In the brussels area. Meanwhile, overnight in malaysia president obama struck a different tone than he did earlier this week and he addressed americans fears about terror specifically. The most powerful tool we have to fight isil is to say that were not afraid. To not elevate them. That somehow buy into their fantasy that theyre doing something important. Theyre a bunch of killers. This morning well look at the isis threat from all the angles. How do we build an International Coalition against isis . Does the u. S. Strategy in the region have to change . And if so, how . How serious is the threat of isis to us here in the United States . How do we remain safe while not giving into islamophobia . And how will all of this impact the campaign for the white house in 2016. We have the top names on all those issues with us this morning. Well begin with efforts to keep america safe. This morning in new york city, a counterterror exercise took place and right now youve seen simulating how the authorities would deal with an active shooter situation in the new york city subway. Joining me from this exercise is the head of 2 department of Homeland Security jeh johnson and, no police chief bill bratton. Gentlemen, welcome back to meet the press for both of you. Good morning, chuck. Good morning. Secretary johnson, let me start with you. Theres a lot of chatter, a lot of unsubstantiated threats including one in atlanta having to do with a wrestling event tonight. What can you tell the American Public about any specific threats out there and how concerned are you . Chuck, let me reiterate what the fbi director and i have said before. We have no specific credible intelligence about a threat of the paris type directed at the homeland here. We are always concerned about potential copycat acts, home born, homegrown, violent extremism of the type that weve seen in recent months and years and so the exercise today is reflective of where we think we need to be and so this is also something supported by the department of Homeland Security through our grant making activity and so we want the American Public to know that were on the job, were vigilant and were continually reevaluating our security posture. Mr. Secretary, what can you tell me about brussels . The fact that the threat was so imminent that they shut down the subway system, the u. S. Embassy said shelter in place. I assume theres been some intelligence sharing here. Threat and how concerning is that that its somehow related to something that might happen here . Were continually in touch with Law Enforcement p intelligence authorities in western europe and brussels and in paris and elsewhere and we monitor these things. As i said, were concerned about potential copycat acts, things of that nature, and thats why were out here today. Were continuing to be vigilant. Were continuing to monitor, reevaluate. Theres also a role for the public to play, too, chuck, this was in you see something, say something. Thats got to be more than a slogan. But in general with this Holiday Season coming up, we want the public to continue to go to public events, celebrate the Holiday Season, travel, be with their families and the like and to know that Law Enforcement, our intelligence community, our National Security officials are mr. Bratton, you just completed it was an active shooter exercise of mass transit and the new york subway system. When you look at what happened in paris and, frankly, how inexpensive that operation may have actually been and that it was sort of a complicated cell but one that didnt use a lot of complicated weapons, does it make you change any tactics . Are you trying new things based on what you learned from paris . Well, what were doing here today, the video that you just showed of the exercise were engaged in, this is part of a ned before the paris event but it has person is paris elements involved in it, including a scenario where a individual with a suicide vest. What were doing here today in conjunction with Homeland Security is testing out new technology, ballistics detection, video technology, communications technology, and building into it some of what weve learned from paris. Beginning back with the mumbai attacks many years ago, american policing and Homeland Security and federal agencies have constantly been adjusting with everything we learned from these events, paris, mali,l bali, were building all of that into the exercises going forward. One of the most prominent events taking place is the macys thanksgiving day parade. Commissioner, what extra steps are you taking . Well, were fortunate that over the past year mayor de blasio here in new york has funded us to the extent that we now have about a thousand more officers that will be focused on counterterrorism and crowd management. We have a new response group, 800 officers. We have a new Critical Response command, over 500 officers. They will be out at that parade. For a change well have great weather, low wind, the balloons will be up. Were expecting about three Million People to be in new york city for that event. And it will be a safe and secure event. Secretary johnson, weve had a heated debate about the syrian refugee issue, but there talking with Law Enforcement officials, you hear that if congress did anything, youd like them focus on the visa waiver issue. Explain. Is it easier for an isis operative to get into this country to get a visa than it is for the refugee process . Chuck, the reality is that Something Like only 2,100 Syrian Refugees have been resettled in this country through a very extensive vetting process that takes Something Like 18 to 24 months. The Visa Waiver Program is something that weve been focused on, frankly, since ive been secretary because there are a number of foreign terrorist fighters who have gone into iraq europe and elsewhere and so last year we enhanced the security of the Visa Waiver Program. This is a program where people in certain countries can come here without a visa. And weve been focused on enhancing the security of that. I ordered enhancements late last year then again in august and Congress Also is focused on this and i think that there are ways that congress should we eliminate the Waiver Program for a while . I would not do that at all. The Visa Waiver Program is very, very important to lawful trade, travel, commerce, a very Popular Program that people use virtually everyday. But there are security enhancements that we have made and we should evaluate whether more is necessary and im happy to have that conversation with our friends in congress. Theyre interested in this, too. Commissioner bratton, i want washington, d. C. Police chief kathy lanier on 60 minutes tonight is going to make a recommendation that in an active shooter situation if somebody can take the gunman out either with a weapon or any other way she actually recommends that you do that because police cant get there in time, the 9 11 call cant get there in time. In an active shooter situation more victims are going die in the first ten minutes before Law Enforcement gets there. Ive not heard that from a Law Enforcement official before. What do you make of that recommendation . Theres nothing new about that, that if somebody is armed in one of those scenarios and has the potential. But the reality is somebody with a handgun up against somebody with an ak47 is going to be outgunned and is putting themselves in serious risk. But at the same time, if the scenario allows for that, then certainly we would support that. But id like to go back to one Congress Really wants to do something instead of just talking about something, help us out with that terrorist watch list, those thousands of people that can purchase firearms in this country. Im more worried about them than i am about Syrian Refugees to be quite frank with you. So if Congress Wants to do something to help the Law Enforcement community and the American Public, lets start getting serious about doing something that they can actually do something about. Commissioner bratton, secretary johnson, thank you for joining me very briefly this morning. Thank you, glad to be here. Thank you. Now to the key diplomatic problem. Although there seems to be global consensus that isis needs to be wiped out, why is it so hard to build a coalition to do just that . Our chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel has been looking into angle to answer that question. Reporter the day the french now call black friday was isis terrifying breakout moment. That the group is a global threat. Its a level of sophistication that took the Obama Administration by surprise. Well, i think there was a widespread belief that it was just another violent jihadist group. And that these groups were brutal and because of their brutality they failed. Isis turns out to be the most successful terrorist organization in recent history. Francois heisberg says Security Forces are struggling to keep up with the group he calls by the arab name daesh. We have yet to build up a skill base and a number of people need it to keep track of an organization as professional and as competent as daesh. Daesh leaves al qaeda until the dust. Reporter but after claiming responsibility for the russian plane, the beirut bombings and now paris, isis has put itself in almost everyones cross hairs. France intensified its bombing of the isis capital raqqah and moved an eric carrier into the region. Russia is attacking isis, launching more cruise missiles, president obama promised to punish the group relentlessly. Washington has been attacking isis for over a year and iran and hezbollah have been at it longer than that. Why cant so many powerful nations and groups beat a terrorist army . One reason is obvious critics say theres no coordination and no war can be won without a plan. But whats worse, there are rivalries over the future of the land isis currently occupies, especially in the middle east. Saudi arabia and many of the United States other allies dont like the Islamic State but its destruction is not their top priority, its third or fourth down the list. Turkey, for example, is more worried about the kurds establishing their own state. Saudi arabia is more worried about iran and so on down the list. There are very few countries who share the United States desire to destroy the Islamic State as a first order priority. Reporter many are wondering whether what happened in paris will be enough to shock the world into finding some sort of consensus, or will it take yet another terrorist massacre to do that . And isis is now threatening attacks in the United States. Richard edge untilngel in turkey. Thank you very much. Im now joined by leon panetta. He served as secretary of defense and director of the cia under president obama. Secretary panetta, nice to see you, sir. Let me ask with a very simple question is the president s current strategy against isis working . Well, obviously theres a lot weve deployed the resources to be able to accomplish the mission that the president described. I think the mission that he said is the right mission, which is to disrupt, dismantle, and destroy isis. Thats the right mission. But i think that the resources applied to that mission, frankly, have not been sufficient to confront that. And faror that reason we have to be muffin morech more aggressive and unified to take on isis. In politico, one of the former counterterrorism advisors to president obama and president bush wrote this by any measure our strategy in iraq and syria is not succeeding or not succeeding fast enough. We are playing a more long game when a disruptive strategy is required. Basically the argument is maybe this strategy is correct but the speed with which its being implemented is whats wrong. Do you buy that argument . Well, i think he makes some look, if were going to confront isis, you know, clearly weve been through acts of war these last few weeks that make it very clear that they are a clear and present danger not only to europe but to this country as well. And were going to have to take some very specific steps here. One is to unify this effort. As Richard Engel pointed out, this effort is not coordinated. People are not working together. Everybodys kind of doing their own thing on different targets. We need to unify the command. We need to set a joint command center where all of these countries are together on their objective and secondly we need to increase our effort there. We need to increase the tempo of our air strikes. We need to organize ground forces, particularly the sunnis and the kurds and arm them so that they can take territory back from isis. And, frankly, we are need to increase special forces and our intelligence advisors not only to guide these forces but to go with them in order to ensure that we are successful in this effort. You know, you were not shy about criticizing the president and the strategy on syria. Im curious. Do you think wed be in a different place today if you criticized there was a failure to push the Iraqi Government to allow a residual force to remain in iraq . The decision not to arm Syrian Rebels in 2012 and the failure to follow through against assad when the president said he crossed the red line. Taken together, if any one thing had changed there, would we be in a different place today, mr. Secretary . Chuck, thats really hard to say because of the chaos that were seeing in syria. Weve gotten a awful lot of people that bear some responsibility there, including the United States. Assad is probably the primary villain for whats going on if syria. Iran bears some responsibility for injecting themselves into the civil war. Hezbollah is there. Weve got a number of opposing forces. A lot of extremists that are part of those opposing forces in syria. The problem with maliki who basically threw the sunnis not only out of the government but out of the military, added fuel to the development of isis and i think the United States by virtue of not getting involved sooner in trying to establish some kind of moderate force there, i think all of those are factors that have contributed to the situation that were facing now. All right, our panel is also here with me, my colleague tom brokaw of nbc news, Kathleen Parker of the washington post, Helene Cooper of the New York Times and ron foreignier ierfornier of the national journal. Tom, i know you wanted to ask the secretary a question. Ive been talking to National Security experts and theyve been saying the same thing. The president up to this point has been, to put it kindly, the commander in chief but not very commanding and theres a great deal of concern that on the other side, on the republican side, theres too much loose talk about putting thousands of american troops on the ground there, suggesting that the americans can get involved in a ground war. What specifically should be the role of the United States on the ground in that part of the world in your judgment . Well, tom, first and foremost i think the u. S. Has to lead in this effort because what weve learned a long time ago is that the United States does not lead nobody else will. So the United States has to provide Stronger Leadership in trying to unify the forces that are there. In addition to that i think its very clear that we are going to have to commit Additional Resources to this effort. Weve got to have weve got to speed up our air strikes. Air strikes are great, were hitting some targets, but air strikes alone are not going to win here. What isis has achieved is the ability to gain territory. And its that territory, its the caliphate where theyre designing their ability to kind of now do outreach and attack other countries. Weve got to take that territory away from them. The its been a year. Theyre still mosul. Theyre still in ramadi. Theyre still in raqqah. Those are the areas we have to go after in order to be able to defeat isis ultimately. Weve got to take the territory back and weve got to make sure that other countries are part of the effort to try to deal with isis. All of those steps need to be taken. On that specific front, actually, on territory, helene, you had a specific question on that front. I do. But im also curious, mr. Secretary. Youre talking right now about unifying the command and unifying the antiisis effort. Given that two of the Major Players three of the Major Players on that field are the United States, russia, and iran and these are not three countries that