Urgent Warning About ISIS Terror Attacks; U.S. Aircraft Launch New Strikes in Iraq; U.K. Raises Terror Threat Level to 'Severe'
BRIANNA KEILAR, HOST: Thanks, Jake. Happening now, breaking news -- new terror warnings. Britain raises its threat level to severe, saying an attack by Islamist extremists is highly likely. What's the U.S. doing about the danger? And hitting back at ISIS -- U.S. airstrikes slow the jihadists' advance in Iraq. But as the atrocities mount in Syria, why doesn't President Obama have a plan for action there? And Ukraine's street battles -- pro-Russian rebels may now be getting help from up to 5,000 Russian troops. But Russia says the U.S. and its allies are imagining things. Wolf Blitzer is on assignment. I'm Brianna Keilar. You are in</s>THE SITUATION ROOM. ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>KEILAR: There are new worries about ISIS terror attacks far from the Middle East battlefields. Britain today raised its terror threat level to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. That came with a chilling warning from Prime Minister David Cameron. But American officials are not raising the threat level in this country, even as President Obama takes heat for not having a strategy to deal with ISIS atrocities in Syria. Our correspondents and guests are standing by with full coverage. We begin with CNN's senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta -- Jim.</s>JIM ACOSTA, HOST: Brianna, right now, the Obama administration says it's not following Britain's lead in guarding against a terrorist attack, saying there is no imminent ISIS threat to the US.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): One day after President Obama admitted he doesn't have a strategy for hitting ISIS in Syria, there's a new sense of urgency in Britain.</s>DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We will always take whatever action is necessary to keep the British people safe here at home.</s>ACOSTA: British Prime Minister David Cameron cited the dangers posed by ISIS for his nation's decision to raise its terror level to severe, which means an attack on its homeland is highly likely. The killing of American journalist, James Foley, Cameron said, may just be the beginning.</s>CAMERON: It was clear evidence, not that any more was needed, that this is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore.</s>ACOSTA: By contrast, the White House is downplaying the threat in the</s>US. JOSH EARNEST, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The most detailed intelligence assessment that I can offer from here is that there is no evidence or indication right now that ISIL is actively plotting to attack the United States homeland.</s>ACOSTA: But both governments share the concern that jihadis can travel from the U.S. and the West to ISIS battlefields and back again with ease. Britain believes 500 of its citizens are fighting with ISIS, while the U.S. has identified roughly a dozen. Both countries are stepping up airport security and taking a harder look at the passports of Western ISIS radicals. As for striking ISIS on its own turf in Syria, the White House is still trying to explain the president's candid rationale for why he isn't ready for such a mission.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't have a strategy yet.</s>ACOSTA: The president's aides say it's because the military is still developing Syria options. But the Pentagon insisted it's prepared.</s>REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I think that anybody who has any knowledge of the United States military knows that we're ready.</s>ACOSTA: Asked whether there's a debate over hitting ISIS in Syria... (on camera): Is the president on the same page as his cabinet when it comes to dealing with ISIS?</s>EARNEST: Well, I think the more important observation, Jim, is that the cabinet is on the same page as the commander-in-chief. I am fully confident that that's the case.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the Pentagon on the same page as the White House in terms of the threat posed by ISIS?</s>KIRBY: Yes. Next question?</s>ACOSTA: Now, don't be surprised if the president gets some work done on ISIS tomorrow morning. The president was supposed to spend much of this weekend doing some fundraising and attending a wedding up in New York. But earlier today, Brianna, the White House announced that they are changing the president's schedule. He's coming back tonight and spending part of tomorrow morning here at the White House. That might mean some more work on ISIS is yet to come -- Brianna.</s>KEILAR: All right, we'll be waiting. Jim Acosta at the White House, thank you. The concern in Britain is much greater than it is in the U.S. right now. As the threat level was raised to severe, Prime Minister David Cameron warned that ISIS poses a terror danger to Britain that's greater and than ever. Hundreds of Britons have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamist groups. The big concern is what happens when they return home. CNN's Karl Penhaul is live from London with that -- Karl.</s>KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, this threat level is the highest it's been in Britain now for the last three years, in fact. And that is causing a lot of raised eyebrows here. What that threat level means is that a terror attack could be highly likely, although Mr. Cameron did admit that there was no specific intelligence about any imminent threat. But he did certainly raise very great concerns about the capability of ISIS, particularly that of British jihadis, as they return from the battlefield. Listen to what he had to say.</s>CAMERON: What we're facing in Iraq now with ISIL is a greater and deeper threat to our security than we have known before. In Afghanistan, the Taliban were prepared to play host to al Qaeda, a terrorist organization. With ISIL, we are facing a terrorist organization not being hosted in a country, but actually seeking to establish and then violently expand its own terrorist state.</s>PENHAUL: Now, Prime Minister Cameron said that come next week, he will be announcing to parliament some of his suggestions of how to clamp down on the threat of radical Islam, both abroad, but also in Britain. Among the suggestions he's going to make is perhaps withdrawing the passports of Britons returning from Syria and Iraq, and also putting travel bans on Britons intending to travel to those conflict zones. But he did say that we've got to get ready for what he described as "a generational fight." He said that the fight to remove the threat from radical Islam could take years or even decades -- Brianna.</s>KEILAR: Yes, he really set up some expectations this will take some time. Karl Penhaul in London, thank you. As Britain warns that ISIS fighters may return to their home country to launch terror attacks, U.S. aircraft have launched fresh airstrikes at ISIS targets in Iraq. CNN's Anna Coren is live for us from the Iraqi city of Erbil -- and, Anna, you're there in Northern Iraq, where the Kurds are battling ISIS. What reaction are you getting to Prime Minister Cameron's strong statement today?</s>ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Brianna, they welcome it. There is no doubt about it. For weeks, they have been telling us, this is not just our war, it's not just Syria's war, this is a war that involves the entire world. So they welcome Prime Minister Cameron raising the terror alert. Obviously, the case is those foreign fighters -- and they believe that they are in the thousands -- who have come here to Iraq, to Syria, to fight this jihadist cause. It's a warped sense of Islam. It's sheer brutality. But certainly as far as these young disaffected Muslim men are concerned, they have a sense of belonging by joining ISIS and what it represents. I mean, in the past few days, Brianna, we have seen these executions in Syria, also here in Iraq, in Mosul. That's just literally up the road, you know, Iraq's second largest city, where Peshmerga soldiers have been captured and one of them executed on video. So this is unfolding. And officials here are just pleased that the world is now paying attention.</s>KEILAR: And Kurds in Northern Iraq there, Anna, are taking on ISIS. How is the fight there playing out on the ground today?</s>COREN: Definitely. The real strategic place at the moment for this mission to try and hit ISIS hard is around Mosul Dam. We were up there last week, when the Kurdish forces managed to take it back from ISIS, who claimed it earlier in the month. But it's interesting, we would have thought they would have pushed through the surrounding areas. They haven't been able to. ISIS is digging in. So those U.S. airstrikes that you mentioned have really focused on that area. There's been about 110 to date. And they are helping the Peshmerga move into these areas, advance to a certain extent. But ISIS laying plenty of land mines, IEDs. They are booby trapping houses and buildings. So this is what is slowing them down. But from the Kurdish military officials that I've spoken to, Brianna, they are saying they need the U.S. air offensive to expand and intensify if they are going to cripple ISIS, certainly here in Iraq.</s>KEILAR: Anna Coren in Erbil, thank you. President Obama is taking a lot of heat for saying there is no strategy yet for dealing with ISIS in Syria. Are there military options? Let's turn now to CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. What's the Pentagon saying -- Barbara?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, on this day, when, of course, the U.K. raised its terror level, actually took action, the Pentagon, part of -- you know, as part of the Obama administration, is still struggling, obviously, to explain exactly what's going on in Washington. If the president says there is no strategy yet to deal with ISIS in Syria, what is the Pentagon doing about military options? They acknowledged today what we all know -- they've been working on military options for months. They have military options. So what is holding everything up? That's a question I put to the Pentagon press secretary.</s>KIRBY: Planning is iterative process, Barb. It's not like, you know, the question is, that it assumes this is some sort of binary thing, where, you know, we get an order to do it and here's the binder and, oops, there you go, and it's on your -- you know, we've got it -- we've got to turn it into you on your due date. It's an iterative process, because the situation on the ground constantly changes. It's very fluid.</s>STARR: The reality is, of course, the Pentagon, again, has been working on military options for months and months and they have been discussing them with the White House. Do you call that a strategy, do you call that an option, do you call that a plan? Whatever you call it, if the president was to make a decision to go ahead, the Pentagon is very clear that it would be ready to go. They would have to collect some last minute intelligence on ISIS targets in Syria. Where are the ISIS troops? Where are the ISIS leadership targets? Where are the training camps? Exactly where they are, but they would be ready to go with military action. What it takes now, of course, is a decision to proceed, authorization from the president -- Brianna.</s>KEILAR: Barbara, these kinds of decisions require a lot of internal deliberation between the president and his cabinet. Are you getting the sense -- we saw Secretary Hagel, we saw the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, they sort of had, I guess you could say, a forward-leaning posture when we heard from them last week and they were talking about sort of the options and how they saw this threat of ISIS in Syria. And then you got the sense yesterday that the president was tapping the brakes and trying to let people know, OK, this isn't imminent that we would be taking on ISIS in Syria. Are you getting the sense that maybe there is some disagreement or there's not consensus yet on what to do?</s>STARR: You know, it's interesting, nobody, of course, in the Pentagon wants to go on the record disagreeing with the commander-in-chief in the slightest way. But, yes, let's be candid. If you talk to people privately, I think there are military officials of very significant rank in the Pentagon who are scratching their heads a little bit. You had Secretary Hagel saying this is more -- you know, a terrorist threat like we have never seen. You have the chairman of the Joint Chiefs saying, if you're going to deal with ISIS, you are going to have to deal with them in Syria, military or not, you are going to have to deal with them in Syria. The border is nonexistent. So you have a lot of people talking about this and you have the president saying not just yet.</s>KEILAR: Barbara Starr, thank you so much. And next, Britain raising its alert level due to concerns about the ISIS terror threat. Why isn't the U.S. doing the same? I'll be speaking with Republican Congressman Peter King. And, also, Western sources say Russia now has up to 5,000 troops in Ukraine. Russia says the West is imagining things.