paul cruickshank, our terrorism analyst, is with us.s is a picture of kayla mueller from prescott arizona, a humanitarian aid worker who went to syria and she was actually kidnapped on august 4th 2013 by isis taken captive by doctors without borders hospital trying to help syrian refugees young people and others. the whole notion of this woman, kayla mueller, paul do we know if there was effort by isis to seek something from the united states in exchange for her release? >> we don't, wolf at this point. that kind of information has not been publicly released for very obvious reasons. we don't know if there was any kind of negotiation at any point. if something has happened to this woman, then clearly isis bears absolute responsibility whichever way around. they took her captive. they've been holding her for all this time. i think we're likely to see a kind of backlash against them again for this. like we saw with the british taxi driver that went to help the syrian people when he was beheaded by isis. there was outrage in the united kin

paul cruickshank, bob baer and jim sciutto. jim, let me start with you. you're working your sources here in washington. i have been told for days if in fact there is video showing this jordanian pilot murdered jordan will respond very aggressively against isis. i don't know what they're going to do. but the anger is very intense right now. probably atypical because jordan is a relatively peaceful part of that very turbulent world. >> no question. there's been talk of retaliation in terms of executing some of the isis prisoners now in jordan even the possibility of this female failed suicide bomber that had been on the table, though not officially as a possible quid pro quo for the pilot, that among the possibilities. but certainly nothing confirmed. this is a real test for king abdullah. does he respond in a firmer way, firmer commitment to the coalition or does he feel the pressure of a population which already to this point was uncomfortable with jordanian involvement in a campaign led by the u.s. against not just another muslim country but another sunn

let's go to terrorism analyst paul cruickshank. author of "agent storm."ear about this cartoonist and the controversial depictions of the prophet muhammad it jogs not too far back to the "charlie hebdo" massacre. what do you make of that? >> i think quite likely it's an inspiration. we saw exactly the same kind of target in denmark as in paris and paris was against a kosher market against a cartoonist. in denmark, against an artist a controversial depiction of the prophet muhammad and also a bar mitzvah party outside of a synagogue. someone who appears to be radicalized in prison and known for being a gang member but not known for being an extremist. they didn't know he was radical. he got out of prison a couple of weeks ago. it's possible he was radicalized while he was in jail. >> that's the thing. we've talked about that before, how other wannabes jihadists are radicalized while behind bars. there's a real problem in denmark with muslim youth who have access to weapons because they are members of a biker gang let's say. how does that take someone from t

let me bring in our panel to discuss bob baer and also with me again is paul cruickshank and co-authorem for the world? >> this is a problem which is much broader than just europe and there is really an unprecedented threat in europe right now because there are so many europeans who have gone off to fight in syria and iraq and almost 3.5,000 europeans have gone and more than 750 have returned and many of them fought with isis and there is a security challenge from them and a lot of radicalization in the european union, as well much more than in the united states. there is a lot of concern about lone wolf terrorism, as well and i think the more we found out about this from our sources in denmark the more there seems to be a lone wolf. >> right. >> someone inspired by isis. >> right. >> or al qaeda but not part of them. >> bob, to that point, i know it's early going, but so far there's no indication that this young, this 22-year-old who carried out these two attacks yesterday alone ever went ever went to fight with isis or to be trained with isis. so what does that tell us? that it merel

. >> paul cruickshank, cnn terror analyst, i will bring you in as president obama is approaching the podium any second. what do you make of the fact that the president is delivering this address? is this just because of what's going on in europe is this out of concerns that there will be something that happens again here in this country? >> there is clearly concern about radicalization in the united states. there have been lone wolf attacks here. the bigger threat is in europe. there has been more radicalization there, but obviously, he wants to highlight this threat and bring stake holders together from all around the world so that the best practice can be highlighted and some pilot projects to tackle radicalization can be highlighted as well. >> paul we will -- president obama is being introduced. let's take a listen. >> -- from his very first days in office including by developing the first government-wide strategy to prevent violent extremism here at home. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the president of the united states, barack obama. >> thank you. thank you s

paul cruickshank, i appreciate it. >>> isis is posting a mass killing of christians. men in orange jump suits forced to kneel down on the beach. the surf turns red with their blood and they're coptic christians recently kidnapped in libya. cnn, of course is not showing this video, a jihadist statement in the video swears vengeance for the deaths of osama bin laden. isis isis-backed militants took control of the coastal town and right there you see it on the map. it was hometown to the late dictator moammar gadhafi. >> it is incredibly upsetting to see this and for a lot of people what it shows is that isis is clearly spreading far beyond iraq and syria. >> reporter: that's right, poppy, and if you look at this video, it is sending a very firm message to many parties. you have the christian community here in egypt. you have the egyptian government but also you have the european union and libya is on the doorsteps of the eu and in this message it was delivered in english and watching this video, these men taken on the beach, executed all at the same time beforehand. you

i want to bring in paul cruickshank.onouncement, whether true or not, it's not lost on anyone that it's just days after jordan executed a female suicide bomber who was an asset to isis, who isis had demanded as a trade, who knows why, for what we now know was a dead pilot. >> that's right. sajida al rishawi involved in that operation that isis carried out on the american hotels in amman, jordan, in november of 2005. a couple of days ago, she was executed before dawn by the jordanians. we know, of course, that isis, when it comes to their operations, it's often an eye for an eye from their point of view. so -- >> but they certainly say they had no hand in the killing of this woman, if their report has any shred of truth to it. they're claiming this killing is at the hands of the jordanians. >> absolutely. but lost on nobody, as you say, these two events happened within just days after one another. obviously we just don't know what the status of this american is at this point. >> and speaking of timing, i want you to reite

we have nic robertson standing by but paul cruickshank, let me go to you first?>> we know that a facebook page belonging to this gunman shortly before the attack he pledged allegiance to abu bakr al baghdadi a friend of the gunman told cnn that he was friends with this facebook profile. we don't know for sure that it's his facebook profile shortly before the attack a pledge to the eye leej jans to the head of isis. we've been told that he had no connection directly to isis but wanted to do it apparently to this information, on their behalf and would allow isis to take some ownership of this terrorist attacks. in the weeks after "charlie hebdo," they were encouraging those in the west to do the same. >> i'm reminded of what happened in paris and we learned later that those attackers had gone overseas to train. this could be entirely different. to your point, this may be surely social media and inspired from a distance by isis and this leader who he has pledged his allegiance to. how often now paushlgsl s.paul, is this happening, what you can see on the internet ca

. >> let's talk to cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank and kim dozier. kim dozier let me begin with you. antika picked through questions such as how would isis know it was a jordanian plane or air strike? how is it she would be the only person in the one particular home with no guards in a city that presumably would be bombed by coalition air strikes? my question to you would be would this be a huge miscalculation on behalf of isis to drive a wedge between u.s. and jordan? >> i think they could drive a wedge between u.s. and jordan with this. they recognize this is a great pr tool to say a strike by jordan had struck at a u.s. citizen. i've gotten a lot of skeptical responses from u.s. officials. they want -- well they don't want to see, but they say they need to see technical evidence or photographic evidence to prove out this claim. that said think back to when private bowe bergdahl was held and they were considering strikes against the taliban. officials tell me many times they called off strikes on the possibility one of the safe houses they were con

paul cruickshank, to you.r sources telling you that authorities are increasingly worried about a nexus between gangs, as we know that this 22-year-old shooter was part of. and jihadis specifically in this region. why? >> it's especially the case in denmark that they're seeing a merging nexus between these gangs. they've seen a number of gangsters who have gone off to fight in syria and iraq. some of these gangsters justify that criminal behavior by saying that it's all against the infidels anyway. and there's some sense of a redemption from some of these people from finding islam from their point of view, fighting holy war. this does appear to be the young gunman who was killed by danish security services. he had a history of violence, of stabbing a young man on a commuter train last year and some violence also in prison. he wasn't on the radar scream for extremist views. he was on the radar for being part of a gang. >> what do you make of the parallels that we see between the paris attacks, although a number

paul cruickshank, the idea that the u.s. military is still remaining in yemen, i don't know where or how that happens when this critical and strategic place is now so endangered, they have to get everybody out and then just that map that jim put up with four critical spaces that do not have that -- what is the downside not only for america to have that loss but also for those countries not to have that kind of diplomacy anywhere near their ranks? >> it's clearly a significant setback because you don't have all that face-to-face contact in yemen. >> is it really for them a setback? >> it is absolutely a setback not to have a functioning embassy in yemen given how important that battle is against al qaeda there. and also not to have a good relationship with the powers that be now, the houthis. just this last summer, the obama administration was holding up yemen as a model for counterterrorism strategy. now that's all in tatters. this relationship clearly is broken down with the houthis. not clear if that houthi leadership sign

joining us cnn terrorism expert paul cruickshank is here.king your sources and learning more about where you think this man came from who this man is. he also supposedly has two accomplices that nic robertson was talking about. what are you learning about this man and attack? >> he was on the radar screen of danish security services because of his ties to gangs in denmark. he wasn't on their radar screen because of ties to extremist groups or extremist activity but he had a violent past. he was in jail recently for stabbing a young man repeatedly on a commuter train. he got out of jail just weeks before he carried out this attack. it's possible he was radicalized while he was in jail. there seems to be more lone wolf attack. not somebody who is thought to have traveled to places like syria or iraq or to have any direct connections to terrorist groups overseas but perhaps someone inspired by those terrorist groups. back in 2010 they put out a $100,000 bounty on lars vilks' life. >> they seem to have a background with gangs or being low level

gardenstein-ross senior fellow with the center for defense of democracy and terrorism analyst paul cruickshankw credible do you think this claim is either that the american hostage was killed by the jordanians accidentally in an air strike or just the fact that she may no longer be alive? >> the fact she may no longer be alive is pretty credible. i think isis is probably saying that because she's dead though let's obviously hope she isn't. as for the claim she was killed specifically by a jordanian air strike that just seems far too pat. that's exactly what isis would like to have happen in that it seems to split up the coalition, it shows that the jordanian air strikes were for nothing good for the coalition, and also it robs them of this problem that they have which what is do they do with kayla mueller. >> paul you agree? >> i absolutely agree. this just really smacks of propaganda from isis. just all too convenient from their point of view. the idea as well that there will be no guards no isis operatives in this building with such a high value prisoner just buggars belief. >> help us under

. >> i want to bring cnn terror analyst paul cruickshank to talk about this. paul you think this is legitimate? either way, it's likely going to be effective propaganda but is it real? >> as you reported there's no proof in this new magazine that they did an interview with her, but i have spoken to french terrorism experts and they believe that it's certainly a credible claim, not a verified claim at this point, but a credible claim from isis and we know that she entered syria the day before her companion, amedy coulibaly, carried out that attack on the jewish supermarket in paris. we know that he pledged allegiance to isis so it's certainly very plausible that she would now be with isis in syria. >> we know that syria is basically a black hole for western intelligence. if hayat boumeddiene is there, how will authorities be able to find her and how high a priority do you think that is at this point? >> i think it's going to be extremely difficult indeed to find her if she is indeed there, being protected by isis. she's a very very important figure and now when

paul cruickshank, appreciate the reporting.ning me now, cnn military analyst, luc francona and former chairman of the house intelligence committee. congressman, this news this idea that isis is planning to kidnap westerners in jordan and lebanon, bring back into syria. it would certainly be an escalation in the tactics but as i said in the calculus of isis it makes a certain amount of sense. >> absolutely. you know this goes way back. al qaeda in the magrav in northern africa was the number one splier of cash to al qaeda corps, the leadership through ransom. remember isis used to be an al qaeda affiliate. so this has been through their ranks from northern africa to the middle east to afghanistan. we even saw the taliban have discussions after the taliban five exchange say, hey, we need to go out and buy some western hostages to keep them for some negotiation ability. this is a, very plausible and b, in both lebanon and jordan it is because of the border issues there, the large number of people from syria coming over the large n

say there's not much we can do here beyond helping some of these people from the outside. >> paul cruickshankhe reasons why the american people likely feel like the war is not going well is because of how good isis is at propaganda. it's disgusting and vile propaganda but it is effective nonetheless. in this latest video it again shows the murder of christians making threats against the west but this one purportedly filmed in libya. how much of a cause for alarm is that that this is one that is in another country, not just iraq or syria but in a different country, one not far from europe? >> there's a lot of concern because isis have made a big push into libya. this is very deliberate. the isis leader abu al bakr baghdadi sent a top deputy last year to lead the charge and 300 returning isis libyan veterans came back they are able to take control of derna in the east a town of 100,000 people and spread their operations along the coast and to tripoli, where they carried out that deadly attack killing an american last month at the corinthia hotel. a lot of concern they are expanding, taking adva

joining us now philip mudd mark hurtling paul cruickshank and salma hamdani. re getting new information about the raid last month in belgium, foiling an isis terror plot that supposed by the information you are learning it was a lot more -- a bigger than we originally thought. >> a lot bigger. belgian officials telling me the isis leadership were behind it. they sent a cell back to belgium to carry this out. the plan was to launch a terrorist spectacular. when they went into the safe house, they found automatic weapons, they found chemicals necessary to make explosives they found police uniforms suggesting they wanted to gain access to sensitive sites. they found a gopro camera suggesting they wanted to film this for propaganda purposes. they believe the cell was coordinated by an operative in greece. he had a system of phone calls to communicate with them coded messages. they believe it was a very sophisticated plot and isis leadership was behind it. >> phil, if the isis terror i haves in belgium were targeting a major area like nato headquarters what does it

let's get more from bob baer paul cruickshank, military analyst mark hertling and philip mudd. congressman, what he just told me here in "the situation room." he thinks the air strikes are not working that effectively. he believes isis is stronger today than it was six months ago. >> i disagree from a couple of respects. we saw isis push back and now we have the kurds saying that they are going to obtain the ground offensive against isis. let's go to something equally important and that's the isis ideological message. they made the mistake of murdering the jordanian pilot and now they've made the mistake of murdering an innocent female. if you contrast it to where we were last summer if you're standing around in an isis camp campfire you cannot say that you're doing well. >> general hertling the president said that it was thought that kayla mueller, the humanitarian aid worker who was killed had been present at the site of a failed rescue attempt, that they probably missed the u.s. special operations forces missed them her and another american maybe by a day or two. are you sur

reveals his journey in this book "agent storm: my life inside al qaeda and the cia" co-authored by paul cruickshank and tim lister, both cnn contributors. coming up, how storm goes from boxer to holy warrior. >> i was invited by osama bin laden to join up with him in the training camp in afghanistan. mhere's our new trainer! ensure active heart health. crowd: yayyyy! heart: i'm going to focus on the heart. i minimize my sodium and fat... gotta keep it lean and mean. pear: uh-oh. heart: i maximize good stuff like my potassium... and phytosterols, which may help lower cholesterol. major: i'm feeling energized already. new delicious ensure active heart health supports your heart and body, so you stay active and strong. ensure. take life in. i'm 55 years old... and i have diabetic nerve pain. the pain was terrible. my feet hurt so bad. it felt like hot pins and needles... coming from the inside out of my skin. when i did go see the doctor, and he prescribed lyrica. it helped me. it's known that... diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda-approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone.

let's bring in our terrorism analyst paul cruickshank and robert baer and former counterterrorism operatived picture that was received by the pentagon. this is the isis leader al baghdadi taken back in 2004. he was under u.s. control at camp bucka. he was freed and we know that he told his prison captors as he was leaving. he said i'll see you in new york. ominous words. and now he's the leaders of isis. now we see his picture. what do you think about this? >> well wolf i'd say it's pretty clear he was radicalized in prison he was picked up on suspicion of being a member of al qaeda. as i understand it, he was very quiet in prison but i think the fact is that he looks at the united states as his number one enemy and i'll go beyond that and say, given the chance he'll attack the continental united states and is certainly at war with the united states in kurdistan and iraq. why he was radicalized, i don't know. but it's very difficult for the military to keep track of so many prisoners and he got through the net. you know and secondly we couldn't keep these people after we left iraq. you can'

paul cruickshank, you have been monitoring some of the jihadi web sites.seeing and hearing as far as the fate of this young american woman is concerned? >> well the initial claim was put out by the roqqa media center earlier today and then another isis linked media group repeated the claim just a few hours ago. i have been in touch with flashpoint partners an american organization tracking this isis social media. there is a real buzz around isis social media, now they are making sort of mockery of the jordanians and are obviously delighted by this news. this does seem to be an official isis communication. whether it's true or not is of course a very different story indeed. >> they have not shown this woman's body have they paul? >> they have not shown any evidence whatsoever that she was in the rubble of this building. >> your analysis paul i want to go around and ask everyone what is your analysis? do you believe she's alive or dead? >> i don't think there's too much hope right now given the fact that this does appear to be an official isis communique for

paul cruickshank and peter monsoor, i appreciate it.emed up with the nfl for the first ever commercial against domestic violence to air during the super bowl. now critics say no more death. it's really all about branding the issue, not solving it. eeeeeeeeee financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like shopping hungry equals overshopping. ommmmmmm my new website on squarespace is designed to help you tuck yourself in at night. it features guided meditations soothing melodies, and stories to help you get cozy. ommmmmmm i sincerely hope you dig it. whatever your idea is, build it beautiful on squarespace. >>> the nfl's fight against domestic violence under fire this time from the sports biology deadspin. take a look at the headline. no more. the nfl's domestic violence partner is a sham. in case you don't remember no more crafted a powerful ad that aired during the super bowl. it was so powerful it actually brought me to tears. >> you've called 911.

let's bring in cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank and senior fellow of national security affairs at the heritage foundation peter brooks. gentlemen, thank you for being with us. paul, let's start with you. let's start with the latest news here. the execution. jordan executed two convicted terrorists. what do you think reaction will be by isis and what more now can and do you suspect jordan will do? >> i think there will be a lot of anger from isis. they could retaliate inside jordan. up to 2,000 jordanians traveled to syria and iraq to fight with these various groups all fighting with isis. up to 9,000 pro-jihadi extremists inside jordan. there were demonstration this is past summer in support of isis in a couple jordanian towns so there's a real concern that isis could retaliate inside the kingdom for these executions but also if jordan steps up its air campaign against isis in syria and iraq. >> the question i want to get your take on as well is what more do you expect jordan to do especially in light of the fact that we heard from the chairman of the senate armed services commi

paul cruickshank is here to discuss. it's not even a worry at this point.reading beyond its strongholds in iraq and syria. but the big question is when you look at libya and where it's positioned especially do you think isis can get that same kind of a stronghold foothold in libya as we've seen what they've done in a place like syria? >> they're rapidly expanding in libya. they're taking advantage of the simmering civil war there to spread their operations from the east part of the country, derna all the way over to tripoli. they have several strongholds in libya. so there's certainly a lot of concern about their expansion. a few obstacles for isis there are so many different other armed militia groups in libya. and the other one is you don't have this sort of sectarian divide like you do in syria and iraq. so perhaps the conditions won't be as advantageous for isis in libya. but very remarkable expansion from them. this is the southern shore of the mediterranean. the first time isis is on the mediterranean, the southern shore of the european union, crete,

they have been developing plans, according to a middle east security source who told our paul cruickshank this. they've been developing these plans since the middle of last year since around the same time they began beheading the americans. james foley was the first one we saw. what we've seen up until this point is isis kidnapping westerners that were actually in syria. now it looks like they're going to develop plans to broad than out, go into neighboring countries to kidnap westerners. >> so if we throw the map up guys is it just sheer geographic proximity and that's why members of isis would go to neighboring nations lebanon and jordan? specifically it's the westerners they'll be after. >> well westerners international hostages. we saw what they did with the japanese. i think they're really just looking for any hostages that they can exploit as propaganda brooke. but these neighboring countries, there's a lot of refugee camps there. humanitarian organizations are working out of there. a lot of westerners volunteering in those areas. so the concern is that isis militants would go into

joining me now, paul cruickshank, cnn terrorism analyst. former cia counterterrorism analyst. let's just first begin with what we just heard. i was jotting down hearing from the the king referring to the pilot as a hero and referring to isis as a coward terrorist group. anything jump out to either of you? >> the jordanian government is a very close ally of the united states. the king has been a trustworthy ally for some time. it's hardening in a sense to hear there were people saying they want vengeance, want to take action as a result of this. i think that would be their impulse as well. >> but did you really hear that in what he said? >> no, because there are also pressures inside jordanian society that don't want further involvement. this war is already jordan's problem very much so. the third largest city in the country is a refugee camp. there are a lot of jordanians who are going to say, we want to stay out of this from a combat perspective. others will say, no this is too far, we have to drop more bombs. >> you want to jump in? >> i

our terrorism analyst, paul cruickshank and retired lieutenant general mark hertling. to increase their participation in the anti-isis coalition, want to step up their air strikes. i've been told by officials in the know that jordan's response now to isis after the execution of these two terrorists is only just beginning. so what's going on? what's the latest you're hearing? >> reporter: here's what we know. a short time ago, a u.s. official confirming that jordan now is in fact stepping up its participation in the air strikes against isis. what are we talking about? every day the coalition puts out something to its members called an air tasking order, literally a list of targets, they apportion them out amongst the countries. jordan now saying it wants to do more on that air tasking order and that is now happening. it may be a slow process. depends on where the targets are located, depends on if jordan can get to them if they are mobile targets, what other kinds of high-tech weapons might be needed to go against targets. but the bottom line now is jordan is stepping u

we're joined now by our terrorism analyst, paul cruickshank cruickshank.don't know for sure how kayla mueller died. senator jeff flake says the death of kayla mueller can be laid squarely at the feet of isil. isil says she died last week. we don't know one way or another. why does it matter? >> i think the family will want to know for their peace of mind how she died. that will be important to them. they clearly don't know yet. the administration doesn't appear to know yet either whether she could have been kill in an air strike last week or if isis themselves killed her and sort of framed it as her being killed in an air strike. >> what are you hearing, paul? you've heard from your sources that when you're talking about the death of kayla mueller, the next question for a lot of folks is what of other hostages being held? there's a lot of reporting that isis is running out of hostages strange to say, and that your sources are telling you they're looking to go into other countries, even jordan to try to abduct folks. >> yeah. they're looking to get more wes

let's discuss this and more on the isis front to bring in cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank and retired lieutenant colonel james reese. colonel, first to you. on the issue of what's going on in mosul, lie out why this is important in the fight against isis and what is the state of play on the ground there? >> mosul is the second largest city in iraq. it was the first major city that isis when they did their blitz across the north from the west took mosul down and it's become their staging place and their main city in iraq. right now with the iraqi army along with the coalition forces their aircraft and some iranian shia militia have worked their way north up the tigress river valley from baghdad and taken down key cities. peshmerga in the north have isolated mosul and we're cutting off isis' supply lines to allow them to replysupply with people and ammunition in mosul. they're surrounded. it's a large city so now iraqis have to prepare to conduct urban warfare in a city of several million people which could become problematic. >> problematic to say the least. you talk block by b

cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank joins us.e're still waiting on clarification as to whether this administration thinks isis killed her or if it was an air strike that killed her while she was being held. >> absolutely. and isis bear responsibility for this one way or the other. it's not clear at this point whether it was in some kind of air strike last week or whether they killed her and sort of framed it to make it look like it was an air strike. obviously the family for their o own peace of mind will want the answer to that question. >> you've written that isis has a new strategy afoot to actually expand out to the neighboring country, to lebanon, throughout syria as well already, and jordan even where i think a lot of journalists would feel it was more safe to be reporting. to grab western hostages and pull them into their strongholds and then ultimately build their hostage machine. >> they want more western hostages. the intelligence suggests that they've been developing plans to try and abduct them from neighboring countr

. >> paul cruickshank says there's no way to verify if this guide comes from isis or just a sympathizer who are they targeting here? >> there is an english-speaking jihadi so they're targeting an english-speaking audience. >> reporter: u.s. law enforcement knows isis is using social media to recruit american teens as young as 15 luring them with false promises of adventure and glory. analysts say the most westerners who join the bigger the threat at home. and now this guide, makes recruiting that much easier. will ripley cnn, new york. >> let's talk about this with michael weiss, the co-author of "isis: inside the army of terror." is this the real deal gentlemen? >> i think so. when we say "real deal," does this mean it comes from isis high command, that baghdadi was leaning over someone's shoulder editing this thing? no. it seems to me the work of a fellow traveler or sympathizer with isis or what they call a fan boy. the mujahideen who are coming facing new security strictures. they don't want to get caught. somebody gets off the plane in istanbul or in ankara and they're snatched, de

let's bring back our terrorism analyst, paul cruickshank.fe, the two soldiers patrolling outside of a jewish center this follows the isis video calling for attacks on the french. do you think there is a connection here? >> there could be a connection. just today there was a video released calling for knife attacks on french police in france by isis supporters and then we saw this attack by the niece of coulibaly who was trying to get across the border and returned to france and then carried out this attempted attack today. so quite possibly a connection. isis have been repeatedly calling for these kinds of attacks in the west. also in the united states knife attacks, gun attacks, running people over with cars that kind of thing in retaliation for these air strikes against iraq and syria. wolf? >> is it just a coincidence that these soldiers have the same last name? is it a coincidence or might they be related? >> we don't know that at the moment. it's being reported that it was just a namesake. it's a fairly common name and amedy coulibaly w

. >>> joining us now are philip mudd paul cruickshank and fran townsend. ross europe is growing. groups like isis aqap they obviously are expanding their reach. now the french intier onminister says they are tracking hundreds of cells in france right now. what can you tell us about this? >> yes, that's right. really sounding the alarm, saying they are tracking 400 jihadis inside france. their fear is the people may be poised to launch attacks, they may be people with links to al qaeda and other terrorist groups. broader concerns about 3,000 individuals they feel they have to have under surveillance. all of this of great concern. just this last weekend, eye sits fighters in iraq released a individual -- french-speaking video in which they threatened gun and car bomb attacks. >> is there any overall pro file that seems to be emerging for the sleeper cell members, not only in france but presumably in other belgium italy other countries as well? >> not one that would be very effective as a practitioner. let's look at what the word profile means. information tha

let's get some more with cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank, analyst bob baer and analyst tom fuentes. you have been doing excellent reporting on this claim from a french language isis magazine of an alleged interview with hayat boumeddiene, the widow of amedy coulibaly. he's the guy who carried out that attack on that kosher supermarket in paris that killed four jewish men. what can you tell us about this new interview? >> it's a two-page q & a which started circulating yesterday on a french isis magazine was then repeated the interview, in their english magazine today. the claim is that she has reached the caliphate, that it wasn't difficult for her to cross over there and french terrorism experts believe this is a credible claim from isis but an unverified claim at this point because they offer no proof that she's reached syria. but clearly a big propaganda coup potentially for isis because it allows them to claim ownership over those terrorist attacks. >> they didn't show a picture of her, did they? >> no picture of her at all yet. if she is indeed with isis i think that's going t

another threat paul cruickshank, our terrorism analyst, told us about this one, is that isis is now seeking to capture more american and european hostages even if they are in neighboring countries like jordan or lebanon, for example, and then bring them back to syria or iraq to hold them hostage. what if anything can you tell us about this? >> i think that's also a very realistic concern and americans need to be very careful anywhere in the region anywhere in the proximity of syria or iraq. some of the hostages were close to the border in turkey. they may have been within the border area when they were abducted. so i think that journalism has now become very dangerous in many places in the globe but especially in this region but all american citizens are a great value to these terrorist organizations for their propaganda purposes for purposes of ransom and we have to do everything possible not to give them that opportunity. >> we are told the president will now ask congress for new authority to use military force against isis on wednesday. you have worked on this i think since last septembe

let's turn to paul cruickshank, good morning to you. talk about what is happening here and i think this gruesome thing is something hard for us all to even grasp. let's look at the organization that's committing these atrocities and the leaders at the head talk about the two men that we know abu bakr al-baghdadi. >> he's the leader of the group. u.s. officials believe he's alive. and while he's got a reputation for extreme brutality. he probably signed offen this grisly murder. >> he's calling the shots, he's got this lieutenant abu mohammed adani, he's a syrian. >> the top syrian in the group. the key spokesman, he's the guy who has been issuing all the fatwas for lone wolf terrorist attacks in the west. >> and another one that we know too well is sort of this public face that we've seen gruesomely in these horrific beheadings we don't know that he has been involved or was there for the horrifying murder in a cage burned to death of this jordanian pilot, jihadi john. tell us anything more we know and how is he linked to these two other