richard barrett, we welcome you.st of all, do we know exactly what caused authorities to be concerned? >> no, but as a coincidence of things going on here, as your report said, archiving the arabian peninsula which is known for making these sort of bombs, being in discussions and moving personnel up to northern syria where the al quaida fillia is on this front is also threatening to amoun mount attacks as well. in addition to that, i think al quaida thinks its credibility is at stake because the israeli extent has taken over glory if you like and gotten all the attention of the current terrorist group at the moment and al quaida probably feels they may need to do something to recapture the lost ground. >> woodruff: do we know if there was a specific threat or just a general piecing of different threads of information together? >> well, that i don't know. but clearly, it is a time when people need to be alert. it's a holiday period coming up, of course, and many people traveling around, and i guess that there's no har

joining me now, richard barrett, former counterterrorism director for britain's mi-6. lcome to you both. >> good morning. >> good morning. richard, you write on cnn.com that while there's no internationally agreed definition of terrorism, there is an agreement on what constitutes acts of terrorism. could that apply to flight 17? >> well, that is absolutely right. if the downing of a civilian aircraft in flight is intentional, done intentionally, then it's a crime under international law and it's considered an act of terrorism. so i guess the key word there is intentional because, of course, the stories that one is hearing is that if it were the rebels perhaps they mistook it for a ukrainian military transport plane and brought it down for that reason. so there's some sort of wiggle room there. >> okay. so arthur, if it's deemed intentional, could this mirror the lockerbie coming where after years of negotiations, libya handed over the suspects to the united nations. one was found guilty and then libya 15 years after the incident agreed to pay $2.7 billion to the familie

i'm joined by richard barrett. a senior vice president. former chief of counterterrorism for britain's mi6 intelligence service. good to have you here. >> al qaeda, we hear how it's decimated. they are hiding in northern pakistan. the drone strikes hurting the group. you are saying because of the islamic state success this is putting pressure on what is left of the al qaeda to make sure it's somehow relevant. >> yes, they have a credibility problem, now, al qaeda. they have not committed a decent attack since 2005 london bombings. and with i.s.i.s. so effective and taking a lot of territory in iraq. claiming now to be leading the whole - that global terrorist movement, al qaeda has to do something, else it becomes completely irrelevant. we think that probably they are calculating whether they should do something sooner or wait until they find something more effective later. something. >> as part of the report, you looked at relevance when it came to media reports and other ways of seeing how much al qaeda is a part of the conversation. you

. >> richard barrette, thank you so much for joining me today. i appreciate it from new york. quick break. ♪ i voted for culture... ...with a 'k.' how are you? i voted for plausible deniability. i didn't kill her, david. and i voted for decisive military action. ♪ xfinity presents the people's hotlist where you choose this summer's top 100 shows and movies. and all you have to do is watch with xfinity on demand. now through july 23rd. vote! you something positive here. it all begins with this awful story about the 12-year-old wisconsin girl stabbed 19 times, allegedly by her own friends. investigators say the teenage girls charged in the attack were carrying out this bizarre wish to please this fictional online bogeyman, the slender man attacker. dozens of well-wishers started making purple hearts for this little girl, her favorite color. now the 12-year-old apparently has the real thing. a real purple heart. this was gifted to her by an anonymous military veteran. the card accompanying this medal was said this, the only heart i could find, be strong. how about that? here now

richard barrett, thank you very much. a sobering conversation.e it. >> sure. >>> there is some new reaction to this videotaped arrest in southern california. it's coming from the daughter and attorney of the woman involved in the altercation. and they are demanding action from the california highway patrol. beverly white from knbc in los angeles is bringing us the latest. >> today was the first day i was finally able to see her and talk to her and i just thank god she's alive. >> reporter: her voice shaking maisha talks about her mom the woman seen in this confrontation. a chp officer is seen punching penick several times. >> he hit her over and repeatly and repeatedly over. she wasn't even putting up a fight. >> reporter: a passing motorist captured part of it on this cell phone video tuesday around 5:40 in the evening while penick walked barefoot on the 10 freeway ramp near la brea. she was reportedly ordered by a chp officer to stop but when she ignored him chp says it set off a physical altercation that is now the focus of an internal investi