sheikh. specifically because the russians suspended all air traffic not only to sharm el sheikh but cairo as well. yeah. well, we took the decision that it s sharm el sheikh we need to focus on. it s sharm el sheikh where we have a very significant tourist traffic from the uk. so that was the principle focus of our concern. if it was a bomb, do you believe it was isis? isis have claimed that they are responsible for bringing down this aircraft. we ve seen a history of isis claims tending to be born out by facts. there s got to be a high probability that isis was involved. that doesn t mean that it was a directed attack from isis headquarters in syria. it may have been an individual who was inspired by isis who was self-radicalized by looking at isis propaganda and was acting in the name of isis without necessarily being directed. the so-called lone wolf theory. some lone wolf, an individual working at say sharm el sheikh airport could have built that bomb and planted the bomb
that plane? that is a possibility. is that the working assumption you re working on? or was this more of a coordinated organized event by isis maybe not in raqqa in syria where they re headquartered but isis in sinai? that other group affiliated loosely with isis. if it s a bomb, there s both possibilities equally valid. we have to investigate and understand both. and the assumption was that because u.s. officials have spoken about chatter that they ve picked up various ways, was the chatter done that was significant in this particular case before the explosion and aft after, or just after? i don t know if i m as fastidious as u.s. officials, but we never talk about intelligence, there are clearly a variety of intelligence sources around this material as well as open source material. are you sharing this intelligence with russia? we re sharing what we can.
this, bomb maker, people who supply transportation, communications and money and inside crew who conducted the operation. if you go through that hire ark ki, you re talking about ten, 15, 20 people and the march against time on the heels of what they regard as a tremendous success. there is no way they are not sitting around in a camp or safe house saying what is the next step we have to take to capitalize on that success. because phil, this is a bonanza for recruitment for these isis terrorists, right? that s right. think about the lack of success that al qaeda and yemen had in 2009 when they failed to take down the airliner over detroit. with that lack of success, they were sitting around in yemen saying wow, we got headlines around the world for something that was a failure. contrast this to today, six years later they have to be sitting back saying we got no press for years and all of a sudden in the blink of an eye, we re the focus of attention for the globe. that is not just
radio communication, e-mail. human sources, do you have particularly egyptians inside the isis organization that can give you a sense what is going on around the campfire and interviews with personnel and presumably receives to determine whether you can get on the ground information. one question is we re talking about u.s. participation in this. it s a you sharussian aircraft we re ging to want to get into this game to determine who is responsible and i think the egyptians and russians are old indicating that they are not sure they want the americans in this game. so far, tom, the fbi is not allowed to go in sinai is and do tests. they have a officer or two. that s a big fbi office but they are in cairo, not sinai. they are not invited to go work on the case and the fbi
cornerstone of this story and many other stories that have to do with the lessening of the first amendment or the oppression of it. and whenever that happens in any society i think the citizenry needs to stand up. amen to that. the film is trumbo. it s a fantastic film. bryan cranston, thank you so much for joining us. that s it for the lead. i m jake tapper. turning you over to the situation room. happening now, terror hunt. u.s. officials are 99.9% certain that a bomb brought down that russian airliner over sinai. the search is now on for who planted the bomb, who built it and who ordered it. i ll speak with the british foreign secretary. security lapses as precautions are stepped up at middle east airports. are employees and contractors being properly vetted? does isis have insiders at other airports? missile misfire.