FBI Warns Law Enforcement After Paris Attack
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. We continue to wait for that Paris prosecutor who's going to give new details on today's amazing, stunning, tragic events. But turning first to our national lead, we have just learned that in the wake of this terrorist attack in France on Wednesday and the hostage stand-offs in Paris and outside Paris today, the FBI in country is warning law enforcement across the country. CNN's Pamela Brown is live in Washington with more on that. Pamela, is there any specific threat?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: At this point, Jake, we're being told by sources that there is no specific information indicating that anything's happening here in the U.S. But this bulletin is reminding law enforcement officials that al Qaeda and its affiliates are focused on attacking aviation, mass transit and major cities as well as anyone who might offend Islam. Now the bulletin mainly focuses on the fact that these attacks demonstrate a degree of sophistication and training traditionally not seen in recent small armed attacks. That's what caught the attention of officials here in the U.S. the bulletins said the shooters handled the situation with competency and familiarity. And that suggests formal training. One of the brothers apparently traveled to Yemen in 2011 and had some level of training with AQAP -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right, Pamela Brown, thank you so much. Let's go now to Congressman Ed Royce. He is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us today. When you look at how everything has unfolded in France and you have the information about one of the brothers, Said Kouachi, going to Yemen in 2011, the claim of one of the Kouachi brothers that this entire operation was financed by Anwar Al Awlaki and AQAP. Other information, possibly AQAP, taking responsibility today as Jeremy told us. What concerns you the most about what that might mean here in this country?</s>REPRESENTATIVE ED ROYCE (R), FOREIGN AFFAIRS CHAIRMAN: Several things. Anwar Al-Awlaki obviously was an inspirational figure and able to convince people to undertake really heinous actions if you think of the fort hood shooting, if you think of the way in which he convinced these two brothers basically to martyr themselves. What he was good at was convincing people that martyrdom was the way. And if you look at the attacks on the hospital in Yemen or the attacks on our embassy or the attack of the underwear bomber, it is clear that he and his particular affiliated al Qaeda organization down there has found a way to reach out far beyond the region into Europe, into the United States in order to get recruits to the cause.</s>TAPPER: And what can be done about it, Congressman?</s>ROYCE: Well, better intelligence. And in this particular case, French authorities did have a heads-up of the of the Algerian intelligence services. It is unfortunate that they weren't taking down very, very quickly. Obviously they were able to escape after the attack. Now, we can say one thing. It was good that once hostages were taken, that the operation in Paris ended up with the release -- because of the good work of the French authorities. But obviously this is going to be a real challenge for going forward for our counterterrorist organizations because of the degree of training that they're getting is equivalent to the degree of training that our police have. And that's part of the problem here.</s>TAPPER: Very disturbing. Congressman Ed Royce, thank you so much. Coming up, they came face to face with murderous terrorists and lived to tell about it. One survivor says he even shook the hand of one of the killers. His story and more coming up next.