Morell: ‘Nothing Routine’ About Latest Fourth of July Terror Warning
[rush transcript]
O’DONNELL: “This morning federal agencies are warning of possible terror attacks on the upcoming holiday weekend. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are urging local law enforcement to step up security and be vigilant during the Fourth of July celebrations.”
ROSE: “CBS News Senior Security Contributor Michael Morell is with us. He is a former CIA deputy director. Michael, good morning.”
MORELL: “Good morning.”
ROSE: “How serious is this warning? And how serious is this threat?”
MORELL: “These kind of warnings go out routinely, but there is nothing routine about this particular one to me. This one really resonates with me for two reasons. One is, there’s been about 50 people in the last 12 months who’ve been arrested in the United States for being radicalized by ISIS, wanting to fight there or wanting to conduct an attack here, so there are a lot of people out there who are seeing themselves as aligned with ISIS, number one, and then number two, you have this ISIS call to arms during Ramadan. We’re right in the middle of Ramadan, call to arms, conduct attacks against our enemies. I’m worried about this one.”
O’DONNELL: “What does this mean for Americans on Fourth of July.”
MORELL: “I don't want to tell Americans what to do or what not to do. But, Norah, I wouldn't be surprised if we're sitting here a week from today talking about an attack over the weekend in the United States. That’s how serious this is.”
KING: “How difficult is it to catch the home grown terrorists. You mentioned that there have been several arrests.”
MORELL: “It’s very difficult because they're being radicalized in their bedrooms, in their basements, right. They’re communicating with ISIS –“
KING (voice-over): “On the internet like.”
MORELL: “On the internet ISIS is telling them don't tell anybody about our conversations. It’s very difficult to see them until they take action to do something. Buy tickets to Iraq or Sirya, buy weapons, buy explosives. That’s where you catch these guys.”
ROSE: “From David Cameron and others you're beginning to see world leaders it seems to me taking a new concern about this. It’s risen to a new level of concern.”
MORELL: “It’s what happens when there's three attacks in one day. What’s interesting about the three attacks we saw, one in Kuwait, one in Tunisia and one in France, is they represent the different ways that ISIS is threatening us. So, in Kuwait I think what we're going to find is that ISIS actually sent this guy from Iraq and Syria to conduct this attack, right? That’s one threat they pose, sending people at us. In Tunisia, what I think we're going to learn is that this guy was part of a group that is now aligned itself with ISIS. That is another way they threaten us. And then in France, it's just self-radicalization, right?”
ROSE: “So what do concerned nations do? And how much can they coordinate in this?”
MORELL: “I think, my own view is, it's time to pick up the pace against ISIS. I think a big part of their sales pitch is how successful we are, right? They’ve got the momentum. It’s time to take the momentum away from them.”
ROSE: “Make it less romantic.”
MORELL: “Yes.”
KING: “Thank you, Michael Morell.”
MORELL: “You’re welcome.”
