be prepared for never ending war, is that the case. >> i do. one thing very to be careful of when we dell with trat anies, we have a tendency to fight the last war and be careful to take a futuristic approach and find out using analytical tools of what it will look like if that is what they cab do. >> the department of homeland enforcement put the na

al qaeda called its magazine "inspire."sis calls its magazine "armageddon." dabiq is not a literal translation but basically the same idea. armageddon is supposed to be the final battle between christ and the anti-christ. armageddon comes from a specific place called atelmagedo, a hill in israel. in terms of bibly ral prophecy that's supposed to be where the final battle happens to bring about the end of the worldful it is armageddon. in muslim apocalyptic mythology the rough equivalent to armageddon, the literal place where the final battle is supposed to happen between muslims and their enemies at the end of the world, the equivalent place is dabiq. like armageddon which refers to a specific place in israel, dabiq isn't just an idea about the end of the world. it is a specific place you can find on a map. a place where people live. the town of dabiq has 3,000 people inside syria. about six miles from the turkish border in northern syria. there is nothing particularly notable about dabiq as a town except for the symbolic r

we're looking at al qaeda and yemen, al qaeda overall. we're looking at isis. isis in iraq.ty is this is fundamental islam. it is the thread that needles all these things together and really when it comes to home grown operatives it is important to see where the radicalization came from but overall you can 100% determine that it came from the study of fundamental islam. that is the thing that overall globally is on the rise and growing faster than we can get a handle on. >> all right. thank you both. you can watch more of wolf's interview with fbi director james comey on "the situation room" today at 5:00 eastern here on cnn. >>> still ahead, hillary clinton sounding off on a topic that has tripped up her competitors in the past. her message when asked about racism and inequality in america and what that could mean for her campaign going forward. when i started at the shelter, i noticed benny right away. i just had to adopt him. he's older so he needs my help all day. when my back pain flared up we both felt it i took tylenol at first but i had to take 6 pills to get through

this doesn't lead to the idea that he is necessarily pro-isis or pro-al qaeda.does not seem like the fbi have found any smoking gun in his social media or online postings to suggest that he was inspired by a particular terrorist group. >> art, the big question is when we hear a post like that gosh should law enforcement have looked at this? could this have been prevented? we know he wasn't on any database of suspected terrorists. that is sort of the anomaly. he was not out there on social media tweeting anything like that. nothing on facebook that we're aware of. >> yeah. you are right. that's very unusual. usually, they are blasting out information over social media. apparently, he was not doing that. that's got to be looked at by the fbi is they have to figure out why did -- how could he fly under the radar, what was he doing differently that others have not done in the past? is this some new type of method that we're seeing employed by these individuals where they want to fly under the radar as opposed to putting all that information out on social media? >> p