Different and perhaps president ial light. Ill bring you my report as i host meet the press. From nbc news in washington, this is meet the press. Good morning, im chris jansing. The pressure is mounting to authorize more military action including air strikes in syria to defeat isis. Top u. S. Officials are escalating the rhetoric about the threat posed by the group. Issuing a bulletin warning of attacks by isis sympathizers. And Intelligence Services on both sides of the atlantic are getting closer to identifying the jihadist with a british accent who executed the american journalist james foley. Keir simmons joins us from london where hes been hearing firsthand. Good morning. Good morning. The intelligence agencies view this as not just a hunt for the killer of james foley, but as a race to save the life of a second american hostage threatened with death by isis. Its made more difficult because that gruesome video has been edited. There appear to be two knives. And the tape may have been dubbed. They are convinced a british man is at the center of it, a man theyre close to identifying, raising tough questions about extremism in europe. These are the soldiers of isis, calling for more recruits. Many with european accents and passports that would grant direct travel to the u. S. Ask yourself, is this how you want to die . It was a British Voice that accompanied james foleys murder. A citizen of americas closest ally, apparently administering death to a u. S. National on a foreign battlefield. We have a british citizen beheading an american citizen in syria in some attempt to pressure the United States government into changing the foreign policy. Out of an estimated 2,000 western recruits to extremist groups in syria and iraq, at least 70 are thought to be u. S. Citizen, but more than 500 have been from the uk. Half have returned home. And in a basement in an area of london where james foleys killer may be from, i meet an extremist fringe group that defend isis. Its very attractive to many people. We believe in the fact that one day the Islamic State will come to america. They know people who have traveled to syria where british isis recruits boast of their brutali brutality. My first time, he tweets. They use iphones and laptops to produce propaganda. They want to create this generalized sense of panic, about fear. Last year on the streets of london, a british soldier was hacked to death. And in the same city, a minority blamed the killing of james foley on western foreign policy. This execution of this man was to send a message to america to say mind your own business. People will be sick to hear you say that about the murder of an innocent man. Well, are you talking about the innocent man in gaza . Or the innocent man european women traveled to syria to marry isis fighters. This week, a london jihadist wife asked for links to the james foley killing, and then she said shed like to be the first woman to do the same. Recruits are drawn for many reasons, some appear to be psychopaths, others think they are freedom fighters, many are simply naive. All are dangerous. Keir, it raises the question, are the british Intelligence Services able to take advantage of any connection between the extremists in the uk down in the basement that talked to and the isis fighters in syria and iraq . Well, that is the irony. It does help that there are people here with connections to isis. They can monitor communications, question them. That doesnt mitigate the concern. Of even one senior pakistani official in the past six months told me he had warned the british about rising extremism in britain. Thank you very much. And im joined by mike rogers. Republican chair of the house intelligence committee. Welcome. Thank you. From your perspective how significant of a threat is isis . Its a real threat. One of the problems, its gone unabated for two years. And that draws people from britain to across europe to the United States to join the fight. And thats makes it so dangerous. They are one plane ticket away from u. S. Shores. Thats why were so concerned about it. Weve heard the pentagon say right now they are not in a position to launch an attack on the United States. Is there any intelligence that isis is planning that or has the capability to do it . Well, im going to dispute that. We know in the number 2,000 of westerners with western passports is low. The very fight between al qaeda that allowed isis to separate from al qaeda in syria was the fact they wanted to conduct westernstyle operations. Thats what started the fight. The notion theyre too barbaric is almost laugh able. It was about direction, control of those individuals. What they were saying at the time was we have a lot of people that have passports that could go to europe and then to the United States without a visa. Meaning, they would want hant apply for a visa. That might not be enough. They were believing at the time that they could be aggressive in that. And remember, al qaeda wants to put some points on the board, they want to be the Jihadist Organization that attracts people and money. And isis said they are and want to be the al qaeda the terrorist organization that aat. Arent we safer than we were on 9 11 in terms of being able to keep those kinds of threats out of the United States . Well, we have a better system system of trying to do it. It is not configured in a way to continue a tempo that allows disruption. The reason isis was so successful, there was nothing deterring them for years. They recruited, financed, trained. All of that was happening. We might be okay if we can continue the posture were in from a defensive posture. Remember, they get new recruits every single day. Whats dangerous, think of this. If thats a british citizen, we believe it was. You have somebody that was watching and participating in the whole exercise of making that video. Theyre in the United States, with may or may not know who that individual is. Thats whats so dangerous about this and why we cant continue unabated. Weve seen what the uk has done, for example, theyve been revoking passports of uk citizens that have gone over to syria to fight so they cant come back west. Obviously, the president is considering a whole range of options. We already have air strikes in iraq, questions about whether there should be air strikes in syria. Should there be more small teams of special ops on the ground to gather more intelligence . What do we do now . Theres no mulligans of foreign policy. If you look at how they changed the bureaucratic rule. Its caused a problem. We need to regroup. Again, we are not configured. Our Intelligence Services and our department of defense to be more disruptive. We need to back up, engage our arab League Partners who have as much a stake in this as we do, they will cut their heads off and put them on spikes, as well. We need to engage them in a more Robust Campaign against the safe haven in Eastern Syria and, again, continue to engage in iraq. It cant be about the dam. It cant be about an individual so brutally murdered. Executions, beheadings, theyve sold women into slavery and theyre going to continue to do that. That disruptive activity is critically important. This is an opportunity for the president , to take a step back, change his president ial guidance on how we disrupt terrorism around the world, including al qaeda that has been slowing down. We have missed dozens and dozens of opportunities to take really bad people off the battlefield in the recent, last two years. Are you confident that the United States is in a position to defeat isis . We have the capability to defeat it. We now have to have the political will and the policy to do it. We have the first, we dont have the second two. Chairman mike rogers, always a pleasure to see you. Thank you so much. Well, as you just heard this has gotten a lot more complicated because you have these westerners who want to aid isis and are doing it right now. We saw them in the basement in keir simmons package. Im joined by nbc chief Foreign Correspondent richard engel. Hes just back from the turkish Syrian Border where many foreign fighters crossed into syria to join isis. The White House Correspondent for the new york times. Shes been writing extensively about how the u. S. Is trying to counter the threat. Good morning to all of you. Ambassador, how close are we to identifying the person who executed james foley . I think we are close. Were not yet in a position to say exactly who this is. But there is very sophisticated Voice Identification Technology and other measures we have got which should allow us to be clear about who this person is before long. Its not about one brutal murderer. There are other hostages under threat as youve been mentioning. We think its probably as many as 500 people from the United Kingdom who have joined jihad, isis. So we are focusing our efforts across the board on how to counter this terrible threat. Which is a betrayal of all we stand for and the teachings of the profits stand for as the leaders of the muslim communities and United Kingdom. As somebody who spent so much time in the region, tell us specifically about these people, richard, this threat. Ive heard isis described as a narcissistic psychopath. Well, youre dealing with people who believe they are successful, believe they are winning and creating a caliphate. They call themselves the Islamic State. And they now have a state. They have a big area across northern syria, a large section of iraq. They move freely between these two areas, between the part of iraq they hold, the part of syria. They have heavy weapons from the iraqi army. U. S. Made weapons and they have thousands and thousands of fighters. Not foreign fighters, but local fighters, as well. So we are dealing with a little failed state that doesnt see itself as a failed state. It sees itself as a triumphant state. And the key question becomes, what do they want . Do they want to expand this . Do they want to take over israel and jordan . Do they want to essentially control the middle east . Or do they have a plan to come into the United States to come into western countries and attack . No, its called the Islamic State in iraq and syria or the Islamic State in iraq. Before american air strikes began, there were no you did not hear isis talking about coming to the United States, or attacks on americans, it wasnt until after the american air strikes began. Their mission has been to establish a caliphate within this region. Theyre a huge threat to iraq and to syria and jordan and, you know, even israel. You heard general Martin Dempsey the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff during a press conference with chuck hagel, the defense secretary on thursday talking about their aspirations or end of days apocalyptic. But they have been limited to that specific region. But things now have changed. And i think thats part of why youre seeing the response were having here in the United States. In january, president obama compared them to a Junior Varsity basketball team. Now all of a sudden were talking about, you know, can they attack the american homeland. Thats where youre seeing the arise of a because of this horrible image of james foley in that video. Theres no doubt that ramped up the emotion that we felt and the awareness of what isis is and what they are willing to do, ambassador. What do we do about it . What is your country willing to do, either militarily or in cooperation with the United States. Let me underline this is a threat in a whole different series of ways to us. It is a threat to our citizens, americans, british, others in the region. Its a threat to the stability of those countries but its also a threat in terms of returning radicalized jihadis who left our country, not only great britain, coming back with instructions to create acts of terror at home, which is why uk over the last year picked up 70 different people in terrorist related offenses to do with activities in iraq and syria. So were very conscious of the threat back at home. What are we doing about it . Were doing a burge of different things. Weve had to address humanitarian disaster as a result of isis in the region, drops with aircraft and aerial surveillance to try to help drop things there. We try to support military fighting back against isis in the kurdish government in northern iraq. We are involved with intelligence and training and equipment in a number of different ways to those who would like us to help. Weve been providing refueling tankers for aircraft involved in some of these missions and we are doing a very complex operation in terms of trying to identify, detect, and obstruct terrorist activity by individuals going to and coming back from the region. So were doing a very great deal. Were using diplomacy, development funds, military strengths and equipment. How far can military action go, though, and how far does it need to go if isis is not to be a threat anymore. Was right to say the brutal murder of james foley has governized and make us feel we have got to look afresh at what more we can do with our regional partners, not just on our own, to fight back. I think there are a number of different options on the table. We are not at the moment being invited to do more than we are at the moment. They want training, equipment, political support. Were trying to help Iraqi Government get established so it is credible and able to fight back, if you like, against sectarian mentality on which isis has thrived. Were doing a lot of different things. I think we have to look afresh at what it takes. My friend saying this morning to push back against this brutal organization given what they do and the threat they pose to the local countries to our friends, and to our own National Security. We cant forget, richard, another american journalist, stephen sotloff, his life hanging in the balance, had been taken hostage, the same group that took james foley and handed him over to isis. Tell us a little bit from your perspective about what happens now and the whole conversation about whether paying ransom. Some other countries do. The United States doesnt. Is that an incentive for more hostage taking. You mentioned my case. I was taken hostage in syria roughly the same time as james foley two years ago. Dont forget james foley was executed after being in custody, being terrified, abused for two years. At the time two years ago when he was taken and i was taken, there were lots of different groups rounding people up. Isis started to collect those people. Now they are really the only group, the main Group Holding foreign hostages. It didnt seem on the negotiation front that isis has any real intention of negotiating americans. It doesnt want to give them up for ransom. In the case of james foley, it wasnt really seriously negotiating. It was using europeans to try and raise between 3 and 5 million a head. That was the going rate. For james foley, they asked for 130 million, which is not a realistic number. Its like saying, you want to sell him, if you pay this, you can buy him. Whats important to understand is how we got here and where were going. Youre just talking about what can be done. The u. S. Is carrying out strikes right now in northern iraq. They are stopping at a border. But they are stopping at an invisible border. They are stopping at a border isis doesnt recognize. It seems likely in the next few days, few weeks were also going to be carrying out some strikes in syria. Thats what u. S. Officials seem to be hinting about. Well see if that is enough or if its too little, too late. Richard, always good to see you. Thank you all so much for being with us. 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