Isis. Residents paid a terrible price for their freedom. Caught my surprise baltimores Police Commissioner says there was no warning that six of his Police Officers would be charged and admits his department has been part of the problem in the city. And held in north korea, a u. S. Student detained in the north is speaking out for the first time about his capture and his treatment. Well have an exclusive report live from the communist capital of pyongyang. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Isis is claiming its first attack inside the United States. The terror group now says the gunman who attacked a Prophet Muhammad event in texas were its soldiers and brothers and warns that future attacks will be worse. Both of the american gunmen were shot dead at the scene. One of them did have social media tie to isis. And right now the United States is investigating how much of a role isis may have played in the attack. That comes as if u. S. Offers hugh rewards for information on four key leaders of isis. The bounties run from 3 million to 7 million for the men. Each has been labeled especially designated global terrorist. Ill talk about all of that and more with our correspondents and analysts and guests. Lets get the latest now from our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto. Wolf tonight a u. S. Official tells cnn that the garland, texas shooting was quote certainly more than just inspiration by the terror group isis. While that does not mean that the terror group gave the gunmen specific intersections, communication via social media between simpson and the terror group demonstrates its ability open reach to recruit all the way inside the u. S. Today isis took responsibility for the garland, texas shooting. The first attack it has claimed on u. S. Soil. U. S. Officials are now probing connections between one of the texas gunmen Elton Simpson and isis to determine to what degree the attack was directed from abroad. Though there is no evidence the terror group gave the gunmen specific intersections, one u. S. Official tells cnn that the shooting was, quote, certainly more than just inspiration by isis. Because of the quick and professional and brave work of local Law Enforcement officers an attempted terrorist attack was foiled. The attack fits a wellknown pattern of isis recruitment and incitesment, encouraging sympathizers via a sophisticated social Media Campaign to join the fight in syria, or if they cannot carry out terror attacks closer to home. Simpson apparently had public exchanges on twitter about the mu had maam cartoon event in gar rand. And another person tied to the somali based terror group. I dont know that you can say that isis said go to garland, texas and attack that location and that activity. But theyre certainly part of the psychological approach of this that causes people to be radicalized. Those who knew simpson and his fellow gunman tell cnn they never suspected they were terrorists. They didnt show any signs of radicalization or any signs of even thinking about those things in that manner. So when that happens, it just shocks you. Today the head of Counter Terror at the fbi confirmed that the kwib opened a new investigation into simpson just in recent months adding that social media postings usually a part of neither roar investigation. Whats clear here is there were connections, there was communication between the gunmen and isis overseas. Doesnt mean that isis was telling them exactly what to do or when. But that communication is something theyre looking at more closely here. And it looks like that was more there for than him just getting the idea online. That he had some direction from abroad. Certainly looks like the first direct isis attack here in the United States. And i know officials are bracing for more. Jim sciutto, thanks very much. Palm la, whatpamela what are investigators learned from searching their home . Reporter what theyve learned is that social media is a key part of this whole sore story as far as inspiring the gunmen to go to garland, texas from their home here in phoenix, arizona and attempt to launch a terrorist attack that we know was ultimately foiled. And were learning more from officials who are on the front lines of this who have been analyzing the social media interactions between the gunmen particularly Elton Simpson and two known terrorists overseas that there was talk of the cartoon event weeks leading up to the actual event on sunday. As jim pointed out, there were interactions between simpson and at least two known terrorists one of them being a terrorist in somalia tied to al qaeda and another a british isis fighter who were learning more about. Officials believed he played a key role with inspiring simpson. Hes known to be a significant figure in isis. He is considered a double threat. Hes tech savvy. Hes also known to be a leader within isis. And he has a lot of recruitment power according to sources weve been speaking with. So we know that simpson was in touch with him. And that a week before the cartoon event in texas, simpson was interacting with the terrorists in somalia. And this is what he said over twitter. He said when will they ever learn. Theyre planning on selecting the best picture drown in texas. Indicating he was angry of the event. And this in response they said the brothers of Charlie Hebdo did their part. Its time for the brothers in the u. S. To do theirs. We learned that the fbi reopened an investigation into simpson in part at least because of his interactions online with these known terrorists. Of course that raises questions as far as how they were able to get from their home here in phoenix to garland, texas. I can tell you from speaking to officials, wolf weve been talking about this concern of isis reaching into the u. S. Through social media, identifying targets and recruiting. Were seeing that play out. This has certainly been a wakeup call. They got there with body armor, with vests, bullet proof vests and with assault rifles at the same time and could have obviously been a whole lot worse. Joining us now is a key voice on National Security senator angus king. Hes the independent senator from maine, serves on the intelligence and Armed Services committees. Would you agree this was the first, i guess its successful. They actually managed to start firing their assault weapons. The First Successful isis attack on u. S. Soil senator . Well i think that may be a slight overstatement because we dont have yet any data that connects them to this attack but its pretty darn close. We know that isis and there are other supporter, al shabaab and others were tweeting about the conference in texas and urging people to take up arms. I dont know if they contacted this guy in phoenix directly and said you should go. But you know were splitting hairs here. I think the reality is this is what happened. Isis was urging an attack. These guys responded. And this is a real danger. Now there is a bit of success here. The fbi and the Homeland Security department contacted local Law Enforcement people in texas in the area of this conference last thursday and said told them that they thought there was a significant risk of some kind of attack. And then of course the local people bravely and ably took these guys out. So you know there is a, there is a success here in terms of Counter Terrorism. But the problem is how much more of this are we going to face. And this was an easy target to identify by our fbi and Homeland Security. What about a random attack somewhere else in the country. Thats going to be much more difficult. It certainly will be. Senator we know that isis is claiming responsibility theyre claiming credit from their perspective as far as this attack in texas is concerned. But do you have any more specific information on the isis involvement . Other u. S. Officials are telling cnn the attack in their words was quote certainly more than just inspiration. Yeah. I think thats true. Inspiration would be kind of a generalized term. But clearly they were sending out a kind of apb of heres this event taking place, the brothers in the u. S. Should take care of it like the brothers did in france. So that was the language they were using. Again were splitting hairs. Does that mean they ordered the guy in phoenix to go and do this or did he pick up on the social media and say im one of the broths im going to go and do it. The point is they are definitely definitely into the business of trying to inspire these kind of attacks. And direct them. And its just something that were going to have to continue to deal with given the state of the world that we live in. And they are now warning also of bigger attacks down the road. Senator, stand by. We have more to discuss. Well take a quick break. Much more with senator angus king when we come back. Big day . Ah, the usual. Moved some new cars. Hauled a bunch of steel. Kept the supermarket shelves stocked. Made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. Whats up for the next shift . Ah, nothing much. Just keeping the lights on. laugh nice. Doing the big things that move an economy. See you tomorrow, mac. See you tomorrow, sam. Just another day at norfolk southern. [ male announcer ] how do you make cancer a thing of the past . Well. You use the past. Huntsman Cancer Institute has combined 300 years of family histories with Health Records to discover inherited genes for melanoma, breast colon and ovarian cancers. So we can predict and treat cancer. And sometimes even prevent it from happening in the first place. To learn more or support the cause go to huntsmancancer. Org. Hey mom, you want to live by the lake, right . Yeah. Theres here. Did you just share a listing with me . Look at this one. Its got a great view of the lake. Its really nice mom. Your dad wouldve loved this place. Youre not just looking for a house. Youre looking for a place for your life to happen. Zillow were back with senator angus king. She serves on the senator and intelligence committee. In taking responsibility isis warned in their words of bigger and more bitter terror attacks. Do you have any information about active plots that may be in the works right now . No information on active plots. But i dont think theres any doubt that they would very much like to have those kind of effects here in the country. And you know the distinction we were talking about before did they order this attack. And i think they did in a general kind of way but not in a specific way of contacting this fellow in phoenix. But theyre going to continue to try to do this and weve got to try to keep one step ahead of them with our intelligence assets with our Law Enforcement assets. But you know we cant have a circle of police around every public space in america. There are not that many police and thats not the country we want to live in. Weve got to try to counter act this in all moving on all fronts. But a key element is intelligence. And interestingly, a key element is successful careful monitoring of social media. These guys advertise what theyre going to do on twitter. Thats something this is a whole new world where weve got to have the fbi and our intelligence agencies monitoring social media. Thats a tough job, though because theres a lot of stuff going on out there on social media. You dont know whats real whats fake or whats serious, whats a real threat. Some people are suggesting these two guys they were pretty inept. They show ud up with assault rifles but one traffic cop with a handgun killed both of them before they could do any damage. What does that say . I think what it says is we were lucky. We had good warning from the intelligence from the fbi but we also had good policing on the local level. What if they had been more competent, better armed and better prepared . This could have been a real tragedy, wolf. I think this time we were fortunate in the way it turned out. Were just going to have to do continue to do everything we can to deal with and prevent these kinds of things. But understand that living in a free country there are going to be risks. I know you believe in free speech, the First Amendment like all of us but heres the question. Should this event defikting the prophet mumuhammad should it have taken place in the first place . Sfl if you cant tolerate offensive speech then the First Amendment doesnt mean anything. There is never a justification for violence against somebody in this country who is expressing their opinion, no matter how obnoxious it is to me or someone else. Now what the problem is though we have to understand that our reference for the First Amendment doesnt extend across the globe and that there are people who there are laws against blasphemy and all of these other things in other countries. Thats where it gets complicated. We have the right of free speech in this country and that goes for words we dont like. No justification for this no matter how provocative this event was. But i do think its important, wolf that these were two, you know i dont know what their mental state was, but clearly they werent well balanced. But not to say okay well all muslims in america, eve got to watch and surreal and everything else. To attribute these actions to millions of law abiding patriotic americans i think would be a tragic outcome from this event. Weve really got to be careful about that. Thats absolutely true. Senator king thanks for joining us. Coming up, stunning scenes of devastation captured by a drone flying over the city of kobani which endured an isis assault and Coalition Air strike zbloos a cnn exclusive as a u. S. Student detained in the communist capital talks for the first time about his capture and his treatment. Stay with us. Youre in the situation room. While others go in circles. And repeat themselves. We choose to carve our own path, in the pursuit of exhilaration. The 306 horsepower lexus gs. 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Call your doctor if you have muscle pain or weakness, feel unusually tired have loss of appetite, upper belly pain, dark urine or yellowing of skin or eyes. These could be signs of serious side effects. Im down with crestor make your move. Ask your doctor about crestor. Lets get back to our top story. Isis says it was behind the attack on a controversial Prophet Muhammad event in texas. And u. S. Investigators work to determine how big of a role the terror group actually played. Joining us now our cnn security analyst, peter bergman, a and our military analyst, retired Lieutenant General mark hurt ling. Was this the First Successful isis attack in the u. S. . Im a skeptic on this. When we faced 99 11 and hads the attempted bombing over detroit, he was involved with the al qaeda affiliate in yemen. These guys may have had some communication, were not sure yet. Theyre inspired by isis but this does not look like an isis ait can. Its like giving me a baseball bat and saying im a member of the new york yankees. I agree completely. Were talking about a force thats communicating and inspired by the ideology but has not been trainedary not part of a formation. This is very different and its going to continue. You wrote a major piece on cnn. Com in which you say is shooting in texas was inevitable. What do you mean . If you look at the record of americans who have been convicted of trying to kill cartoonist we wef another three of them and weve got other americans who have been indicted for inciting sirens against people who have drawn cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. This was an accident waiting to happen. Weve got a cartoonist in hiding for four years now at the advice of the fbi because she was doing some of the drawings herself. I think most of the americans would be surprised this would happen here in this country. But the fact is this was less of a surprise than it should have been. Was it a propaganda win for isis. Now they can boast they even hit texas in the United States. I think thats true. We look at this as americans paz a blund are. They never made it anywhere. I think if youre an isis individual you step back and say, were trying to lead people to believe that if they dont act theyre cowards. People around who are affiliated with ie sies might look at that theyve given me a message that ive got to go out and do the same thing. Otherwise i have to step back and say dont have the courage in any convictions. People might say shoot, i better go out and do the same thing otherwise im not acting on my beliefs. But all over social media, theyre going to be claiming credit for this. Thats what i was going to say. It could be a recruiting win. We always have to watch that. There with no front lines to this battlefield. There are individuals acting like this. They want to recruit more and more. They will take advantage of the success they can get and this is one of them. If there were videos released by isis on social media in the coming days sthoug those two guys saying this is what were doing, were going to defend the prophet, were going to texas, were ready to die if they were able to release videos like that that would be a significant move a significant development, right sf. Weve seen this before with coulibaly who was one of the