the attack on paris joining us from the summit, the president's deputy national security adviser, ben rhodes. president obama, mr. rhodes, of course is meeting with world leaders at the g-20 summit in the wake of french president hollande saying this was an act of war and that his response will be, quote, mercyless, is president obama prepared to dramatically escalate his effort against isis? >> well, first of all, chris, we are heartbroken by the tragedy and we agree this was an act of war against isil. we've been engaged in a war against isil through our air strikes, our support for forces on the ground, and we are prepared to work with french to make sure we can do more to facilitate effective strikes, deny them safe haven and deliver justice for these attacks. >> the french are at least considering of idea of invoking article v of nato, which says an attack against one is an atack against all. if they do that, would he go with france and are we talking about more of the same or talking about, for instance, putting boots on the ground, com bad troops on the ground to take on isis? syria?

why people like ben rhodes continue to say this is beyond me. it's as misguided as the president sang he's contained isis. it's a failure of leadership. we won't get arab states standing behind us or other confidence from other allies around the world, and the president from the day he start 15 months ago, it's been apologetic. he keeps telling us what he's not going to do. we should never tell isis what we are not going to do. >>> the terrorists in france were able to evade french this was a surprise attack. even now in the wake of the attack on the "charlie hebdo" magazine back in january, the french granted their intelligence much more sweeping country. question -- if they were able to pull is off inin france who the government surveillance that is going on there, how safe is the u.s. homeland? >> well, we have to realize we are the main target. certainly living here in new york, this is finitely the main target, but the u.s. is the main target. we have been able to coordinate cia, fbihomeland security, nypd here in new york, and france has a

i disagree with ben rhodes. briefed by the fbi and homeland security and they tell me this can't be properly done. >> you noted this in the report, that there is no international database and the report actually blames europe essentially, that there's not enough cooperation with some of our european allies. can this get up and running fast? >> well, it has to. i mean, i think france is -- they know what the threat really is. the european parliament needs to pass legislation to, for instance, pass eu citizens past a watch list. you can fly in from istanbul in turkey and not even be checked past a watch list going into europe. when you talk about visa waiver countries that could potentially come to the united states with western passports, that's where the homeland gets implicated. >> the panel is also here. way nt to bring everybody in. eugene robinson, columnist for "the washington post." my colleague at nbc, chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell, jennifer reuben with "the washington post" and jeff

joining me now is ben rhodes. welcome to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> let me start with calling this an act of war, does the president concur that this was an act of war, and does it change america's footing? >> we absolutely agree that this is an act of war. our hearts go out to the people of paris that suffered this attack. we have been at war with isil for some time. we have conducted hundreds of airstrikes. this will be a long-term campaign to disrupt and defeat isil. >> you know a year ago, president obama said isis could not be something that could not be contained. in an interview earlier this week, he said isis had been contained. can you say they have been contained in iraq and syria when they have escalated to three terrorist attacks in ten days? that is not a contained organization. >> well, check, the president was referring very specifically to the question of isil's geographic expansion in syria. they had been on the march in iraq and syria for some time. we have been able to push back i

welcome back to "meet the press". >> thank you. >> ben rhodes believes we are at war.ident says weir at war. there are wars that are tactical and then wars against an ideology. how do you defeat the ideology? >> you take it to them in syria and iraq. you destroy isis and you build a coalition to replace this radical islamic terrorist threat to our country and to europe and to the region with something that is more peace loving. we have to be engaged in this. this is not something you can contain. each day that isis exists it gains new energy and more rekruts around the world. >> you know, everything is a divide here. there's democracy and security and stability. for instance, in dealing with isis, our coalition partners like turkey and sawudi arabia, they care about dealing more with assad than dealing with isis, should the united states push the pause button on getting rid of assad? >> no. i think we node to do both. we need to build that force up which is not what's happening. this is viewed as a law enforcement exercise by the obama administration. we should declare

we heard ben rhodes say we'll have to eliminate safe havens but what we've seen with isis is they've spread, not only in libya, not only in syria, not only in iraq but also in afghanisn where you just were. >> i w w in afghanistan, and they have a training camp there. they put out graduation photos. the u.s. military is involved in going after them in afghanistan, as well,l,ut the idea that we e have knocked out safe havens, we haven't. look at mosul. that is the second largest city in iraq, and isis still holds it, and they have heldldt for a year a a a half. look at fallujah. west of baghdad for almost two years, so these safe havens continue for isis. it's very complicated with air strikes because those are in populated areas. they don't want to kill civilians there. targeting is very, very difficult. >> so, what can you do about this targeting problem? you need people on the ground, right? >> well, that would certainly help. that would certainly help target. you need intelligence on the ground. that is a real problem. the u.s. has stepped up air strikes and ha had -- and has had

so with the refugee, of course ben rhodes, god bless people in create uv writing degrees. that is now in a position of national security of communications. he is blowing smoke if he talks about the ability to vet. we don't have that ability to vet. but we can take refugees in if we do it in a smart fashion. >> when you saw what i saw on friday night. i was on charles' show. charles said what would you do? i said right away you have to go in and save whatever hostages that you can. they're willing to die. we're dealing with crazy people. they take head shots and take them out. >> our fbi, our national intelligence are all warning us. why our president won't listen. they will infiltrate that community. >> they're here already. >> they're here already. >> the best way is if you have the take away their territory. well don't have that strategy right now. we have to be at the front. if you don't take away their territory, just like with al qaeda. >> they want to kill us. >> broke so many, so many plots by eavesdropping on these radical mobs. we have to do it again. let's stop w

so ben rhodes is a young man in a position of national security. >> we don't have that ability.ke refugees in if we do it p a smart way. >> i was on charles schulz. he said what would you do? i said you have to save whatever hostages you can. there is no negotiating. they're willing to die. we're dealing with crazy people that want to die. take head shots and take them out. >> our fbi and national intelligence are warning us. why our president won't listen. they'll infiltrate that community. >> they're here, already. they're here. >> the best way to deal with this is you have to take away their territories. we have to be -- if you don't take away their territories, they'll do it. >> they want to kill us. >> broke so many plots by eavesdropping on these radical mosques. we've got to do it again. let's stop worrying about peoples' rights. >> we don't have to accept the refugees. we can go there and help them in their territory. >> send them to saudi arabia. how about saudi arabia? >> they don't want them. >> why don't they want them? >> because they know what they are. >> good to

. >> while the president is promising to redouble the fight against the islamic state, ben rhodes says more u.s. troops may not be the answer. instead, according to the "new york times," possibilities include more air strikes, special operations raids and assisting local allies. the president met with russian president vladimir putin yesterday on the sidelines of the summit. according to the white house they discussed goals for finding a political resolution to the civil war in syria. >>> and just a day before the paris attacks, president obama told abc's george stephanopolous that isis had "been contained." >> i don't think they're gaining strength. what is true is, is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them. they have not gained ground in iraq, and in syria, it, they'll come in, they'll leave, but you don't see the systematic march by isil across the terrain. >> part of that interview aired friday morning. now in the wake of at tacks the president's comments have fallen under heavy scrutiny and even his former secretary of state is creating

president obama will travel to paris to attend climate talks.that's according to his assistant ben rhodes who spoke from the phillippines this morning. we have great confidence in our french partners and ultimately again they're gonna be the ones who will make determinations to how they will provide security for the climate summit and we have a very close intelligence and law enforcement sharing relationship with them which also gives us great cconfidence." confidence."the president is scheduled to be in paris november 30th. officials in new york city are urging people to go about their daily lives. lives.yesterday - isis released a video showing a suicide bomber preparing for an attack, and walking thugh some of new york's famous spots.in response - there's now increased security in parts of the city, like times square.however, law enforcement officials say there is no new or specific threat to the city. in washington d-c - house lawmakers are supposed to vote today on a bill that would use president obama's refugee program.the g-o-p backed legislation would ramp-up background checks for

assistant, ben rhodes, say this is an act of war by isil and the its response. should be doing right now? >> well, first i would ask our allies to invoke article 5. this was clearly an act of war, an attack on one of our allies and we should invoke article 5 of the agreement and bring everyone together to put together a coalition to confront this challenge. >> confront it how? would what would you do? senator lindsey graham says put 10,000 troops on the ground. >> it's hard to say the exact numbers. i think we need to say this, we need to begin to work more closely, for example, with the sunni tribes in iraq who do not want to work under the thumb of the central government in iraq. we've worked with them -- >> isn't that's what's happening now? >> no, it is not. we continue much of this through baghdad and baghdad is more interested in pursuing or in protecting the shia group, many of whom are under the control of iran, they also are continuing to double down on their own domestic forces which, quite frankly, have proven unreliable. the best fighters on the grou

>> well, i also heard what the director of the cia said and i would suggest that ben rhodes needs tok to the director of cia. he certainly thinks that there will be more attacks, mike moorel certainly thinks there will be attacks in the united states. i think we would be putting our heads in the sand if we didn't plan for the official of attacks in the united states. particularly since i.s.i.l. just flounced today that that's their target. >> yeah that they're targeting d.c. while the rhetoric in france and elsewhere has been ramped up with the talk of destroying i.s.i.l, president obama said the paris attacks were a terrible settle back and the u.s. would redouble efforts, and that the u.s. strategy is working. i take it you do not agree. what do you think needs to be done? >> really, the solution is not necessarily diplomatic or military. in fact the one area where the strategy is lacking completely is in our ability to attack the narrative. what's bringing these people all together inside of syria and iraq is a very strict adherence to a form of islam that has the capability of at

deirdre: that is obama's deputy national seb second as visor ben rhodes, saying that u.s.lan to accept the 10,000 syrian refugees is still a go even after a syrian passport was found near one of the bombers as part of this horrific attack on paris. governors of at least 18 states are taking a stand, saying no way, signing executive orders to block the move of migrants coming to u.s., at least to their state. retired general is with me now, should white house just move slower, given the change of events? >> absolutely, i am stunned that ben rhodes would make that statement, that we have a capability to vet the immigrants that are coming over. we have no database from them, fbi has said publicly they cannot do it i am stunned by his statements. deirdre: stunned indeed there are some extreme ideas coming from former administration people in france, what they propose, if someone gives any indication of being sympathetic to ises they person is to wear an electronic bracelet, as if a prisoner. if the u.s. takes these refugees, accepts the 10 people, does the u.s. have anyway of

on sunday the white house deputy national security adviser ben rhode said that has not changed. >> wean't just shut our doors to those people. we have very extensive screening procedures for all syrian refugee who is would come to the united states. >> not so, said new york congressman peter king. >> there is virtually no vetting because there are to about a bases in syria, and no records. >> al jazeera. >> that list is growing within the past few hours. the governors in massachusetts, arkansas, louisiana, indiana, and texas all of them saying that their states will not welcome any refugees from syria. texas governor greg abbott sending the president this letter outlining his objections. this morning president obama was asked about the growing anti-refugee sentiment. >> when i hear folks say that maybe we should just admit the christians but not the muslims. when i hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which a person fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when

here is the conversation between chuck todd on "meet the press" with ben rhodes, the deputy national security adviser. >> they've escalated to potentially three terrorist attacks in the last ten days. that is not a contained organization. >> well, chuck, the president was referring very specifically to the question of isil's geographic expansion in iraq and syria. they had been on the march in both iraq and syria for some time but starting a year ago we were able to halt that expansion and we've actually been able to push back and reclaim territory from isil in iraq and syria. >> any sense, any expectation from the folks there that the president and frankly the coalition will come out of this two-day meeting with some sort of consensus? >> reporter: well, we talked to ben rhodes about that comment, and it is true according to the united states that isis has been pushed back territorially, but they also admit they have not been able to decapitate, to use their words, the command and control center which is somewhere in syria or in northern iraq, the areas isis controls, and the questi

ben rhodes told reporters here in paris that russia has been intensifying its bombing of isis targe targets. they added once again rebelling against syria's bashar al assad. that's where the concern is inside the white house. we should point out the obama administration is hopeful now that putin is supporting this diplomatic process that's underway for political transition in syria to give up on assad that's key sticking points in all of this, jake, until that happens both sides are going to be butting heads over this war in isis, jake. >> jim acosta in paris for us. thanks. now to afghanistan where u.s. officials are urging americans to exercise extreme caution due to, quote, credible reports of an imminent attack on the country's capital kabul over the next 4 hours. there are currently more than 10,000 u.s. troops and government personnel stationed across afghanistan. 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 vie

on sunday the white house deputy national security adviser ben rhode said that has not changed. >> wen't just shut our doors to those people. we have very extensive screening procedures for all syrian refugee who is come to the united states. >> not so said congressman peter king. >> there is virtually no vetting because there are databases in syria. >> and just a short while ago the governors of texas and arkansas said they would not welcome any refugees in their state as well. this is the letter that greg abbott sent the president outlining his objections. during his news conference president obama was asked about the growing anti-refugee sentiment. >> when i hear folks say that well, maybe we should just admit the christians but not the muslims, when i hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who is fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution. that's shameful. that's not american. it's not who we are. >> u.

people who continue to say as ben rhodes said at the white house this weekend that we're going to quote train syrian troops and iraqi troops on the ground, we've been saying well over a year that's nonsense. that's babble. that will lead to nothing happening and of course, reports have come out there all we've done is waste hundreds of millions of dollars. the partition plan may be a good long term plan. >> what is this now? >> what are you going to do right now? let's go to paris. nbc news chief is there and he's been covering the story for the last several days. what can you tell us now about the anti terror raids carried out overnight in france? >> the attackers will not win. it's not quiet clear that france is striking back both at home and abroad. as you say, raids this morning really were quiet extriaordinar in their scope. some gave more details of those raids. he said there were 168 raids altogether resulting in 123 formal arrest and 104 others being arrested. we were told these raids were unknown people who had showed support for what happened. we're also told 31 guns were seiz

. >> with the president in turkey is deputy national security advisor ben rhodes. want to get to that remark from the president in a moment. i know you said there is no specific credible threat to the u.s. homeland. they are telling cnn that they don't know if the attack is over. does the united states believe all the attackers have been apprehended? is there reason to believe there may still be poliaccomplices on run? >> reporter: we agree, in all likelihood, this bears the hallmark of isil. in terms of the ongoing investigation, i will let the french speak to that. after incidents like this, it's very important to pull every thread you have to make sure there are not accomplices who are still on the loose. they can help you understand better what happened. right now, i'm sure there's a very vigorous effort to try to identify anybody equity cconnec this attackers. >> i know the president was specifically talking about the iraq/syria battle field. but he made the comment after the terrorist attack against the russian airliner, after the suicide bombings in beirut.

remarks to start and a morning keynote address by white house deputy national security adviser ben rhodess is live

("nbc meet the press") super burned in (sot: ben rhodes/ deputy nat'l security advisor) "clearly there's going to have to be an intensification of our efforts." (nats) france sent a dozen warplanes, hitting multiple isis targets in syria. at the g-20 summit, president obama talked with russia's vladmir putin and he's urging more allies to get on boardrd(sot: president barack obama/ no super) "the killing of innocent people based on twisted idelology is an attack not just on france, not just on turkey, but on the civilized world." back home, lawmakers are demanding more: (sot: rep. carolyn maloney/ (d) new york) "we cannot contain isis - we have to destroy them." blaming intelligence failures: california) "unless that changes strategically, we can expect more attacks like this." and presidential candidates are weighing in: ("nbc meet the press") super burned in (sot: jeb bush/ (r) presidential candidate) "we should declare war." ("fox news sunday") super burned in (sot: dr. ben carson/ (r) presidential candidate) "we need to wage a counter-war against them utilizing social meeia." ("cnn s

. >> reporter: ben rhodes, brother of david rhodes, said screening includes the departments of state, homeland security, and the national counterterrorism center. it's a vetting process that can take 12 to 18 months. >> some of these people are people who suffered the horrors of war, women, orphans. >> reporter: as waves of syrians fled the region this summer, organizations urged the u.s. to accept no fewer than 65,000 refugees. the white house figure of 10,000 appeared miserly then, but to ben carson and marco rubio, it looks reckless now. >> bringing people into this country from that area of the world i think is a huge mistake. >> it's not that we don't want to, we can't. there's no way to background check someone coming from syria. who do you call and do a back ground check on? >> reporter: jeb bush now wants to narrow the focus. >> i think our focus ought to be on the christians who have no place. they've being beheaded and executed by both sides. >> reporter: at the cbs democratic debate, martin o'malley stuck with his support of 65,000 new refugees. >> accommodating 65,000 refu

john - the white house says the president meant containment of isis on the ground inside iraq sot/ben rhodes tw the fact is we have been able to stop that geographic advance and take back significant amounts of territory in both northern iraq and northern syria. even hillary clinton is now criticizing the president's talk of containing isis. just listen to what she said during the democratic debate over the weekend: 9:08:40 look at isis as the international terror network. it cannot be contained. it must be defeated. republicans are also sounding the alarm over the president's plan to increase the number of syrian refugees eligible to come to the united states sot/marco rubio we won't be able to take more refugees. it's not that we don't want to - it's that we can't. because there's no way to background check someone that's coming from syria. tag: the white house says no change of plans to accept at least 10,000 syrian refugees this year, but promises they will face extensive screening. meanwhile, the president is considering military options to help france respond to what it's called an act

people had keenan and a wide variety of people providing some strategic back drop, the president has ben rhodes and valerie jarrett and not many other people. i want to use profanity when i describe it, but i don't understand where it's coming from. >> it is frustrating, but french president hollande is recommending there be an alliance with the u.s., france, and russia. what do you think of that? >> look, the challenges for me, obviously the russians we've been seeing doing a lot more air strikes against i.s. positions in the last week. i'm skeptical they're doing that in a concerted way since the sinai bombing. i think they're trying to placate the criticism that they weren't attacking i.s. to buy space. >> tom roguen, thanks for being with us. >>> now for the results of tonight's insta poll. should we halt the flow of syrian refugees and why. thomas says, we're at war, albeit nonconventional. bringing in syrian refugees is like letting the fox in the hen house. katie says the u.s. should do more to help the refugees. hey, katie, are you kidding? are you suggesting that refugees are only wome

remarks to start and a morning keynote address by white house deputy national security adviser ben rhodes. this is live coverage, it's just getting underway. >> please join me in thanking our elite underwriters, adobe and cdwg. [applause] our strategic underwriters, hp and marklogic. [applause] our industry underwriters, drs technologies, ibm and monster government solutionings. [applause] you know, we say this all the time, but events like this would not be possible without their generous support so, again, i would like to thank them. and now i'd like to introduce your host for this morning, kevin barron, executive editor of defense one. kevin is a veteran of washington's defense, national security and foreign affairs scene. he's previously written for foreign policy, national journal and stars and stripes. currently, he serves as the pentagon press association, and this is breaking news, he just recently became the military analyst for nbc news and msnbc. kevin sets the editorial direct and vision for defense one leading a talented team of journalists who cover the people and forces tha

. >> reporter: ben rhodes, brother of csx -- cbs news david rhodes, said screening includes the departments of state, homeland security, and the national counterterrorism center. it's a vetting process that can take 12 to 18 months. >> some of these people are people who suffered the horrors of war, women, orphans. >> reporter: as waves of syrians fled the region this summer, international aid organizations urged the u.s. to accept no fewer than 65,000 refugees. the white house figure of 10,000 appeared miserly then, but to republican presidential contenders ben carson and marco rubio, it looks reckless now. country from that area of the world i think is a huge mistake. >> it's not that we don't want to, we can't. there's no way to background check someone coming from syria. who do you call and do a back ground check on? >> reporter: jeb bush now wants to narrow the focus. >> i think our focus ought to be on the christians who have no place in syria anymore. they've being beheaded and executed by both sides. >> reporter: at the cbs democratic debate, martin o'malley stuck with his support o

why people like ben rhodes continues to say this is beyond me. >> in addition to pushing toward a political solution for syria, the president also urged leaders here at the g-20 to create a strong climate communique. that ahead of next month's summit which is set to take place in paris. >>> coming up, brennan nunez after just receiving the latest briefing about the paris attacks and what could come next. what would you like to ask him? let me know on facebook.com/bretzbaiersr or twitter @specialreport. >>> president obama's refusal to change course on isis. fox 32 in chicago where the city is offering a traffic ticket amnesty program through the end of the year. officials will waive all taxes, administrative fees, penalties plus interest costs accrued on tickets issued before 2012. fox 5 in new york in an outrage. it costs between 25 and 50 bucks for kids to see santa there. they said they have only one of 12 such displays in the country featuring characters from the shrek movies, virtual games and presentations from the elves. fox 31, a blizzard warning. that city could see 8 inches of sno

nikole: ben rhodes said the fight will be long and they will remain vigilant. sean: the attacks hit close to home for many granite staters. erin: people are remembering the victims and praying for piece. ray brewer is live in nashua where one of the vigils was held on sunday. : a couple dozen people gathering at a french park to reflect on what at surgery anselm college, a candle light vigil held. students still shocked by the brutality of the attack. [singing in french] ray: through song and prayer, they paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the paris terror attacks. >> people appreciate a common celebration to both reflect together but also to turn to god and to turn to the higher power. sean: more than 100 students came together for the candle light vigil on campus. at the mass, the horrific events weighed heavily on people's minds. >> the care and compassion for those who have been harmed. that's what i've been trying to emphasize. [singing in french] ray: earlier, people sang the french national anthem and showed support for paris at the park of ou