Speaker. Russian aggression. International monitors warn the situation in ukraine is getting worse by the day. Is russias president putin about to launch a new invasion . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. U. S. Investigators are blaming china for a cyber attack which may be unparalleled in its scale and audacity. Millions of americans including current and former government workers are the victims. Personal information and security records have been jeopardized in a data breach which cuts across almost every federal agency and the Chinese Military is suspected of building a massive database on americans. What will the chinese do with all this information . Ill speak live with senator james rich. Hes a member of the intelligence and Foreign Relations committees and our correspondents and analysts and guests are standing by with full coverage. Lets begin with jim sciutto with the very latest. Reporter this breach unprecedented both in scope and target. 4 million federal employees compromised including personal information and security clearances and it only took one Government Agency that had not taken the simple step of updating its Server Software. That was the open door that hackers believe directed by the Chinese Government entered u. S. Government systems. The concern is that this appears designed to lay the ground work for future attacks many more of them using that stolen personal information to both fool Government Employees and socalled spear fishing attacks and impersonate them to carry out insider attacks and by revealing who has security clearances they may now be able to identify expose even blackmail u. S. Officials. White house is not publicly naming china but certainly acknowledging the scope of the problem. We have seen our adversaries use innovative techniques and to learn from their previous efforts to find vulnerabilities in our system and exploit them. Reporter this is just the latest in a series of hacks including the breach of the an Temple Health care system. They are aimed at building a huge database on americans. Chinese hackers previously focused on stealing military secrets and Financial Data but once this breach was discovered by the u. S. Government the u. S. Created inside the system a fake system which then absorbed chinese attacks without them knowing something of a cyber honey pot so that they were able to deflect and have them think they were getting value when they were not but that was after they got a great deal of value. A lot of folks out there are asking this question why not retaliate. Should the United States retaliate . The Obama Administration has tried virtually everything including raising this issue president to president. They charged an elite group of chinese hackers with criminal charges but chinas attacks have only grown and theres a debate about the wisdom of hacking back. The privatesector is legally barred from doing so. The government is concerned about sparking a cycle of escalation a tit for tat where the attacks get more severe. The president issued an executive order authorizing cyber sanctions, this is what the government has imposed on russia for its actions inside ukraine. Pick out companies, individuals similar to these individuals who were charged with criminal charges but in terms of taking that further that hasnt happened. Really they are trying to find a way to deter china. They have not found that way yet. Meanwhile a chilling new message from isis seems to be aimed at americans. What the air force is delivering its own message dropping smart bombs on an isis command center after a dum isis fighter gives away the location online. Lets get the latest from barbara starr. Reporter wolf we know isis is growing in its sophistication but this latest video seemed perhaps to be an effort to recruit westerners and especially americans. Together they march. They are the soldiers of allah. Reporter fluent english on a new video released by isis media machine. Swept by the coming winds of jihad. Reporter why an English Speaking voice this is a great example of how they hone in on a specific audience and push their message to a specific group of people. Reporter in this case a coveted north american audience but isis social media savvy can sometimes backfire. Air force general told reporters this week his team of analysts combing through isis social media posts were able to identify the location of a command and krol center. Within 22 hours they were able to take the building out. U. S. Intelligence teams working in florida have been continually scouring social media hoping to find in the generals word a moron who gives up their location making them a target. The head of the air force says its what they do. Were using everything we can to fine potential targets. Reporter the four star general with more than 3,000 hours in the cockpit would not address the pentagons estimate that up to 13,000 isis fighters have been killed in Coalition Air strikes. I dont know where the number of 10,000 came from. Reporter he should. Dod Officials Say it all comes from air force and navy pilots themselves who estimate the dead after each air strike. But even with the air campaign isis still showing muscle. They are influencing things on the ground. They were table move no ramadi. They are threatening to use water as a weapon. Until we can stop all activity this will not be successful. Reporter that very sensitive issue about body count doesnt go away. One general is saying its up to 13,000 the pentagon says its 10, those another general says he doesnt know. Another general today told pentagon reporters that the Coalition Air strikes are killing up to 1,000 isis fighters every month. Wolf . I dont know where they are getting those numbers but those numbers obviously are fluctuating. Well have more on this part of the story coming up. Thanks very much. In iraq isis is turning up the pressure by turning off the tap. The terror group is using water as a weapon by cutting the flow at a strategic dam. Lets go live to baghdad right now. Our Senior International correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is on the scene. Whats the latest . Reporter wolf you can imagine how are you intelligent this is for People Living downstream from dam. They closed 23 of the 26 gates of that dam and were hearing today the water level of that river has dropped again substantially as have the number of people fleeing that area downstream to areas further south where they think they can get better supplies. Now this is key because that area downstream from the ramadi dam is where the Security Forces of iraq are gathering along with military too as are a number of civilians who are trapped. They need that water to exist. Agriculture. Washing. Drinking. Another issue too which seems to hour by hour get precariously close if that water level drops substantially isis can cross which until now has been a defensive moot protecting the Iraqi Government force. That could change the balance militarily here. Look at the narrative. Were now weeks into the operation to recapture anbar and ramadi. We have not seen much territory change backhand but we heard isis understood what the Key Resources are in the area and cut them off. If youre a sunni and need water to live you need to go isis side of the dam. Were seeing very disturbing new video from isis at the scene of a major iraqi oil facility. Tell us about that. Reporter what youre seeing now the slick social Media Campaign to bring in recruits. It will appeal to people in basements around the world getting an edge by joining isis. Were talking about toil refinery. Its an economic catastrophe. Were it set fire in the basis threatened to do it. Were also seeing in that video American Made weapons. Now that could be an m4 particularly being used but it shows you the prolie feration of weapons in this area and how things originally given to the iraqi army are ending up in their hands. Also adds to the issue many disarmament advocates make if you add more small arms to a conflict you have no idea where they will end. You are not bringing peace youre causing more violence. These pictures youre seeing here are for a vital area. The government says they have the upper hand. Quite clear isis doesnt want to let go of this state. Its clear isis does have a lot of u. S. Weapons that the iraqi army abandoned as they fleed major cities. Nick paton walsh in baghdad, be careful over there. Joining us now james rish of idaho. Senator, thanks very much for joining us. I want to talk to you about what isis is doing, the threat from isis here at home and abroad. First i have to ask you about this massive cyber attack on the u. S. Government the federal government first of all. I know 4 million federal employees current and former have been impacted by this. Does this include Staff Members up on capitol hill including members of your own staff . Wolf it doesnt. Report we have is that it is affecting only members only employees of the executive branch. So it would probably exempt ours but thats a small number cop paired to compared to number of employees in the executive branch. The department of state, department of defense or whatever they may be impacted by this right . Right. No question about that. So its believed that the chinese are doing this cyber attack amassing huge databases of personal information about americans. Do you have any idea why they are doing this . You know theres a lot of speculation, wolf on why they are doing it. I think the first thing that needs to be determined is exactly who is doing it. The question you asked at the beginning is a question we always ask in the Intelligence Committee when we get a report like this is this state sponsored or is it a commercial operation or is it some kid sitting in his basement just playing . And, unfortunately, you can trace it back to china. But beyond that its impossible really to pin it on anybody at least at this point. As you know the official response of the Chinese Government is that they didnt do it and of course they would say that. But before i know you talked about a retaliatory action. Before you even think about anything like that you really need to determine who is specifically responsible for this. Because basically the information were getting here at cnn from u. S. Officials is that china did in fact not just some chinese hackers but chinese hackers working for the Chinese Government or the Chinese Military were directly responsible for this enormous hack over these past several months so its not just some kid in the basement this is a deliberate act by the government of china. Are your telling me are your getting different information you cant confirm that yet . Wolf i wouldnt say im getting different information. How i would phrase it is were not getting the information that does confirm that. I would question the veracity of someone who said they could specifically trace this back to the Chinese Government. Im not saying they arent doing it im just saying that i think that may be a little bit premature. Having said that you and i talked about this before that there are thousands of attacks on the u. S. Government on u. S. Businesses on u. S. Individuals coming from foreign countries, some state actors some nonstate actors every single day as we sit here and talk. Theres attacks going on right now, and i really believe that the next incident in america is going to be a cyber incident. We all know what can happen if you can shut down the internet and shut down all of the cyber world, particularly for any length of time it would be a very very serious problem. Senator, we have nor discuss and especially whats going on with isis in iraq and syria. Well take a quick break. More when we come back. The promise of the cloud is that every organization has unlimited access to information, no matter where they are. The microsoft cloud gives our team the power to instantly deliver critical information to people, whenever they need it. Here at accuweather we get up to 10 billion Data Requests every day. The cloud allows us to scale up so we can handle that volume. We can help keep people safe and to us that feels really good. Dear stranger, when i booked this trip, my friends said i was crazy. Why would i stay in someone elses house . But this morning a city ive never been to felt like one i already knew. I just wanted to thank you for sharing your world with me. It felt like home. Airbnb. Belong anywhere. The beast was as long as the boat. For seven hours, we did battle. Until i said. You will not beat. Meeeeee greg. What should i do with your fish . Gary. Just put it in the cooler. If youre a fisherman, you tell tales. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance you switch to geico. Its what you do. Put the fish in the cooler mike fincham was diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer 2 years ago. It was a priority for mike that he continue to be there for his family throughout his treatment continuing to live the life he loves. Thats why he chose Cancer Treatment centers of america. There he found a comprehensive array of Therapeutic Options all under the same roof designed to fight his cancer boost his energy and help him maintain his strength during treatment. Mike and his Clinical Team developed a plan just for him. This is integrative cancer care. This is how mike fincham fights cancer. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. For more information go to cancercenter. Com Appointments Available now. Were back with republican senator from idaho. He serves on intelligence and Foreign Relations committees. Senator, we saw earlier this week police in boston shoot and kill a man who was believed to be planning a knife attack on Law Enforcement. We also know that at least one of the men connected to the plot the alleged plot had been in touch with isis fighters overseas. Do you know if isis had a direct involvement in this boston plot . Yes, i do know but wolf i cant go into the details on that. Youll recall some weeks back when i appeared here on your show i told you they had moved that is isis had moved from just aspirational motives to actually going to operational. Were seeing the effects of that right now. One month ago today of course there was the attack in garland, texas. Tuesday, of course the Law Enforcement shot and killed a man in boston who was actually in the process of carrying out an attack. They didnt let him get very far with it. Both of these are feel good Success Stories for us here. Our Intelligence Community is doing an excellent job as far as staying on top of these things. Unfortunately, as you know we have to be right 100 of the time. All we can do is pray that they continue to do as good a job as what they are doing. But, look when it comes to isis, they are doing their best using social media to inspire people in america who are so inclined who are foolish enough and who are vulnerable enough to buy into their philosophy and theory. They are doing their best to inspire them and, indeed they are getting more bold on social media. As far as getting specific direction to people for times, places and individuals that they would like to see attacked. So this is serious. Its getting more serious all the time. Weve got to continue to ratchet up our response to that. I can give the American People absolute assurance that we are ratcheting up our response to that. Were is going to continue to do so meet it head on. I want to be precise as much as you can tell me senator, is it your understanding that someone in isis directed usaama rahim the man who was shot and killed by Boston Police and the fbi earlier this week they directed him to go out to amazon. Com and purchase three large military style knives to go ahead and Kill Police Officers and also behead Pamela Geller . You know wolf i really cant get into the details of that. I think probably youve already reported some of the open source reporting thats been on that. Certainly, the proposed victim was specified by isis. How that was done directly and beyond that i really cant go into it. Its classified. But they are getting more bold in identifying targets, dates and methods of how they want to see things done. And, unfortunately, i think we can only expect that thats going to increase rather than decrease. Very quickly more than three individuals involved. We know there are two, one is dead one is arrested. They are looking at a third suspect. Are any other suspects connected to this boston terror plot out there . Again, wolf if i go into that im going to be disclosing things that are classified. But, again, let me assure you that the Intelligence Community is on top of these things and they are using every tool they have in the tool box to connect the dots whenever they can, and they are going to continue to stay on top of it. Thanks very much for joining us. Wolf thank you. Coming up following the burial of the boston terror suspect were waiting for Boston Police to release the video of the actual shooting as new details emerge about a third man potentially involved in the case. And is russias president putin about to launch a new invasion. Inter