Possible terror plot by i. S. I. L. Aimed at subways in the u. S. And paris. U. S. Intelligence officials, white house Officials Say they know of no such plot. Hes one of the longest history. Attorney general eric holder is resigning. Ill leave the department of work. Countries at risk of rising works. Our days are number. A Succession Plan most of the islands will be under water. Does it make you nervous to get involved. Its great that its simply, and makes people think that anyone can do this. We begin with a possible terrorist threat against the u. S. And france reported by iraqs Prime Minister, and a round of Coalition Air strikes against i. S. I. L. In syria. Prime minister Haider Alabadi told reporters that french and american i. S. I. L. Fighters were arrested, planning attacks on subways in the u. S. And paris. New york police and the fbi both said they were monitoring the situation, a National SecurityCouncil Spokesperson said they had no confirmation a plot was under way. The federal bureau of investigation believes it has identified the i. S. I. L. Terrorist that beheaded two journalists james foley, steven sotloff, and british aid worker david haines, but did not reveal his name. U. S. And Coalition War planes targeted i. S. I. L. Fighters, vehicles and checkpoints after hammering 12 Oil Refineries used by the group on wednesday. At the pentagon, Rearadmiral John Kirby said most of the attacks were launched by saudi arabia, and the united arab emirates, part of the president obamas effort. We are trying to remove the means through which this organization sustains itself. That is the goal. The president s longterm strategy to degrade and destroy i. S. I. L. May get a boost from more than 20 syrian rebel groups, muslim and christian, who agreed to form an alliance to fight i. S. I. L. On a tactical level there were battles around kobani. Im joined by clark kept irvin, former inspect general with Homeland Security. Great to have you with us. I want to go down some of what iraqs Prime Minister told reporters on thursday. He said his Intelligence Service discovered a plot by i. S. I. L. Fighters to attack systems for the u. S. And france. He said there were roasts of a few elements and experts to have attacks on metros and paris. He was asked if the attacks were imminent. He was not sure. A spokesperson released a statement saying they have not confirmed a plot. And would have to review information before making further determinations. What do you make of the announcement itch the Prime Minister said in a casual fashion, and the American Government so far poured gold water an it. It said that it wouldnt surprise him. Subway stations have been in terrorist sights for an in the of years, mass transit called that for a reason, because a lot of people, thousands, millions, take it over the course of a day, and theres no question that against the backdrop of what we are doing against i. S. I. S. In syria, theres a greater likelihood of terror attacks against our interest abroad and attacks at home. Wouldnt information like this be handled behind the agencies. Absolutely. We may be experiencing learners ramping up curve for the Prime Minister. Hes new to the job. It was said casually as i understand. Well see if anything comes of it. Haider alabadi offered specifics, saying they were american and French Foreign fighters that joined i. S. I. S. , the network was discovered but not disrupted. Does that make it sound more credible. How prepared are we to deal with the threat of americans who have been radicalized by i. S. I. L. There are estimates that there are about 100 over there that may decide to come back to the u. S. Its incredible to the extent that there are 100 or so americans, 500 or so brit ans who a gone to iraq and syria, training with i. S. I. S. , and the fear is theyll come back to their countries, france or britain and the United States, france and britain are waiver companies, they dont need visas to come. It could happen. Thats a major fear. What could we do at home . Law enforcement put out a message raising alarm bells saying we should be on alert for attacks in the United States because of the backdrop of what is going on against i. S. I. S. Over there. How concerned are you that we are at risk. What you wrote a year ago was a complicated environment. Its worse sense you wrote that. The involvement in the war over there. How many do you think it increases the threat. Substantially. We saw the other day the beheading of french forces, in response to an i. S. I. S. Call, for their sympathizers to grab westerners. Stabbing, shooting, however they can kill them. There was a plot in australia that was foiled, the plan was to snatch an australian and kill this person in solidarity with i. S. I. S. We understand that there is a Filipino Group linked to i. S. I. S. That has a couple of german citizens now that much of the force is deployed against iraq and syria, they are forming a broadbased ing, notably and importantly sunni muslim states, i. S. I. S. Will trike back, and the only way they strike back is to ratchet up the number of snatchings that are undertaken, and killings of westerners who come into their sites. This Khorasan Group that we have heard about, again we had heard that al qaeda for years, that they vv decimated have been decimated, but these are al qaeda folks planning attacks pon planes. Are you comfortable that the security methods are enough to keep flights coming to the United States safe. Tsa, other security and intelligence professionals are doing everything they can. No, im not confidence. Terrorists only have to be right once, and security and intelligence officials have to be right 100 of the time. Odds are in the terrorists favour. Its a large open country, there are a lot of targets, its further heightened as you say from a few years ago, and for all these reasons, the chances of a plot succeeding is higher, higher than it was a month ago, two months before i. S. I. S. Was on the radar screen. How good a job is Homeland Security doing. When you left not quite a decade ago, you were critical of a series of things, including shipping containers coming into the u. S. There was no scralized list of terrorist suspects. Has there been progress. Yes, aviation has been tightened considerably, theres more intensive scanning of containers than a decade ago. We are not doing 100 . Its ipp feasible infeasible. I understand that there are technologies that could make it practicable. At the end. Day i think what we need to have is a partnership, a Robust Partnership between federal officials and state and local ones. Its the cop on the beat likely to spot terrorist indicators. Theres no such thing as a terror attack on the United States as a practical manner. Any terror attack here happens in a city, so the Police Officers and Community Leaders need to be alert for signs of radicalization, for abrupt changes in demeanour. For people who are taking weapons training, people who spend a lot of time on radical jihadi websites. The scenes of radicalization are scene by people in the community, if a partnership is formed, we are likelier to spot them. An important point. Clark kent irvine from the aspen institute. Pleasure to have you with us. Thank you. For more, im joined by brian fishman, a counterterrorism fellow serving as director of research at the combatting Terrorism Center at the u. S. Military academy at west point. Great to have you with us. I spoke to former Homeland Security official about the claim that iraqi intelligence discovered the plot to attack subways in the u. S. And france. What do you make of that . I think any time you get the United States gets information from a plot from a Foreign Intelligence Agency it needs to be taken seriously. Obviously the iraqis are closest to the ground. If something is going to percolate out of i. S. I. S. , its likely that theyll stumble on it. Its true that we want to make sure the information is vetted and analysed. Without detail, its hard to know. Its true as we step up military operations against i. S. I. S. , the risk that theyll dedicate time in energy to strike the west, the United States, goes up. U. S. War planes have been bombing the Khorasan Group facilities, which were supposedly used to plan plots against civil aviation. At this point, with i is the greater threat to america, i. S. I. L. , which is mostly focused on the middle east, or the khorasanal qaeda cell possibly directed from pakistan by alzau harry. Its true that a group focused on striking the United States thats the strategy of al qaeda. The Khorasan Group, what is interesting is not only the relationship reportedly back to central and south asia, but that they are bringing in skilled bombmakers to other parts of the region, that is scary, because, you know, the most unique aspect, the organization, is that they have had folks that have been able to build the bombs. That said, i dont think we should understate the threat from i. S. I. L. , even though its focussed on the middle east. Its a group with the potential to be destabilizing in the region. If they are not focussed on attacks from the west, if they did a series of terror strikes in jordan, that would create a destabilizing effect, bad for states. Going back to khorasan, imran khan reported on how his contacts from the middle east and pakistan had not heard of the name. He doesnt seem to question of groups insistence, but that it could be a u. S. Creation. Absolutely. We have known for some time that there was a movement in the Al Qaeda Affiliated individual, from iran to afghanistan. Its not surprising considering that it is the heart of jihadi activity. We have not seen the name used. There are public statements by the Khorasan Group. There is not a twitter account. So i think its more informal. Whether it comes from the u. S. Intelligence community, and whether its a name that other jihadis have used to refer to this group of people that have come from what they call khorasan, or the area of the greater afghanistan in central issua. I dont know. It is true, at least in my experience, we have not seen official statements by this as an organization. Irans president Hassan Rouhani accused some of the sunni arab allies of sponsoring i. S. I. L. And other groups. The Khorasan Group leader who may have been killed was one of many senior al qaeda terrorists fleeing to iran. Iran has said that these guys are under house arrest and later were allowed to lead the country. Do we know the relationship with al qaeda, and why the guys were allowed to leave. No, we dont know. Its an irony, and why this is a muddy world. Theres no black and white. Its a fact that al qaeda and sunni iranis despise iran and the alawite regime. At the same time there has been a tacit accommodation for a decade where iran was enabling and looking the other way as Al Qaedalinked folks crossed that country to take messages back and forth from afghanistan and iraq and vice versa, and so you see theres a fundamental strategic conflict, but at the same time it doesnt preclude tactical cooperation. We saw that at times during the heart of the war in iraq, where they look the other way. As former fighters travelled through syria. Today we see i. S. I. S. Pointing to the Bashar Alassad regime as enemy number one. So this seems like a caection, but the repeaty is all the actors in the middle east have their hands dirty, because they are strategic, doesnt mean they cant cooperate. You tweeted a story that quoted the army chief of staff, that the army will send a Division Headquarters to iraq, and given the complexity of the of environment that the u. S. Is operating in, now and the next 1015 to 20 years will instead the headquarters. Headquarters in iraq possibly for 20 years, is this preparing permission or are we way behind Mission Creep. I think the Mission Creep is high. I believe i. S. I. S. Is what true evil in the modern world looks like. Counselledering them is important, morally and strategically. That said, im concerned at a delta, a distance between what our policy is, to destroying the organization and what we said wed do with the air streaks. I dont think it will achieve the policy end. As a result i think Mission Creep is likely where we will over time recognise that we havent achieved final goals, and want to put and therell be pressure to put more and more resources into this. You can look at that a couple of different ways. One is we ought to put more resources in upfront. We need to have that conversation politically, in a north right and honest way, and we need to do it not because we need to put lots of folks in there in principle. If we sustain a fight against i. S. I. S. , sustain and win, we need to have a commitment on behalf of the American People, otherwise we do the worst outcome, which is put a lot of resources in and pull them out before the mission is won. I worry that our political debate today is such that that is the outcome that well have. Honest. It will be difficult but important conversation. Brian fish moun of the new american foundation, good to have you with us. Coming up attorney general eric holder announces he is stepping down, well have a look at the mixed legacy of the first africanamerica attorneygeneral. A number of leaders are mere for the general assembly, but do they get anything done. Harmeli aregawi is tracking the stop stoppies on the web. Muslims around the world are using social media to take a stabbed against i. S. I. L. More in a bit. Follow us so many money stories sound complicated. But dont worry. Im here to take the fear out of finance. Every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real. As we approach the midterm elections consider this will highlight an issue that it important to voters, economy, education, immigration, today in the America Votes 2014 segment, we look at National Security. Polls show concerns over the threat of terrorism because of turmoil in iraq and syria. You might want to get used to newhampshire. Anyone that turns on the tv nose we face changeses to our way of life. Radical terrorist are threatening to cause a collapse to our country. I want to secure the border. Keep out the people that harm that and secure the border. Protecting the homeland is the first step to making america strong again. We are joined from los angeles, which Robert Obrien a u. S. Representative to the u. N. General assembly, and a Foreign Policy advisor during the 2012 president ial campaign. From washington d. C. , lawrence koch, senior fellow at the center for american progress, serving as assistant secretary of defense from 1981 to 1985. Robert, before we get to National Security, we cant begin a politics segment without talking about attorney general eric holder stepping down. He has been a lightening rod for the ps critics. Republican congressman called him a divisive ag. And the best attorneygeneral for civil rights. Why the resignation a few weeks before the election . We had high hopes for attorney general eric holder when he took hopes. They were dashed. As a general law enforce. Officer, he should have policed the administration. He appointed himself as the defender in chief of the administration, and we saw that in the fast and furious case, and the high arrest where he stone walled congress and was held in contempt of congress. He has a divisive leg as si, as attorneygeneral, something not used to seeing. I think the resignation was smart. Hes probably anticipating a flip in the senate of 50 50. I think the oversight of the department of justices and himself would have been withering, hes making a smart decision, getting out at the right time, and may take the election issue away from the republicans. Its smart politics, and that is why the resignation is being down now. On the other hand the resignation could set up a tough politically charged confirmation for his successor, but it would likely be after the midterm elections. How do you see his legacy and the midterm regulations. I see it as good. Theres less people in federal presents. He tried terrorism suspects. Had more convictions than in military court. He challenged voter id laws. He got the arizona horrible Immigration Law overturned. I would like to have seen him be tougher on wall street and the c. I. A. For spying and he was too forceful going after journalists. But i think his legacy will go down, hes served more than all but three of his predecessors. Hes been wanting to leave for a while. He decided that now is a time. Most that go in and take the positions dont serve the 5. Lets turn to the topic. Night. The president s Approval Ratings are dismaam. He has a record 34 of handling, approval. And 58 disapproving, and we saw the campaign add of scott browns, theres a bunch of those out there. Robert, the g. O. P.