Transcripts For WNBC Today 20151118 : vimarsana.com

Forced two air france planes from the u. S. To paris to be diverted overnight, leaving america very much on edge today, wednesday, november 18, 2015. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on what is already a very busy wednesday morning. Weve got breaking news as were coming on the air at this hour. A largescale Police Operation aimed at the mastermind of the terror attacks on paris, abdelhamid abaaoud. Officials initially believed he was in syria, but clearly there is some suspicion he could in fact be very close by, possibly on the outskirts of paris. Want to give you an idea of where this is all happening. Its in saintdenis, a suburb north of paris in some apartments that are actually about a mile from the soccer stadium that was attacked on friday. At least two people have been killed. The siege lasting about seven hours. Police say at least five officers have been wounded as well. Lets get right to nbcs chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel in that neighborhood this morning. Richard, good morning, what are you seeing and hearing . Good morning, savannah. That raid took place on the street behind me. Officials say they have arrested seven people. They cannot confirm at this stage if the alleged mastermind of the attack was one of the people, but they certainly knew that they were going to find gunfire, find resistance when they came here because when we arrived we saw the police ready for battle. [ gunfire ] reporter amateur video captured some of the heavy automatic gunfire that erupted when elite French Forces raided an apartment outside paris this morning. The main target, Officials Say, was the alleged mastermind of the paris attacks. But as the raid began, a woman in the apartment blew up a we arrived a short while later. Police here still seem very tense. They have sealed off some of the area. They are shining search lights on to the buildings, down the alleys. Theres a helicopter above. This raid does not seem over yet. Police ordered residents to stay inside. Anyone who approached was told in no Uncertain Terms to back away. Neighbors, many of them muslim immigrants, were evacuated by police and searched. We stopped abdul al jazeeri rushing down the street. He said in arabic he witnessed the whole thing. I saw the raid. 20 cars pass by here and then five minutes later the shooting started, he said. You heard the gunfire, i asked. I saw it with my eyes, he said. Meanwhile, the police focused on one apartment on the third floor of this building. That, neighbors say, is the apartment where the raids target were holed up. The main target, Officials Say, was abdelhamid abaaoud, the man they describe as mastermind behind the paris attacks, a Belgian National and had gone to syria to join isis and period in a propaganda video. It seems he managed to sneak pack into the country. As day was breaking, the raids seemed to be winding down. But then several explosions echoed through the streets. Its common in situations like this for police to use grenades or small charges in order to set off boobytraps that the suspects police here remain on edge, occasionally moving aggressively to search the neighborhood. They are taking no chances. And the Police Cordon remains in place around the building where the raid took place. They have set up tarps so that forensic investigators can collect evidence. However, Officials Say that at least this raid for now is over. Matt, savannah, back for you. Richard engel, thank you very much e. Were joined by former pennsylvania governor tom ridge, the first secretary of security under president george w. Bush and shawn henry, former assistant director of the fbi. Savannah and i were just talking, if this raid was target thing the alleged mastermind of the paris attacks. Is it surprising that hes still in country or wouldnt it be that he would get out of the country . He was Forward Deployed on friday, if it appears and if there were other attacks that were imminent and raids that we saw here this morning seemed to be a result of that, then he may have been there to direct those as rell, as a general, forward on the battle line as opposed to more strategically back from syria or elsewhere. Is it also possible, shawn, that he couldnt get out of the country, that once these attacks took place, it was much, much tougher as a proposition to get out of france . Yeah. You know, paris, they should down people getting off the city. There were a lot of Police Actions and activities in the course of the days after friday, so he certainly could have been deterred from getting out, but also i know police are looking at the implications of additional attacks, and they have been exploiting media, digital evidence, cell phones, doing interviews, trying to determine if there are other attacks imminent. This is a result of that. And just quickly before we get to secretary ridge, good news and bad news if youre living in paris. The good news is Law Enforcement officials are reacting quickly and rounding up more suspects. The bad news is in neighborhoods, in your very midst, there are still heavily armed terrorists, some with suicide vests. Yeah. Youre right, matt. You know, weve been talking all week about the value of tactical intelligence and the need tories deputy these types of attacks in advance, and police have been working, again, around the clock, not only in paris but in belgium and elsewhere. They are hiding in plain sight. Oftentimes in neighborhoods and communities. The citizens shouldnt be afraid, but they need to be aware and need to be vigilant and recognize that they are oftentimes they are the eyes and ears to help identify for police anomalous behavior that might be indicative of other attacks. Matt . Shawn, thank you very much. A good segue to former Homeland Security secretary tom ridge. Secretary ridge, good to have you here this morning. We dont want to alarm people because perhaps europes situation is a great deal worse than ours is. However, do you see things in paris that could be replicated here . What is waking you up in the middle the night these days . I think the tone of your question is precisely the right one. Were allowed to be anxious because america responded to those attacks, just like we responded to 9 11. There was horror. There was sorrow, and i think our anger went to rage and we want to hold folks accountable. Some advice that shawn said. Weve got eyes and ears in the neighborhoods. Lets just simply be aware but lets also understand weve got a great intelligence capability and enormous Law Enforcement capability. One of the challenges we have here for the fbi to work more closely and collaboratively with the hundreds of thousands of men and women, Police Forces in the state and local level. They dont have the manpower in washington, d. C. To do this, so lets empower them with information. We never want terrorists to be successful in carrying out an attack, but when they do carry something out, it opens a window for us. We learn things. Rate. About their tactics and their structure and their organization. From where youre sitting what are we learning about isis based on what were seeing in paris . Well, we know they are not a jv team on contained. They are an am bawith rather significant reach. Thats one of the reasons i would use for the state and locals, arm them with information. I wonder who would have happened had ed davis in boston been aware of the tsarnaev brothers in his presence. He found out about it after the bombs went off. I think theres a lot of learnings and one of the things we need to learn and really learn to appreciate is the hundreds of men and women back home. You have to Start Playing offense, matt. Got to start dealing a lot of discussion about refugees these days. Theres a real serious problem. Weve got to play defense at home, but the president cant let the clock run out. I know he loves basketball but its not like running out clock. You run out clock when youre winning. We need to build a coalition to deal with this in syria as well you mentioned here at home there are stories relating to this taking operation here at home so stick around for a second. I want to ask you about those in a second. The security concerns are here. They were evident overnight when two air france planes bound for paris had to be diverted to other airports. Nbcs janet vamian is in Salt Lake City where one of those jets was held for most of the night. Janet, what can you tell us. Reporter matt, good morning. Passengers are describing a frantic scene in the moments before that plane made an unscheduled landing here in Salt Lake City, and then once on the ground everything was inspected. The cargo, the baggage, and the crew, to the pilots were questioned by the fbi. Just days after the paris terrorist attacks, nerf racking moments for u. S. Passengers after bomb threats forced two air France Flights bound for paris to be diverted late tuesday. Flight 65 from los angeles took off about 7 00 p. M. About two hours into the trip diverted to Salt Lake City. Fire command and off vehicles, the next aircraft on final is the emergency aircraft. Reporter shortly after flight 55 from washingtons Dulles Airport also diverted to halifax, nova scotia. In a statement air france saying the flights were the subject of anonymous threats received by phone after their respective takeoffs. Were pretty much at a heightened level all the time at this point, and so people are vigilant. They just said that there was going to be an emergency landing, very unnerving given the situation that has been going on over in france. Reporter elsewhere, a spirit gate in baltimore after a female passenger became suspicious of a man watching a media report on his smartphone. Four people were removed from the flight but no arrests. And in boston an unruly woman was taken off a British Airways flight from london after trying to open an exit door midair. Turns out she had too much to drink. Air France Flight 65 finally left salt lake airport at about 3 00 this morning. It is currently in the air bound for paris. The fbi now saying that there was no credible evidence that these were true threats against they were true threats but no credible evidence to back them up, but in this time of heightened concern no one was taking any chances. Matt and savannah, back to you. Janet, better be safe than sorry, thank you very much. And security remains ramped up across the country. Nbcs National Correspondent Peter Alexander is in washington and has more on that angle. Peter, good morning. Reporter hey, savannah, good morning to you. This morning were inside among those places bolstering security right now. Means more canine sweeps and more random screenings for explosives at the entrances and more officers systemwide all part of this new heightened state of alert. The isis threat warning the u. S. Is next has americans on edge. As washingtons Union Station no known threat but steppedup security no less. One Maryland School district cancelling planned field trips to the Nations Capital and on capitol hill two of the obama administrations top homeland officials privately briefed house members on the late intelligence about the paris attacks. Theres no specific credible threat to the homeland, but i think its clear that the primary concern of Law Enforcement and the Intelligence Community is the risk of copycats here at home. Reporter nbc news has learned 20 fingerprint images from the paris attackers have been provided to the u. S. By french authorities, but no matches with u. S. Terror wash lists. Intelligence officials tell nbc Pete Williams terror databases here contain nearly 2,800 names with connections to france, 800 of those with ties to syria and now under extra scrutiny. The fbi is also beefing up its surveillance of known terror suspects here. A senior u. S. Official telling nbc news roughly 50 are getting the highest level of attention. And as for the ongoing fight over refugees, the number of governors who are either opposing or refusing or suspending the resettlement of syrians in this country has now grown to 31. Almost all of them republicans. Early this morning president obama again angrily blasted the republican rhetoric saying he cant think of a more potent recruitment tool for isis, and he mocked what he described as a fear of widows and orphans. Matt and savannah. Peter, thank you so much. We want to turn again to former Homeland Security secretary tom ridge. There is a technical piece of this as well, and another thing were learning more and more about is how these terrorists are using encrypted channels. Its getting harder and harder for our good guys to listen in on the bad guys conversations. That Silicon Valley should get involved and be helpful to Law Enforcement. What do you think about that, and is it even feasible . I think director comey has made several trips there imploring them to assist in dealing with. This one of the incredible ironies is that isis rejects the modern world and yet they use the modern world and the technology of the modern world and social media and the internet to spread their ideology, to recruit, et cetera, et cetera, so i think director comey is on the right path, and i hope that his nguyen minh trieties to Silicon Valley fall on receptive years because its investigators globally. We had the colorcoated security alert system. Right. If you were in that system now, would we be at red alert in this country . I couldnt tell you because i dont know what the intelligence is. It was much malign the at the time, but i do think it was designed so that when they had specific credible information, either sector specific or nationally, they could use it to alert folks. What people never quite understood is every color represented a level of security. The challenge we have now since 9 11 is that we know, we know that intelligence of Law Enforcement communities if they get specific threats they will act and act immediately. Its the unknown. It is the unknown thats the real challenge right now, all the more reason to use the force multiplier and use the folks on the streets and in these communities, all the more reason to Start Playing offense. Its about time that somebody led a coalition. Weve got some weve got we need leadership. It may have to come from president hollande. This president has spent more time criticizing republicans in their rejection of refugees. He ought to be providing leadership that historically the rest of the world looks to. Our friends look to it. Our foes want to understand where we are. Right now theres no leadership from america. I think its about time that the president understood hes commander in cheever until january of 2017. Its about time to lead. Well, there are so many issues that are raised by these attacks in paris. Thanks for being with us. Thank you very much. Now turning to the race for the white house. Republican hopeful ben carson is pushing back this morning after about his knowledge on Foreign Policy. Nbcs Hallie Jackson has more on that. Hallie, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. At a time when the paris attacks have put National Security front and center on the campaign trail, this morning ben carson and his campaign are really hitting back against a story that one of carsons own advisers thinks hes struggling to get a handle on Foreign Policy issues. This morning the doctors on defense. Ben carson under fire after reports hes failing on Foreign Policy. Well, you know, i think thats a narrative that people want to paint. Reporter a New York Times article quotes one of his National Security advisers as saying carson cant get one iota of intelligent information about the middle east and needed weekly briefings on Foreign Policy, so, quote, we can make the comments come from drain claritch, a controversial figure who was part of the irancontra scandal. Hes not my adviser, a person who has come in on a couple of our sessions to offer opinions about what is going on. Reporter carson has seemed to stumble on Foreign Policy before, like this moment during last weeks debate on syria. We also must recognize that its a very complex place. You know, the chinese are there as well as the russians. Reporter the white house shooting down the china claim and on sunday when carson was asked on fox news who hed call first if the paris attacks happened on his watch, he refused to answer, three times. What would you are call first . Burr who would you call first specifically . Can you tell us who you would call first, sir, on the International Scene . I would call for all of the arab states to be involved in this. Reporter candidate implying now those were gotcha questions. I know how that works and reporter carson himself acknowledges hes on a learning curve when it comes to Foreign Policy, and while he may lack that kind of traditional political experience his supporters seem to like it. Really refreshing to have some