back to the news. >>> want to recap the news paul cruickshank just broke. name obtained by cnn of what authorities are calling an operational member of the team that carried out the brussels suicide bombings. he is still at large believed to be very dangerous. we do not know whether this is his real name you are looking at or some kind of alias. we do not know whether he's the man in the hat at the airport video or a completely new figure. we'll update you as we get more information on this as it comes in. >>> meantime, here in new york, thousands of extra police officers have been deployed across the city since the brussels attacks. the reinforcements include newly minted members of the k9 unit. here's randi kaye. >> reporter: it's a busy afternoon in new york city's times square. a high-profile area long considered a target for terrorism. but if someone was looking to set off a bomb here, these dogs may sound the alarm earlier than ever before. and they're no ordinary bomb-sniffing dogs. they are what's called vapor weight dogs. trained not only to sniff

cnn counterterrorism analyst phil mudd, paul cruickshank, mike rogers, former democratic congresswoman jane harman with us as well, served on intelligence armed services and she's now president and ceo of the wilson center. stand by. i want a quick break. we'll be right back. in background) tv with heart failure, danger is always on the rise. symptoms worsen because your heart isn't pumping well. (water filling room)

joining us, cnn global affairs analyst "daily beast" contributing writer kimberly dozier, paul cruickshanknd security analyst, former cia officer bob baer, cnn contributor michael weiss also of "the daily beast" and author of "isis inside the army of terror." paul, it's clear there's more than one person authorities are looking for at this point. there's no doubt this is more people involved. >> this is a broader cell, a broader network linked to isis, part of isis which are operates in brussels which operated in brussels and in belgium to hatch the paris attacks. they're looking for a number of individuals related to those paris attacks including a potential bomb-maker who is believed to have made those devices in a bomb factory in that very same schaerbeek district. >> that bomb maker is still out there. >> he's still out there. it's possible he's an individual called najim laachraoui. now, he was one of the senior conspirators in the paris attacks. >> one of the people contacted by the attackers prior to, perhaps during. >> exactly. communicating by text message. by phone with the three

paul cruickshank is standing by. we will speak to hillary clinton, the democratic presidential nominee when we come back. once again, these are live pictures coming in from brus brussels, bell juchl the city on high alert. this is the all-new 20wow, it's nice.. let's check it out. do any of you have kids? i do yes. this car has a feature built in called teen driver technology, which lets parent's see how their teens are driving. oh, that's smart. it even mutes the radio until the seat belt is fastened. will it keep track of how many boys get it in the car? (laughter) cause that could be useful. this is ahead of what my audi has for sure. wish my beamer had that. i didn't even know that technology existed. i'm not in the market for a car but now i may be. so you don't have to stop., tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®. watching tvs get sharper, oh remotes, you've had it tough. bigge

new information that paul cruickshank just obtained about the ongoing terror raids in brussels, including i knowledge the one you're looking at. where three of the suspects were arrested tonight, where they were caught and what they may have been up to. he joins us along with the rest of the panel on that and the possibility that isis plans may include bombing -- may include building a radioactive dirty bomb. >>> also, after what happened in brussels, i'm going to speak to one of new york's top police officers on what's being done to keep this city's subway system safe. stay with us. seems like we've hit a road block. that reminds me... anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea... ...gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against occasional digestive issues. with three types of good bacteria. live the regular life. phillips'. 7 dahe was thinkingsn't about his joints.ncing. but now he's taking osteo bi-flex, and noticing a real difference in his joint comfort. the feeling originates in this area... spreads throughout the body... to here, indu

let's go to paul cruickshank. the belgium interior minister has announced there's been a major terror operation in schaerbeek in brussels, but he has announced five arrests. this appears potentially to be a significant breakthrough. quite how it relates to the brussels attacks we await to hear, but the tenor of this tweet suggests a significant breakthrough tonight. five arrests. they may be major arrests. >> paul cruickshank, thank you. we're also following important developments in the campaign for the white house, including the highly personal skirmish escalating between donald trump and ted cruz. >> politics has taken a turn for the ugly today. donald trump is going after ted cruz's wife. we saw a very angry response from ted cruz today as he argues family members should be off-limi off-limits. >> it's not easy to tick me off. i don't get angry often. but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that'll do it every time. donald, you're a sniveling coward, and leave heidi the hell alone. >> reporter: the at

join meing me now to talk about this raid, its effects and salah abdeslam's capture, paul cruickshank, bob baer and michael weiss. paul, if i could begin with you, how this raid materialized. the manhunt in effect, the trail had gone cold. this was a bit of luck that led them to him, was it not? >> jim, that's absolutely right. the trail really had gone stone cold since he got back to brussels the night after the attacks and melted away inside brussels. if you go back to tuesday afternoon in brussels, police launched a search on a propert, on an apartment in brussels. they were not expecting to find anybody there at all, but they had some intelligence that that address was linked in some way to the paris attacks. when they went in to try and search that property, there was a massive firefight that the three terrorists inside opened up on the police. the police were forced to retreat. one of the terrorists inside carried on, providing covering fire. he was eventually killed by a belgian sniper. he, by the way, thought to be a more senior figure than salah abdeslam in the paris conspira

and paul cruickshank, you've been working your sources all day. give us the latest on what you are learning. >> this manhunt going on for the individual who is on that cctv footage from the right of the screen. >> the man in the hat. >> in a jacket. they haven't identified him yet. obviously concerned that he could launch some sort of follow-on attack. concerned other members of the cell could launch an attack. the paris attacks. this is the same network, same cell behind both attacks. some of the paris attackers that's survived were planning another big attack just a few days later. that was thwarted. there's always concern there could be follow-on attacks. people could get ahold of kalashnikovs or explosives. >> that's man in the hat, is he the key or more people looking at also? >> he's one of the missing people. there are others linked to this wider network. maumd abreenny. part of this same network, same isis cell. it's believed this goes up to the isis senior leadership that they dispatched this group of operatives for the express purpose of

back with me now is terrorism analyst paul cruickshank and buck sexton, a cia analyst.reely. >> there are going to be changes made whether the security forces and police say so or not. they're going to step up presence in ways that you see. here in new york city there are people carrying m-4s and canine unites out in grand central. that's not going to prevent any attack. it's up likely that would be something that would be useful. what is useful are the things that are going on behind the scenes. for your average civilian, there's not much to do. we can say be vigilant. >> we live in new york city. we often see people carrying, we oft often see law enforcement do it. when there's a threat of attack, we see it more. that's only to make people feel better? >> i used to work for the nypd intelligence division, there's a lot going on behind the scenes that you're not seeing that is very effective in the counterterrorism world. i'm just saying some of the things fall more into the line of theater or -- >> i do feel better when i see the dogs. >> and you got the guy with the

but i want to begin with this breaking news and paul cruickshank. paul, let's start with the breaking news. naim al hamed. what do you know? >> this bulletin was obtained by cnn's tim lister and myself. it was distributed on the day of the brussels attacks. and it features an individual by the name of naim al hamed. not clear whether that's his real name or a fake identity he was using. according to a french security source briefed on the investigation, he's believed to have played an operational role in the brussels attacks. now what is not clear at this hour is whether he might have been one of the three suicide bombers, candidate suicide bombers at the airport or that man seen on cctv footage at the metro station with the suicide bomber there. he might have been at neither location but they believe he was operationally involved in these attacks. now lemond, the french newspaper reporting his dna was recovered from the bomb factory used by these plotters that attacked brussels on tuesday. that bomb factory being in the schaerbeek district where the

back with me, paul cruickshank and michael weiss.hey were looking into nuclear capabilities in belgium? >> they arrested what they believe and allege is a key planner behind the paris attacks at his residence in brussels when. they searched that residence, they found more than ten hours of individual i don't surveillance footage of a belgian official working at a nuclear site. this obviously raised the alarm bells. why would the paris attack cell have this video surveillance footage, which they had recorded on some sort of camcorder of this official? were they wanting to perhaps aspire to launch an attack on a nuclear facility in some way to get a lot of international headlines, even if they couldn't get inside? were they even trying to gain access in a sense to nuke checl sites for some sort of aspirational materials inside there. the belgian official does not know what they were planning, but in the wake of that brussels attack on tuesday, they evacuated nonessential staff from two nuclear facilities in belgium, which shows they we

i have clarissa ward, buck sexton and paul cruickshank with me., because you're the one with all this information as far as how this happened, how they caught him. what have you learned? >> our colleagues are reporting after salah abdeslam and his fellow suspect got away from that apartment -- >> on tuesday. >> on tuesday in the southwestern part of brussels, got away over the roofs, they actually contacted somebody that belgian security services had under surveillance and arranged a rendezvous with this individual. of course at that point the belgians had them. they were able to go to that address and we've seen the operation take place. it was the fact that they got in touch with somebody they had under observation and were listening in to that led to this major operation today. they came very close, it would appear, on tuesday. one of the terrorists inside, a senior planner, senior coordinator in the paris attacks, provided covering fire as soon as police arrived. not suspecting that to be anybody there and providing covering fire so the other

former cia official phil mudd, paul cruickshank, editor in chief and security analyst bob baer, a former cia operative. paul, first to you. we have reporting that other attacks in europe are in the works. it's clear that even before the brussels attacks, this particular group of people had bigger plans that what they eventually carried out, right? >> pam, that's exactly right. belgian officials believed there were going to be two attack teams involved in the conspiracy to launch a bigger attack in brussels, in belgium in the weeks to come. but the second of those had to accelerate their plans when the first team were arrested. they believe that the members of that first team included salah abdeslam and the overall plot ring leader, mohammed belcai. they were in a safe house when belgian security services stumbled upon them. they went in, there was a big gun fight and salah abdeslam managed to escape for a little while for three days. when they went inside that residence, they found several things. all suggested they were planning a gun and bomb attack in brussels. investigators were not,

. >>> want to bring in cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank, counterterrorism analyst philip mudd who served as a senior official at the cia and fbi. also from brussels, cnn's senior international correspondent clarissa ward who has been covering this situation on the ground there. paul, i want to talk about the alert from the staat department. does europe, do officials in europe, in belgium have a sense of the size of this cell? do they think the threats are coming from this specific cell with the men who carried out this specific attack or are we talking about a larger cell or cells here? >> we're talking about an entire network who have been dispatched by isis to launch attacks. just a few weeks ago, we reported, i was told by senior western counterterrorism official that before the paris attacks there was fragmentary intelligence coming in that the external operations division of isis, who were talking with a very top leadership of the group reporting up to that top leadership of the group had dispatched 60 operatives to europe, to conduct attacks on five cities, including paris,

paul cruickshank, juliette and jane harman, of the wilson center. l, you're new to our panel and also deeply sourced in the belgian intelligence community. the news coming in najim laachraoui, the suspected bomb maker in brussels and paris, may be dead. not 100% confirmed, but if it is confirmed, explain to me what you're hearing about the significance. >> well, it would certainly be significant and the belgians think he's probably being killed, that he probably died at the airport, but they're testing dna and so on and so forth to be 100% certain. they actually do have his dna on file because they were able to establish his dna was at that bomb factory in schaerbeek in belgium used by the paris attackers to use those devices. they aren't 100% sure yet that he was the bomb maker. they think he's possibly the bomb maker but haven't conclusively made that determination yet. but if they have got the bomb maker, that he's dead, that would be extremely significant because this is the most dangerous guy in a cell, the guy that can build these powerful tatp

and here in new york our cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank is here working his sources. he grew up in brussels. i want to go to you at the location. we heard so many developments have been happening from raids around that city, patrols and also transit stations closed and nuclear plants evacuated. take me there and give me the latest. >> well, this heavy traffic behind me, ashleigh, are people who have been rerouted by police officers around the airport. these are commuters trying to get home and stay home as the belgian prime minister has asked all of the residents in this city. he said, if you are somewhere safe, stay there. if you are moving, than please do not leave your home. allow for the deployment of soldiers on to the streets. they are also shutting down schools. they have evacuated shopping centers today. i want to bring you up to date. as you said, sadly, because of the real critical state of some of these injuries, that death toll is changing almost moment by moment. the toll here at the airport is at ten any longer. it is 14. the expectation is that could co

paul cruickshank is back with me.aul, you just heard the mayor say there's no collaboration, no sharing of information so when someone comes back to her neighborhood flagged by a foreign country as a terrorist, belgian authorities don't tell her. that's something pretty shocking to here. >> there's been a lot of criticism about information sharing. in belgium, there are a lot of different jurisdictions there. you have three languages in belgium and many different agencies, so that clearly needs to be worked on. but i think there's been a lot of sort of beating up on belgium over the last few months. some of that is fair and some of that is perhaps unfair. i speak a lot to belgium investigators. we can't tell the full story of that yet for obvious reasons, but they arrested 11 people in connection with the paris attacks. last year in january 2015, they thwarted a major gun and bomb plot which may have been just as big as the paris attacks. there was also some impressive police work in getting salah abdeslam. this is a

a belgi counterterrorism official tells our paul kr cruickshank this man on the left is likely najimaachraoui. they believe he blew himself up at the brussels airport yesterday. also new tonight, concerns from terrorism experts that the kinds of bombs these men used are newer, more portable, more lethal devices than we've seen in the past. this man on the right, a suspect on the run. still unidentified tonight. considered one of the most dangerous men in europe. he's believed to have been a leader of the suicide bombers at the brussels airport, tasked with making sure the others carried out their attacks. belgian investigators say the same terrorist cell masterminded the paris and brussels attacks. and tonight experts worry the brussels bombings have revealed a disturbing hybrid terrorist capability. combining the portability of a suicide vest with a more powerful explosive in a suitcase. >> what flexibility does it give them to pack something, maybe with the explosive power of a car bomb into this? >> this certainly gives them a lot of flexibility. >> reporter: this photo shows the

there's a lot of work to be done in that regard given that this guy is a threat. >> paul cruickshank, phil mudd and peter bergen. >>> donald trump takes a fresh swipe at fox anchor megyn kelly. his latest tweet and the sharp reaction it's drawing. >>> coming up next, protesters now arriving at a trump rally in salt lake city. the question is, after all the violence and tough talk from the candidate, what will become a rerun of the mayhem in chicago. will it, or will things stay home? certainly hope they do. mitt romney's latest efforts to stymie trump's efforts to utah slamming him saying who he will vote for instead but not endorsing the candidate he's voting for. we'll try to make sense of that when we continue. look like this. feel like this. look like this. feel like this. with dreamwalk insoles, turn shoes that can be a pain into comfortable ones. their soft cushioning support means you can look like this. and feel like this. dreamwalk. and ca"super food?" is that recommend sya real thing?cedar? it's a great school, but is it the right one for her? is this really any better than

one a vice president of tactical analysis at stratford and former special agent, also paul cruickshankar, i hear your message so we won't do that. let me begin with you, paul. nick perfectly laid out the different people they think they're looking for and who knows how wide this net really could be. you've been reporting that officials found surveillance video of a nuclear plant. that was found in one of these safe houses. i feel like we haven't talked much about that. >> yes, a couple of weeks after the paris attacks, they arrested a key suspected planner behind the paris attacks, mohammed bacali, a belgian national, a brussels resident, and when they went inside his residence, they found over ten hours of video footage, video surveillance footage, of a belgian official working at a nuclear site in belgium. creating a lot of concerns, why would this paris conspirator have this video surveillance of a nuclear expert working at one of these sites? was it because they wanted to attack a nuclear site in some kind of way? was it because they wanted to gain access or gain materials from tha

joining me is terrorism analyst paul cruickshank. analyst juliette kayyem who was u.s. assistant secretary for homeland security. and intelligence and security analyst bob baer. what's the latest you're learning from your sources about the investigation. >> the guy at the airport who ran away -- >> and they still aren't clear who he is? >> they don't know who he is at this point with any certainty. there are a number of contenders. one is naim al hamed that pam mentioned in the peace. someone who came through syria to greece and then on to europe. picked up by salah abdeslam at a refugee camp and his dna was found in the bomb factory in schaerbeek used for the brussels attacks. we've been told by a source close to the investigation he's believed to be operationally involved in the brussels attacks. what's not clear is whether he was at the airport, the guy seen on cctv at the metro station or at neither of those places. but they're looking for him throughout europe right now. they are looking for eight suspects in total that they bel

paul cruickshank, you're from brussels, you're the city very well. what are you hearing the latest on on these investigations? >> well, they're working around the clock. they worry there are more attacks in the works from this wider terrorist cell, this broader network which was the network they believe also carried out the paris attacks. >> so that is the operating hypothesis that they are connected? >> that is the operating hypothesis that they are connected because remember, a week ago they went into this hiding place, salah abdeslam. there were three terrorists there. when they went into that residence eventually they found an isis flag, found detonators, found a kalashnikov and ammunition and similar stuff in the apartment in schaerbeek a few hours ago. very similar materials suggesting this was perhaps a joined up plot, they managed to get one note of it, salah abdeslam, the three terrorists at the safe house, but they weren't able to get the rest of the note, unfortunately, and then we obviously saw what we saw play out. >> then in terms of th

we have justice reporter evan perez, terrorism analyst paul cruickshank and former assistant fbi directorntes. paul, to you first. we saw in nick's report there this suspect who was shot in the leg. do you -- are you hearing anything about who this guy is? >> no. belgian authorities are being very tight-lipped about who this individual is. they are not releasing that information to the media. they're not releasing the information to us at cnn. either they are being very careful about what they release to the media because there are a lot of ongoing operations right now. what has become clear today is that these operations that we saw play out in brussels a little bit earlier were related to that arrest in paris of reda kriket. a link between the operation in paris and the operations today in brussels, obviously operations during the course of the night last night. three of those people we understand are still in custody. one of them has been identified, but three of them have been released. >> evan, when you look at this, the two kilos of this tatp that paul referenced there. the ak rifle

cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank is with us again. special agent with the fbi, he's gone under cover with a number of domestic terrorism groups. he's also the author of "think like a terrorist." welcome to both of you. paul, we're talking here we mentioned the french raid, we're talking arrests in belgium and arrests in germany. you have new information on that. >> arrests in germany yesterday, brooke, and one individual was taken into custody at the train station near the belgium border in germany. police thought he was acting suspiciously. they checked his papers, found out he had been involved in robberies. they examined his cell phone and saw there was a message in his cell phone with the name of call lead al bakraoui, the metro bomber in brussels on tuesday and then another message at 9:08, three minutes before the metro bombing, saying simply "it ends." they do not know whether the metro bomber sent that message, but they certainly are very interested in the fact it wasness phone. they also recovered a hospital bill suggesting t

paul cruickshank/security analyst "what we've seen now is this lucky break in the investigation when they went in to this safe house on tuesday afternoon now, officials say abdeslam will finally face trial for his alleged role in the deadly paris attack. a plane crashes at an airport in southern russia killing all 62-people onboard russian officials say the fly-dubai plane took off from dubai and the pilot was attempting to land for the second time when the jet russian airport. the airline posted a statement on its facebook page saying: "we are doing all we can to gather information as quickly as possible. at this moment our thoughts and prayers are with our passengers and our crew who were on board the aircraft." bizarre story- a toronto man is now facing several charges for hijacking a city bus. police say the man boarded the bus just before midnight friday, and threatened the driver with a knife. he then allegedly forced the driver run several stop signs. police say he eventually demanded to be dropped off at a donut and coffee shop -- where he was taken into custody. snow possibl

paul cruickshank, cnn analyst what we've seen now is this lucky break in the investigation when they went in to this safe house on tuesday afternoon, not expecting it to be a terrorist den and not expecting it to have salah abdeslam, one of the most wanted men in the word. in washington, i'm former wrestling superstar hulk hogan has been awarded $115- million dollars in damages in his trial against the website "gawker" that's more money than he was suing for. hogan, who's real name is terry bollea, sued the media group for invasion of privacy after they published part of a sex tape he was in with the wife of a buddy --- wrestler, bubba clem. lawyers for gawker argued that they had the right to publish it because hogan made his sex life public. however a jury agreed hogan who claimed his is different than character. you decide animation turning now to former presidential massachusetts mitt romney is now throwing his support behind one of the republican candidates. ted cruz! today romney announced that he'll be coming out to support the texas senator ahead of the upcoming utah primary.

i'm joined by retired major general, cnn military analyst, james "spider" marks, and paul cruickshank disit tushing information, paul. let me start with you and spider will weigh in. devin nunez of california, chairman of the house intelligence committee, obviously well-briefed by the u.s. intelligence community. he says that the explosions in brussels at the -- near the ticket counters where there were u.s. airlines there, train station, not from the u.s. embassy, may have been targeting americans. here's the quote from nunez. from my vantage point, it does look like an attack on americans. it looks like it was targeted towards americans to some so degree. when you hear that from the chairman of the house intelligence committee that the suspicion - it's only a suspicion now -- that americans were targeted, would that be unusual? would that be extraordinary, paul? >> well, isis would clearly want to kill americans in any attack. i mean, that's the holy grail for them, the united states leading the anti isis coalition. it's much more difficult for them to get operatives into america, s

very concerning times indeed, carol. >> paul cruickshank, thanks for the information.ic] i am the ghost of cookies' past...residue. oh...so gross. well, you didn't use pam. so it looks like you're stuwith me! bargain brand cooking spray leaves annoying residue. that's why there's pam. so you don't have to stop., tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®. i'm spending too muchs for time hiringnter. and not enough time in my kitchen. (announcer) need to hire fast? go to ziprecruiter.com and post your job to over 100 of the web's leading job boards with a single click. then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. you put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. makes my job a lot easier. (announcer) over 400,000 businesses have already used ziprecruiter. and now you can use ziprecruiter for free. go to ziprecruiter.com/offer5 wrely on the us postal service? because when they ship with us, their busin

let's bring in paul cruickshank.formation on how they got him. >> remember, he was at that safe house on tuesday in the brussels district of forest. the police went to that address. they weren't expecting to find anybody there. they got into a firefight. and abdeslam and an accomplice escaped. they escaped into the brussels afternoon. well, at that point, they made a crucial mistake. they got in touch with somebody who was under surveillance by belgian security forces. as one belgian official told me, he came right into our net. so they then knew exactly where to go and find him after he got in contact with this person who was under surveillance. then he were able to move in with a lot of intelligence on friday. and arrest him and his accompany police alive. >> and he was still plotting, he had fresh attacks he wanted to see through. >> that is the worry belgian officials have, they were plotting new attacks. senior belgian counterterrorism official just told me at that safe house, the long-term hiding place in the f

let's talk about the big picture with paul cruickshank with me in new york and phil -- a former counterterrorism official with the cia. paul, to you first. let's talk about your reporting on this. the fact they are going after eight more. >> you are understanding is that a day after the brussels attacks there was a security bulletin shared amongst european security agencies and it lists eight individuals still at large, wanted. wanted, the document says, in connection with the terrorist attacks in paris. and brussels. among those, is an individual who's named. one possibility is that he was that third bomber who ran away but it is possible he was the man seen in the brussels metro or was involved in some other way. we are told by a source close to the investigation, he is expected to be involved in the brussels attacks. he's on the run. he's believed to come from syria, through the greek island where the other attack aers in paris came through and then picked up. from a refugee center in olm, jer imanny. by one of the paris attackers. this tied him much more firmly than perhaps other suspects we

let's bring in paul cruickshank and phil mudd. paul, first to you, the emerging signs we're hearing, this is something you've been looking at as well. the links, how direct they are between the paris attackers, now the belgian attack, back to raqqa, syria. what are you picking up? >> from everything i'm being told, i've been speaking to multiple western security officials, i've also obtained a trove of documents in the investigation into the paris attacks. this is the same cell that was behind the paris attacks, exact ly the same cell. it was led by the ring leader of both the paris and the brussels attacks, they believe. he was killed in a shootout in brussels last week. and isis before they carried out the paris attacks, they recorded an elaborate video, propaganda video in syria when nine of the paris attackers were shown in that video. that clearly shows the paris attacks had the blessing of the senior leadership of isis. this was an isis directed plot by the external operations division of isis. and the cell that attacked brus

we're joined by juliette kayyem and paul cruickshank and also special agent ollie supan, chairman of the supan group. in terms of this raid happening right now, give us a sense of what we're seeing there and how it fits into a much, much larger operation in brussels over the last few hours. >> this is a very significant raid tonight in brussels. several locations. sort of ongoing police operation. commandos have been involved. the army has been involved. helicopters have been involved at the various location. six people so far in custody. it appears none in custody at this address in schaerbeek, but three people taken into custody. three men in a vehicle right outside the belgian federal prosecutor headquarters building in the heart of brussels, very near the law courts. not clear why they were taken into custody. not clear if they posed any kind of threat at this hour, belgian authorities being very tight lipped on the circumstances. the others arrested at other locations in brussels all this came to light when the interior minister of belgium tweeted out that a major operation had

cnn counterterrorism analyst phil mudd, paul cruickshank, mike rogers, former democratic congresswomanjane harman with us as well, served on intelligence armed services and she's now president and ceo of the wilson center. stand by. i want a quick break. we'll be right back. in background) tv with heart failure, danger is always on the rise. symptoms worsen because your heart isn't pumping well. (water filling room) about 50 percent of people die (dog whimpering) within 5 years of getting diagnosed. but there's something you can do. talk to your doctor about heart failure treatment options. because the more you know, the more likely you are... (dog whimpering) to keep it pumping. for a limited time, great deal on this passat. wow, it looks really good... volkswagen believes safety is very important... so all eleven models come standard with an intelligent crash response system... hmm. ...seven stability-enhancing systems... hmmm... ...and equipment for two child seats. hmmm... for those who take safety seriously. like we do. the volkswagen safety in numbers event... is happening now! g

paul cruickshank, michael wies, and karen greenberg. paul, you're working your blackberry sitting next to us over the next few minutes. i want to get the latest on the investigation from you in addition to the information we're getting that belgian authorities have shared a surveillance photo, possibly a suspect at the airport, showing three men pushing a luggage cart. >> we're trying to confirm that photo. i've seen it. we're trying to confirm it before we show it on air. there is a photo which has been distributed by several belgian media organization of potential suspects. if you rewind to last tuesday, almost exactly a week ago, belgian police launched a search on a property. they weren't expecting anybody to be there. inside were three isis gunmen, including salah abdeslam. and when they searched that residence, they found an isis flag. they found a weapon, ammunition, and suggesting an attack with potentially in the works. isis has now claimed responsibility for this attack. they haven't offered proof, but they say they carried it

paul cruickshank brings us up to date. he's standing by with carol costello. let's go to carol. >> i want to bring in paul cruickshank and also mooig weiss, cnn contributor. glad to have you both here. first off paul, how likely is another attack. >> certainly very possible in the hours 4d ahead. there is an active man hunt going on according to the belgium media. they have agreed to not report any new information about this ongoing man hunt, this gonna oing investigation. because they want to give the belgian security chances to apprehend these suspects. so there is grave concern there could be more attacks. that is very fluid and dynamic situation in brussels. i think the working assumption -- >> let's hold on. the media blackout. as an american citizen that would freak me out. i'm watching television trying to get any information i can about where this investigation is going and i can't get any information. that would scare me probably. >> it is an extraordinary step. it is voluntary. the belgian media are not force dod this but a number of publications the

joining us is paul cruickshank who has been connecting the dots on this throughout europe, and also with us phil mudd. it's great to see you. on the latest we're just hearing from phil black. fase l c, she w he was charged. is this a setback that he was released? >> they clearly at a certain point, perhaps based on eyewitness reports believe he might have been at the airport, might have been involved. they clearly do not now believe that. they clearly think he probably wasn't involved otherwise they wouldn't have released him. so there's this man hunt that goes on, and we understand that there are eight individuals who are wanted right now in connection with the terrorist attacks in paris and brussels. now, one of the those individuals is an individual who came in with a syrian identity paper from syria through europe, through the greek island and was picked up by salah abdeslam. we are told they suspect he was operationally involved in the brussels attacks. one possibility, only a possibility, is he is the third airport suicide bomber, the one that got away, but they don't know whether

let's bring in and continue the discussion, senior terrorism analyst, paul cruickshank. and mitch, a former intelligent official who oversaw terror investigations for the nypd. he's also senior managing director of consulting. paul, you were sitting here with us when this unfolded yesterday and you were watching as this continues today. what more do you know, what more are you picking up about these two brothers? the only two people that have been identified so far? >> well, kate, they were known to belgian police for violent crimes in the past but they were not on their radar screen for any links to terrorist or radical activity. but one of these two brothers rented the safehouse, the hideout of salah abdeslam where he was hiding in the weeks and months for a period of that time after the paris attacks. so that definitively ties the paris attacks to the brussels attacks, kate. and a senior belgian counterterrorism official tells me that investigators now suspect that salah abdeslam was slated to be part of these brussels attacks, that he was going to participate. but the

now i want to bring in evan perez, phil mudd and cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank. gentlemen, a lot has gone on since we spoke 21 hours ago. evan, we were talking yesterday about the fact that there are these imminent isis-related plots in europe. since then, there has been this man arrested in paris who apparently was in the final stages of planning. what's the sense you're getting from talking to folks involved with the investigation in terms of how many other people out there are in europe? >> it really is a remarkable thing. it seems like every arrest seems to beget another list of names they have to go after and it really gives the sense of not only that there's this big network that they had no idea about, but also that it is, as nick just talked about, a pan-european problem, a problem that spans not only france and brussels and belgium but the netherlands and germany. one of the things that they're worried about obviously is the holiday weekend, a big weekend for travel and for people in europe taking the weekend off. it's a big focus. they want to try to ma

broader fight against isis, especially in the aftermath of the brussels attacks, let me bring in paul cruickshank and fill mudd along with karen greenberg. thank you for sitting through this with me as we're really listening to the detail. i was very interested in how the secretary was going to describe this operation, not giving any detail, but describe how significant this man was. he said one of the goals of their fight against isis is to eliminate the isis cabinet, and this was a step toward doing that. how significant do you think this was? >> the secretary of defense does not come in front of the cameras unless there's a significant breakthrough on the war on isis. this is exactly that. he was believed to be the number two of isis in charge of the groups finances. also played a role as we've just heard from the defense secretary in the external operations of isis, so things like the paris attacks and the brussels attacks, he would have had perhaps some input in terms of launching a strategy of launching attacks in europe. this is someone who is a long standing jeed ihadi. he was the deputy

and paul cruickshank, you have breaking news to report. >> right.ficial telling me the bakraoui brothers, who participated in the terror attacks in brussels yesterday, they used a fake identity paper to rent salah abdeslam's safe house where he hid after the paris attacks. this for the first time definitively ties the brussels and paris terrorist attacks together. it definitely establishes that it is the same cell that carried out both of those attacks. these brothers were known to belgium security services and law enforcement for their links to violent crime. but they were not on the radar as suspected radicals. but for the first time the link between the paris attacks and the brussels attacks definitively established, alisyn. >> okay. paul, thank you. i want to get clarissa's take on this. so these were not isolated incidents. these were as suspected connected. >> they are connected and you have herd nima say this over and over. but essentially you are looking at overlapping networks here. you had according to the french prime minister at least 30

and paul cruickshank. editor and chief in the ctc sentinel, terrorism studies journal. l weiss. cnn contributor and author of "isis:inside the army of terror." paul, much of what we understand in the intelligence community and belgium and ongoing paris attacks comes from you. unfortunately this is also your home. and i know this is a sensitive situation for you. on many different levels. what can you tell us about what is reverberating through the halls of the intelligence community there right now about what happened this morning? >> well chris, it's not a surprise to them but obvious there is a certain amount of shock in brussels right now. the terrorism has again come to brussels. we saw back in may 2014 an attack on a jewish museum by french isis operative. four people were killed in that attack. but this is on a whole different scale. as the investigations have proceeded with the paris attacks, it's become increasingly clear that those attacks were planned from brussels, staged from brussels, that they had three safe houses there. they waited to the last 48 hours to

let's bring in our terrorism analyst paul cruickshank. what information, paul, are you getting?ls me belgian police are found on computers left by the bakraoui brothers outside the bomb factory pictures and plans of the belgian prime minister's office and other government buildings in brussels, suggesting that the cell wanted to also strike at these belgian government buildings, which may also have included the belgium parliament, which is right next to the belgian prime minister's office, wolf. all these buildings literally just around the corner from the u.s. embassy in brussels. investigators believe the cell accelerated their plans when salah abdeslam was arrested and only launched a more modest attack against the airport and metro. >> as you know, belgium officials, they've been hunting the bakraoui brothers since 2015. what are you learning about why they weren't able to stop these guys before these terror attacks? >> well, what we have now established from officials is that belgian authorities were searching for both of these brothers urgently in late 2015. after the pari

i'm joined by cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank, co-auto ore f asian storm, my life inside al qaeda. and peter beinart. welcome both of you. peter, that surprised me when the defense secretary said that europe needed to accelerate its fight against isis and terrorists. because you do wonder like paris happened. so why isn't it? >> well i think there is a good story in the "new york times" today about the difficulties of the coordination. we know how difficult it is to coordinate between governments. here you are talk about a continent with a lot of different sovereign governments. times said the europeans don't even have common way for trans lit rating arabic names. in the difficulty of belgium getting the information they needed from turkey to be able to trap this guy. >> paul, what does europe need to do now? >> well i think one of the things that ash carter was referring to was the actual war against isis in syria and iraq and apart from france, most of european countries are making very modest contributions to the anti-isis coalition efforts. britain has very few combat aircraft

paul cruickshank is here to tell us why this is such a big get. >> believed to be the number two of isistwo of al qaeda in iraq, the spread december ssome experience. he was this group's envoy to osama bin laden. he was the favorite to take over the leadership of al qaeda in iraq as it became isis. but baghdadi was eventually elected leader. but he was the deputy. he's a man from the northern part of iraq, an ethnic turkman who has long standing ranks. operating in syria and iraq, he's a former physics teacher. he's a religious figure in the group as well. this is a very significant breakthrough to get the number two, and it suggests the net may be closing in on baghdadi. this is the second highest value target you could get within isis. there are three people they want to get. he's one of them. and the head of isis's external operations who supervises the external plots is the other one. they have one of the three right now. >> the pentagon thinks this is a major deal. the defense secretary himself is going to announce the killing of this man and also the joint chiefs of staff chairman

let's bring in our cnn national security commentator michael rogers and paul cruickshank and tom fuentes the belgium authorities on the wrong track when it comes to finding the so-called man in white? >> well, it appears he wasn't the man in white. the taxi driver that picked him up from the bomb factory on the morning of the attacks, according to his lawyer, misidentified him as being the man that was picked up, and that's why he was charged and brought into custody. but it appears now that belgium authorities do not think that that was the case, that he wasn't picked up by that taxi driver, so they're kind of back to square one, if you'd like, with finding this man. one candidate is somebody who came into belgium from syria, was picked up by salah abdeslam in a refugee camp in germany, and we've been told by a source close to the investigation that he's suspected of being operationally involved in the brussels attack. we've got hold of a security bulletin listing him as a suspect in this cell still at large, still considered armed and dangerous, wolf. >> yeah, they're got their work cu

in now nima elbagir and bring in our cnn senior international correspondent clarissa ward and paul cruickshankuthorities just not sharing with us the names of these people and all they know? or do they not know who these intercepts are still? >> well that is not exactly clear at this point. but they are not sharing everything. they want to keep one step ahead of the bad guys. and sometimes that involves not sharing information with the media. but this is a race against time to prevent another terrorist attack in brussels in belgium. in we know anything about this cell, and this is the very same cell that carried out the paris attack, they don't stop until they either get killed in an operation or they get arrested: there is a very determined cell. i think the revolution today that there is another suspect with a large bag, who was seen with the metro bomber just before that bombing is alarming news because we know that a lot of these bags were filled with high explosive, tatp. so the if there are more bombs out there more individuals willing to become suicide bombers out there, it is a race ag

we were talking to paul cruickshank, terrorism expert, and he was saying it was the raids seven dayshe ultimate cab chur of abdeslam, only because the person he called was under surveillance and they were able to capture him alive. anthony may, to you here, if we can analyze further, when we talk about these different blasts, both at the airport and the subway station, and the sophistication of these blasts. we were talking i think about blast seats and blast signatures. what are these investigators looking for here? >> well, the -- at the airport, it was reported there was a smaller explosion followed by the much larger explosion. the smaller explosion most likely could have been the suicide bomber. that blast seat or blast signature is going to be completely different from what we see because as explosives are worn high on the body, above the ground, you're not going to have a typical blast seed. it's splatter from the walls. the subway is interesting in the back that there's not a lot of information coming out of that yet, other than the massive amount of damage that has been caus

. >>> let's bring in our counterterrorism analyst, paul cruickshank, tom fuentes, former fbi assistantand chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. do you think salah abdeslam will speak to belgian authorities? under belgian law, he has the right to remain silent. >> he may say nothing at all, wolf, if he's a true believer. he may not cooperate. the belgians have been frustrated in past terrorism investigations, notably when they rounded up that cell after that operation last year, at the beginning of last year in belgium. at least one of the people they arrested wouldn't talk at all, wouldn't give any information. so they're going to have to use very skillful methods to try and build a relationship with him, try to get him talking. every indication, though, is he is still a true believer, he was still with this very senior isis operative, one of the masterminds behind the paris attacks, holed up in this safe house in brussels. so it may take a long while before they're able to get any information out of him at all, wolf. >> as you know, three suspects, including abdeslam, wer

here to discuss cnn terrorism, paul cruickshank. john charles broussard, yes. ot off the phone. you have been working your connections. anything more to update us on the investigation. >> one new piece of information on the investigation. on that computer they recovered from that dust bin outside of the bomb factory, belgian investigato investigators discovered pictures and plans relating to two buildings in brussels. one of them the senate in brussels. and the other the office of the belgian prime minister. suggesting that this cell behind the airport attack and behind the metro attack also had other targets, were planning a bigger plot as we have previously been told by officials. >> is there a concern those threats could still be live, if you will? >> certainly a concern. that those threats may still be live. and they are bolstering security. because of these threats there are several people connected still at large. images from the airport we've seen and the cctv at the metro. and what we've learned about this cell is if it first they don't succeed, they try