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>> do you agree with that, that an attack here in the u.s. is unlikely? >> i think it is unlikely. i think it's unlikely by those who have left the united states to go fight with al shabaab. you worry about a small cell here in the united states, radicalized over the internet. we saw this happen with al al awlaki. that's what i worry about. and truthfully, soft target attacks, whether it's malls, hotels, that sort of attack, that's been the target of the fbi working with the private sector to watch for suspicious behavior so you try to disrupt that. >> as we said, there's no official confirmat...

Americans going on safari, american businesses. that, of course, these are often soft targets. so that's the real concern, i think, rather than happening here in the u.s. >> fran, do you agree with that? >> i think it is unlikely. i think it's unlikely by those who left the united states to go and fight with al shabaab. what you worry about is a small cell here in the united states radicalized over the internet. we've seen this happen with al awlaki when he was alive. see, that's what i worry about. truthfully, anderson, soft target attacks, whether it's malls, hotels, that kind of attack has ...

Truthfully, anderson, soft target attacks, malls, hotels, that sort of an attack has long been the focus of a fbi effort working with the private sector to harden those targets, to make people more aware so they watch for suspicious behavior. so you try to disrupt that. >> fran townsend, peter bergen, steve moore, thanks for being on. there's no official confirmation the british national samantha lewthwaite known as the white widow or called that was involved in the nairobi mall attack but there is growing concern about it. if the notion of a female terrorist sounds strange or unlikely, pete...

This stage. >> arwa damon, thank you very much. the taecket at that mall in nairobi so-called soft target is raising concerns about a potential similar attack at locations in the u.s. it's long been one of terrorism experts greatest fears. we have more on that. >> reporter: it may be more than 7,000 miles from nairobi, kenya, to the united states, but the mall massacre halfway around the world couldn't bring a tragedy any closer to home. washington, d.c. resident sarah head was inside the mall when shots were fired. she kept hideing in a stairwell with dozens others as the chaos unfolded. >>...

Button this sort of thing down, what? >> well, i can only tell from you my experiences being one of the ranking members that the pokes and prods and attacks on a daily basis we get not only through cyber, but through actual physical potential attacks and the like, it's unbelievable. my hat goes off to the homeland security folks and what they've been doing. we have been providing good taxpayer dollars to allow them to do their jobs and are things going to happen like this? yes. it was a target, soft target, rich environment and it's unlikely that this could have been stopped. but tell you what...