Former CIA Chief: Plane Attack a ‘Big Deal,’ ‘Adds to the Perception ISIS is Winning’

Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” while discussing the strong possibility that an ISIS bomb brought down the Russian passenger jetliner in Egypt, former CIA deputy director and CBS senior security contributor Michael Morell warned it was a “big deal” because it lends to the notion ISIS is winning.

Morell said, “I think this is very, very significant — this will be only the third aircraft brought down by a bomb in the last quarter century. This is a very big deal. Largest loss of life in a plane brought down by bomb since Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. It’s going to add to the perception that ISIS is winning. That is been key strength infers of attracting followers, attracting recruits. That’s one implication. another is that ISIS now has about 20 different affiliates around the world, militant groups. they are going to be competing for who can do something like this. Then you have al Qaeda which since 9/11 has worked very hard to try to bring down an airliner they have been unsuccessful this must be kind of message to them that we need to do something like this to keep our brand alive.”

When Morell was asked about U.S. targets, he said, “I think we’ve already seen it. One of the ISIS groups in Libya, several months ago went after an international hotel in Tripoli frequented by international businessmen and Americans were killed there. I think you are going to see more of that kind of attack including attacks against Americans.”

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