Terror Groups Names U.S. Troops Urges Attacks
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT tonight, the FBI tracking a terror group that's put out a hit list of American troops with their names and addresses online calling for attacks on them and their families right here in the United States. Plus, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today shocked everyone, apologizing for his comments about Arab voters. Did he mean it? And allegations of a brutal gang rape at the University of Virginia sparked nationwide outrage. Today, police are saying there's no evidence it ever happened. Let's go OUTFRONT. Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett OUTFRONT tonight, a brutal threat from ISIS. So, the FBI is tracking the terrorists online, searching for anyone linked to an online hit list. On this hit list is at least 100 American military service members. The terrorists are calling for lone wolf attacks on these individuals and their families right here at home. A previously unknown group called the Islamic State hacking division, which says it is affiliated with ISIS, said it was publishing the service member names. Quote, "So that our brothers residing in America can deal with you." It's not clear if this group is sanctioned by ISIS or not but an FBI official says tonight at least some of its members are affiliated with ISIS. It's also believed that at least some of the American military members on that hit list have been targeted simply because they have been involved in the coalition bombing campaign against ISIS. Now, the information on them, on this list, it has names, it has photos, it has home addresses and it appears to have been taken, in part, from social media sites, including Facebook. Law enforcement officials says everyone on that hit list is being contacted. Justice correspondent Pamela Brown is OUTFRONT. And Pam, you know, the threats here are specific and horrific. What are you hearing about it?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. In fact, the big concern here, Erin, is that a lone wolf, someone who sympathizes with ISIS could then go to these addresses listed and target a service member. So, as you point out, they are all being notified of the threat. And a law enforcement official I spoke with says the FBI has been tracking the online presence of a few of these people believed to be associated with this group, the Islamic State hacking division for some time actually even prior to the publication of the hit list, of the 100 or so military members that was published over the weekend. It's not clear as you point out if ISIS leadership ordered this group to collect this information but we are learning that some of the individuals known to be part of this group are believed to be based overseas and affiliated with ISIS. It's interesting to note here, Erin, the law enforcement official noted that this concept isn't new. There have been other service members targeted online by ISIS militants. But the official said that the fact that the group compiled this list is really an elevation of the threat.</s>BURNETT: That's pretty scary when you think about it, too, and then the specifics, they are talking about the horrific things they've done to behead, stab them on the streets. All right. Thank you very much, Pamela. And we're going to have the ranking member of the intelligence committee on in just a moment. But this is not the first time terrorists have targeted military officials. This time, though, the threats are very, very specific. And that's an important distinction. Shasta Darlington is OUTFRONT.</s>SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A hit list with some 100 names, addresses and pictures of U.S. troops on American soil issued by a group known as the Islamic State hacking organization posting it online and calling for beheadings and attacks. Now, we've made it easy for you by giving you addresses. All you need to do is take the final step. So, what are you waiting for? The group's credibility is unknown but law enforcement says, the FBI has been tracking a few people involved for some time and they are affiliated with ISIS. The site has been taken down and official say, everyone on the hit list is being contacted. (on camera): Do you think that this list poses a danger?</s>BUCK SEXTON, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I think this list is another danger among many that we've already seen. I think that we recognize that these jihadists for example have been putting together all kinds of propaganda and they've been trying to essentially force people into living in a state of fear.</s>DARLINGTON (voice-over): We've seen military personnel targeted on home soil before. Last year in Canada, a Muslim convert gunned down a soldier guarding a hallowed war memorial and minutes later shots erupted in the halls of the country's parliament as the terrorist was killed. In 2013, this man along with another, attacked British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street with a meat cleaver calling it an eye for an eye killing for Muslims dying. And in 2009 an army psychiatrist went on a shooting rampage at Ft. Hood, Texas, killing 14 people saying it was revenge for U.S. global aggression against Muslims. The NATO allied commander calls the hit list in attempt by ISIS to divert attention.</s>GENERAL PHILIP BREEDLOVE, NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Every time they take a defeat on the battlefield or every time they are under great pressure on the battlefield, they come up with some big splash like this.</s>DARLINGTON: The group that posted it claims to have hacked military data bases but the danger here, most of the information appears to have come from social media sites and public records.</s>DARLINGTON: Troops and their families are being advised to adjust the privacy settings on their social media so as little as personal information is out there in the public arena as possible. And we've reached out to a number of servicemen and women on this list. Most of those we got through to said they didn't want to talk but one woman told me that she is concerned especially because she has children and they are taking precautions -- Erin.</s>BURNETT: Gosh. All right. Thank you very much, Shasta. OUTFRONT tonight, Congressman Adam Schiff. He's the top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. And Congressman Schiff, I appreciate you being with us tonight. You just heard our report, an ISIS affiliate with the so-called hit list targeting American troops. What do you know about the threat?</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Well, we're trying to investigate how they got this information. A lot of it may have been publicly available. But if there has been any hacking, obviously that's something that we want to find out about. I think it's also the case, though, that this is just one of the increasingly sophisticated uses of social media by ISIS even more so than al Qaeda but that's a real challenge for us because it takes very little for them to put this stuff out and it causes an outsize reaction on our part. So, you know, just another example of the challenges we face in this internet age.</s>BURNETT: So the situation in Yemen where obviously ISIS has been growing, much to the surprise of the Americans in many senses right, it's ending a much stronger than they thought, it's growing so quickly and the situation in Yemen is deteriorating so quickly that the United States is evacuating the last of its troops from the country. How damaging is this to the United States and security?</s>SCHIFF: Well, it is very damaging and unfortunately Yemen has taken a very dramatic turn for the worse over the course of the last nine months. The country is now fairly well divided between north and south. You have this chasm opened up and increasing divide between Sunni and Shiite, two rival governments now starting look alike like Libya, and then into this ungoverned space you have AQAP looking at new opportunities to expand and ISIS establishing a real threatening presence there with our diminishing footprint, it also gives us less eyes on our adversaries and that's very much a concern.</s>BURNETT: And you know, what I'm curious about is that just as recently as September, President Obama talked about Yemen as a success story. Let me just play to you exactly what he said.</s>PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: The strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners on the frontlines is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.</s>BURNETT: Congressman, Yemen of course is known as a breeding ground for terror groups, and you now see this complete deterioration in Yemen. Why would the President have called it a success just months ago?</s>SCHIFF: Well, unfortunately, probably at the time the President made that statement it was quite accurate but things have taken a real dramatic turn since then. And I think what the President was talking about, that in the broader context of that address, though, was comparing it with a paradigm of massive American occupation like in Afghanistan and as we've previously had in Iraq. So, as he was saying, other models worked and it's worked successfully in Yemen and Somalia and it works successfully until it doesn't and unfortunately right now we have a real problem on our hands in Yemen. I would make one final point and that is, I'm not sure the answer is to go back to a massive American occupation of every space where the governance is falling apart. We just can't use that as a sustainable model.</s>BURNETT: Yes. All right. Well, that's a fair point. Thank you very much, Congressman. I appreciate your time tonight.</s>SCHIFF: Thanks, Erin.</s>BURNETT: Well, OUTFRONT next, before the election, he told supporters that busloads of Arabs were descending on the polls. Now Benjamin Netanyahu is apologizing. But does he mean it and does it matter? Plus, a college student's claim a brutal gang rape made headlines across the nation today. A police investigation says, there is no evidence yet that any of it is true. And our undercover camera show terrorists buying orphans for just $250. Then they turned them into suicide bombers. It's an exclusive investigation and it's OUTFRONT tonight.