Attack. And a man linked to 1,000 lashes in a country ha the United States considers a major ally. And how can this happen in a can cup country in 2015. We will begin with the break news. Belgium launched raids against a a group of e terrorists who were planning major attacks. Terrorists were killed against police in the raids. Phil black, you were there, and tell us what happened. It happened when police moved many in quickly and shut down the road and moved en force and heavily armed into the property just up the road here. The Authorities Say that when they entered the building the occupants, well, thaey opened fire straight away. That gun battle followed. The locals tell us it went five to ten minutes and very fierce and he i have weapons were used they say and they heard a number of distinct large detonations and one of which they believe triggered a fire on the ground floor of that building. When it was all over the Authorities Say that two suspects had been kill and a third had been injured and is now in custody. This raid and oter thises across belgium tonight are all of the result of an invest xwags that the Authorities Say that been going on for some time predating the are recent terror attacks in paris, don. So there are raids going on right now . We dont know where or to what extent where else in belgium they are taking place or if they are taking place as we speak. They are not happening here in ver viase verviers. And Deborah Feyerick what are your sources telling you about the raids . We are learning that the dozen authorities had already known the exextremists on their radar, but they had key pieces of information that accelerated the urgency of the timing of these particular raids. You have to keep in mind don, there rin vestigations all across europe and not just france and belgium, but the netherlands and germany according to the source but with respect to belgium, two pieces of information, and one from a belgium arms dealer, and the second involves two men recently returned to belgium from syria. And mou the belgium arms dealer it is believe had that he provided weapons to the kosher market gunman Ahmedi Coulibaly and he had names that matched the known extremists already on the belgians radar, and that was a critical piece. And two men who also were from syria flew into belgium, and they were taken into custody and also the information they pro provided also led the authorities to step it up and that something was imminent and time was of the essence and they could not wait any long e. You said that something was imminent. Do we know the possible target of the attack . Well, a number of high value targets in belgium. We are not hearing specific areally the targets, but you have to keep in mind that European Commission headquarters are there, nato is there, and remember a number of u. S. Troops stationed there, and the terrorists always go after the same targets again and again. Belgium is very, very significant and symbolically and also for the number of people and countries that could be effectively be targeted. And phil and deborah, stand by. I want to bring in Paul Kruk Shan shank who is the coauthor of agent storm and things are happening very quickly in belgium, and what are your agents telling you . Yes, very quickly. I have talked to a Counter Terrorism agent who said they have been ip vestneen investigating this cell for quite some time and they suspected them to launch at a attack in retaliation, and they are not clear about exactly where, but they were believed to have kalashnikovs and other weapons at their disposal and they are treating this very, very seriously indeed and trying to round up the whole cell. They believe it is a terrorist cell and they have broken apart a Larger Network here . Absolutely. And posing an imminent threat that is similar to the attack within perhaps hours that this group was under surveillance and possible that wiretaps led to this of their cell phones which generated information which is concerning to the bellgium officials, and obviously the attack in paris as well and some concern that it could have inspired them to accelerate the plans, don. Was all of this triggered by what happened at the Kosher Grocery store do you believe . There is not a link between the group . Pair between the group in paris and the group here in belgium linked back to isis in al qaeda and this is the group linked back to yemen. And this is the wepapons guy, the arms dealer who is connected to coulibaly, and what do you know about that . Well, the supposition is that he may have provided some of the weapons for that attack on the grocery store. It is unclear at this point exactly what links he had to some of the belgium militants that deb has been report ging new stuff tonight and phil is looking through all of it trying to figure it out, don. And through the reports of People Living there, but there are raids going through the area tonight, and this is not our information, but reported pr other agencies that there are reports throughout the country. Yes, loud bangs throughout the country, and everybody is on edge and false alarms in some places there and this is unprecedented moment for europe. The idea that this group, isis is now pivoting towards focusing on launching attacks against europe and using the resources has about 1,000 european recruits in the area and all of the money and the warriors that are going to inflict carnage on the streets of europe. You say it is a gamechanger, right . Because of isis . Well the gamechanger and because of what i was describing because of the pivoting launching attacks against the west using all of the resources and the warriors that syria and iraq are only going to be a safe haven for several years to come and we are seeing the air strikes everyday and at most 20 but it is not a concerted air campaign. Be Big Questions for the International Community, and the United States and the administration here. Do they need to sort of accelerate the program in terms of taking on isis in syria and iraq pa because otherwise, we are doing to be seeing more of these events unfolding on the streets of major western cities. We are watching it very close ly here on cnn along with Paul Cruikshank. And we have so much more coming up tonight on the coverage including the investigation in belgium. And what do we know about Christopher Lee cornell who was a jihadist planning to attack the capitol. A wrestling team says that his antigovernment blog postings turned him off. We will speak to him next. Cold medicines open your nose over time, but add a breathe right strip and pow, it opens your nose up to 38 more. So you can breathe and do the one thing you want to do sleep. Add breathe right to your Cold Medicine shut your mouth and sleep right. Breathe right. And look for the calming scent of new breathe right lavender in the sleep aisle. In my world, wall isnt a street. Return on investment isnt the only return im looking forward to. For some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. Which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. Our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. Start investing with as little as fifty dollars. Push your enterprise and you can move the world. But to get from the old way to the new youll need the right it infrastructure. From a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. Hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. And stay ready for everything that is still to come. Our breaking news tonight, Belgium Police are launching a series of raids against terrorist terrorists across the country, and saying that the attacks were imminent. What what is go g oning on in belgium . The same situation as we saw occur in france . Well, it is certain lyly a similar situation. You could tell that the city here, and i would not necessarily say that the whole city is on edge but a number of the Security Services are on edge. I am standing in in front of the National Police headquarters and the folks here are at a heightened state of alert. The state of antiterror alert has been heightened from 2 to 3 on a scale of 4. And you can see the cop car racing past me right here as we are speaking. That is the state of the Security Forces at this point in time. We heard nathat the raids here in brussels and other places were going on through the night, and might possibly be going on and another indication of another big concern here in society, don, is that the jewish schools in towns like anthrop and brussels will be closed tomorrow. That is why people are concerned here. Why so many jihadists in in belgium, fred . Well, it is a very good question, because one of the things that we are talk about for two years now is that there was a threat of jihadists leaving places like belgium and france and germany and coming back and going to syria, and then coming back here to europe to possibly perpetrate an attack and something that the european societys have been tauk talking about for a long time, and we have been seeing a abstract threat to him until what happened in paris and today, and Paul Cruikshank talked about it a gamechanger, and it is in the way that the europeans perceive the threat. Belgium is specifically a very, very special case. First of all, a very large Muslim Population, and 6 of the population is muslim. They enacted tough laws in the aftermath of 9 11 in 2001 for instance women are not allowed to walk around in veils here, and that is illegal. And so also, this is a country of 11 million, and belgium is the country with the highest per capita of people who go to fight in places like syria and iraq. So they have a very Large Population and a lot of it is due to the fact that you have a very large Muslim Population who feels disenfranchised and has felt that way for a long time. Fredrick pleitgen in belgium. We are learning more about the ohio man who is allegedly plotting to attack the capitol. The fbi says that Christopher Cornell hatch eded a plan that was in the late stages and ready to go, but cornell didnt know that the partner was an fbi informant, and so i am joined now by a former high school s we are ling teammate who asked us not to use his name. I want to thank you for joining us. And tell us about the classmate christopher. Chris was more of a quiet guy, but he never really talk ded much. He wrestled seventh and eighth grade and in the freshman year, and then he quit. After he quit i never really talked to him after that, but i would see him around the halls, and it was just that he was more of a quieter type. He never really talked. I only saw him hang out with his brother, and after high school, i followed him on facebook for a little bit, and he started posting more and more antigovernment post and that is with when i unfollowed him and i didnt see anything about him until yesterday on the news. What kind of things was he posting . Just different antigovernment, antimilitary, just against everything every government and every military thing that there was. Did you ever think that he could be capable of what he is accused of . I didnt think that he would ever be able to do Something Like that. He never spoke to you about isis or any sort of Terror Organization . No not at all. He was just quiet all of the time. It was a surprise to me when found out that he did it. How did you find out . I actually, my girlfriend texted h me and told me about it, and then my mom texted h me, and her friend was getting and her phone was getting blown up and so was mine. Thank you for joining me on cnn about it. And lets talk about it with jim reece, former Homeland Security adviser, and Juliet Kayyem as well a former adviser. Is this out of central casting, but it seems it is . Yes, a kid against the military and the government can, and reading things that he has a sense of himself who is greater than he is ever going to be and all of the markings . Yes. And what we dont know from the investigation perspective, the chicken and the egg factor and was this a guy sort of talk big talk and then the fbi comes in and says, oh, with the informant and i know how to get you guns or was this a guy further enough along, and that is going to with be coming out in the affidavit, but it is what h we have seen before and unfortunately, we will see it again. And quiet and kept to himself, and then he starts to post these things and what do you think . Well, it is just like what you said, a lot of the young kids are disenfranchised and they are looking for groups and dont know what to do and isis is so good at the propaganda and they get sucked up into it and it is their chance to be be a rock star. And you dont think that he is part of isis . No, he is not part p of isis but it is the selfradicalization here in the u. S. That is concerning. And i want to talk about the video that we have bneen seeing coming out of the antiterror raids going on. And the video from one of the raids and break it down for us. So here is what you have right here, and this sis the initial breach here, and any time at 4 00 this the morning, and you hear a big boom people get up out of their beds. So this is flash bang and it is a diversion their tool to get the bad guys to look up, and in the apartment houses, they cause fires quickly, aped it is a scare piece, and the thing is that the guys had to fight up the stairs here. So it happened in the dark and not latet at night, but it was in the evening just before 6 00 p. M. But it was done in the cover of darkness . Yes, this is what you want to do. In paris, i think that the one thing they wish they could have done is wait for it to with be dark, because everybody could have seen the approach and the element s elements are surprise, speed, and pal lance of the action and let the guys get in and close this in on the bad guys. And lets look at the the other piece of the video here. So now you aret the top of the stairs and the engagement is happen ing happening. You can see the smoke and the camera there go ging up. And the flash bangs going up, and the pressure there cracks the windows and shatters the windows and the fire at the base of the staircase and the fire going up a and thes a stault force is moving up the stairs. And you can hear the different cal calibers of the ak47s and the pistols going off. And one thing, this is happening simultaneously throughout belgium, and the organization to pull this off simultaneously in different places is remarkable. We saw nit france, if you are going to be taking out multiple spots, take them out at the same time so that nobody can communicate that, you know that it is over. How quick is a european government or are the governments this in europe to handle these operations . Well not very in some respects, and i mean, this is the scenario that everyone had been worried about that the organized, sophisticated well planned targeted attacks that we saw on 9 11 in the years immediately after were going to reform in some other way in on the european streets. We had a gap of time and fortunately in which there were a lone wolves selfradicalized guys and the big hit this week. And everyone is waking up to it, and intelligence sharing is going to be getting more sophisticated, sophisticated, but it is clear that the challenges that we have in the United States with the intelligence sharing that the european s europeans are having as with well. The agencies abroad know more or less han the agencies domestically and ultimately, it comes down to the radicalization happen ing in happening in their own country. And colonel, you said ha the radicalization in in with belgium makes it a transnational terrorist. Yes. They have focused on syria, and now focused on getting land at the caliphate, and now they have had the fighters in syria, and have come out, and that makes them transnational. Do you have to change the ta strategy now . Does the u. S. Have to change strategy . Yes. Well, i dont know if it is changing the strategy, but it is another group on the block they have to look at, and we dont have the assets to track everybody. Thank you, both. And coming up two nations that are not any more different one a representative of democracy and another is a country that flogs and punishes people in saudi arabia. We will talk about that coming up. [container door closing] what makes it an nx is what you can get out of it. Introducing the firstever lexus nx turbo and hybrid. Once you go beyond utility theres no going back. Music. The getaway vehicle for all the confidence you need. Td ameritrade. You got this. And an Early Morning mode. And a partly sunny mode. And an outside. To clear inside mode. 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