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john. >> barbara starr, thank you. the possibility of a bomb brought down flight 9268 creating concern in the united kingdom where sharm el sheikh is a popular tourist destination. britain and ireland suspended all flights to and from the airport there. stranding nearly 20,000 british tourists. u.k. officials say the report was driven by a report by exhibiexper experts who found problems at the airport. let's bring in max foster for the latest. >> reporter: and an emergency meeting here at downing street will work out the latest intelligence. intelligence came on yesterday which prompted this response in banning all flights from sharm el sheikh. 35,000 tourists were expected back from the area today. they have to err on the side of caution on this one. this frustrated the egyptians because they believe the british have waited for the outcome. britain cannot wait because british lives are under threat. we have not gotten access of the intelligence. the british team is on the ground assessing the security situation at sh

. >>> that russian jet, barbara starr our pentagon correspondent, barbara, we heard from the britishs office saying it was a explosive device. what do you now have? >> brooke, hello. you know, the cnn team across the board has been on this story, and now we know that u.s. intelligence believes it was most likely an explosve device that brought down the plane. i want to read to you exactly what a source told me a short time ago. this u.s. government official saying, quote, there is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in the luggage or somewhere on the plane. the feeling by the u.s. intelligence community is it was isis or an isis affiliate. this of course they believe happened at the sharm el sheikh airport when it took off going to st. petersburg, russia. the assessment they have now is an explosive device somehow got past sharm el-sheikh. nothing very fancy, a security problem at the airport most likely and got on the plane. you are seeing some confirmation of this in a way. the british government now delaying any flights back and form between the uk and sharm el-s

barbara starr has more now. what do you know?> good evening, don, this information just into cnn first. just a moment ago. a senior administration official has now told me that the u.s. has conducted an air strike in raqqah, syria, earlier today, targeting the man known to the world as jihadi john, the notorious murderer of several american, japanese, british, other hostages, someone who has had hostages under his control and we saw those terrible beheading videos. let me be very precise with what we know and what we do not know at this hour. u.s. forces conducted this air strike. we do believe at this hour it was a drone but that has not been officially confirmed. jihadi john, his name, is mohammad emwazi. he is a kuwaiti-born brit. he is someone the united states, briton and japan wanted to get very badly for many months. he has caused utter misery and grief to the families of the hostages in so many countries. the families getting family notification this evening, we are told. this is going to be a very interesting several hou

but let's start with cnn's barbara starr live for us at the pentagon. barbara, you and your team broke the story a short while ago. tell us what you know. >> well, cnn has been looking across all government agencies at any signs of what the obama administration may be thinking about all of this. and we now know that this is not a firm absolute conclusion, but indeed based on the intelligence they have the u.s. now does believe it was most likely a bomb that brought down this plane. i want to read to you exactly what one government source told us a short time ago, quote, there is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in luggage or somewhere on the plane. and they do believe the most likely perpetrator, isis or an isis affiliate. why do they say this? they are not sharing the intelligence they do have, but we know that they have been monitoring isis internal communications, not the public claims of responsibility, that has added to the picture that they have. this has developed over the last several days is our understanding from several so

our barbara starr is live at

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> breaking news on another front in the battle against isis.sh peshmerga forces fight to retake the city of sinjar from isis. they have entered the city from all directions and peshmerga troops reclaimed more than 60 square miles of territory. this with the help of more than 250 air strikes against isis by the u.s.-led coalition within the last month. peshmerga says they are going against 600 isis fighters in sinjar. there are landmines and booby traps that make it difficult. we have cnn's nick paton walsh with the peshmerga with the latest. >> reporter: i have just entered the city and it is remarkable devastation. the coalition air strikes and the booby traps are literally everywhere you walk. heavy gunfire when we were inside. peshmerga, we saw about three hours ago a different issue on foot. heavy gunfire as we came across pockets of isis. the exchanges moving more and more east of the city. that suggests isis is pushed back in that direction. in fact, the grain silos that were once thought to be still standing. it is quiet now. substantial

>> barbara starr live for us at the reagan library in california. barbara, you broke the story earlier this week and continue to make news on it. thank you for bringing us what jeh johnson had to say. >> sure. >> let's talk more about this now with bob baer and cnn global affairs analyst kimberly dozier. you said to me last hour you just don't trust egypt's investigation. that's a problem, because they are leading this. >> it's a problem because, poppy, we don't know what kind of device it was. i've seen nothing to appear in the press or people i've talked to that knows whether it was put on and concealed in a suit case or somebody on the ground staff put it on, that makes a big dir difference, because if the islamic state has a device, it's something we should know as quickly as possible. but the egyptians, it's up to them to reassemble this airplane, put it in a hangar, figure out what this bomb was, if it went off in a particular suitcase and if they can identify the owner of that suitcase, or it was the grounds staff simply stuck in between the s

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> lieutenant colonel rick francona joins us now, great to have youith us. how does having the aircraft carrier charles de gaulle aid in the fight against isis? >> well, it gives the french the capability, initially they only had had ten there conducting airstrikes in syria, but when they bring the charles de gaulle in, it gives them another 40 or 50 aircrafts in the skies over syria, and it gives them more strikes against the targets. i think they're being pretty effective so it does bring in added capability to the coalition. >> we're hearing that in recent days there has been heavy bombardment of raqqah, their stronghold. and sources say according to our correspondent barbara starr, sources say the leaders are trying to get out of raqqah pretty fast. if they're on the run, what should be the next move of the u.s.-led coalition? >> well, i think it's important we continue the pressure on raqqah because that is their self-proclaimed capital. if it's true the leadership is leaving that is a good sign. you know, being under aerial bombardment is not re

>> barbara starr live from the pentagon.. >>> the focus may have been on the economy last night at the debate but it was foreign policy that appeared to take center stage at times and while candidates touted their credentials, the answer by dr. ben carson left many people scratching their heads. >> do you support the president's decision to now put fifty special ops forces in syria and leave 10,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan? >> well, putting the special ops people in there is berttter tha not having them there. that is why they are called ops, they are able to guide some of the things we are doing there. and what we have to recognize is that putin is really trying to spread his influence throughout the middle east. this is going to be his base and we have to oppose him there in an effective way. we also have to recognize it is complex there. the chinese are there as well as the russians and you have all kinds of factions there. >> let's talk about that answer. i'm joined by cnn political analyst and editor in chief of the d

we begin with cnn senior pentagon correspondent barbara starr. tell us, barbara, any progress we're seeing in the talks between french and russian leaders? >> good afternoon, brianna. well, at the end of the meeting the two sides agreed to share intelligence about isis and other terrorist organizations, but will russia really join the coalition? it doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon. french president francois hollande's meeting with russian president vladimir putin pressed for joint action against isis. >> translator: because we have common victims, we must act. >> reporter: but earlier in the day putin giving no signal that russia is in the mood for conciliation. in the wake of the shootdown of its fighter jet by turkey. >> translator: until now we've heard neither clear apologies from the highest political level of turkey nor promise to punish the guilty. >> reporter: turkey's president in an exclusive interview with cnn's becky anderson made his position clear. >> translator: if there's a party that needs to apologize, it's no

but don't hole your breath yet. >> barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks so much. remarkable video of that incident. cnn's senior international correspondent nick walsh is back from the battle lines. now in istanbul, turkey, turkey the front line in the battle against syria, with plane shot down. what's the reaction there? >> reporter: well, turkey, frankly, staunchly defiant about what it did. their justification, this is not the first time russia has, in their opinion, openly violated airspace. late the september a number of similar instances, russian and turkish officials met and tried to hammer out any confession, and it clearly seems to be defined move by the turkish military saying they made ten warnings in five minutes, showing a map, where they violated airspace. you look at the map, they came in twice, hard to properly defind, and finding nato standing officially behind them, too, many nato members being de-escalating in rhetoric. turkey has a broader game. the rebels firing at both the plane and the rescue helicopters. they are closely allied to the turki

barbara starr, the pentagon. >> ben wedeman joins us live from cairo with analysis. give us some bev on the significance of the strike. >> this is a man who played a very high profile role in these streds of the beheadings of stephen sotloff and james foley and others, which really did galvanize the u.s. certainly into taking decisive action into isis. i think there you're starting to see this entity which really expanded dramatically in the sum ore of 2014 is starting to be stopped and pushed back. the lats major conquest they did this year was in ramadi, the capital of the province by the same name to the west of baghdad. since then, we've seen them driven out of tikrit north of baghdad. now we're seeing this operation to the west of mosul. yes, in terms of symbolism, it's important. but i think beyond that what we are seeing, and this may be part of it is that isis is slowly being rolled back. isha? >> when, you mentioned this being a symbolic victory, but isis understands the values of symbols and messaging. so for the u.s., it still presents a moment to exploit

and we are joined by our correspondent barbara starr. what does this mean? >> well, this flying over sinai saw a heat signature, and this is a hot spot that is different from the natural heat in background environment. it is associated with the aircraft. it happened where the aircraft was flying, and it happened, they saw this signature of heat flash in midair. so it is not when the plane hit the ground. they saw the heat midair. this suggests that this catastrophic event did occur while the plane was in flight. so, item one, no indication of a missile launch, and that data would be available. no data to show that there is a missile launch. this midair reveevent, and what caused it, some catastrophic failure of the aircraft due to engine and fuel line and we know that there is a problem of the tail in the past, and did the plane simply fall apart? maybe. this is what all of the data from the black box is, when they are recovered and analyzed should begin to show, but the other option is clearly that there was some sort of other type of catastrophic event in

let's go to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. sly atop the president's concerns right now, this amazing tension that's developed between nato, turkey and russia's decision to down that warplane flying along the turkish/syrian border. >> yeah, tensions clearly escalating in this area. but the message we're hearing from the white house and from the pentagon, from nato is everybody take a deep breath. they don't want this situation to escalate out of control, to have more tension at a time, as you say already, when the world is so nervous about all of this. so the message has been very clear. the question, of course, is whether the russians are paying attention to that message. the foreign minister, sergey lavrov, earlier today said that russia is not going to war against turkey. but of course, the real question is what does vladimir putin have in mind? clearly he is the authority, the power, he will make the decisions about what the russian military decides to do next. so all of this being very carefully watched. but all of this com

barbara starr at the pentagon, phil black, and in sham el sheik. erin mclaughlin. barbara, what have you learned? >> reporter: good evening, anderson. it was midday when u.s. officials began talking about this. a u.s. official teling cnn and i want to quote directly, quote, there is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in luggage of somewhere on the plane. they have had this feeling all week. they are beginning to assemble the intelligence, not a certainty but growing indications this is where their thinking is heading. they had been watching sinai for some time, watching militant activity growing there. the feeling they have now is that it is isis or an isis affiliate most likely behind it if indeed it proves to be a bomb on board the airplane and of course, this will change the world's calculation about what isis is capable of doing. >> so how are u.s. authorities saying they got this information? and did they have intelligence about a specific threat prior to the crash? >> right, okay. u.s. officials are telling cnn that, no, they didn't have a s

want to get right to cnn's barbara starr at the pentagon. barbara, how far do the u.s. expect the russians to push this military response? >> well, right now the russians are clearly making a case that the turks were basically lying in wait for them. the u.s. hopes the russians won't push too far, but let's face it, nobody can really predict what vladimir putin may decide to do. the shootdown of the russian fighter jet by turkey sparking rising tensions from moscow to washington. [ gunfire ] one pilot shot dead by turkish supported rebels as he parachuted to the ground. the other rescued but only after a first failed attempt when a helicopter was hit by a missile fired by rebels on the ground. turkey insisting the shootdown was justified. today the turkish government releasing audio of what the turks say were ten warnings to the russian pilot. russia disputed any warnings were given broadcasting an interview with the rescued pilot, his back to the camera presumably to protect his identity. >> translator: not via the radio, not visually. there was no contact whatsoever.

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our barbara starr is live at the pentagon, and now, you were there at a press briefing, barbara, and what did you learn? >> ashleigh, we are learning indeed that the u.s. military has growing confidence that they did get jihadi john. it was several days ago when they picked up his trail, and began to follow him closely with the drones and overhead surveillance. by wednesday, they were fairly sure they had him in his eyesight, and then yesterday a drone flying over raqqah, syria, tracking him and watching as he committed a building and got into the vehicle, and they took the shot. listen to what the u.s. military spokesman in baghdad had to say a minute ago. >> we are reasonably certain that we killed the target that we intended to kill which is jihadi john. this guy was a human animal, and killing him is probably making the world a little bit better place. >> and so what they are doing now is to look at any chatter they can find, social media postings, intercepts, and any type of communication from isis that might be some sort of announcement or the posting by the group about jihadi

cnn barbara starr joins us now live at the pentagon. barbara, do we know wlast next for u.s. syria? >> well, jake, funny thing but not a surprise. the pentagon already talking about expanding the mission yet again. an effort that could put even more u.s. troops on the ground and in danger. u.s. special operations forces preparing for a new assignment on the ground in northern syria arriving within weeks working with local fighters to help them go against isis, the pentagon says fresh air strikes on the syrian iraqi border part of the effort to cut isis supply lines forcing them into vulnerable battlefield positions. >> it is putting isis on the defensive. they can't continue their offensive movement if they have people fighting against them. >> the ultimate goal, get u.s. supported fighters as far south as raqqa, isis' capital. but for now the local arab and kurdish forces are poorly equipped. the pentagon has yet to provide heavy weapons. but u.s. air support is moving in. >> they do have small arms and trucks, but they also have mortars. and they now have overwhelming force

"outfront" tonight, pentagon correspondent barbara starr.t more can you tell us about this warning? >> well, this is coming from the state department as one of their regular alerts that we've seen over the years but this time, as we approach the holiday season, it's causing a lot of concern, erin. a warning to all americans traveling, to be careful if you're going to be in public places, take public transportation, if you're traveling to europe, africa, anywhere in the world. be careful. be aware of your surroundings. be aware of the local security situation where you are. part of this is because of the isis threat, the anxiety of what happens in paris, what we're seeing unfold in belgium but this alert goes further. it talks about africa. so the attack in mali that we just saw, lone wolves and going into a holiday season where many have gotten used to these alerts and warnings from the u.s. government but that does not mean that this is a good deal of anxiety in this holiday season. >> you've been talking to your intelligent sources about w

let's begin with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara, you broke this story earlier. tell us why this is a game changer. >> well, wolf, we want to be very precise here. there is no firm absolute conclusion about what happened. but this could be a game changer. the u.s. intelligence community believes it is very possible that the militants were able to sneak a bomb past airport security. the u.s. intelligence community now scrutinizing airport security at sharm el sheikh airport. the latest u.s. intelligence suggests that the crash of the russian passenger jet was most likely caused by an explosive device on the plane planted by isis or an isis affiliate according to a u.s. official. the official who is familiar with the latest information regarding the u.s. intelligence analysis of the crash tells cnn there is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in the luggage or somewhere on the plane. a british aviation team is traveling to the airport to look at the security there. >> we cannot categorically say why the russian jet crashed. but we have become conc

cnn's barbara starr is tracking this urgent threat and joins me live from the pentagon. barbara, what are your sources telling you about this imminent threat? >> well, jake, u.s. official telling me a short time ago they view this threat as significant, active and credible. that means reading between the lines they have information about an active plot. they're offering very little information about the details however. other than this official telling me at this point they believe the plotters are tied to the al qaeda haqqani network in afghanistan. this is a longstanding group of extremely violent militant operatives that have operated for a long time in and around kabul, out into eastern afghanistan. their traditional tactic, suicide car bombs, multiple vicious deadly attacks, simultaneous attacks, so a lot of concern over the next 48 hours or so about kabul, jake. >> barbara starr live at the pentagon. barbara, thank you so much. joining me homeland security secretary jeh johnson. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me, jake. >> couple items about the repor

barbara starr is at the pentagon. we're also in sharm el-sheikh, egypt. we begin with barbara star who broke this story. what are you learning tonight? >> good evening, erin. u.s. officials caution it is not absolutely for certain that it was a bomb but they very strongly believe there is a very likely possibility that someone in the sharm el-sheikh airport smuggled a bomb onto this plane. the u.s. intelligence committee now scrutinizing airport security at sharm el-sheikh airport. the latest u.s. intelligence suggests that the crash of the russian passenger jet was most likely caused by an explosive device on the plane, planted by isis or an isis affiliate, according to a u.s. official. the official who is familiar with the latest information regarding the u.s. intelligence analysis of the crash tells cnn there is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in the luggage or somewhere on the plane. a british aviation team is traveling to the airport to look at the security there. >> we cannot categorically say why the russian jets crashed. but w

let's get right to cnn's barbara starr. she's live at the pentagon. s about these new threats? >> jake, on the video the speaker expresses suicide bombers all just the latest challenge facing the cairo government in dealing with isis. egyptian president abdul fatah el sisi visited sharm el sheikh airport wednesday promising his government will hide nothing. >> translator: we will announce the results of the investigation with complete transparency and clarity. >> reporter: for the first time the u.s. has been asked to get directly involved in the investigation of what brought down russian metrojet flight 9268. national transportation safety board investigators now on standby to go to egypt. the first indication came from egypt's foreign minister saying the government was willing to accept american personnel. >> they have to be given full access to the crash area site. and they will undertake the same and have the same accessibility to all of the international investigators. >> reporter: security still a question in the egyptian resort city of sharm el

cnn's barbara starr live at pentagon. what's the latest? >> well, jake, russia and egypt sharing little, almost no information, about this situation. but the u.s. is beginning to develop some ideas about what it believes happened to the russian airliner. as the u.s. tries to connect the dots on what happened to the russian airliner, a working theory is emerging inside the u.s. government about the possible makeup of the plot. more than half a dozen u.s. officials in various parts of the administration now believe it likely was a bomb. officials stress, understanding what happened is critical for ensuring airline security. >> given the ongoing investigation, we are particularly focused on what happened, understanding what happened, what more we can do in that region. >> reporter: without direct access to evidence, bomb residue, wreckage, data recorders, or the bodies, the u.s. cannot come to a firm conclusion. but the u.s. does have intercepted communications, radar readings, videos, and photos of the wreckage to assess. based on that, u.s.

i want to bring in our cnn anchor wolf blitzer, and our pentagon correspondent barbara starr and pam brown who is our intelligence correspondent and j justice correspondent, and also joining us is paul cruickshank our cnn terrorism analyst. to me, wolf blitzer, that is to calm the nation in a very uncalm time. is there anything more to it? >> no, that is exactly right. the president wants everybody to go about and do their thanksgiving activities as normal and try to be as responsive as possible, and once again, if you see something, say something, and it is important ashleigh, he was backed up there by the fbi director james comey, and the secretary of homeland security, and the adviser was there and lisa monaco, and all of them were there to show that as far as the national security on the dealing with counter terrorism, and dealing with the threats from isis and al qaeda and other terror groups, they have been meeting and convened in the white house situation room, this is a balanced message to go ahead and do your thanksgiving activities. if we learn that there is a significant c

i want to turn to cnn senior pentagon correspondent barbara starr. we were talking about french president hollande going to the white house tomorrow to meet with president obama. what do these leaders want from each other? >> john, when they sit down clearly they want each other to make a commitment to more action, especially against isis in syria. but don't look for president obama to promise any wholesale changes. isis leader abu bakr al baghdadi is long believed to be hiding inside isis syria stronghold of raqqah. but the u.s. has intelligence showing some isis leaders are trying to get out of raqqah, cnn has learned. leaders moving their operations to safer locations outside the city. >> it shows the effect that our air strikes and the pressure that we're putting on isil is having. >> reporter: the hunt is on for baghdadi and at least six other senior isis officials including this key man, an isis commander the u.s. believes may now be directing attacks outside syria and iraq. >> i think they have become more decentralized outside of syria and ir

we're going to lead off with cnn's barbara starr who broke the news about the u.s. intel yesterday. she joins us live from the pentagon. barbara, what are your sources saying today about how they arrived at this theory that it was in all likelihood an isis bomb? >> jake, as u.s. and british intelligence services continue to scour every piece of information they have, what we now know is that it was chatter as they say very quickly after the plane was -- came down out of the sky after it crashed. they got the interests of the u.s. intelligence community. they monitored very quickly chatter coming, they say, from isis in sinai, an isis affiliate. and this was an isis affiliate that talked or posted information online. we don't know the exact nature of the messages, but there was messaging talking about the bomb, talking about the plane, talking about some specifics of the attack. by all accounts this message was sent to some other terrorist element so there was communication between some elements of a network here about the attack. it is this and how quickly it surfaced for the u.s. in

barbara starr, the pentagon. >> ben wedeman joins us live from cairo with analysis.us some bev on the significance of the strike. >> this is a man who played a very high profile role in these streds of the beheadings of stephen sotloff and james foley and others, which really did galvanize the u.s. certainly into taking decisive action into isis. i think there you're starting to see this entity which really expanded dramatically in the sum ore of 2014 is starting to be stopped and pushed back. the lats major conquest they did this year was in ramadi, the capital of the province by the same name to the west of baghdad. you have to look at the hieof hy of isis, and that's composed of people like him, born in kuwait, grew up in uk. the hierarchy, the leadership of isis is largely made up of iraqis, many of them with the background in saddam hussein's security services. so he was a very useful tool, so to speak for isis in terms of putting out these videos in a language that was familiar to many in the west. but in terms of the leadership, in terms of the people who make

>> barbara starr reporting.lican presidential hopeful donald trump widens the attacks against his rivals, even as ben carson tightens his grip around the lead in the gop race for the white house. trump now unleashing a new wave of attacks against his competitors as ben carson pulls ahead in yet another national poll and marco rubio gains some major ground. >> i think that ben just doesn't have the experience. look, you know, i'm going to make the greatest deals you've ever seen on trade. we're going to run the military properly. i'm going to take care of the vets. ben can't do those things. ben cannot deal on trade. >> why not? >> it's not his thing, george. you know, you're born with it. it's not his thing. he doesn't have the temperament for it. it's not the right thing for him. i think rubio -- personally, i think he's an overrated guy. jeb is a nice guy. he's a stiff. he's a nice guy. he doesn't have a chance. he ought to do what walker did. >> you think he should drop out? >> oh, absolutely. he has no chanc

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has been working her sources. barbara, tell us more about the nature of this possible isis communications connection that the u.s. intelligence community has been scrutinizing. >> well, wolf, what we are learning is u.s. intelligence, uk, british intelligence services all scrutinizing every piece of information they have. one of the keys theer thhere th looking at is this chatter that was monitored very soon after the plane fell out of the sky. very soon after this crash. what they were as they picked up chatter involving isis in sinai and isis affiliate operating in sinai communicating in some fashion with another element of the terrorist network. they believe that they were boasting, if you will, with very specific information about the bomb, the airplane and the attack. they're not exactly saying why, u.s. government officials that is, that they're not dismissing that as just simply a boast as terrorist groups often claim responsibility for attacks. this message however was not a public claim of responsibility.

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> let's talk more about this targeted air strike now. lieutenant colonel rick francona joins us from la quinta california. the u.s. is indicating emwazi was targeted suggests they may have better intelligence on the ground. you yourself have been critical of the intelligence gathering in the beginning. is there a sense that things are getting better? when it comes to getting information on the ground about who is there and where they are. >> of. >> yeah, i think that's a fair asaysment. >> we may be having trouble there with rick francona's signal. but we will be sure to get back to him for analysis. but again, the fact thmohammed emwazi may have been targeted. in beirut, more than 40 people are dead and at least 200 wounded after a pair of suicide blasts. and now, a would-be suicide bomber who survived the attack claims he was sent to beirut by isis. along with three other attackers. that according to lebanese security source. the surviving bomber from thursday's attack, but cnn cannot confirm its authenticity. some of the footage you'r

barbara starr with more from the pentagon. >> well the u.s.e strike against the plane. there was no radar or imagery technical data to support the launch of a missile. but over the last several days as they continue to look at the intelligence, u.s. officials very much saying it suggests that a bomb may have been involved. one u.s. official telling cnn -- and i want to quote. "there is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in luggage or somewhere on the plane." that of course pointing intelligence services from washington to london to look at the security surrounding the sharm el sheikh airport. what we do know is that u.s. intelligence is looking at isis and isis affiliate chatter. not the public claims that have been out there but some chatter that the intelligence services monitor regularly. also looking at what had been the rise of militant and isis-related activity in sinai over the last weeks and months. all of it putting the picture together. but still very important to say no absolute final decision on this. >> but they

. >> let's go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. heat signature doesn't necessarily prove it's a bomb but it is setting off alarm bells. >> it is setting off a good deal of concern, wolf, across the security agency's hearing in washington. let's try to unpack it and explain why. you basically have two scenarios here. was there some type of mechanical structural failure on the plane or was it a terrorist attack. >>> egyptian investigators are finishing up work in the field. now turn attention to voice and data recorders and any forensic evidence they can gather from the wreckage. they will look at voice and data recorders to try to determine how the explosion happened, how hot, how fast, velocity? can they determine where it began on the aircraft what can that tell them about this event? but, intelligence services are also looking at any threat streams, any indication that there might have been a group out there that could have pulled this off. how did they do that? they looked at passenger lists, the cargo hole, what kind of cargo w

let's bring in barbara starr, good morning. >> good morning.out joining the coalition in terms of cooperation but the military reality on the ground, especially for u.s. pilots flying over syria may be very different. the russians are now showing the world pictures of the s 400 antiair missile system they say they are moving into the syria. it can reach out all the way into the turkish air space and a cross a good deal of syria. if they make this system operational, they control the air space. and that puts us pilots in the position of having to make some decisions. u.s. military sources tell me they are looking at all of this and trying to figure out what recommendations, what the next u.s. military steps may have to be. if they are still going to be able to fly missions. if they are still going to be able to go on their attacks against isis in syria. if this missile system is up and running and poses an air threat, there may be some changes. the u.s. war planes may have to fly with jamming aircraft to try and in spite of the system. a lot of

let's bring in cnn pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. good morning, barbara. >> good morning.sh prime minister david cameron said a minute ago nothing was conclusive but evidence was pointing to more likely than not it was a bomb that brought down this plane. when the british prime minister says that, the world pays attention. now, what is the evidence? we don't know for certain. we don't know for certain it was a bomb but sources across the border telling cnn that some xhater was picked up by intelligence services indicating isis or an an isis affiliate might have been behind all of us. sources telling our own pamela brown the chatter was picked up after the fact and there was some discussion of a bomb-making capability. so, this is now a good deal of what is being looked at. one of the problems here, however, is that u.s. officials will tell you, if the russians do not turn over at some point physical evidence in the wreckage, they may never know for certain what happened. people need to see the actual, physical evidence early on. that investigation is going to go on for som

up first, let's go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara, u.s.et a lot of important information if they have direct access to parts of the plane, right? >> absolutely, wolf. good evening. it is vital. they will look for evidence of explosive residue, any evidence of a bomb. egyptian president visited sham el-sheikh airport wednesday promising his government will hide nothing. >> translator: we will announce the results of the investigation with complete transparency and clarity. >> reporter: for the first time, the u.s. has been asked to get directly involved in the investigation of what brought down russian metrojet flight 9268. national transportation safety investigators on stand by to go to egypt. the first indication came from egypt's foreign minister telling wolf blitzer the government was willing to accept american personnel. >> they have to be given full access to the crash area site and they will under take the same and have the same accessibility to all of the international investigators. >> reporter: security still a question in the eg

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr's following all of this. barbara, there's a major dispute over the warning message that turkey supposedly gave those russian warplanes. >> definitely, wolf. a he said/he said situation here. now, the russians contend their pilots never got any warnings before they potentially according to the turks entered turkish air space. the turks say the russians were in that air space for 17 seconds and they gave them ten warnings as they entered and as they were in that 17-second window. the russians say it didn't happen. the turks responded today issuing some audio recordings of the radio calls that they say they made. have a listen. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> reporter: now, you know, the russians are still contending that this was a pre-planned provocation. they very firmly believe that basically the turks were lying in wait for them. >> as these tensions are clearly rising between turkey and russia, the u.s. is encouraging de-escalation. but is that really happening? >> well, you know, the u.s. is. you're

let's talk about this with barbara starr along with joliet. scussion between these to men? >> all indications are the french president will go to moscow to have this meeting to, perhaps, shall we say, represent the view of the nato alliance, his country and the united states and great britain. they want russia to stop attacking the rebels who oppose bashar al assad, the syrian president, and focus, truly, on hitting isis. those behind the attacks in france, that organization. whether russia really will shift its strategy is very much an open question because right now the russians are very focused on that shootdown and what happened and their anger at turkey for shooting down their airplane. the russians beefing up their own military operations in syria with new air defense systems, escorting for their own fighter jets, trying to keep their own jets safe. the french view, the uk view is focus instead on hitting isis. that's what she would like to see happen. whether that comes out hollande meeting is a big question. >> it makes you wonder about

and barbara starr, who broke this story wide open for us. barbara, to you first. talk to me about this chatter and specificity of the chatter and the timeline. what do you know? >> brooke, we know very quickly after the plane broke apart and crashed into the sinai desert, the u.s. became very concerned that, in fact, it was a bomb or some sort of terrorist attack against the plane. what we now know several cnn people are hearing this from various parts of the government that there was terrorist chatter, if you will. electronic messaging that was monitored by the u.s. in those messages, which were not open public claims of responsibility. they were messages that isis had intended to keep private. the u.s. monitoring them. there was language, there was conversation in that messaging claiming knowledge about the bomb, about the airliner, about the specificity of what had happened. so you would immediately ask maybe this is just isis or isis operatives claiming responsibility, falsely bragging about some attack they want to get credit for. u.s. officials are telling u

up first, let's go to the pentagon correspondent barbara starr. learning, barbara, about this threat of an imminent terror attack? >> good evening, wolf. this threat warning from the u.s. embassy will remain in effect at least until early wednesday morning, 48-hour window open. the big concern is that a network, group of al qaeda affiliated terrorists may be behind this engaged in the past and a number of attacks. and good expertise with road side bombs and suicide bombs and multiple targeting potentially across kabul. the u.s. em bye see warning does not suggest americans are particularly targeted but americans against kabul are warned to be very careful, try and stay home and keep a very low profile during this time because the u.s. is not certain at this point what will happen. there have been additional security measures we're told taken in the headquarters and the military, the diplomats not revealing what the measures are but goes to the level of concern through at least early wednesday morning, wolf? >> from afghanistan, barbara, let's go t

. >> barbara starr joining us tonight with this breaking news. we appreciate the reporting. thank you, barbara. >> and joining us now, cnn military analyst lieutenant krl rick francona. just how significant would the killing be. >> it's significant symbol iicly. it does brink closure to those families. jihadi john had such a vicious reputation. he murdered so many people. the victims just need some sort of justice and whether or not it schangs the conduct of the car, i think it was important that the coalition went after him and dealt him some justice. >> colonel francona, the u.s. has not confirmed whether they got jihadi john. so give us some insight into the verification process, what will be happening behind the scenes right now. >> yeah, that will be very, very difficult. and i don't think we're going to -- we may not see verification right away, unless isis admits that it was him and he was killed. they've done that in the past. we'll be looking at intercepts, the chatter going on, what's going on in social media and the web. it could be at some point. you may not know.

barbara starr has new reporting from the pentagon. >> reporter: good morning.yn we now know this infrared heat flash detected by satellite was detected in midair. this satellite saw a sudden and catastrophic heat flash in midair. now we know this was not the impact of the plane hitting the ground. there was some type of catastrophic event in midair. so now u.s. military and intelligence officials analyzing what might have caused it. they have ruled out by all accounts any type of missile strike. there is no technical data showing a missile was in the air. what could have caused this? u.s. officials are telling me it is still possible there was some catastrophic mechanical failure. but right now they do not see the evidence pointing to that just yet. on the table all options. but they are looking very seriously at the possibility it was an explosive event. in fact some type of bomb potentially. we want to emphasize this is very preliminary. all options still on the table. but once you rule out a missile strike, what kind of mechanical event could have caused suc

this evening our barbara starr sat down for an exclusive one-on-one interview with homeland security secretary jeh johnson. >> reporter: poppy, here at the residential library, an all-day meeting of security intelligence and national security officials. i caught up with the secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson, to ask him why the u.s. government has taken these additional aviation security measures. >> barbara, the investigation of the crash of 9268 is still under way. not all the facts have come in. as the president said, we cannot at this point rule out the possibility of something nefarious. at the same time we have a group out there, isil, that is claiming responsibility for this. so in light of the current circumstances, what admiral neffiinger and i said we should do is take enhancements to aviation security at foreign airports that are last departure airports with direct flights to the united states. we announced that. we will announce screenings of things in aircraft. we will do examinations and assessments of overseas and continuing to offer our assistance into the in

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> are you watching "cnn newsroom."come, a small belgian town tries to shake its reputation as a breeding ground for jihadists. the steps officials are taking to keep their city safe. ♪ just look at those two. happy. in love. and saving so much money on their car insurance by switching to geico... well, just look at this setting. do you have the ring? oh, helzberg diamonds. another beautiful setting. i'm not crying. i've just got a bit of sand in my eyes, that's all. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. at&t and directv are now one. which means you can watch in the house, in a treehouse, or even in miss pepperpie's house. pause in your pjs and hit play during a pb&j. nice! and enjoy some cartoons instead of listening to dad's car tunes. (dad) ♪meet you all the way! get the best of both worlds. directv at home and 2 wireless lines. from directv and at&t. ♪ ♪ the beautiful sound of customers making the most of their united flight. power, wi-fi, and streaming entertainment. that's

let's bring in cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. she has more on jihadi john. good morning. >> good morning carol. cnn has learned the u.s. military had been tracked jihadi john across raqqa since wednesday. and yesterday when they saw him step out of a building and get into a vehicle they took the shot. breaking overnight. the pentagon confirming u.s. special operations forces launched a drone strike targeting the masked isis executioner known as jihadi john. officials say after tracking him for days authorities are confident the drone strike killed the kuwaitty born british citizen identified as muhammed emwa emwazi. still they are awaiting final confirmation. >> it is a symbolic victory and it does bring closure to those families. >> officials say they knew it was emwazi when they took the shot. another official tells cnn emwazi was in a vehicle at the time of the strike near raqqa. emwazi appeared in a series of videos documenting the murders of several american, british and japanese hostages. he was often seen wielding a knife, only his eyes and hands expo

military sources are telling barbara starr that one of their satellites detected a heat flash while the plane was still in the air. this suggests a possible explosion caused by a bomb but it could be tied to a failed engine exploding or a structural or mechanical problem with the plane. the airline is quick to come out to say there was no mechanical failure and russian state media just today said there are no signs of explosive impact on the bodies of the victims. no -- essentially no blast-related trauma. but we should point out that does not necessarily rule anything out. just look at 1994. there was an airline flight philippine flight 434 with 273 people on board and a bomb on board that jetliner, one was killed and ten others injured and everyone else survived. >> we learned that security measures have not been tightened at the airport. egyptian authorities saying they see no indication this was an act of terrorism. and an affiliate of isis claimed responsibility. what to make of it all? how much do we know about this isis affiliate in sinai? >> while this isis affiliate has struck

let's bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr.playing a very important role in this latest fight. >> very significant and very different, wolf. there are a number of u.s. special forces right in the middle especially of the battle for sinjar. the pentagon insists they will be safe. u.s. special operations troops are now on the ground a top sinjar mountain. >> there are some advisors who are on sinjar mountain assisting in the selection of air strike targets. >> reporter: the pentagon refuses to official recall them forward air controllers which are military personnel in a combat zone that pick out targets for air strikes. >> they are working directly with peshmerga forces in determining exactly where the most effective air strikes would be conducted. >> reporter: the pentagon has resisted putting targeting forces in the field until now. it's only happened once before, last month near kirkook. they defended more than 50 isis positions. taking sinjar back from isis is considered vital, more than 7,000 peshmerga kurdish military figh