peter bergen and fran townsend. she was a hope land security adviser for president george w.e cia and dhs external advisory committees. thanks to you both. let's start asking you about afghanistan ten years on, ten years on from 9/11. peter, what is the mission now? >> well, the mission remain the same from the beginning which is essentially a sanctuary strategy to make sure that taliban don't comb back and their allies can't come back. and, you know, to some degree they succeeded. if we left tomorrow, you know, the taliban and al qaeda are embedded on the other side of the boreder in pakistan. and we've seen this by the way in areas where the united states drew down recently in northeastern afghanistan and members of al qaeda kind of went and moved into the back. so it's not sort of an artificial construct this notion that we're providing a sanctuary for the troops. >> is the sanctuary in afrg and should it be a large-scale military operation or does the administration need to rethink its approach? >> well, i mean the administration is constantly rethinking their approach. >

cnn's national security analyst fran townsend joins me now to break it all down. fran, if this indeed turns out to be something that's based in their own country, it seems to me that speaks to the very thing that you and i discussed many times which is that many times countries think more of terrorists as being from somewhere else and they can be from their own midsts. >> that's exactly right. you know, this is a tragic vent. and it has had all the sort of hallmarks, if you will, tom, of being in a terror attack, multiple simultaneous events, large explosions, the big bomb in oslo. and then you got a guy who steals a police uniform or creates one and then goes to this camp. he also had bomb making materials or a bomb at the island. and so, you know, you goin say this is an awful big incident to have just one person. so for a lot of reasons i think people assume based on recent history over the last ten years a r an interna an international terrorism conspiracy. this may be a right-wing extremist, someone from they're midst. >> this reminds me in a wave the oklahoma

and paul krushank and fran townsend who serves on the advisory committee for the cia and the homelandepartment. do we think this domestic terrorism or do we think there is some islamic jihadist connection? >> well, it's unclear, john, at this point where it's domestic terrorism unrelated to islamic terrorism or something related to islamist terrorism and al qaeda. it's only a very devastating, sophisticated attack which has been pulled off here. some of the scenes seem a bit like the '98 embassy bombings in africa aghent the u.s. embassies but mcveigh's attack in oklahoma in naj 1995, so not clear who i responsible at this point. there have been threats against norway from al qaeda, mainly by ayman al zawahiri, but not clear who it is, it could not be related to al qaeda at all. >> the reflex, fran townsend, could it be al qaeda, there are a number of reasons, also troops in afghanistan, have worked with the united states on some things overseas. when we see the bomb, we don't know much about it yet, but maybe you know more from your sources. when you see the devastation, it's not a s

that's a great positive for us. >> nick burns, fran townsend, we'll keep on track of this story. fascinating developments in syria. >>> sarah palin says she can win a national election, but will she run? >>> great britain's hacking scandal spreads with allegations concerning a former prime minister. ok. [ cellphone rings ] hey. you haven't left yet. no. i'm boarding now... what's up? um...would you mind doing it again? last time. [ engine turns over ] oooohhhh...sweet. [ male announcer ] the chevy cruze with the my chevrolet app. the remote control car is finally here. well, now she's just playing with us. oh. [ horn honks ] (telephone ring. pick up) usa prime credit. my name ...peggy. you got problem? peggy? third time i've called, it's time i speak with a supervisor. supervisor is genius...i transfer. transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! hello...my name is... peggy? come on!!! hello? want better customer service? switch to discover. ranked #1 in customer loyalty. it pays to discover. >>> great britain's hacking scandal grew even bigger today. a reporter in the guar

. >>> joining us now to discuss this further, cnn national security contributor, fran townsend, who'sof the external advisory boards for both the cia and the department of homeland security. also with us former cia and fbi analyst philip mudd, a senior global adviser now. all right, phil, let me start with you. when you hear nic robertson's reporting on this 1500-page manifesto, his plans for attack, what does that tell you about the suspect? >> i think it tells me a couple of things. first, we have a lot of people in this country and the same kinds of people in europe who have extremist political ideology but who themselves suffer from a mental problem that leads them to murder nearly 100 people. the second and final thing it leads me to think is what i saw at the fbi, is that a number of people in this country, white supremacists, people from sovereign nation movements, a number of people in this country who think like this, have access to weapons, numbers at least in the thousands if not in the tens of thousands. >> that is a really disturbing thought. i'll come back to that. fran,

let's get context from fran townsend and a professor at the hoover institution. fran to you first. the significance here. i want you to listen, the united states recognizes the opposition as the true governing authority in libya. omar gadhafi doesn't like it, he tells his people. react. >> translator: this is our answer to all the decisions they took against the libyan people. >> trample on them. so gadhafi asking those who support him to go to violence. how significant is this step from the united states? >> it's tremendously signature. the rebels now will have access to the money frozen in these accounts in the united states fp they've been recognized by other goem governments around the world. the next question that will face the united states administration is does that mean you're going to provide arms. this has been a very controversial discussion. frankly what they really need to doimmediately is to put more pressure on nato to increase the bombing runs that really did seem to have an impact on gadhafi and the stability of those around him. and so this is a very important pi

joining us now via skype from new york is cnn national security contributor fran townsend. a member of both the cia and dhs external advisory committees. fran, glad you're here with us to talk about this. this is really pretty frightening. i mean, first of all, i want to ask you who are the sympathizers that might be working on this? >> well, you know, there are a number of what we call password-protected websites where jihadi sympathizers and terrorist sympathizers often communicate. they put propaganda up there, and -- and we think from what we're hearing so far that this comes from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula or an affiliated group in yemen. here's the concern about that. anwar al awlaki, head of the group, an american-born islamic cleric, who is a terrorist and inspired the ft. hood shooter, he's got audio tapes there sold around the world and videotapes, so this is kind of a new low in a continuing activity of his, you know. this is now targeting children. >> yeah, i mean, have they ever targeted children before? have they ever released a cartoon like this, and w

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fran townsend agrees >> they are taking the prop granda video showing you how desperate they are.overnment has been effective against soldiers using droen drones and allies. they are desperate and this is evidence for that. >> the jihadist said he will submit it for approval. that affiliate managed to get an underwear bomb on to a plane and cartridge bombs on to the planes. >> narhas been a leader from the videos of the american born jihadi. they are in inspire magazine. another group published a women's magazine with beauty and marriage tips. experts say there is a risk to producing a children's movie. >> how can a campaign like this backfire? >> people that are motivated to fight for jihad should not listen to their parents. it is a direct front to a system that i think not just muslim americans and around the globe and most people find offensive. >> there is all right a brush back with when the filmmakers released, they asked for input. terrorist monitors said some replied they should avoid using the name al qaeda fearing it would alienate supporters not as popular as it once w

fran townsend, a member of both the cia and department of homeland security, and fran, you read thisd it. rather dramatic, but is it surprising. do you agree al qaeda is close to collapsing? >> no question, they are weakened and their ability has been degraded not just by the killing of bin laden, but as mentioned in the report with the years of drone strikes, and we also, by the way, heard the former director of the cia, leon pennetta, say a similar thing at his confirmation hearing. the thing we have to be caution of is it's a little dangerous, the minute you say that you encourage affiliates like al qaeda and the iranian pennsylvania to attempt a big attack to prove you wrong. i do think they are severely weakened. i think it's true they are on the brink of collapse, but it's early to say that, though. >> does it mean there is less of a terrorists threats to americans? >> well, they are no less determined. they do seem less capable of being able to pull off a successful attack, and that has to do with intelligence and drones, and the whole tool kit of things we use to defeat them.

. >> all right, peter bergen, fran townsend, thank you for discussing this hot topic with us.ow for a cnn political update. cnn senior political editor mark preston joining me live from washington. mark, we are hearing a new assessment today from rick santorum on the presidential campaign? can you bring us up to date? >> i sure can, randi. you know, there's an old strategy in politics to try to lower expectations. but i'm going to tell you what, rick santorum lowered them to the bottom yesterday in the state of the union with can't yi crowley. in fact, this is what you have to say about the iowa straw poll that will take place in august. he says if he places fourth, fifth, or sixth, that will be an improvement and that will show some momentum as he tries to pursue the republican presidential nomination. that's far down. look at the quote regarding his campaign. he compares himself to that children's book, "the little engine that could" and he said that's what the campaign is right now. he's meeting with activist, he's meeting with republican primary voters. he said that he has

fran townsend is joining us via skype. you're very experienced here.perience invest gating al qaeda as well, does is this type of attract or strategy a surprise to you that they were going to go after the president as well as general paw tray is. >> the base was attacked because some were there, and we know military leaders and political leaders are, of course, subjects of being targeted by al qaeda and terrorists groups, and as we know by all sorts of extremists groups. and that said, the security around them are very tight and those threats are taken very seriously. i will tell you it doesn't really surprise me that they are on the list, and we always behave in the counterterrorism community assuming they are on the list, assuming that terrorists want to target them and we put their security packages around them based on those threats. >> the information that we're getting is this was in a discussion phase, that this was not in an active phase, is that what your understanding was as well? >> it is. when i am talking to people in the counterterrorism