Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff a massive investigation of the terrorist attacks in paris was in full swing across france and belgium today. The death toll stood at 129, with some 350 wounded in fridays coordinated assault, now claimed by the Islamic State group. Hari sreenivasan is in paris, where he begins our coverage. Sreenivasan thanks, judy. It was a day of remembrance and resolve here. The victims in paris were memorialized once again, as the french began a forceful response against the Islamic State. Sreenivasan silence fell across paris at noon today. And across much of europe, as victims of fridays attacks were remembered by millions. Including the french president , at a courtyard at the sorbonne. Sreenivasan a short time later, Francois Hollande went before parliament to declare that france is at war. translated the french people are ardent, valiant, courageous. They dont give up. They stand up when each of their children is put in the ground. Those who wanted to murder them by deliberately striking innocent people are cowards who fired on an unarmed crowd. Sreenivasan across france, authorities conducted a sweeping dragnet of people they suspect of militant ties. And found caches of weapons, including rocket launchers, were throughout france overnight, police and armed police, with the help of the central and regional branches of our Intelligence Services, carried out 168 raids in the homes of people under suspicion. Sreenivasan at the same time, a fuller picture of those suspected in the plot came into focus, including abdelhamid abaaoud, the alleged mastermind. The belgianborn militant is seen here in the Islamic State propaganda magazine, but is now believed to be in syria. In all, at least eight men mounted the friday attacks. At the bataclan theater, at the stade de france and two restaurants. At least one attacker carried a possiblyfake syrian passport and may have entered europe 6through greece, with the flood of refugees. Most of the others are believed to be frenchborn muslims who may have traveled to syria. Seven died in the attack, while the eighth, 26yearold salah abdeslam, is thought to have escaped to brussels. With that in mind, president hollande announced drastically steppedup security measures, including broader Police Powers and border controls. Its the third day of mourning for the city of paris, government buildings, museums even the eiffel tower are closed. People around the city are now thinking about what to do next. closing down the borders wont change anything, you know theres always we always have refugees coming in the country, in any other countries. Sreenivasan we sat down with 49year old emmanuells pohrel outside a cafe as trucks made their morning deliveries. if you think of security all the time you become crazy and paranoid. Sreenivasan pohrel is also concerned about the increasing scrutiny refugees and immigrants will face. i dont think those people who come in are terrorists, theyre just going away from a country where theres war. Sreenivasan this is a tension playing out across the city and perhaps the country, even as young and old visit the sites of friday nights rampage, to pay their respects, to grieve. While we spoke to Brigitte Fraisse outside the cambodian restaurant that was struck friday night, her daughter introduced her to, another woman walking by. That woman said, close the borders, while ms, fraisse said open the borders. In a different neighborhood, we met an anxious 63 year old realtor named thierry preguica. translated i think the western world crumbles little by little. I think were facing a problem we dont control any longer. Sreenivasan pregucia is on the side of increased security at the borders. translated unfortunately, today, we need to strike hard, because we are facing a very determined, blind enemy, who has no logic, or rather, has a barbaric logic. So today, our established rules, they are a bit dated i think. We have always understood this would be a longterm campaign. There will be setbacks and there will be successes. The terrible events in paris were obviously a terrible and sickening setback. Sreenivasan president obama, at the g20 in turkey, acknowledged Islamic State had struck a major blow, but he defended u. S. Strategy against repeated questions about whether hes underestimated the militants. We have the right strategy and well see it through. There will be an intensification of the strategy that we put forward, but the strategy that we are putting forward is the strategy that ultimately is going to work. We havent underestimated their abilities. This is precisely why were in iraq as we speak and why were operating in syria as we speak. And its precisely why we have mobilized 65 countries to go after isil. There has been an acute awareness on the part of my administration from the start that it is possible for an organization like isil that has such a twisted ideology and has shown such extraordinary brutality and complete disregard for innocent lives, that they would have the capabilities to potentially strike in the west. Sreenivasan in a video released today, an iraqi fighter with isil threatened more strikes against the countries in the coalition, and inside the u. S. translated we say to the states that take part in the Crusader Campaign that, by god, you will have a day, god willing, like frances and by god, as we struck france in the center of its home in paris, then we swear that we will strike america at its center in washington. Sreenivasan aware of the risk, u. S. Authorities have increased security at airports and in major cities. But there are republicans in congress and on the campaign trail who say that the u. S. Must do more. I want to fight in their back yards so they dont fight in our back yampletd thats the two choices. The president pushed back against the idea thousands of american troops should be sent to the middle east. We acts if theyre a state and we use routine military tactics that are designed to fight a state attacking another state. Thats not whats going on here. These are killers. Killers with fantasies of glory who are very savvy when it comes to social media and are able to infiltrate the minds of not just iraqis or syrians but disaffected individuals around the world. And when they activate those individuals, those individuals can do a lot of damage. Sreenivasan paris was the latest demonstration of that damage, indicating a possible strategic shift outside the groups selfproclaimed caliphate, including the suspected bombing of a Russian Airliner over egypts Sinai Peninsula that killed more than 200, suicide bombings in beirut suburbs last week that killed more than 40, and attacks in turkey and tunisia that killed nearly 200 people. France is already responding to fridays attacks with intense new air strikes in syria, targeting raqqa, the city the Islamic State uses as its capital, and based on and tonight in paris, after standing darkened for two nights, the eiffel tower is again lit. Now in the red, white and blue of the french tricolour flag, its spotlight shining across a tense and grieving city. Sreenivasan just a few hours north of me in belgium, authorities were on the hunt today for one of the suspects in the paris attacks and more clues, conducting a series of raids. Newshour special correspondent Malcolm Brabant has this report from brussels. Reporter it was late morning when explosions erupted in the brussels neighborhood of molenbeek. Masked and heavily armed police surrounded the suspected hideout of a man wanted in connection with the paris attacks. Reporter they were in action, i saw the police rushing in, they put the barriers in place, i was wondering what was going on, then they pushed everyone away, they asked us not to go outside. Reporter commandos eventually entered the besieged house through the roof, but came up empty. Theyd been looking for saleh abdeslam, a 26yearold frenchman living in the belgian capital. Hes been identified as the driver of a rental car that dropped attackers off at the bataclan concert hall in paris, friday night. Salehs brother, brahim, blew himself up outside one of the paris restaurants that came under assault. A Third Brother was one of five people arrested over the weekend in belgium, but released. Mohammad abdeslam says his family is at a loss. translated i cannot tell you why, i cannot tell you how they did what they did. We are an open minded family, we never had any problem with justice, and you also must understand that because of the tragedy, my parents are in shock, and they dont quite realize what has happened. Reporter at least one neighbor also expressed shock, saying she had no problems with this kid. translated what do i think of it . Im sure he has nothing to do with this because ive known this kid for years. He used to play here with the youth. Hes a calm boy, he didnt even smoke cigarettes. He was cool with everybody. We had no problems with this kid. He would always say hello, always polite, well brought up, i cant believe it. Reporter theres frustration in brussels tonight that saleh abselsalam is still on the loose. The anguish is compounded by the fact that Police Stopped him on the way from paris to belgium on friday night, didnt realize his significance and let him go. This city is regarded as the jihadi capital of europe, and so there is a network that could be protecting him here. More raids are anticipated. Two other belgian men have been arrested and charged with being part of a terror group. All are from molenbeek, a poor district thats home to many muslim immigrants, and also, home to several alleged terror plots in recent years. Bilal benyaich, a belgian radicalism expert, says the suburb has a dark extremist underbelly. We are talking about several hundreds of people, most of them were activated or a lot of them were activated during the syria crisis a nd are fighting now or have fought in syria. But the problem nowadays is that these radicals and that these violent extremists went rather underground. Reporter in the belgian parliament, center right opposition m. P. Georges dallemagne blames the presence of radicalism in brussels on hateful preaching by saudi imams. Since decades, there have been an active group of people coming from saudi arabia who are caliphist and who have had quite a huge impact on some of the muslims, members of Muslim Community here in brussels who have developed radical opinion and sometimes who have supported terror and violence. Reporter what do you think belgium needs to do now . I think first, we have to be very drastic on people coming back from syria. I think those people need to, not to circulate freely in europe. Reporter belgiums, and molenbeeks, link to the attacks also extends to the man now being called the mastermind of the plot. Abdelhamid abaaoud, a 27year old belgian national, is believed to be in syria. Hes also been tied to an earlier train attack in france that several americans helped thwart. Now, a French Police union is calling for molenbeek to come under e. U. Security control. They say the belgian government has ceded the area to the Islamic State control. Woodruff joining us to discuss the attacks and aftermath and reaction is malcom brabant. Hari sreenivasan is with us in paris and chief Foreign Affairs covenant Margaret Warner joins us here in washington. There is a state of war in france. Youre on the streets, memorials are behind you. What is the sense of the mood there . Is it resolve . Is it fright . It is a bit of both. There is a serious sense of grief but there is a tremendous undercurrent of anger you can hear in people here. Theyre a little confused about what to do. You cant take out the heart of france which has the nature to take people in, the refugees in and at the same time you feel some part of that heart was cut out with this horrible attack, so people are trying to figure out how they can strike that balance between securing their borders and being the french that they are proud to be. Woodruff and, malcolm, we hear you describing the views of the people there in brussels, talking to them about how they feel. Is there a sense the french are moving into a new chapter when it comes to dealing with the Islamic State . Well, there is certainly a sense of fear in brussels. That was quite apparent on the train i took today from paris to brussels. As soon as we got on the trainers Belgian Police were coming down the aisles, checking for weapons, checking to see when was on the train. Tonight here you dont get any sense of it. Just down the street here, you feel a terrible thing is going to happen and people are territory there will be this apocalyptic breakout and dont know precisely how to react to it. Woodruff you have been spending the day working the sources in washington, margaret, and its interesting to hear the president says he was acutely aware of the i. S. I. L threat and, yet, the administration is not clear on his handling. He said the u. S. Had strategic warning Something Big was coming and intelligence officials said in fact he had picked up chart particularly concerning europe, that it was going to be a big operation and particularly worried about france and they had warned france as late as friday morning, though, no specificity on targets. That said, they acknowledge now that the attack was much bigger and more sophisticated than they thought i. S. I. S. Had the capability of doing, brennan alluded to this, and especially in the cyber sophistication, they had a way to have communicating impervious to surveillance. One official told me theyve also perfected the use of these downloadable apps. Some names other people mentioned to me like kick and sure spot in which people communicate one to one. Its completely encrypted and no backdoor. Its scary when you think brennan said they dont consider this juanoff event and other attacks are planned and in the pipeline. Woodruff the president made it clear he doesnt think a change of strategy is needed. Is that a unified view inside the administration . The fact is it is the view of the administration. I certainly pick up from some officials they would like a more robust approach, but as they described it to me, president obama genuinely believes mass force doesnt work in a case like this unless you keep troops there forever, as in iraq and afghanistan. Onhes going to do more weapons drops and more bombing raids, but it is not going to be qualitatively different. One former defense official said to me, basically, they have this philosophy, theyre clinging to the philosophy even though paris proved its probably not sufficient. Ifill hari and malcolm, much discussion about the role of the refugee, the migrant crisis in europe and the degree to which any of the perpetrators could have come into paris disguised and succeeded. Malcolm, you have been covering this for some months now. I want to hear what you have to say, but hari first. Sreenivasan i think one of the key tensions in the streets of paris, i even heard it in the story malcolm filed, is how do we protect our borders when there are 26 countries in this agreement thats been running for years. Free travel through europe is one of the hall m an hallmarks a key vulnerable. So when theyre coming from grease, macedonia and through germany, they have the access and ability to go to any of these countries. Woodruff malcolm . I think part of the problem lies in greece because the greeks just want to get them through the country and arent checking them properly and they dont have the facilities to check everybody. There are perhaps 10,000 people coming through greece every day and these people are literally just swarming through europe and many are getting travel documents and their movement is facilitated by countries which want to get them through. But the response i think is going to be youre going to see a lot of widening opposition movements demanding this agreement is at an end. More and more people are going to want border controls because they want to know whos coming into their countries. One of the problems the french have thought and they havent been able to monitor all these people is there are 5,000 potential jihadis in france, and the Intelligence Services have a real problem trying to monitor these people and they have to prioritize them. And then there are thousands of people coming through europe. You just cant monitor all of them. The Security Services are kind of overwhelmed if that respect. Woodruff one last question, do you sense any pulling back in the willingness of europeans . I know you are on the ground pulling back on the willingness to keep on with a military campaign against i. S. I. S. In syria . Hari . Sreenivasan one of the things we got, almost a universal sentiment from different people we spoke, with what about the airstrikes in raqqah yesterday, do you think thats appropriate . People said, i want a targeted response from my government as efficient as possible and if thats where i. S. I. S. Is and the root of the problem, then thats where it needs to be stopped. Quite a few feel differently and its a small sampling, but there is definitely a feeling something needs to be done and the government needs to take swift action. Elections are coming up in december and as malcolm points out there may be a take toward a more conservative france if they dont get results in the next few weeks. Woodruff malcolm . I havent spoken to many in brussels, but oneperson who understands this area deeply, he thinks it will be a huge mistake for the west to put boots on the ground in syria because he thinks that will be playing into i. S. I. S. s hands and giving them the response they want and will led to a much wider inferno. Ifill malcom brabant, Hari Sreenivasan and Margaret Warner, thank you very much. Woodruff the attacks in paris have also prompted political blowback here at home. A number of governors, almost all of them republic