The fireworks and insults sure have. We will take you there live. Good afternoon. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. We begin today with our world lead. Today the fbi made a stunning admission. The u. S. Is losing the battle to stop isis recruiting on the internet. In front of congress the director of the fbis Counter Terrorism unit conceded that while the United States is furiously trying to counter the terrorist narrative online isis is still succeeding in radicalizing countless americans on u. S. Soil. Also today, testimony that 180 americans have tried or have successfully gone to syria to fight jihad. Some of them have come back here to the United States. Could one of them be the next jihadi john, whose real name was revealed this morning. The killer hiding behind the mask the isis terrorist who beheaded american and british hostages on camera alleged to be Mohammad Emwazi. U. S. Officials say he is a 26yearold kuwaiti born london londoner. He graduated from university in 2009 with a degree in information technology. He used to live in this house on a quiet london street. He disappeared in 2012. His family says to syria. I want to get to cnn chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto. What else are we learning this Mohammad Emwazi . In effect we learned the accent was real. He was indeed a British National, born in kuwait. In addition to that well off, relatively well educated and radicalized fairly quickly, it seems, after some bad encounters with the authorities. Together his case and others we have seen recently show the broad appeal of isis in the mideast and in the west. Men and women among downtrodden radicals with nothing to lose and people like jihadi john of relative privilege. You now have 72 hours. Reporter he has been the voice of some of isis most brutal terror videos calm ruthless, and with a distinct and surprising british accent. Our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people. Reporter now uk authorities have identified terrorist known as jihadi john as Mohammad Emwazi a 26yearold British National born in kuwait but raised in london. Though u. S. Officials would not publicly discuss his suspected identity today the white house said jihadi john is a top terror target. In the mind of the president he ranks highly on the list because that individual is responsible for the murder of innocent americans and the president is determined to bring him to justice. Reporter emwazi illustrates isis alarmingly broad appeal. From a welloff family earning a College Degree in technology from the university of westminster. Until his travel to syria in 2012 enjoying a life of privilege. Today his friends said they never saw signs of his future as a terrorist. He was such a beautiful young man, really. You know its hard to imagine the trajectory but its not a trajectory thats unfamiliar for us. Reporter emwazis friends say his path to radicalization may have begun in 2009 when he traveled to tanzania to go on a safari a graduation present from his parents. But he was detained on arrival, held overnight, then deported to the uk. Authorities suspecting his true intention was to travel to somalia. In 2010 he was detained again by Counter Terrorism officials in britain. Two years later, emwazi is believed to have traveled to syria, where he joined isis. His friends claim mistreatment by british authorities set him on a path to terrorism. Our entire National Security strategy for the last 13 years has only increased alienation has only increased people feeling like they dont belong. That was a fairly alarming defense, considering emwazis truly brutal crimes particularly for families of his victims. Today the daughter of one of his victims, the british aide worker, david haynes says the family of his victims will not find peace until, in her words, theres a bullet between his eyes. Keep in mind thats part of the reason why he is featured so prominently in videos because he knows it will go right to our minds and scare the heck out of us. Thank you, jim. Nic robertson is in london where british officials are not yet confirming the identity of jihadi john. What has downing street said in the wake of these reports . Reporter what we are hearing from the Prime Ministers Office at number ten downing street they will never confirm nor deny the name of jihadi john is Mohammad Emwazi. We are hearing a similar thing from the metropolitan police in charge of Counter Terrorism in london. They are saying they always told the media to stay away from speculation about who jihadi john might be. They say life is at stake. They go on to say they will not provide a running commentary over what is for them an active terrorism investigation. So at the moment british authorities are staying away from getting into the details of this, but what is very interesting at this time we have heard what the cage organization has had to say. Their narrative picks up in 2009. But what the intelligence authorities and the metropolitan police here certainly know about is why Mohammad Emwazi came on the radar of mi5 and the british Counter Terrorism authorities here. Thats something that they are not sharing at this time. Perhaps we will get more details on it in the future. Perhaps if this is a case that goes to court under british law, thats when those details will get revealed. That will be typical of the way the British Police operate. But key in all of this is how and why did Mohammad Emwazi get on the radar of British Intelligence officials. Jake . Still so much to know. Thank you so much. Just how safe are we from the jihadi johns of the world, and from terrorism in general . Well that depends on whom you ask. Take a listen to the director of national intelligence, general james clapper, today. When the final accounting is done, 2014 will have been the most lethal year for global terrorism in the 45 years such data has been compiled. Let that sink in. The most lethal year for terrorism since the west has kept data on it. However, the director seems to have a different view on the state of safety than other high ranking Security Officials from the same administration. Take a listen to secretary of state john kerry. Heres what he had to say about terrorism today. There is actually less threat and less probability of people dying in some sort of violent conflict today than at any time. So whats the answer . Are we coming off the most dangerous year in recorded history for terrorism, or are we safer today from the threat of terrorism than ever before . Lets talk with democratic congresswoman from hawaii tulsy gabbard. You are also a United States veteran. Thank you for being here. We appreciate it. Whats the answer . Do i go with clapper or kerry . Lets go with reality. How about that. I like that. Which one of them reflects reality . This is actually pointing to the concern that i hear from people both in my district in hawaii but all across the country about their lack of confidence and lack of trust, because of these kinds of mixed messages and the news that we hear constantly about this growing threat of islamic extremism, that its more than just about one specific group called isis but you hear about al shabab and al qaeda and boko haram and what they are doing, and the call to action the call for an effective Winning Strategy to first of all identify who our enemy is why they are doing what theyre doing and what are we going to do about it working with our partners in the region and around the world. Should i read into what you just said that you side with clapper, this is a dangerous time . Absolutely. We are at risk if we dont take this seriously. If the United States leaders here dont take it seriously and actually learn from lessons of the past see how do we address this unconventional threat that really does pose a threat to not only those in the middle east but here in the United States and other parts of the world, that this threat will continue to grow. Lets talk about jihadi john. Obviously part of the threat, the british officials had him on their radar for years and yet obviously, he is now in iraq or syria, wherever he is wreaking terror wreaking havoc. How did he end up in syria fighting for isis if British Intelligence knew about him . I think its important to ask the questions of those security and intelligence agencies to see how they need to further strengthen and plug holes that they may have in their system. But i think its also important to pose the question and disprove the negative argument thats been laid out that isis is made up of people who are coming from povertystricken countries or who have been oppressed in some way and who are alienated. When you look at a guy like emwazi jihadi john where he came from a welloff family in a welltodo society, Computer Science degree. Everyone around him saying life is looking good for this guy. But he has turned to them clearly because of their highest recruiting tool which is this islamic extremist ideology this promise of a spiritual heaven for people who go and conduct these atrocious and horrific actions, and thats where we need to target groups like isis militarily, decisively but also we have to defeat this ideology thats recruiting people like jihadi john. But you are arguing that he didnt obviously he had economic means, but there are people, including this Muslim Rights Group in london who say that one of the reasons that he may have turned to this path is because he was, in their view this is not me speaking this is them he was harassed and harangued by British Intelligence and Law Enforcement. What would your response be to that . I would say they were doing their job, first of all. If you are identifying someone who could be a potential and credible threat to the safety and security of your people or people elsewhere, obviously you should be asking questions and connecting the dots really between being not being allowed to leave the country or being questioned to someone who has beheaded so many people is a difficult connection for me to make. Again, i think thats beside the point. I think this is not just about this guy jihadi john. We have to look at the deeper issue of the group and the various groups actually who are fueled by this common ideology and that we are seeing something unlike we have ever seen before because of it. Tulsy gabbard, thank you so much for coming in. Jihadi johns unmasking comes one day after the arrest of suspected isis recruits from brooklyn new york. New details about those three men, next. Meet the worlds newest Energy Superpower. Surprised . In fact, america is now the worlds number one natural gas producer. And we could soon become number one in oil. Because Hydraulic Fracturing Technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. Supporting millions of new jobs. Billions in tax revenue. And a new century of American Energy security. The new Energy Superpower . Its red, white and blue. Log on to learn more. Shopping online is as easy as it gets. Wouldnt it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple . Thanks to angies list now it is. 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Whatever, janet. For all the confidence you need td ameritrade. You got this. Welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. More on our top story in the National Lead the threat of islamic terrorists here and abroad. Today we are learning new details about two new yorkers accused of trying to join isis and wreak havoc and terror and a third man arrested for allegedly trying to help them. One allegedly threatened to kill president obama. They had trouble carrying out their plans partly at least because one of their mothers may have clipped their wings by hanging on to his passport. Thus preventing his travel to turkey and then syria. Cnns will ripley is live in the brooklyn neighborhood where these men lived. Will what are you learning about their lives before the arrests . Reporter so the 19yearold suspect lived in this Apartment Building behind me with his mother, we are told according to neighbors and the buildings superintendent and his mother did withhold his passport when she was suspicious about his motives. He was telling her he wanted to go back home to uzbekistan. She didnt quite believe him so she kept that passport away. Very simple Apartment Building inside no frills. This is a working class neighborhood coney island neighborhood here in brooklyn. Very diverse with a large Jewish Population and small muslim pockets that we are told oftentimes feel separate from the rest of the community. We did get a sense by talking to the former boss of the 24yearold suspect who worked at a gyro shop about 12 blocks from here that his religion was very important to him. He attended two different mosques in this neighborhood but he never gave any indication of radical views, only telling his boss just this week on tuesday that he was not going to be coming to work after thursday that he was going back to uzbekistan as well. Of course both men arrested here yesterday. Also in florida a 30yearold who owns some mall kiosks one of the men, 19yearold actually worked at the kiosk and of course that 30yearold accused of being the money man. You have in this working class neighborhood three men with brooklyn roots apparently lured by social media, by isis according to federal prosecutors, promised something bigger than that 500 a week job at the gyro shop and that simple apartment behind me. Will ripley live in brooklyn thank you. Lets bring in peter noiman director of the International Center for the study of radicalization at Kings College in london. Good to see you again. What do you say to critics who look at this case and suggest none of these guys arrested in brooklyn and the third one in florida would have actually likely carried anything out if the fbis confidential informant had not been involved . What would your response be . My response would be its impossible to say. This is one of the really great difficulties that we are dealing with now, because the internet we are monitoring at my institute, monitoring jihadists on the internet. It throws up literally thousands of people who are coming out with supportive statements about isis. Very few of them actually then go to syria. How do you distinguish . Theres no reliable method that would allow you to tell from what someone says on the internet whether hes going to pack his bags tomorrow. In this case i guess the fbi didnt want to take a chance. Lets turn to jihadi john. He has become an isis icon. Does unmasking him, revealing his name to the world as happened today, in your estimation does that harm the terrorists efforts to recruit or does it potentially help . I dont think it makes any difference to be honest. I think it would make a difference if he was killed if he was brought to justice as the partitions say. Just revealing his name its probably going to get a lot of people quite excited. Whether it makes a difference on the ground i dont think so. How does one go from getting an i. T. Degree at a respectable university to cutting off reporters heads, aid workers heads in syria in the name of allah . Does one have to start out as unbalanced to begin with . Not necessarily, even though there are cases where people are unbalanced. We will have to find out a lot more about this case. Its a fallacy to think everyone who gets radicalized is pure and uneducated. There is clearly a segment within the population who are quite intellectual from welloff backgrounds but who still think they do not have a place in society, who are