barbara starr has this. but i want to go now to vand rhea shand os one of the people who came in right after the attack. i know you witnessed the aftermath. a appreciate you coming on and talking to us because i know it must be difficult. what can you tell bus the scene when you got there? >> well basically, i arrived at my office later than usual and as i got there, i realized one of my colleagues was shouting and crying out. so i went up the stairs and there was a strong smell of gunpowder in the corridor. and charlie hebdo's offices are right across the hall from my own office. so we went directly in. i called the police and they said they were already on the way. so we went in and tried to attend to a few people there. there were already -- there was already a doctor at the scene and he was sort of taking charge if you will. and then someone in another room a bit further down the corridor in their offices, was calling out for help so with a few colleagues of mine we decided to get in. we pulled some of t

you were making the point to barbara starr.have iraq syria, north of syria and turkey with issues for a long time as this war has been waging. this is the porous border. >> correct. if you look at syria and where the different factions are. this sits at top of the river valley. that's the home and capital of isis. then up in the northwest of syria, we've been doing bombing of the group. you have aqap break away aspect up there with top engineers and everything trying to plan there. then all you've got to do is land in istanbul jump in a car and go down to the turkish border which has great cities great markets. people blend in easily especially from europe and especially the muslim side. they know how to blend in over. >> that's the problem. >> it is. >> turkish authorities are allowing some to cross to fight. so there are some people let through. how much due diligence can be done for individuals saying i'm going to fight? it's difficult to say which side they may end up on which is part of the concern. >> isn't part of the is

john. >> barbara starr following that.n afghanistan, this morning, the taliban is claiming responsibility for an attack that killed three american contractors at a military base attached to the main airport in kabul. the u.s. official says this looks like it could be an insider attack but the circumstances are investigated. the shooter died in the attack. >>> the turmoil in yemen having a big impact on the u.s. fight against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. reuters reports new gaps emerging in intelligence since the iranian-backed rebels seized the government. including the installations which provided information to the united states. the concern is the intelligence the u.s. used to get, they are no longer getting. that could decrease the accuracy of the u.s. drone strikes and perhaps killing the wrong people and increasing the anti-american sentiment. >>> the white house is responding to demands made by raul castro. demands as a condition to restore diplomatic relations. the demands including returning guantanamo bay b

national security correspondent jim sciutto joining us live from paris and our pentagon correspondent barbara starr over at the pentagon. barbara, first you. tell us what you're learning act these brothers in the middle east and norte africa. what are you learning snr late-breaking and disturbing developments. two u.s. officials tell me french authorities have now told the united states one of the brother, said kouachi, traveled to yemen in 2011. and of course yemen is the home to the very violent al qaeda affiliate al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. this is concerning. said they believe, got weapons training there in handling weapon possibly even in bomb making. in 2011 the leader of external operations for al qaeda in yemen, anwar al aiwa i can, the american-born cleric who has had threatened the united states was said to be behind several attacks. he was killed in an american drone strike. not clear if said ever met ahim. but he goes to yemen, gets weapons training. now the question for u.s. and french intelligence how close was the affiliation to al qaeda here? was he inspired by al qaeda? or w

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> so who is the man who apparently influenced the kouachi brothers? before he was kill, anwar al awlaki was a radical preacher at the center of al qaeda in yemen. nic robertson has more on that. >> reporter: anwar al awlaki. the radical american born yemen based preacher killed in a u.s. drone strike september 2011. an inspiration for some of the paris gunmen and rt spokers worldwide. >> reminds me of osama bin laden and also al zawahiri in terms of his soft-spoken, at the same time the knowledge that they have. >> reporter: reality was awlaki was sufficient a al qaeda rising star in 2011, bin laden was jealous of him. blowing off suggestions the cleric should run al qaeda in yemen. awlaki's father was a minister in the yemeni government. he had lived in the u.s. he was smart and privileged and preached at a mosque in virginia but was name in the 9/11 commission as knowing some of the 9/11 hijackers. soon after, he left for yemen. that is where this man, a danish biker turned jihadi who said he became a cia spy. >> his passion to obtain revenge on th

. >> let's get more now from our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. >> reporter: around the clock efforts to secure the release of the jordanian fighter pilot and the japanese journalist from the grim of isis. a voice of kensaying they be will killed if the prisoner in jordan is not released. jordan said it would release the woman on one specific condition -- jordan's king abdullah adamant from the start, it all depends on getting the pilot back. >> i'm not sure that jordan can go ahead without assurance they'll get the pilot back. the war effort is controversial in jordan. this puts the king of jordan in a very difficult position. >> reporter: the pilot's father made a desperate plea for his son. >> translator: his blood is precious. it's precious and represents the blood of all jordanians. >> reporter: but the jordanians contend the u.s. made a similar move last year trading five taliban detainees for u.s. army sergeant bowe bergdahl. negotiating with isis? >> every country has the right to make decisions. >> reporter: whatever happens, there are concerns isis will use it as pro

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is following the developments. barbara has more. >> reporter: john it has happened before but this time it is politically charged. the u.s. believes one of the five guantanamo bay detainees sent back to qatar last year in is exchange for bowe bergdahl that one of them may be returning to a militant lifestyle. the u.s. conducts classified surveillance of all five men's communications. any communications they have. a couple of months ago, apparently something popped up that is causing concern that one of the men may have been reaching out to militants. that would be against the regulations that the u.s. set to monitor these men and release them back to qatar. there is a good deal of concern about this. right now, the question is of course how much of a threat does this pose. some officials saying not a direct threat. i will tell you other u.s. officials telling me there is a difference of opinion in the administration that there is some opinion that this is a very serious matter. john. >> barbara starr, thanks. >>> ne

barbara starr broke this story. you're getting new information right now about exactly what this detainee might have been doing. >> he was engaging in communications that are not permissible under the transfer. what was he doing? he was making phone calls or online communications. he was attempting to communicate with taliban associated back in afghan, pakistan area. this is an attempt to return to militancy. that raised alarmed in the u.s. intelligence community. officials caught it very quickly because they conduct classified surveillance of these five detainees communication. they intercept and monitor so they caught it very quickly. now they're watching all five of them even more closely than they were although they were watching them very closely trying to keep track and seeing what they may be doing. an internal debate inside the u.s. intelligence community. did this pose a direct threat. some say no. some say not sure yet. they're still looking at it. >> barbara, this isn't the first detainee to return to the

barbara starr with what we've been hearing from her sources. barbara? our own evan perez hears from law enforcement sources that it looks like one of the brothers was known in the u.s. government through french authorities. someone french had tried to keep under surveillance. it raises the question how this man was able to pull off his participation in one of these attacks. the french are having the same problem that the u.s. has so many terrorism suspects that follow these and it's difficult to conduct 24/7 surveillance on them. but it's beginning to look throughout the last several hours as the french comb through every piece of intelligence they have. they are now putting together a picture of someone that was known to them. and known to u.s. intelligence. it's between intelligence services on both sides of the atlantic to try to pin down more details as the manhunt for the two men urgently continues. anderson? >> barbara, the person known to u.s. intelligence, do you know if that's the same of the two brothers, the same one who actually served time

. >> more from pentagon corn barbara starr. -- correspondent barbara starr. >> reporter: an attempt to free the journalist from the grip of isis. the voice said to be that was goto and the pilot will be killed if jordan does not release al rishawi, held since being convicted since a series of hotel bombings in jordan in 2005. jordan said it would release the woman on one specific condition -- jordan's king abdullah adamant from the start, it all depend on getting the pilot back. >> i'm not sure that jordan canth without an assurance that they're going to get their pilot back. the war better to is controversial in jordan. this puts the king of jordan in a very difficult position. >> reporter: the pilot's father made a desperate plea for his son. >> translator: the blood is precious precious and represents the blood of all jordanians. >> reporter: the jordanians contend the u.s. made a similar move last year trading five taliban detainees for u.s. army sergeant bow bergdahl. israel repeatedly engages in prisoner exchange but negotiating with isis? >> every country has the ability and rig

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has the very latest. barbara? >> reporter: wolf good evening. several u.s. sources now tell me the u.s. intelligence community suspects that one of those taliban five traded out of gitmo to get sergeant bowe bergdahl back one of them may now be reengaging in militant activity from where they are in the persian gulf nation of qatar. that's where they went after they were transferred out of gitmo. the u.s. conducts classified surveillance of their communications intercepts monitors them all the time in all of their communications. a couple of months ago something popped up that caused concern. now the u.s. intelligence community trying to determine is it a threat how much of a threat it may be. they are monitoring all five of them much more closely now, making sure they are on top of all of their communications, although they were monitoring them before. as this is going on wolf the world is watching in another prisoner swap another potential exchange in jordan and syria. tense anticipation at this border crossing b

and i heard barbara starr make the point earlier that isis had been encouraging its fighters to showhere as well as the fact that they were not suicidal. they had an escape route and got away. a lot of these attacks are carried out where they expect to die and, in fact maybe want to die as they go in and whether they set off their suicide vests or engajs with police. so two things that counterterror officials are noting very closely. >> barbara, jim noted the groups that the united states is focused on right now. it's basically almost the entire list of the worst of the worst of the bad guys and the terrorism arena right now. what is u.s. intelligence doing right now to assist? >> well i think what this really underscores is that it's taken them aback. there may well be information and classified channels that we of course don't know but officials looking at this wide swath because they really don't know who was responsible at this point. so what they are doing is exactly what you'd expect. they're going back through everything looking at intercepts looking at imagery, looking at rep

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> an excellent interview there by our barbara starr. see much more of it on cnn.com. cnn did reach out to the white house for comment. they told us they have no policy changes to announce after what secretary hagel did tell barbara. >>> will it take american troops back in iraq to defeat isis and what do you do in syria? we'll talk about that next. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know words really can hurt you? what...? jesse don't go! jesse...no! i'm sorry daisy, but i'm a loner. and a loner gotta be alone. heee yawww! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. jesse? i've been called a control freak... i like to think of myself as more of a control... enthusiast. mmm, a perfect 177-degrees. and that's why this road warrior rents from national. i can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. and i don't have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. and i don't. and national lets me choose any car in the aisle. control. it's so, what

barbara starr and pamela brown with the news. first, barbara starr. one may have trained in yemen with al qaeda. what's the most you know about this? >> reporter: two u.s. officials tell us they have information from french authorities that said kouachi, the older brother, traveled to yemen in 2011. he affiliated himself with aqap very dangerous al qaeda affiliate in yemen. that is a group that's tried to attack the united states before and had the french magazine in its cross hairs. now, what officials are trying to determine is how long did he stay there, who exactly did he meet what kind of training he got and when he left yemen, where did he go? the big concern, of course you know is this an attack that may indicate al qaeda has other sleeper cells out there? people that they may have trained years ago who went back home who may be planning additional attacks. anderson? >> the other question about that particular trip to yemen is there's two options. one, that he was there. the plot was hatched there. the plan was hatched there. and he was sort of

barbara starr, thank you, peter, thank you. and our thanks to our reporter in amman. >>> happening right now, evacuations under way in an israeli region of the golan heights after the lebanese militant group hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing a missile on an israeli military vehicle. officials say two israeli soldiers and a u.n. peacekeeper were killed. several other people were hurt in the attack as well. overnight, israel had struck targets in syria in response to hezbollah rocket fire from syrian bases. >>> a few feet of snow is the least of their worries along parts of the american coastline hit by storm surges, seawall breaches, high waves and wind. flooded streets, battered homes, evacuations, yes, this was a monster storm despite the headline that is may say otherwise. we have the report from the front lines next. (cough, cough) mike? janet? cough if you can hear me. don't even think about it. i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. yeah...but what about mike? he has that dry, scratchy thing going on... guess wh

cnn's barbara starr is breaking this story right now on "the lead." she joins us live from the pentagon. barbara, what happened? >> reporter: good afternoon, jake. several u.s. officials now confirm to me that they do indeed suspect that one of the five detainees has returned to militant activity. here's what we know. the u.s. conducts a classified program to monitor all of their communications all five of them are in the middle east persian gulf country of qatar. in the last several months one of them has popped up those communications suspect that this individual they will not say which one of the five has reached out to militants and through those communications he's now suspected of being back involved in potentially militant activity. this has sparked a debate inside the u.s. intelligence community. some officials saying there is no direct threat their communications however being monitored even more closely now. other officials saying that debate about whether or not there is a threat still open that they might now classify this man as having bee

let's begin with barbara starr over at the pentagon. she's got new information. barbara? across europe now facing more stringent security. in the wake of the attacks in paris and the arrests in belgium, they were ordered at u.s. bases. the concern, foreign fighters returning from iraq and syria to europe are targeting u.s. personnel and installations. >> it has been a threat barbara. and it's a reality. and we have been well aware of that. >> reporter: threats confronting europe and the u.s. that include al qaeda in yemen. in a new individualvideo, he calls for attacks in the u.s. and europe. worry growing about more attacks like those in paris because yemen's rebel coup has given the al qaeda group more freedom to maneuver. it all continues to be a concern for u.s. national security. a top justice official said that thousands of foreigners including about 150 americans who have traveled to join the fight is "unprecedented." >> the landscape we are seeing in terms of threat continues to shift with an increasing number of individuals leaving their homes to fight for terror

pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins us with more details., carol. these are the details that everybody's been waiting for. about 400 u.s. troops some special operations some regular army regular marine corps will be heading to a number of countries, saudi arabia turkey qatar possibly as soon as march to begin to set things up for the training of some 5,000 so-called moderate syrian rebels to go back into syria and fight isis. where this stands right now is they've done one crucial thing. they've begun to develop the standards for how to vet these rebels. how do you make sure when you accept someone for u.s. military training to go back to syria you're not just putting a weapon in the hands of somebody who might be a militant who might go back and join isis? so they've worked on some of those details. they're going to start setting up the facilities. they're going to get ready. they're going to begin over the coming weeks. all of this was expected. why is it so critical? well one of the big issues is the u.s. doesn't have any boots on the gro

i also want to bring in pentagon correspondent barbara starr. what are you learning barbara? >> we talked yesterday that we know that said kouachi, the older brother, traveled to yemen in 2011 according to u.s. officials. that's the word they got from paris authorities. they believe that to be true. now a little more fidelity on all of this. kouachi apparently traveled to yemen, stayed there for several months in mid-2011. why is this such a critical time frame? because, of course aqap's leader of external operations its chief recruitier its chief planner, anwar al awlaki the american born cleric was killed by the united states in a drone attack in september, 2011. right now what they are trying to figure out, if said kouachi was in yemen for several months in yemen for 2011 how likely is it he met up with al awlaki? officials saying they believe it is both probable and likely. they can not confirm it but they believe it is probable the two men crossed paths at some point and that al awlaki's death was perhaps a factor in kouachi's thinking, in his allegiance and his loyalty

let's begin with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara? >> tonight, wolf the u.s. embassy in yemen remains open and operating, said to be a vital outpost to keeping an eye on al qaeda in yemen. the question of course is how long before it simply gets too dangerous to stay put? yemen under siege from iranian-backed shiite rebels attacking the presidential palace raising the possibility of an all-out coup against the sunni-led government. a national security crisis for the u.s. the immediate worry, the safety of several hundred american embassyworkers, an embassy vehicle already shot at. >> if the u.s. embassy is under threat and the u.s. military cannot guarantee the safety of its diplomats and other civilians at the embassy, it is time to go at least temporarily. >> it's no longer clear the streets are safe enough for personnel to drive to the airport to levee area commercial air if the state department orders an evacuation. cnn has learned two u.s. navy warships moved into the red sea late monday ready to evacuate the americans if ordered. the uss iwo jima and uss

barbara starr has the details. >> reporter: the attackers shockingly embrarsingly carry out multiplerget assassinations in midday paris. calmly killing again and again. french now foid three suspects. one age 18 and the others 32 and 33 are brothers. the details chilling. >> people were shooting them killing them. >> u.s. intelligence analysts scanning every frame of the video have been struck by how organized the men were. >> someone knew where to pinpoint the building. someone know where to go inside the building. they knew when to be this. the four were targeted. i think the other people were collateral damage next to them. >> reporter: a key question. were the men self-radicalized or were some men behind the attack? >> i think someone went out and hired these folks. they're professionals. that's a game changer. >> who wanted these satirists dead. the magazine had already called for killing the editorial director. he was among the dead. the overall pattern doesn't match what they've seen before. isis and syria and iraq has may notally focused on the fighting there, though in may,

let's dig deeper with our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. e you hearing from pentagon officials? >> reporter: good morning, carol. i just finished talking to a senior official here and he says their information, the u.s. military believes the situation in syria with isis-controlled territory has been fairly static since november but what the military is emphasizing is these airstrikes were never meant to solve the isis problem in syria. the pentagon to be clear, has been saying that right since the beginning. airstrikes are not the solution they say. the other part of the strategy of course is to arm the moderate syrian opposition get them up and running, get them fighting isis the assad regime dozens of other rebel groups. syria, a very complicated situation on the ground because unlike over in iraq you don't have any intelligence really from the ground. you're not working with a country that has asked you in there. the airstrikes that have been in syria, there have been a lot of them but it's not about taking territory back it's much more a

i want to bring in cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. you have information on the suspects. what can you tell us? >> good evening, don. french officials apparently had the identity of one attackers known to the united states. u.s. law enforcement telling evan perez that the u.s. was aware, some time ago, of the identity of who turned out to be one of the perpetrator tuesday. one of the alleged perpetrators. the u.s. became aware of this person through french authorities. they had the person under surveillance. so it is raising the question if he was a known entity how could he have pulled off this attack. what the indications are is while he was under surveillance not a tier one target if you will not a top terrorist threat. so perhaps very difficult to maintain constant surveillance over this person very manpower intensive. but none theless, now what we are seeing for the last 14 hours or so is u.s. intelligence services french security and intelligence services, sharing all of the information on the suspects. combing through everything they have. e-mails, telephone interce

we have barbara starr live at the pentagon.inding out officials had prior knowledge about this planned attack. >> brianna, good afternoon. what we are learning from i shall ifs across several different parts of the community, they knew some of the things belgians were coping with. they were sharing intelligence and information with them. this had been going on several weeks and of course reached a pitch last night when the belgians launched the raid because there was very specific intelligence something might be imminent. u.s. officials have been telling me they've been working with gel belgians on this plot some time now, even before the paris attacks. >> u.s. officials won't say exactly how much they knew what they knew and when they knew it. that is because there's a good deal of concern as cnn reported that there may be other plots, other attackers out there. they don't want to show their hand too much about what they know they tell me. it may not -- on the surface maybe it's not a surprise the u.s. intelligence community w

i want to go to barbara starr. learned one of the brothers may have trained in al qaeda with yemen. yes? >> indeed, anderson. two u.s. officials are telling me that french authorities have informed the united states, there is intelligence that the french have that said kouachi, the older brother, did travel to yemen in 2011, trained in al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, the dangerous al qaeda affiliate in yemen. got weapons training there and of course, at that time, the spiritual leader, the operational leader of al qaeda in yemen, anwar al ayla key, the american born cleric, was very active in yemen. we don't know if the two met. ayla key was killed in a u.s. drone strike in 2011. what does it mean he trained in yemen? is it possible this was a sleeper cell, essentially, that the yemeni element and al qaeda sent him back to france and basically, he was dormant for a number of years or did he go back to france and just stew about all this and, you know, become further self-radicalized and engage in an attack? but

let's turn now to cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. this would be significant if this was completely missed barbara. >> reporter: good evening. absolutely. u.s. officials sketching out for cnn one of their biggest worries about all of this. al qaeda in yemen's video claim of responsibility for the attack in paris raises significant concern far beyond france cnn has learned. u.s. and french intelligence services are urgently working to determine if al qaeda in yemen, aqap secretly communicated with the kouachi brothers after one or both of them returned from yemen in 2011. if that communication happened it was so secret it wasn't detected despite the vast eavesdropping capabilities of the u.s. and that means the number one al qaeda terrorist organization targeting the u.s. and threatening to bomb aircraft can plot and plan without the u.s. knowing about it. >> aqap is the most dangerous affiliate associated particularly in terms of external plotting outside of their region where they are located. >> reporter: it remains possible the pari

i turn to barbara starr at the pentagon and richard quest. barbara, if i could begin with you. the embassy is a big story. just days ago we were reporting the numbers there in the hundreds and now we're hearing it's more like the dozens and the drawdown of personnel in yemen has effectively begun, but what is the strategy, and do they have those roots for safety mapped out for these americans? >> well, the state department late yesterday said it was going to start reducing the numbers at the embassy. they're not saying how many have left and how many more may leave. obviously due to security concerns. and, indeed, just as you hinted at, ashleigh, they did drive the route before they took the civilians to the airport. they drove the route to make sure they could get there safely. this is all about reducing the numbers at the embassy in case you have to make a full-blown evacuati evacuation. you want to might as simple as possible. why keep americans there if they don't really need to be there because, of course, the embassy perhaps not really working at full speed. there isn't a

barbara starr, thank you.tish prime minister today. let's go to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. tell us what happened. >> reporter: the president and david cameron vowed to continue the fight against terrorist. but listen closely as these two leaders who call themselves friends appear to have some friendly disagreements. stepping out of critical national security meetings president obama and british prime minister david cameron spoke the same language but were not always on the same page on how to fight a growing threat. after last week's attack in paris and raids in belgium, the two leaders sounded tough. >> this phenomenon of violent extremism, the ideology the networks the capacity to recruit young people this has metastasized and it is widespread. >> we do face a very serious extremist terrorist threat in europe in america, across the world. we have to be incredibly vigilant in terms of the threat. >> reporter: the president urged europe not to overreact. >> it's important for europe not t

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has more. >> reporter: christine, the pentagon is making the point whoever conducted the hack attack against the twitter and youtube sites had no classified information by doing the attacks. those are on commercial servers and the classified systems remain secure. or at least the pentagon hopes so. the messages were disturbing. many aimed right at u.s. military troops. one of them saying american soldiers we are coming. watch your back. we know everything about you. your wives, your children. another round of threats from people who claim to be associated with isis. there were also documents posted online. none marked classified. one marked official use only. it had information about the locations and addresses and phone numbers of key military personnel. so it is a concern. what officials say the bottom line is right now in today's world, once again, warning the troops just like the rest of us to be very careful about what they post online. christine. >> barbara starr, thank you. >>> a chicago area teenager faces arraignment for allegedly tryi

barbara starr is working this at the white house.s. priority is keep counters al qaeda in yemen if though the the most dangerous al qaeda affiliates said to be behind the paris attacks. the white house says it has a counter terrorism partnership with government of yemen. there's no functions government in yemen. what we know at cnn is behind the scenes u.s. intelligence and military officials urgently reach out to counter parts in yemen trying to cobble together keep whatever intelligence they can flowing about al qaeda in yemen. where are the top leaders? eves dropping satellite intelligence ready to do more drone strikes if they can. the big problem right now is those al qaeda leaders in yemen are well dug in. they are in hiding. they are in their safe haven in yemen. apparently well out of the reach of any real fundamental u.s. intelligence pinpointing where they are. all well and good to try to keep working the problem, keeping an eye on disintegration of yemen. for now, al qaeda leaders seem to be out of range of any u.s. strike

barbara starr joins me with the latest. >> barbara, what else do we know about this american man who was killed? >> anderson according to the company he worked for, a security contractor called crucible he was in libya working for them. very little information available about how exactly he died. but it is said by the libyan security services this attack against the hotel began with that car bomb detonated in the parking lot. the attackers shooting their way into the hotel. but all accounts, according to some of the sources i've talked to the corinth i can't hotel, a luxury hotel in tripoli, well-known to be a place where some westerners operated out of because it was considered to be somewhat safe, but potentially with westerners there, with a security environment in tripoli right now, it may well have been a target. what we'll be looking for is to see if some of the western companies may be rethinking their security arrangements. a group that is said to be supportive of isis claiming responsibility for the attack. again, under scoring that in tripoli right now, there is just a good

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> the u.s.s executed a convicted murderer and rapist. charles warner is the first to be put to death since a botched lethal injection last year forced the state to put a hold on executions. oklahoma spent over $100,000 making changes to its methods. witnesses at warner's execution say he showed no obvious signs of suffering, and died 18 minutes after receiving the injection. >> the execution began at 7:10. mr. warner said my body is on fire. at this point, his microphone was turned off. he said no one should go through this. i'm not afraid to die. we's all going to die. >> the state of florida also executed a convicted murderer around the same time as the oklahoma injection was taking place. >>> there is a major break to tell you about in one of the biggest corruption cases in the history of the u.s. navy. malaysian ship supply contractor leonard glenn francis, nicknamed fat leonard, entered a plea of guilty to federal conspiracy charges that he had been fighting since 2013. he told the court th

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> our thanks to barbara for that. new information just into cnn. two more arrests connected to these raids overnight in belgium. two suspected terrorists killed there. now we believe there have been 17 arrests total. two more individuals arrested trying to get from france to italy. and now the belgians requested from france that they be sent back to belgium. it gives you a sense of the international nature of what's going on in europe. this battle against terror and how big and how widespread these operations are now. the belgians announcing two men were arrested in connection with raids there. two men trying to get from france to italy. total number of arrests in this belgium operation now to 17. >> thank you for that. ahead we'll look at the lure and appeal of jihad. we're also going to ask did islamic state give go order to cells popping up in europe and being uncovered and more importantly perhaps, how can countries stop their citizens from joining the terror group? well, a mortgage shouldn't be a problem your cre

here is barbara starr. >> john zain everyone is awaiting the possibility of a seize fire in yemen but nobody thinks peace is about to break out any time soon. gunfire, rebel fighters, check points, smoke rising near the presidential palace yemen facing chaos. many say this is the beginning of an attempted coup by houhti rebels. >> i do not think the soezeize fire will hold based on the last year going on throughout yemen. >> shiite houthi rebels have been challenging for months. christiane amanpour was told they are surrounded by militias stationed on rooftops around his home. >> what is the state of control of the government? >> non-existent. >> are you telling me the government is not in control? >> yes, shocking huh? >> for workers, if there is an order to evacuate they could leave by state department chartered aircraft but only if it is safe enough to drive to the airport. if the airport closes there is another route. cnn has learned the u.s. military has just increased its alert level. marines and special forces on board the uss offshore are ready to go immediately according to a

barbara starr is live at the pentagon. barbara, this attack already prompting movement from u.s.ato. what's going on there and what if anything did the u.s. know about this alleged terrorist cell? >> reporter: well u.s. officials are saying they did have some understanding that the belgians were facing this very specific threat. they are not willing to say yet how much the u.s. knew about it and when it knew. however, remember belgium is the home to nato, the international european and u.s. military alliance headquartered there in belgium so we also know that the nato supreme commander tonight, general philip breedlove, a u.s. air force four-star general, is being briefed on this situation. he has been briefed on paris. we are told by a u.s. official he is being kept very closely in touch with all of the intelligence all of the information, especially now that there has been this situation in belgium. there are about 60,000 u.s. troops in europe and as you know isis has vowed repeatedly on social media and in other ways to try to attack u.s. troops and their families so there is

as barbara starr reports, similar attacks have been carried out before. >> reporter: isis is alreadywe are in your p.c.s, in each military base, the hijacked central command account reads. the cyber-caliphate continues its jihad. is this group really isis? >> it could have been anybody. it doesn't matter that much that it was isis. it does matter that a group calling itself isis is taking credit. the goal is to create fear and overreaction. we need to react appropriately but not overreact to it. >> reporter: the tweets threaten u.s. troops and n families including posting a document with name and addresses of u.s. military officials and documents related to north korea and china. american soldiers we are coming watch your back. we know everything about you, your wives, your children. the hackers warn. the cyberattack comes as isis has rereleased a video calling for attacks on u.s. targets including the military. the pentagon so far it does not appear anything classified was posted, and one u.s. military official said some of the information has already appeared on line elsewhere. >>

cnn's barbara starr joins us live from the pentagon to tell us more. hi barbara. >> good morning, carol. as you recall fees 95 men were sent to the prison nation of qatar that promised to keep an eye on them at the same time the u.s. was conducting a surveillance program monitoring intercepting all of their communications. apparently within the last several weeks one of them tried to make phone calls to former taliban associates u.s. intelligence picked it up very quickly. they caught the call. now, what does this all mean? some in the intelligence community have said as long as we caught the problem, it's okay. i will tell you that several sources tell me that there is considerable concern about this. it is not a good sign. they may have caught the communication, but this is not a good sign. they've had detainees do this return to the battlefield, shown that activity in the past. it's happened before but in this case of course it's very distinctive because of that political controversy surrounding the five for one trade swap to get bowe bergdahl back.

i want to go to barbara starr live at pentagon. the kouachi brothers carried out this attack with high-powered weapons that don't normally come cheap. you've been trying to trace who paid for this terrorist plot who financed it. what have you discovered? >> officials are telephoning me they are increasingly convinced this was al qaeda in yemen the major influence on the fwo brothers. the question now, did that group in yemen actually pay for this attack? there are media reports suggesting that they paid tens of thousands of dollars to the kouachi brothers. we know two things. we know that cherif just before he was killed gave an interview to french media where he said that his trip to yemen at least was financed by anwar al aawlaki aawlaki, the late leader of the al qaeda in yemen. we also know shall we say this colleague of cherif's amedi coulibali, he said he had given the brothers money to finish their preparations to carry out the attacks. all of this is part of forensics essentially for intelligence services around the world.

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> in the meantime chilling new threat may be emerging. a yemeni official tells cnn that isis in syria is now active and recruiting in at least three provinces in yemen, causing a head of on rivalry with al qaeda's affiliate in that country. >> that al qaeda group released a new video this week with a senior leader urging lone wolf attacks in western countries. >>> the french prime minister says nearly 3,000 teed with jihadist ties should be under surveillance in france and nearly $500 million will be spent on making that happen. take a listen. >> translator: over the next three years, there will be 2,680 new jobs in the police defense and justice services of the state and jurisdiction. this effort ladies and gentlemen, is huge. but it's indispensable to guaranty the security and protection of the french people. >>> authorities in paris have identified four 1789s linked to gunman amedy coulibaly, but none has been charged in connection with his attack on the kosher supermarket. >> it appears that u.s. police officer darren wilson will not

i'm joined now by cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. we also have bob baer our cnn intelligence and security analyst, also a former cia operative. guys let's talk about aqap here. the fight, barbara, against isis has been in the public anti-terror spotlight. but how about operations against aqap like drone strikes? have we been seeing that those efforts are taking perhaps a backseat to the fight against isis? >> reporter: the fight against isis involves a huge coalition, all kinds of fighter jets bombers, drones over iraq and syria. in yemen, you don't have those standard military targets. you have isis weapons and formations and troops in iraq and syria. in yemen, you basically have leadership individuals, a handful of very senior individuals and groups of fighters along with them. very tough to find them very tough to locate them and to launch drone strikes against them and it's really the u.s. and the government of yemen on their own. there aren't any other governments we know of that are involved. so it's a much more difficult set of

barbara starr reporting live from the pentagon. i want to continue our discussion right now. the pentagon's readiness for a possible evacuation of the u.s. embassy there. lieutenant colonel james reese serves as a cnn global affairs analyst. welcome. >> good morning, carol. >> so i guess we have a warship off the coast ready just in case the embassy is evacuated. >> we do. >> that's a plus. >> yes. it's what we call power projection. they have all these assets. it has marines. they are trained to do noncombatant evacuations if need be and if the ambassador -- they don't want to do this. they want to hold out until the last possible minute. if the ambassador says we need to evacuate we can project power and get everybody out safely. >> why do they want to wait until the last possible moment and why leave the decision to diplomats? >> again, we want to be able to do diplomatic and political aspects with the country. we want to hold off. with the military in coordination with the state department wants to be able to tell the state department don't put us in a position where we h

here's our barbara starr. >> reporter: al qaeda in yemen's video claim of responsibility for the attack in paris raises significant concern far beyond france cnn has learned. u.s. and french intelligence services are urgently working to determine if al qaeda in yemen, aqap secretly communicated with the kouachi brothers after one or both returned from yemen in 2011. if that communication happened it was so secret it wasn't detected despite the vast eavesdropping capabilities of the u.s. and that means the number one al qaeda terrorist organization targeting the u.s. and threatening to bomb aircraft can plot and plan without the u.s. knowing about it. >> aqap is the most dangerous affiliate associated with aq core in terms of external plotting outside of their region where they're located. >> reporter: it remains possible the paris attackers had no direct orders from aqap but the u.s. believes that al qaeda in yemen is now using advanced enkripgs technology to keep their operation secret from u.s. spying. that alone gives huge room to manurer. >> it could seeded parts of europe with thes

i want to bring in barbara starr, who is joining us. new reporting on u.s.telligence looking for any signs of this attack in paris. >> that's right, abderson. behind the scenes there's now some very urgent practical intelligence work going on between the u.s. and french authorities. u.s. intelligence agencies are combing through every frame of this video for any clues that they can find. they're also combing through all the intelligence they have telephone intercepts imagery, any reports that they have any threat that might have indicated an attack was eminent in paris. we are told at the moment they just simply don't have any intelligence that matches to something like this and the something like this has really grabbed the attention of u.s. intelligence authorities. the french interior minister talks about three going member this was a preplanned conspiracy that people got together planned out this attack knew what they were going to do knew how they were going to make their getaway. that's very concerning to u.s. owe fishes. they're telling me the most ur

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> joining me now to talk about this if drones as are just describeding the grass and fighting against isis. what are the best options? >> well in iraq right now against the islamic state we're counting on reforming the iraqi army. more of a national army that's going to supposedly go back into anbar province and take it back from the islamic state. but the truth is there's nothing we can do about it. the current prime minister is simply taking shia militias and integrating them into the army and trying to send them into a sunni area. it's not working and it won't work. the air attacks, no doubt about it have blunted the attacks against the kurds and against baghdad. the islamic state is no longer a threat to baghdad. that's good. that's a victory. but as far as getting the sunni in syria and iraq to come back over it's not happening. and we can train all the sunni people we want we can give them all the weapons we want they're going to go back to syria and i can almost predict with 100% certainty those weapons and a lot of those trained people are goi

barbara starr is live with more. good morning. >> good morning. ready to advocate if that order were to come and it has not yet. let's be very clear. if an order were to come it would come from the state department asking for assistance for the embassy. it has received no such request but to be clear the u.s. navy airship remains offshore yemen where it remains for some period of weeks and they are watching very closely the unfolding situation in yemen, running gun battles across the capital of sanna sanaa. and gun force in yemen, gunfire near the presidential palace and under attack as our nic peyton walsh has reported. the u.s. embassy, one of the most heavily protected that there is. it has a minimum number of diplomatic personnel but also has 100 marine guards there heavily guarding it. the question with these running battles across the capital. if the houthi rebels are making an attempt for a coup for yemen, will the u.s. have to move in and get those diplomatic and u.s. marine corps personnel out of there. it would be the u srks srksss ewoiw

cnn's barbara starr joins me live from the pentagon with all the latest. >> reporter: the claim is byre affiliated with isis that they conducted the hacking attack but that may be far from certain. isis is already here. we are in your pcs, in each military base the hijacked central command account reads. in the name of allah, the most gracious the most merciful the cybercaliphate continues its cyberjihad the posts continue. but is this group the cybercaliphate really isis? >> it could have been anybody. it doesn't really matter that much that it was isis. it does matter that a group calling itself isis is taking credit for it. the goal here is to cause fear and overreaction. we need to react appropriately to it but not overreact to it. the fact that the twitter feed from centcom was hacked is not that significant. if the documents themselves were stolen from centcom, that is significant. >> reporter: the tweets threaten u.s. troops and their families including posting the document with names and addresses of u.s. military officials and documents related to north korea and china. ameri

barbara starr is live at the pentagon. jordan says they have not received any proof of life and will not move forward with the swap until that happens. still, are u.s. officials surprised at all that jordan seems willing to play ball with these terrorists? >> reporter: not really surprised. u.s. officials are well aware of jordan's position and jordan's position is it is not negotiating with terrorists. it is engaging in a hope for a prisoner exchange. they say that is something that many countries do. around the clock efforts to secure the release of the jordanian fighter pilot and the japanese journalist from the grip of isis. a voice believed to be journalist kenji goto saying he and pilot mu'adh sak yusuf al kasasibah will be killed if jordan does not release sajida al rishawi, convicted after a series of hotel bombings in jordan in 2005. jordan said it would release the woman on one specific condition. jordan's king abdullah adamant from the start it all depends on getting the pilot back. >> i'm not sure that jordan c

of course barbara starr reported the military is on standby to evacuate personnel from the embassy if the need arises in the coming hours or days. nick we care about this country because it's the base for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. it's a country very much teetering on the brink right now. if it does dissolve this power vacuum could lead to more opportunities for terror. what's the latest? is there an actual working government right now? >> reporter: no. in short, the president does not have control. it is a fluid situation. as we stand, most officials accept from the government that houthi militia moved into the presidential palace and taken it over. we were driving around that building earlier on this morning and we saw a number of houthi gunmen around there, checkpoints. we also saw some republican guard in positions on the other side of that vast compound. quite clearly something has changed and it's now it seems in the control of the houthi opposition. at this stage we heard from the information minister and from witness reports there was shooting from outside of the pres

here's barbara starr with more. >> reporter: even as houthi rebels surround the presidential palace in sanaa, the u.s. is uncertain they can or will work with the rebel group. for now, the assessment -- the houthi rebels are not anti-american. what happens next is the question. the u.s. says the president is still the leader of yemen. he and the rebels appear headed toward some type of agreement. that has led the state department to hope it will not have to evacuate the embassy just a day after an embassy car of shot at. >> our personnel -- they're well protected. we have strong and multiple security personnel there. we've been building that up over a period of time. >> reporter: not everyone agrees staying put is a good idea. >> i think we ought to get our people out. i don't want to see a hostage situation. >> reporter: the fate of the u.s. embassy just one crisis point for washington inyental's unraveling. >> we -- inyental's unraveling. >> we cannot permanently disengage with yemen. we should be evaluating. >> reporter: the u.s. worry -- with no clear control boy the government the

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> all right. out of atlanta. the only daughter of the late whitney houston and singer bobby brown is being hospitalized after being found unresponsive bobbi kristina brown, being found unresponsive in the bathtub of her roswell, georgia, home just outside atlanta. now being hospitalize. we'll have more information when we come right back. if you're running a business legalzoom has your back. over the last 10 years we've helped one million business owners get started. visit legalzoom today for the legal help you need to start and run your business. legalzoom. legal help is here. meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on