[Poppy Harlow, Cnn Anchor:] It is 7:00 here in New York. I'm Poppy Harlow. We begin this hour with breaking news out of our nation's capital. We have just heard that something extraordinary will happen tomorrow, an event so rare and so history making that President Obama has only done it twice in his entire time in office. The president of the United States will address the nation from inside the Oval Office. It will happen at 8:00 Eastern Time. Of course, CNN will carry this presidential address live. Let's go straight to CNN's Chris Frates. He joins me live in Washington this evening. We just learned about this in the last few moments. Do we know what the president is say and what he is focusing on tomorrow night?
[Chris Frates, Cnn Correspondent:] Hey, Poppy. Yes, we are getting some indication of that. But as you say, really big breaking news out of the White House. President Obama will make a rare address to the nation tomorrow night at 8:00 about what the government is doing to keep Americans safe. The Oval Office address will also touch on the investigation into the ISIS-inspired attacks in California that killed 14 people earlier this week. The White House said Obama will also address, quote, "The broader threat of terrorism," including the nature of the threat, how it has evolved, and how we will defeat it. He will reiterate his confirmed conviction that ISIL will be destroyed and that the United States must draw upon our values, our unwavering commitment to justice, equality and freedom, to prevail over terrorist groups that use violence to advance a destructive ideology. Now, Poppy, the news comes on the heels of a meeting the president held with his national security team this morning. The White House says the presidency updated him on the investigation into the California shootings and highlighted several pieces of information that point to the attackers' radicalization to violence. Now, we already know about one piece of evidence suggesting radicalization. That was a Facebook post by the female shooter pledging allegiance to the leader of ISIS. Now, during the briefing, which that included the FBI and CIA directors, the attorney general, and the homeland security secretary, the White House said officials reiterated that there is no evidence yet that the killers were part of a larger terrorist cell. Remember, on Friday, the FBI said incident was investigating the attacks as an act of terrorism. And, Poppy, people will be watching what the president has to say about that and the investigation more generally tomorrow night, as well as listen to go hear how the president plans to deal with the larger issue of defeating ISIS. So, that's what we have tonight, Poppy. Lots of big breaking news in the nation's capital. Lots of eyes on the White House tomorrow night as well.
[Harlow:] No question. Chris Frates, thank you very much. We, of course, will carry that live for you here on CNN. I want to go straight to CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen, an adviser to four presidents with very unique perspective on something like this. David Gergen, as we heard from Chris, this happened only twice in this president's term in office. It happened both times in 2010. First announcing the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. Second, after the gulf oil spill. David Gergen, how big is this?
[David Gergen, Cnn Senior Political Analyst:] It's big, Poppy, because President Obama has been reluctant to use the Oval Office. His predecessors used it far more frequently to address the company. All of which would suggest this is a bigger speech. And also suggests I believe that it'd be in the field in the Middle East or whether it'd be here at home, to come to the nation at 8:00 in the evening, on a Sunday night from the Oval Office, it's going to be about more than reassuring we're safe and he is taking actions. And we talk about the past, he's really got to set for himself because the expectations. Eight o'clock, Oval Office, President Obama, it is going to be big.
[Harlow:] Absolutely. David Gergen, if you were writing the speech. You have been inside the rooms making these decisions before with other presidents. What does the nation need to hear from its commander in chief?
[Gergen:] Well, it needs to know that, first and foremost, that people want to know are my kids going to be safe? And the second thing they want to know is, am I going to be safe? And so, he has to give assurance this is going to improve people's personal security. There is a lot of fear in this country right now. It's also reminiscent of 911. I think the level of fear is about the same thing, the same level as before. But it's I must tell you that I think that in order to convince people, he's going to have to take bold steps. Undoubtedly boots on the ground in the Middle East. But it certainly must mean a crackdown on domestic terrorism, homegrown terrorism. It's going to be hard for him to convince the country that we should take in refugees from Syria.
[Harlow:] Right.
[Gergen:] You know? It's going to make that case a lot harder. So, he's got I don't think I don't think he's going to give a bland address, 12 minutes. Something that works, he's going to do something that's got some crack to it.
[Harlow:] David, the context of this, this announcement, we're learning this today, just a few hours after he had that meeting with his national security team today. One would think that contributed to this decision to make an announcement. Can you take us into the process with the president and his senior advisers when you say, all right, we're going to make only the third Oval Office address in your presidency, potentially the last Oval Office address in his presidency. He doesn't have that much more time in office. How do you come to that decision?
[Gergen:] Well, I think the first decision is what is it you want to achieve? I would assume as soon as they learn that there were some terrorist ties with this couple in San Bernardino, that the president, all of his advisers said, look, we have to take steps here. The country is scared by this. And we have to do concrete things. You guys come up with a list. Let's come up with a menu of options. This morning, they got together, probably in the Situation Room or somewhere else in the White House in which they reviewed what those steps might be. They made the decision, OK, we have a concrete action plan. Let's decide how to announce it. I would assume the action is big enough they thought this deserved an Oval Office.
[Harlow:] David Gergen, thank you so much for that. Again, you will be with us tomorrow night. There will be special coverage hosted by my colleague Wolf Blitzer tomorrow night. That special coverage at 7:00 p.m. ahead of this Oval Office address which we will carry for you live in its entirety at 8:00 p.m. David Gergen, our entire political team will be with us tomorrow night for that. Thank you very much. Also, I want to take you now to San Bernardino, California. A federal law enforcement source confirming to CNN that just today, a search warrant has been served at the home of a man who bought two of the rifles used in Wednesday's massacre. We are gathering more details in Washington. National security advisers briefing the president today, telling him there is no evidence so far of a larger terror network at play outside these two shooters, even though ISIS has not taken responsibility for the attack, they did praise it today on their video program, calling the two individuals you see on your screen supporters. Stephanie Elam joining me from outside the couple's home in Redlands, California. All right. Talk to me, Steph, about the significance of this warrant.
[Stephanie Elam, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, it's important to note, Poppy, that these rifles we know were not purchased just before these events. They had been purchased previously. And what the search warrant was about, what we believe it was about is searching the house of the person who bought these rifles in the past, the person who had acquired these. We do not know if anything was removed from the house. We do not know if they found what they were looking for. But we know it happened in the early morning hours here in California where they had the search to gain some information. And I believe the reason why they may be doing this is just to make sure that they are rounding out all of their edges, knowing where all the pieces fall into the puzzle and making sure that there isn't another head of the snake that may be out there who played a part in this nefarious and awful attack here in San Bernardino.
[Harlow:] That's what I was wondering because as you heard, the national security team advising the president today saying that there is it doesn't appear at this time that this was part of a larger web like what we saw in Paris. I mean, what are people on the ground there, Stephanie, saying? I know neighbors had absolutely no idea there was anything awry here.
[Elam:] Yes. As of now, it appears to be a case of lone wolves. Maybe not a lone wolf, but a lone wolves situation, where they were operating together. But the neighbors here, the neighbors that have spoken have said, you know what, they pretty much kept to themselves. They looked like a normal family with a young child. Remember, they had a 6-month-old daughter that they have left behind. So, a lot of signs saying they just stayed quiet, to themselves, and were blending in. And that may be the scariest part about this whole development that they were doing this on their own, inspired what they had seen overseas.
[Harlow:] All right. Stephanie, will you stay with me? I want to join in this conversation with CNN security and intelligence analyst Bob Baer. Bob, you heard what Stephanie said. Potentially lone wolves, no one knew around them what was going on. Law enforcement had no idea. How is that possible when you have what they have described, law enforcement has described as a home made bomb lab with 4,000 rounds of ammunition, 12 pipe bombs, and numerous tools to make IEDs. How is it possible that no one knew?
[Bob Baer, Cnn Security And Intelligence Analyst:] Poppy, somebody knew, seriously. I mean, number one is the attack, let's do not forget it was a military assault. You don't pick this up by getting stuff off the Internet. Someone had practice with those weapons. They had to reload them. The speed, throwing the bombs out to disengage from the police and on and on and on. There was some training. I can speculate who got it. Maybe it was her in Pakistan with that militant group that did Bombay. I do not know at this point, and the smashed phones, smashed hard drives. They were trying to hide a larger network. But the case remains go ahead.
[Harlow:] They weren't that sophisticated, Bob. Because they tried to alter these weapons to make them sort is of fully automatic, if you will. They didn't succeed at that. These pipe bombs apparently were in effective, weren't working.
[Baer:] The pipe bombs, yes. They were very primitive. But the actual attack, entering the target, the surprise speed and extreme violence at the objective is a classic military assault. They got out before the police could intercept them. They were apparently on to a second attack. This is not the profile of beginners. Somebody knew something. Somebody practiced, maybe in California. And they had some communications with the smashed cell phones. I just do not buy playing this down as a one off, almost an accident. I think it's more serious. I think there are more networks out there. And that somebody was radicalized in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. So, in that sense the radicalization did occur overseas.
[Harlow:] What does the target tell you?
[Elam:] Can I just make one point here about this?
[Harlow:] Yes, absolutely, Stephanie. Yes.
[Elam:] Because I think it's interesting to note here about this property, because I've walked about it. I am standing in front of the place where the killers were living. One thing I noticed about the garage. It is like an alley where the garages face each other. There's nothing else back there. It is not like a house where you have the garage in front and you can drive up and see what's going on there. Not to say that no one didn't know what was going on, I'm not disputing that. I just want to clarify one thing, that we do believe this activity was going on in the garage, which is separate from the townhome. You have to walk outside to get to it. It is its own building. We did not see in there when we went in there yesterday. But the point being, it's not like people, neighbors are out and can see what's going on there because it is removed in the back and all the garages face each other in this alley.
[Harlow:] I think that's a great point. We're looking at aerial shot of that from Thursday when the FBI was going through that garage. Bob Baer, to you, I was going to ask about the target. What do you make of the fact that the target was his colleagues at a holiday gathering, work event? Usually in these terrorist attacks, we have seen sort of targets where they don't know anyone.
[Baer:] Well, Poppy, in this case, you have to look at the Islamic State and their propaganda is they want to create the most violence and shock. And they did exactly that in killing friends and colleagues. I mean, it's the enemy that's among us that we can't see, which is so shocking to Americans. This is why the president is going to address the nation. This is much more shocking to us as Americans than attacking, for instance, a federal building because, you know, that's within their framework. But this group is so violent and so unpredictable. And they will go to any degree that they prove this in killing friends and colleagues. I find that much more disturbing than if they had shot up somebody in a uniform.
[Harlow:] And, Bob, you're a former CIA operative. I'm interested in what the intelligence community wants to hear from their commander in chief tomorrow night?
[Baer:] Are we safe? Exactly. As David Gergen said, are we safe? And I don't think we are. And I think this president has to put the country on a war footing. I mean, I'm not panicking. This isn't the end of the republic. But if we want to know what the FBI can do to identify these people and stop them in advance. If those people had taken the same garage and made were TATP bombs out of there, acetone and peroxide bombs, they could have done a lot more damage and killed a lot of police, and hit a major structure. They didn't have the skills to make the bombs, not like the Paris people. They could have potentially done the same damage as occurred in Paris.
[Harlow:] The words you use, war footing. Stephanie Elam, very quickly to you, what about the people there. I mean, you've been there all week. What do they want to hear from the president?
[Elam:] Oh, I think a lot of people just want to know they're safe. It is the same thing Bob is saying. It's like, is this the new normal? A lot of people not wanting to believe that. And out there, you know, we're not in a big city. This is not big city. This is not Los Angeles. We are removed from here. And these are the places that people don't think stuff like this happens. They don't think this happens in their neighborhood. That's what makes people so unsettled.
[Harlow:] Bob Baer, thank you. Stephanie Elam, thank you very much. Again, special coverage of the president's address will be 8:00 tomorrow night. Straight ahead, police in Florida shoot and kill a man today in broad daylight after he allegedly attempted to rob a bank. All of it caught on camera.
[Unidentified Male:] The subject went into the bank, handed over a note, saying he had a bomb and that he was robbing the bank.
[Harlow:] Our Alina Machado on the ground just spoke with the man who shot the cell phone video of the killing. That interview is next.