White House: Paris Attack An Evolution Of Terror Threat

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

At the White House today, President Obama condemned what he called the cowardly, evil attacks in Paris. And he pledged U.S. counterterrorism help in pursuing the attackers. As we just heard, the shooters are heard on video as they fled, shouting we have avenged the Prophet Muhammad.

Earlier today, I spoke with Lisa Monaco, the president's chief counterterrorism adviser. And I asked her if the White House is confident that radical Islamists are behind the attack.

LISA MONACO: I think based on what we're seeing right now and the reporting thus far, I think that is a fair assumption, yes.

BLOCK: Are there any indications that the attackers are connected to the Islamic State or to al-Qaida?

MONACO: We don't have any information at this point that's credible in terms of groups or organizations taking credit for this attack. Again, we're going to continue to work this. Our military intelligence, law enforcement communities will work hand in glove with our French partners. The FBI has offered assistance and will provide assistance with overseas and here, and will continue to work with them to identify the perpetrators of this attack and do everything we can to hunt them down and bring them to justice.

BLOCK: We do know that al-Qaida's media operation had threatened Charlie Hebdo, the publication, before in al-Qaida's publication Inspire, even published a wanted poster. There were photos on there that include the editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stephane Charbonnier, who was one of the people who was killed today. Do you find that significant?

MONACO: I do. And what we've seen, obviously, is this magazine has been the target of previous attacks and previous threats. And we also have seen al-Qaida, ISIL and their followers have been extolled, really, and urged on to take up opportunistic attacks like the one we've seen today in Paris. And I'm afraid we're going to see more of this. And we need to prepare to see more of this.

This is the type of attack that can happen anywhere in the world. This is why we are so vigilant at our embassies and our posts and around the world, particularly in high threat areas, and why we work daily with the law enforcement and Homeland Security communities here to maintain vigilance.

BLOCK: Witnesses in Paris described the shooters moving and attacking very methodically today. Does this strike you as a sophisticated assault, something that suggests military training, for example?

MONACO: Well, it's something that we always have to be concerned about. Again, it's very early days in this investigation, but we're very concerned about the prospect of individuals traveling, particularly now increasingly to Iraq and Syria to join up and to gain training and to gain experience and then come back to the west, which is why we have led the international community, including with an unprecedented meeting last fall at the UN Security Council to bring together international partners to do more to combat the threat from foreign fighters.

BLOCK: The number that I've seen, in terms of French citizens who have gone to join jihadist groups in Iraq or Syria or plan to, is in the neighborhood of 1,000. Does that ring true to you?

MONACO: It does. Right now, we estimate upwards of 18,000 individuals who've traveled or attempted to travel to Syria and Iraq to become foreign fighters. That includes over 100 Americans.

BLOCK: Ms. Monaco, the attack in Paris comes pretty soon after the deadly attacks in Canada back in October, the hostage siege last month in Sydney where the gunman hung a jihadist flag. Do you see this, in some ways, part of a pattern?

MONACO: I think that's a fair characterization. Perhaps not a pattern, but an evolution of the terror threat. And again, we don't know the circumstances here with this particular attack, but attacks that are more opportunistic in nature are going to, by definition, be more difficult to identify and stop.

BLOCK: Lisa Monaco is the White House chief counterterrorism adviser. Thank you very much.

MONACO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.