House Intelligence Committee leaders on terror attack in New Orleans

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee, Representatives Mike Turner (R-OH) and Jim Himes (D-CT), spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday in a bipartisan interview following the deadly terror attack in New Orleans earlier this week.

When asked how Americans should understand the threat environment they're in, Turner said:

"It's certainly very difficult, and our heart breaks as we think of what occurred just after New Year's Eve, on New Year's Day...What we know that the FBI director has said is that we are in a heightened, threatened environment. We see from, of course, what occurred in New Orleans. We have the threat of those who can be lone wolves, those individuals who might be, as the self-declared terrorist has indicated, inspired by ISIS, by terrorist threats. We also have those who- who are here, who have come across the border, that the director has said are affiliated with terrorist groups, organizations outside of the country who want to do Americans harm. Those individuals still pose a threat to Americans and to the United States. The director, the FBI, local law enforcement are continuing to work to try to find them and try to lessen the risk, but certainly at this time, as we go into the inauguration for Donald Trump, where we even have state actors like Iran...where we have in-custody individuals who have come here with the stated purpose to assassinate as a part of a plot, to have been alleged to perpetrate a plot to assassinate Donald Trump. We have a number of actors that pose a risk and a threat to Americans."

During the interview, Brennan said ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the attacker, identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, but was said to have pledged their allegiance in social media videos. Brennan also said that Homeland Security didn't find any linkage to the U.S. border, nor any linkage "established to a foreign actor," prompting Brennan to ask Himes if this was an "example of someone with mental health issues choosing violence," to which Himes said:

"You know, there was all sorts of stuff on social media about how they were coordinated and together, and that the Las Vegas, with New Orleans, you know, the New Orleans...Jabbar, the attacker there, clearly had himself affiliated with ISIS. Now, what we need to know and what- to date, there is no evidence that this is the case, but we need to know whether that individual was deliberately tasked. Again, no evidence that he was. And of course, we constantly see these lone wolf attackers who get radicalized, maybe on social media, maybe in some other location. And you know, I would certainly agree with Mike's characterization of the danger out there. But just to add that, as Americans think about the people who are protecting them, and I think the chairman would agree with me on this, the people and assets that we put up against this threat are the best in the world. It is also true that lone wolf attackers, that is an individual who's not communicating with somebody abroad, who's not sending texts or sending emails, are extraordinarily difficult to detect. And you know, though our people are the best in the world, that is hard to find. And by the way, there's a role for people, you know. In New York City, if you go on the subway, it says, if you see something, say something. And so there's a role for everybody out there, you know, to help try to solve, to help try to stop these kinds of lone wolf attacks."

Later in the interview, Brennan asked Turner if there are "active terror cells in the United States right now," which Turner said in part:

"I think the issue of cells, and you are talking about that beginning of the show, are there individuals that are affiliated with ISIS and terrorist groups and organizations that have crossed the border, that are inside the United States? Director Wray, FBI director, has said so, we certainly have intelligence that says so, I agree with his assessment...And we are working diligently to try to take them down, to prevent them from doing so. And that's why the director is publicly saying such, and that's what the new administration is going to be handed the fact that these individuals are here, that we need to locate them, we need to remove them, we need to bring them to justice and prevent them from doing harm to Americans."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Turner and Himes, click here.