How Dangerous Is ISIS?

Homeland security experts Jane Lute and Richard Clarke discuss whether ISIS poses a specific threat to the United States.
3:31 | 08/31/14


Coming up next:



Skip to this video now

Now Playing:


More information on this video
Enhanced full screen
Explore related content
Related Extras
Related Videos
Video Transcript
Transcript for How Dangerous Is ISIS?
with our expects. Dick Clarke directed counterterrorism efforts at the highest levels for many administrations. And Jane Holl lute was the deputy of security until last year. Britain has not raised its terror alert in almost five years. There is clearly something specific going on. What kind of attacks do you suspect Isis could launch? There is something specific going on. Hundreds of individuals have gone and become trained in Syria and Iraq with Isis. In a particularly bloody kind of terrorism, bloody kinds of attackses. They have the freedom to travel back home as we saw in those clips. And they will. So we could see all the kinds of thing that are -- terribly familiar to many of us. And to many of those in great Britain what have experienced thri terrorists a tacks. They could bring them home. And Britain is also hosting the nato summit later this week. And so everyone is on alert. Dick Clarke, you heard the dire warnings. Yet, president Obama said the other night at a fund raiser, that we're in much less danger than 20 or 30 years ago. Which is it? Well, I think he's wrong. We're much more capable of defending ourselves now. We have the department of homeland security. A lot of resources going into counterterrorism. But the threat has also increased. I think the threat has increased more than the defenses. This new group. Isis, is highly capable. It has a lot of money. It has people from many, many countries. Our fear is it may have people in its ranks that we don't know about. We have the names of thousands of people and we can stop them if they try to get into this country. If we don't know their names, we don't know they're involved, they can get in. Jane, when you were at homeland, you knew the names of many of those people on the watch list. Just tagging on to what dick said there, how many were -- where there 80% you worried about? How many so called clean skins, people who could get in without issues? Dick knows more about this than anybody else. There were many that we knew about. Many more we didn't. This is a group with money and a message. They're drawing angry, mostly young men from everywhere, who will travel anywhere, because they feel like they belong nowhere. What more can you do to prevent it in the homeland? If you had an unlimited budget, what do you think we could do? I don't think it's about unlimited budget. To begin with, in the united States, the public is an asset, not an obstacle, to joining together for problems like this. If you see something, say something. Sure. The other thing the government should do. I was the lead negotiator for the United States with the european union on passenger name record exchange, a big data agreement. That shares terrabytes of information. We need to expand that system and that process to other countries in the region. Quickly, dick, what do you thing could be done? I think working with the islamic communities in our major cities. As Jane said, our best defense are our own American muslims who have been very cooperative. They don't want anything to happen like this again in this country. Thanks to you both.


{"id":25196100,"title":"How Dangerous Is ISIS?","duration":"3:31","description":"Homeland security experts Jane Lute and Richard Clarke discuss whether ISIS poses a specific threat to the United States.","section":"ThisWeek","mediaType":"Default"}