iran, hezbollah and the quds force. the revolutionary guard corps, special forces unit responsible, a division responsible for foreign clandestine operations including assassinations pose a real threat to the our country, as i said. both these groups are now heavily involved in the global cocaine trade and as a result of that activity, they have come much closer into our neighborhood and even closer on to our doorstep. they are now operating and working in close proximity and collaborating with mexican and colombia drug trafficking cartels not only in the western hemisphere but other locations such as guinea pasell in west africa. thanks to venezuela, and hugo chavez, these operatives from these very threatening terrorist groups are pouring into our neighborhood, into the western hemisphere. the hezbollah quds force are masters at identifying infrastructures around the world and leveraging and exploiting them for all they're worth. this has been their modus operandi for decades. if think for a moment they don't recogniz

but he said the real threat is hezbollah. hezbollah has what al qaeda could only dream of having. they have established relationships with the most powerful international drug trafficking and organized crime syndicates ever faced by law enforcement. and they obviously maintain close relations with other designated terrorist organizations around our globe. congressman, whoever told you that hezbollah is now in 15 cities, i think they woefully underestimated it. part of the problem that we've got is we don't really know. that's what worries me a great deal. congressman lundgren, you brought out the importance of connecting the dots. that is important. but what we need to get in the business of is actually producing more dots to connect. i think that nypd is doing just that within the rule of law. that's extremely important. and, quite frankly, i think that federal law enforcement could learn a great deal from the nypd model. >> the gentleman's time has expired. mr. carvaak is recognized now. >> thank you very much. i'd like to thank the chair for having these what i consider very im

we know hezbollah operatives are here. the question is, whether these hezbollah operatives have the capacity to carry out attacks in the homeland and how quickly they can become fully operational. more than 20 federal investigations since 9/11 identified by majorities of investigative staff offer a chilling view of iranian and hezbollah operations here inside the united states. in fact, just this week in new york city, the southern district of new york, another trial has begun of a building superintendent who is charged with attempting to provide weapons and support and supplies to hezbollah. today our national interests, namely standing with our major ally israel, increasingly puts us incross-hairs as iran moves dangerously closer to making a nuclear bomb. iran is feeling the heat and already has responded with its trademark terrorist brutality overseas. we've seen this before. in beirut, 1983. buenas aires, 1992 and '94. the towers in 1996, captain adams was killed, a constituent of mine. if iran had its way, washington,

and so as i look at the hezbollah and the threat scenarios, hezbollah does have networks or they couldeverage to carry out a foreign threat and attack your. it does have the ability to use people here to support individual people sent from abroad to carry out its mission and spectacular attacks. it could call upon its relationships with criminal elements to visit update an attack, finally, we could see some kind of a homegrown extremist attacks with iran and hezbollah to carry out some kind of active resistance, as they would call it, in the event of confrontation with iran or hezbollah. according to a 1994 report, should the decision be made to strike within the u.s. borders, they have the infrastructure pressure to carry out an attack. there is a guy who was smuggled across the border in the trunk of a car. he has specialized training and weaponry, spy craft, counterintelligence. this is someone here raising money but could've done violent things that that was something he was told to do. the north carolina example is just another example, in fact, as that case was being tried, a plo

doing things in that capacity on behalf of hezbollah. so groups have the capability to penetrate into governments that may not be as cooperative as we would like in counterterrorism, maybe even a little supportive of terrorism to provide that kind of cover. >> do you see that as an effort that is separate and apart from their interest in trying to obtain and iran's interest in trying to obtain a nuclear capacity, and would our taking a more proactive step and encouraging our allies and others to crack down on that have some kind of an ancillary impact on iran's ability to obtain nuclear weapons? >> it's largely parallel. but it's not -- it's not irrelevant. i mean, for example, i was at treasury when we started coming up with the sanctions program on iran and very proud of the way it's been working. but one of the areas where iran has been seeking to evade sanctions is by leveraging financial institutions in south america, several of which we have is hit publicly. so there are areas where these two -- excuse me, where these two different

we focus on hezbollah as a terrorist organization. they own lebanese politics in a way they didn't 30 years ago. and how they might respond to an iranian order might have changed. hezbollah is a different adversary than they were when george tenet spoke. iran is different as well. what we have seen in the past year is that attempt on the ambassador to the -- the saudi ambassador in washington and also attempts across the world in places like thailand and azerbaijan. so they're showing capabilities one thing. the real difference is they're showing the intent to go after people in ways they weren't five, ten years ago. >> thomas, would you agree with that, that they are showing the intent and if so, what would be the potential risks or types of attacks that they might try in the united states? >> well, i agree with phil, the intent is there and the capability is up for the iranians. i do agree that iranians view hezbollah differently than in the past so that forces the iranians to increase their ability to reach into the united states o

so i think they are very much on top of hezbollah and the threat with hezbollah. there's regular contact with them and our domestic intelligence services and, of course, the agency. so i don't think there's any doubt that canada is very much attuned to the threat posed by hezbollah and the border crossings. but as mike pointed out, the leakiest border is the southwest border. there's no doubt about that. and that's where most of the drugs are coming across. that's where the well established routes are. and you can -- there are well established trade craft, concealments and that sort of thing. we can go through a whole hearing about how well they can hide material coming across the southwest border. >> and again, i'm very at tuned to the attention we give to the southwest board, and it's deserved. but i'm also concerned we neglect -- it's hard to say -- we had the lackawanna six case in my community. those people came over through canada. they walked in and got a legitimate driver's license and they did what they did. so that's why i'm concerned as well. these were

it's called iran's a team of terrorism, hezbollah, a militant group that's killed more americans thanher except al qaeda. with concerns of how iran may retaliate, intel officials tell congress they have more concerns over operatives who have been lying low. >> their sophistication, presence and deepen trenchment has a presence to provide a platform that should be of concern to all americans. >> the export told the panel hezbollah could have hundreds of operatives, engain in drug running, cigarette smuggling. >> there were over 70 used car dealerships that were identified as part of the money laundering scheme for laundering the hundreds of millions of dollars of cocaine generated revenue, much of which was, you know, tracked back to hezbollah. >> these experts say if provoked, iran and hezbollah have the capability of hatching a plot at any moment inside u.s. i told with tom fuentes, a cnn contributor about that. >> that doesn't necessarily translate into an attack on the u.s. homeland, right? >> correct. there's no good reason to do it and many good reasons not to do it. >> why not?

seven members of hezbollah. didn't say seven lebanese christians, these were members of hezbollah. and, you know, that made about page 20 in "the washington post," barely touched on in the national media, but clearly important to those who realize it's a threat. megyn: mike, this is one of the things they talked about this morning, how quickly could these operatives or members, whatever you want to call them, become operational as terrorists within the united states. the answers were not good. >> no, absolutely. i mean, that's the point. they could already be here in place. it's no secret there's massive tensions. i mean, you know, the iranians and the police there and the people who control the hezbollah strains, they read the newspapers just like everyone else. so i think it's entirely possible that operate is have come in -- operatives have come in. i was trying to make the point it's not hundreds of operatives, so we shouldn't worry about massive attacks on cities in the dozens, but kinetic attacks on people

that said, we are concerned about the activities of iran and hezbollah in the western hemisphere. we continue to monitor the situation closely. we will take appropriate action to counter any threat that may arise. we are aware of and concerned about allegations that some latin-american drug trafficking organizations are linked with hezbollah and iran. we have not found information to verify amount of the allegations, but of course the recent incident concerning the attempted assassination of the saudi ambassador is a very large question mark and wakeup call. we are continuing to look for direct links and we are engaged very extensively with our partners in the hemisphere. both to educate them about the dangers posed by both iran and hezbollah and also to work with them to heighten our intelligence sharing. we did impose sanctions in 2008 and extended them last year on the venezuelan industries -- assist iran in developing weapons. so if we find information we can verify, we are committed to taking action. but what we instead are seeing, much to our encouragement is that our partne

does the iranian regime continued to support hezbollah?at kind of threat has a poser ally israel and is iran supporting the gaza strip and what role as iran playing in iraq? >> i did not write down all of those questions. >> basically, do they continue to support hezbollah? >> yes, they do. there is a very close relationship between particularly the irgc and the quds force which is the organization responsible for external operations around the world and hezbollah. it is kind of a partnership arrangement with the iranians as a senior partner. >> is hezbollah not a terrorist group that threatens our close ally, israel? >> yes. >> does iran continue to support hamas and the gaza strip? >> indirectly, yes. >> are there not a threat also to israel and also to gaza? >> hamas? yes. >> general burgess is iran supporting the insurgents in iraq, excuse me in afghanistan and? >> yes, maam. >> okay and what type of roller they playing in afghanistan? >> they have provided arms. they have been caught. we have found iranian arms in afghanistan, so you

anti-american sentiment running rampant in hezbollah.iran group pose a real, genuine terror threat right here on u.s. soil? stand by. >> in france, the standoff goes on with an accused mass killer who says he wants to bring the country to its knees. we are learning more about a man driven by vengeance. >>> and coach sean payton suspended. a very hefty fine and more. the nfl deals harsh punishment to the new orleans saints for a so-called bounty on opposing players. stand by. we're in "the situation room." >> all right. let's get right to our strategy session. joining us our cnn political contributor maria cardona along with rich galen. guy, thank you very much for coming in. jeb bush, popular governor of florida, endorsing mitt romney saying primary elections had been held in 34 states and now is the time for republicans to unite behind governor romney and take our message of fiscal conservatism and job creation to all voters this fall. is it at all realistic, do you think, to think that a romney-bush ticket in the fall is possible? >> a

>> -- what is their relationship with hezbollah? >> that is better addressed in a closed session in terms of a specific relationship, but there has been a long standing relationship between hezbollah and syria. it's diminished of late, hezbollah has stood aside while what is happening -- and has not directly been involved in some of the situation. some of the violence that has taken place in syria. >> thank you. and also with hamas? >> same thing. >> and in fact, as i understand it, based on public reports, hamas is step issing back from the situation yet iran has not stepped back? >> correct. >> they are continuing to push forward? >> that is right. >> let me ask you, does the violence that is happening in syria have any impact on stability in iraq? >> interestingly, we -- you know, there was a point at which obviously iraq was kind of standing to the side and not engaged and i think as a result of what they have seen happening in syria, that iraq itself has now asked for assad to step down and let me put it this way, they are more

jenna: some are now calling hezbollah a bigger threat than al-qaeda.turbing new evidence of this threat to americans inside the united states. judy miller is going to be joining us after the break with more on that. >> plus, police identify a suspected criminal still on the loose. why this man is greasing up doorways before he breaks them in. d! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i g heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilos isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! jen right now, some new information in the crime stories we're keeping an eye on for you here, california police discover a missing teenager's police, sierra lamar disappeared on her way to school last week, investigators found her bag at an intersection, just 2 miles from her home. they're continuing this investigation. >>> also new details on a suspect arrested in texas, and linked to a disappearance, a mysterious disappearance in alaska. texas police charging israel keyes with illegally withdrawing cash from peoples' bank accounts, now

of course, hezbollah is funded.itually by iran and with all of the questioning right now in the back and forth about is israel going to make an attack against iran because of the nuclear program, you have to wonder how these strings of hezbollah that lead back to the u.s. will play themselves out. there will be a lot of risks involved, however, and that's well documented. you should go to our website, cnn.com/security for more on that about what will happen if these actually turn from supporters to operatives and launch attacks in the u.s. >> thank you very much, appreciate it. time now for political pop, newt gingrich not a robert deniro fan at least not after a joke the actor made last night. our joe johns has details joo at a monday night fund-raiser attended by first lady michelle obama academy award-winning superstar robert deniro accompanied by his wife grace hightower made a joke that went viral almost immediately and opened him up to fair game in the republican race for the nomination. deniro was quoted as m

i would tell you that when you are thinking about hamas or hezbollah, that person is much more likely use in nuclear weapon than the soviet union ever would have banned. [applause] i want to make one other point on this issue. when you hear the news discussions about the united states intelligence says axe and the israeli intelligence as why issedys y, we completely messe the indian test, the pakistan attest before the first gulf war. back in 2007, it was not until the israelis came to the united states with photos of the nuclear plants that the north koreans were building in the syrian desert that we understood there was a nuclear facility there. putting the security of the united states, the state of israel in the hands of american intelligence and ability to predict the status of the iranian nuclear program, i would say it is a very dangerous path. >> thank you. can you paint a picture for us, how far does it runs influence reached -- iran's influence reached? what does it mean for israel's security? >> big brother for the middle east. they are having -- or the perception that they

involving hezbollah, shepard. >> shepard: testimony there tying hezbollah to mexican drug cartels?, that's right. you remember that plot last fall with the iranian american pay a mexican drug cartel $1.5 million to take out the saudi ambassador in washington, d.c. at the time it seemed pretty farfetched but a former chief for the d.e.a. the drug enforcement taking testifying today iran's hezbollah uses the pipelines like their own super highway. >> hezbollah has what al qaeda could only dream of having. they have established relationships with the most powerful international drug trafficking and organized crime as i understand cats ever faced by law enforcement you remember in january clapper also warning congress the plot to kill ambassador now willing to conduct in the u.s. in response to real or perceived actions in the united states to threaten tehran that would not be limited to sanctions, catherine herridge in washington. catherine, thank you, the lawyer for the u.s. soldier accused of the massacre of innocent civilians in afghanistan. that lawyer says he is going to afghanis

for hezbollah. >> clearly as jane said, it's in america's interest for assad to go. it's in israel's interest. and it will hurt iran. iran uses syria as tow hold in the arab world, as a place to funnel weapons and money to terrorist organizations, and it's past time for assad to go. having said that, the departure is necessary, but it's efficient. we have to be concerned with what comes next. here again, i think it's important. it's a complicated situation. a complicated set of circumstances. we nid to work closely with the opposition in syria. we ought to arm the opposition, in my opinion, today, and we should work with them to ensure the muslim brotherhood does not follow assad. they face a threat from hamas and the reconciliation between the palestinian authority. what is the thinking? >> i don't think aye been asked before to speak for the palestinian authority. so i don't know what his thinking is. i think it's absolutely clear that the message from washington, d.c. publicly must be the palestinians will never have a state with terrorists in their government. >>

homeland caused by iran and the foreign terrorist organization hezbollah.

what would a nuclear capable iran mean for groups like hezbollah? >> well, certainly, david, there's no greater threat that anyone faces. israel or the united states, than a terrorist armed with a nuclear weapon. and when you think about that iran is one of the worst state sponsors of terror today, and their sponsorship of the groups of hamas and hezbollah tells us not only do you love the risk that they will transfer the itself, transfer in a dirty bomb, but also the potential for nuclear blackmail. when you think of people who say we can contain the nuclear armed iran, you hear people say we contain the soviet union. but when you're thinking about a terrorist interested in doing anybody anything possible that person is much more likely to use a nuclear weapon than the soviet union ever would have been. the danger is much greater. i want to make one other point on the issue. when you hear the news discussions about the united states intelligence says "x" and israeli intelligence say "y", don't forget it's abysmal. we completely missed. the indian t

there are has -- hezbollah operatives that are iranian, iraqi, or otherwise. that is something we should be aware of. >> is it possible that they would be persons who are of american ancestry? >> we have not seen that as much as we have seen with sunnis. people converting to sunni islam. there is a small number of that kind of thing. it is their ability to leverage criminal networks of the types that mr. braun has discussed. they are not hezbollah, by virtue of working together, they are able to do things on behalf of the group, knowingly or otherwise, and we know that hezbollah leverages criminal associations here am i in europe, for operational purposes, in particular on the extra restrictions that have been put in place post- 9/11 ?-we mac when we talk about the networks, are they likely to be persons who are from the country? >> the criminal networks -- not necessarily. in the charlotte case, almost all the individuals were from the lebanon, with the exception of some of the people they married and sham marriages. >> are you getting close to saying that we

i didn't hear -- >> what can be done with hezbollah and what the u.n. and the u.s. is doing to help prevent the flow of arms going that direction because it seems as though there's been a blind eye, so to speak, with the flow of arms toward hezbollah. and if you could clarify that, i'd appreciate that very much. >> okay. thank you. let me begin by coming back to unesco. >> yes. >> we need to ensure that the legislative and policy tools that we have and use meet the desired effect and hit their intended target. the intended target is in this instance not unesco the programs. not the united states vote and leadership, which has already frankly suffered in unesco as a result of our withholding of funding. and we've created a void in which china and qatar and others have come behind us with moy we funding, filling the gap and turning them in a direction that serves their interests. the target is to change the palestinians' calculation. and the palestinians aren't frankly dissuaded by something that doesn't impact them. in a way, if we wanted to be really cynical, if you

we all know the threat in iran is real, would you discuss the relationship of iran to syria, to hezbollah? and on 60 minutes, secretary panetta said there was a red line for us. i know in the discussions between mr. netanyahu and the president and the last several days there seems to be some closing of the gap on our different ideas about dealing with iran and the growing concern. what actions, military or otherwise, should we be considering in connection with iran? i don't mean to put you in a classified positionment but just generally could you give us your idea? >> yes, sir. the iranian threat is basically along four lines. there's this nuclear program where they're enriching more uranium than they need for any peaceful purpose. and that went through denial and deception. they have tried to keep that program going. the iaea has tried the best to monitor it. they've had an unfortunate visit there recently. the second threat is the long range rocket and ballistic missile threat. that one has the attention of all of our friends in the region. as far as how they protect against that. the t

and what is being done to help stop hezbollah's rearming. or can you brief the committee on the latest regarding that security resolution 1701? >> yes. 1701 is of course a resolution that established a renewed mandate for uniphil on the border of southern lebanon with israel. its mandate is to prevent the flow of personnel and weapons into a zone adjoining the israeli border. it has been relatively effective in doing that. it is a mandate under chapter 6 of the u.n. charter, rather than chapter 7, which would have been our preference, being the more robust enforcement chapter of the united nations charter. it wasn't possible to obtain that because it didn't have the consent of the lebanese authorities. but i just was meet iing yestery with the israeli chief of defense staff, general gantz. we talked about the role that unifil is playing. and his view was, and i was gratified to hear that it matched ours, that on balance what unifil is contributing is important and valuable. it's not airtight. it's not foolproof. there are continued weapons f

hezbollah, which we know is in that is right. we know that hezbollah operatives are here.peratives have the -- hezbollah operatives have the capacity to carry out attacks on the homeland, and how quickly they can become fully operational. more than 20 several -- federal investigation since 9/11, identified by the investigative staff offer a chilling view of iranian and has blood operations inside the united states. just this week, in new york city, another trial has begun of a building superintendent who was charged with attempting to provide weapons and support and supplies to hezbollah. we stand with our major ally, israel did it puts us in the middle of the extremist regime with iran as it moves dangerously closer to making a nuclear bomb. iran has responded with its trademark terrorist brutality overseas. we have seen this before in reagan 1983, and renault series in 1992 and 1994. -- buenas aires in 1992 and 1994. and if iran had its way, washington dc also would have witnessed terrible carnage in the smoky rooms of a popular local restaurant only a few months ago. ma

what will hezbollah do. if assad is in fact going to disappear from the scene and syria has been the main conduit for weapons and it's not that syrians are a conduty conduit, s regime has provided a good deal of went rea to hezbollah. if they know their recent source of supply is in doubt, does hezbollah make a decision they go all out when rashes ask them to go out against the israelis. if you're israel you have to awe suit worst buawe -- assume the . sure there will be retaliation. rashes will do it against israel. they will push hezbollah to do it as well. they will go after soft jeushz targets around the world. one should assume remark is not going to be quiescent. that really needs to be part of the consideration. >> rose: if iran strikes israel, we're brought into it immediately, are we not. >> i think it depends. you know, the fact of the matter is, i think from an israeli standpoint, if they make a decision to do this on their own, they're not going to want to do it on their own and then immediately