Sources: Law Enforcement Thwarted July 4 Terror Plots; U.N.: Four Million Syrians Are Now Refugees
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: -- to terror attack on U.S. soil so that threat remains even after the July 4th holiday.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right, Jim Scuitto, thanks so much. I want to bring in the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Republican Michael McCaul. Congressman, thank you for joining me. Chairman McCaul, I know you've been briefed about these thwarted attacks. What can you tell us in terms of details?</s>REPRESENTATIVE MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN: Well, you know, I was up in New York not too long before the 4th of July meeting with counter terrorism officials. We had several arrests, one in Boston, North Carolina, but more major arrest in New York that we believe led to a cell that we disrupted and thwarted that plot. As you know, the 4th of July weekend was of high concern to counterterrorism officials including myself. I think that the FBI and Homeland Security and NYPD and New Jersey Police Departments did a fantastic job stopping what could have been a disaster.</s>TAPPER: As far as you know, were any of these attacks imminent?</s>MCCAUL: I think that the New York/New Jersey cell was the one that we were most concerned about in terms of explosive devices. Remember, the -- the threat here or the internet communications from overseas in Syria and Iraq to potential operatives in the United States. I think we were concerned at the time and we were able to stop it, would be persons with explosive devices at 4th of July parades, perhaps next to military officials. I tell you what. This is a good news story, Jake. A lot of times we talk about the threat and how scary it is, but this is where law enforcement worked.</s>TAPPER: Are these instances of self-radicalized lone wolves or are these people that were actually being told by ISIS to do certain things?</s>MCCAUL: It's a combination. You have the lone wolf self- radicalizing, but remember at the same time, I think the greatest threat to the homeland right now are these internet missives coming out of Syria by these operatives, telling them to attack military installations, to attack police officers. And I think the greatest threat over the 4th of July were to attack parades. The great news is that it went by without incident, and we feel very fortunate, but as your commentator made, we're still in the holiday season of Ramadan, which is important to them, and we're still in a little bit of a high state of alert.</s>TAPPER: We heard from the FBI Director James Comey about how tech companies have been reluctant to give national security and law enforcement what is called back-door access to this -- these encrypted communications. You and I have spoken about this on the show before. You think that is something that the FBI, the NSA should have, something with which they can be trusted access to these encrypted communications?</s>MCCAUL: Well, you know, what's happening is they're able to communicate what we call dark web space, right? You have thinks ISIS individuals in Syria talking to Americans, followers in the United States over Twitter accounts. And if we can't see those communications, that's a threat to the homeland. I think the solution, as the director mentioned yesterday, I think very skillfully is that it's got to be more technology-based. So we want to protect the privacy of Americans, but we also want to look at a solution where technology companies can basically shine a light on the darkness of these communications of ISIS operatives talking to people in the United States. Right now, if they're in dark platforms, we cannot follow what they're saying, and therefore we can't fully stop terrorist plots.</s>TAPPER: All right. Chairman Michael McCaul, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it as always. Turning now to our World Lead, it is the biggest humanitarian crisis in a generation, and it's only going to get worse, much, much worse, that's the word from the United Nations today as a report puts the number of Syrian refugees, people forced to seek asylum in other countries. People simply trying to escape the violence brought by Bashar Al-Assad and terrorist groups such as ISIS, the U.N. puts the number of people fleeing Syria, refugees, at more than 4 million. It is a crisis that spans the entire region, 1.8 million refugees in Turkey, 250,000 in Iraq, 600,000-plus in Jordan, nearly 1.2 million in Lebanon. In Lebanon, Syrians now make up one fifth of that country's population. With the Syrian conflict showing less than zero sign of stopping soon, the day-to-day reality for these 4 million people is nothing short of hellish. They survive on fewer than $4 a day. Many do not have homes, living instead in makeshift tents. Those who do have food are in danger of get hungry joining hundreds of thousands of Syrians, who already do go hungry. The world food program could be forced to cut all help to Syrians surviving in Jordan as soon as next month. The number of refugees does not include the 7.6 million people driven from their homes, who remain inside Syria. The Syrian conflict itself is said to have cost some 235,000 lives. Who is this little girl? Police are desperately searching for clues after her body was found in a plastic bag in Boston harbor, now that nearly 50 million people have viewed or shared her picture, are police any closer to solving this horrific mystery? That story next.