Page 131 - Phil Mudd News Today

Suicide bombing. >> john, thank you so much for that. for more on this, retired general leslie clark. the former nato military analyst and with us, the cnn counterterrorism analyst, phil mudd, former cia and counterterrorism official. whats your reaction to this operation? >> great operation. it was obviously extremely well conducted, pretty long distance. so they knew what they were doing. glad to see the coordination with the russians and hope that this will make a difference, but we know that...

Around the world? >> its a demonstration of u.s. military capabilities and intelligence capabilities. so you get, in effect, not only on the terrorist america and supporters, it just puts them deeper underground, more concerned about their own security, less willing to take risks, less willing to, by recruiting and moving, other things. so they know then how powerful the united states is, but you also get an effect on countries like russia and china. they cant do this. they dont have this reach....

Wednesday, the largest raid in syria since the 2019 operation that took out baghdadi. abu bakr al-baghdadi. intel gathering on the raid ramped up last fall. biden being briefed and detailed five days before christmas. in the wake of the raid, pentagon spokesperson john kirby warning isis still has the ability to attack the u.s. mainland. joining me now. cnn counter terrorism analyst. good to see you. this would have been the biggest news, right, that we have been covering at one point but we hav...

Biden himself asked about what could happen if there was someone with a suicide vest. what goes into deciding how to carry out this kind of very risky raid, phil? >> theres a couple of characteristics you have to look at. you mentioned one. the intelligence value is very high. theres a prospect hes going to speak. getting inside someones head to understand things like courier networks, whos next in line in leadership. thats incredibly value for an organization that doesnt like to put stuff down ...

The conversation here. ill talk to the europeans but you guys are secondary players. i dont know which one won here, but i certainly dont think macron did. at most, at best for macron is a draw. >> interesting. phil mudd, always appreciate talking with you. you always bring interesting tidbits to the conversation. all right. new details in bob sagets autopsy report offering even more insight into his death. fractures to both the back and front of his head. but the big question is, how did that...

Globe all the time. >> precisely. so lets talk about this with our resident cia expert phil mudd, counter terrorist officer. when you see these reports, do you worry about anything and, if so, what? >> yeah, i do, i used to watch this come in both cia and fbi stuff, e-mail data, phone data, financial data. you sit there and wonder i did grow up in the united states im a u.s. citizen. what if they get my phone number? let me tell you, its not the focus of this letter. its not what the governmen...

Trigger a war and to throw putin off his game. i want to get phil mudd in here. he was an fbi senior intelligence adviser and counterterrorism official. is it a good idea to let russia know what intel the u.s. has? >> i think it is, as long as you can ensure youre not giving them an advantage. the issue here is not whether you release intelligence. the issue here is whether you release intelligence that gives the adversary advantage. ive been watching the stuff come out. i cant imagine that puti...

But to your point about whether weve got an advantage over putin, i think theres one clear effect of what we have done over the last month. you can dispute about whether weve been too aggressive. the clear effect is to tell putin, if you do this, the pain quotient, whether we support the ukrainians more or even mount a counterinsurgency from a place like poland, whether nato is un united. the pan of moving into here versus moving into crimea years ago will be a lot higher. i think the u.s. is wi...

Collecting. i would be surprised to see thats happening. this is a presidential decision. the president looks at the intel players and says as the cia told me, when theres intelligence for an ally, you pass it and you pass it immediately. there are ways to do this we can talk about, jake. there are ways to mask that intelligence so the ukrainians dont know how we gathered it. but i would be really shocked to learn theres a delay in passing information about one of the biggest military conflicts ...

Perceptions of the intervention, you have to start with the basis where the foreign perceptions are able to be influenced. i think most people already have realized this is a russian invasion. theres not much the russians can do to persuade the west, europe and the united states, that its not. >> susan glasser, seth jones, phil mudd, thanks to all of you. russian forces seizing control of chernobyl, the site of the worlds worst nuclear power disaster. coming up next well talk to a congressman ...