drone fired a missile striking drugeon's car. officials believe he was killed but they are still trying to confirm that. drugeon was a key leader in the khorasan group, a cell of operatives who moved to pakistan. the u.s. called him an imminent threat. >> the united states has very good intelligence about the movements of khorasan operatives, particularly of the drugeon. they either have a guy inside the group or near the fringes of the group or they were able to pick up specific electronic transmissions indicating their movements. >> drugeon was believed to be working on bombs that could potentially get past airport screening and facilitating the movement of fighters in and out of europe to syria. and possibly back to the united states. in addition to the strike believed to have killed drugeon, a b-1 bomber hit other cars as well as bomb-making facilities and training areas, according to the u.s. military. the u.s. has been frantically hunting for drugeon since september 26th when an initial round of u.s. air strikes failed to k

. >> reporter: the target was 24- year-old david drugeon, a french-born convert to islam who sources say became one of al qaeda's top bomb makers. officials believe drugeon was riding in this car in syria wednesday when the vehicle was destroyed by missiles fired by a u.s. military reaper drone. there is no conclusive forensic proof of drugeon's death, but all available evidence suggests p was killed. lte drone strike was part of a wider aerial assault aimed at key targets of drugeon's al qaeda-linked cell called the khorasan group. b1 bombers and f-16 fighter aircraft attacked a number of buildings in northwest syria, thought to house khorasan bomb-making and terror-training e cilities. in a statement, the u.s. central command said, "we are still assessing the outcome of the attack but have initial indications that it resulted in the intended effects by striking terrorists." sources say drugeon's death would be a severe blow to khorasan's plans to attack europe and the u.s. with hard- to-detect bombs smuggled aboard anrliners. drugeon and other al qaeda explosives experts have been

officials believe drugeon was riding in this car in syria wednesday when the vehicle was destroyed by missiles fired by a u.s. military reaper drone. there is no conclusive forensic proof of drugeon's death, but all available evidence suggests he was killed. the drone strike was part of a wider aerial assault aimed at key targets of drugeon's al qaeda-linked cell called the khorasan group. b1 bombers and f-16 fighter aircraft attacked a number of buildings in northwest syria, thought to house khorasan bombmaking and terror-training facilities. in a statement, the u.s. central command said, "we are still assessing the outcome of the attack but have initial indications that it resulted in the intended effects by striking terrorists." sources say drugeon's death would be a severe blow to khorasan's plans to attack europe and the u.s. with hard-to-detect bombs smuggled aboard airliners. drugeon and err al qaeda explosives experts have been experimenting with non-metallic bombs that can be hidden in shoe, clothing, cell phones and even human bodies. in recent months, intelligence has sugge

how key of a target was this david drugeon? >> was, as was made clear in the piece, he was very important. at the end of the day, he wasn't the brains of the al qaeda bombmaking operation. that is another guy believed to be in yemen towards the saudi border. he's been making these very hard to detect devices and he's prop da gated his skills to other people. >> what do you make of what's going on, that they can potentially put a bomb that could take down a plane with the size of a cell phone? >> well, wolf, these planes are all vulnerable. and as peter said also, you need to get and put the bomb against the skin of the airplane. so you have to get somebody willing to do that. you can't check your luggage and expect that to happen. so you have to have a suicide bomb we are a high explosive. you put it against the skin, and you could puncture a hole in an airplane and bring it down. that's what happened with pan am 103. they can do it and the technology is fairly widespread. siri is the main guy here. you just need somebody with

air strikes targeting drugeon back in september failed. cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank explanation what may have changed. >> suggesting the united states has very good intelligence about the movements of khorasan operatives, particularly of drugeon suggests they either have a guy inside the group or near the fringes of the group, or they were able to pick up specific electronic transmissions indicating their movements. >> drugeon is believed to have been in a vehicle hit in a series of five strikes in sarmada. official says the strikes destroyed several khorasan buildings, including a suspected bomb factory. most u.s. air strikes in syria have been on isis targets in the besieged city as we've been talking about for weeks now, that city of kobani. al qaeda rejected that group some time ago, in part because of its particularly brutal tactics. one of kobani's defenders, who was taken hostage, saw those tactics firsthand. he spoke with our nick paton walsh. >> you can survive isis's prisons but may emerge different. he is a kurd held

drugeon was a key bomb maker. as a french jihadist he had the ability to run fighters in and out of syria and back to europe. that's one reason why he was so important. the pentagon hadn't talked a lot about the khorasan group since september 22nd. they didn't get the key leaders then, but they had been on the lookout for them constantly, these five air strikes overnight, what they really tell us, because there were such a small number, so surgical, so precise, they had pretty good intelligence, they believed, about where these guys were. drugeon apparently hit by a u.s. aircraft, maybe a drone, maybe a fighter jet while he was traveling in a vehicle. so they were very much aware of where they believe he was. at this point they believe they got him. is it absolutely 100%? no. they don't have the body. they don't have the photographic evidence. but they say they have the intelligence that leads them now to believe they did kill this key leader. poppy? >> barbara starr, thank you for the excellent reporting on all t

david drugeon is described as a top bomb maker. he was apparently killed in a series of air strikes that also destroyed a suspected bomb factory. >>> in the war on isis, sources say the u.s. is trying to open channels with iran, and that president barack obama has actually written a letter to the supreme leader ayatollah khamenei about it. it's not necessary to pursue any joint military action, but to prevent conflict between american and iranian operations against isis. >>> and investigators are looking into the crash of an army national guard helicopter near boise, idaho. two crewmembers on board the apache helicopter were killed. a spokesman says the soldiers were on a routine training mission when the helicopter went down. >>> and union organizers in brussels are urging protesters to refrain from violence after this happened on thursday. a few hundred protesters clashed with police after a larger peaceful demonstration over austerity measures. union members are angry over moves that include raising the retirement age, freezing

it's believed that drugeon was killed in one of those strikes. if this is the case and to barbara starr's point, waiting on 100% clarification but if it is, how since we didn't have as much intelligence in this part of the world, how did the u.s. -- what intelligence could have led to this? >> this was great intelligence. they either had somebody inside the group on the fringes of the group, some sort of human intelligence asset there or this was electronic eavesdropping that allowed them to know he would be in this car and able to take this car out as it drove. >> as we talk about drugeon and i think of the bombmaker out of yemen. this is a different man. how powerful, how bright is he? what have some of his ideas been? >> he's a very skilled bombmaker from what he understand. he's a french convert. he's just 24 years old. he was radicalized in his teenage years and joined al qaeda in pakistan when he was 20 in 2010. that's where he learned how to build bombs. a year ago he moved to syria and joined this group, khorasan, and he's been developing

. ♪ drugeo drugeon. >>> all right. new developments this morning, word that a key bomb maker was killed in an air strike in syria. according to u.s. officials, the man a french jihadist belonged to an offshute group called the khorasan group. >> an al qaeda leader was killed in yemen. talk about the latest developments with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. she joins us now. i know you have been watching the developments. maybe you can tell us about the first -- about the bomb maker. >> sure. good morning, michaela and john. this is a french jihadist named david drugeon. part of the core khorasan group. the u.s. has called that group an imminent threat to the united states because of their ability to potentially make bombs that can get past u.s. airport screening. they are operating in syria right now. this is separate from isis and the ongoing conflict there. these are guys that came from pakistan, hard core al qaeda, very definitely aimed at trying to attack the united states. they got some good intelligence

getting drugeon, a start, but the khorasan group, u.s. officials say, still very much a threat to the united states. >> president obama clearly making it obvious that the u.s. is going to continue this policy of these targeted killings of what it regards as terrorist leaders, whether in iraq, syria, pakistan or any place else. yemen or somalia, come to mind as well. that's going to continue probably will escalate in the coming weeks and months. thanks very much. the u.s. not only carried out those strikes against khorasan but as part of a greater anti-isis coalition they're launching other strikes in syria as well. let's bring in nick paton walsh joining us from the border between turkey and syria. what are you picking up over there, nick? >> as part of those air strikes around, there was perhaps an unintended or intended consequence, one of the buildings hit as they went after them, which hasn't figured much on the battlefield at all, they weren't a name particular to most of syria, part of those strikes overnight hit a political headqua

the target was this man, 24-year-old david drugeon. a convert to islam, believed to be one of the top bomb makers. officials believe drugeon was riding in this car wednesday when it was destroyed by u.s. missiles fired by a reaper drone. while officials have no conclusive proof such as dna that drugeon is dead they say the air strikes were successful in taking out the intended targets. in a statement, the u.s. central command said, quote, we're still assessing the outcome of the attack, but we have initial indications that it resulted in the intended effects by striking terrorists. the drone strike was part of a larger assault against drugeon's al qaeda-linked terror cell the khorasan group. b-1 bombers and f-16 aircraft destroyed a number of buildings in northwest syria believed to house the group's bomb making and terror-training facilities. comprised of hard-core al qaeda veterans khorasan has been exploiting the lawlessness of syria to develop hard-to-detect nonmetallic bombs, explosive devices that can be smuggled aboard airliners

this man david drugeon -- are you confident that he may have been there? are you confident that he was worth the strike? >> we're still not confident exactly who we hit. and who these casualties are. so i won't get ahead of an assessment process right now. but to your point, we certainly know about this individual. we know how dangerous he is. and we know what his intentions were and we know what his capabilities were. very skilled, very deadly in terms of helping develop and fashion bombs. so certainly this individual is of interest to us, there's no question about that. as are all leadership and members of the khorasan group. >> all right. now to the policy side of what's going on. with this war. president obama sending a letter to iran supreme's leader, ayatollah khamenei pointing out shared interests, this will be highly controversial. what does it mean from a military planning perspective? >> well i won't speak to this alleged letter, i don't have any knowledge of that. whatky tell you is that we aren't coordinating with iran in this effort against is

a french national david drugeon was developing non metallic bombs to be snuck through security. the air strikes hit five khorasan targets. the human rights group said civilians were killed as they were fighting for nusra and al sham. two groups that have not made western attacks a priority. >>> a former navy s.e.a.l. said he is the man who shot osama bin laden. robert o'neill had been a s.e.a.l. for 15 years before the raid on osama bin laden. now he is the target of criticism. some in the military wonder how he could have fired the kill shot when others were in the room as well. some are criticizing him for taking attention and others are saying o'neill is taking a serious risk by acknowledging his role. >> whether he is the real shooter or not, he put a bull's-eye on his back. >> are you talking about an actual bull's-eye from jihadists. >> yes. his family and himself. he is on the speaking circuit. anybody who sees this guy is a target when they are in a room with him. >> o'neill says he was willing to publicly acknowledge his part in killing osama bin laden after being outed

david drugeon. intelligence officials say the national was developing non metallic bombs to be sneaked through security. the pentagon says the air strikes hit five targets. civilians were killed and anti-assad fighters. two groups have not made terror attacks against western. >>> hundreds of american service members were exposed to chemical weapons in iraq. 17 such cases last month were reported. a really interesting report. defense secretary chuck hagel ordered a review submitted by troops as they left come babat. they were exposed to 1980s-era degraded weapons. it will expand to soldiers. >>> a former navy s.e.a.l. stepping forward saying he shot osama bin laden. he tells the washington post he thought that mission would be his last. now robert o'neill is under criticism. how he can claim to fire the kill shot when two others fired their weapons. some fault o'neill for taking attention. >> he is sacrificed a lot in doing this. whether he is the real shoot err er or not, he put a bull's-eye on his

>> it was a convoy and they believed that david drugeon was killed. they believe he was killed in this air strike. it tells you a couple things -- one, it's progress. it was only last week that the u.s. intelligence was telling us that they confirmed the first round of air strikes had not killed any of the leaders and syria had in effect been an intelligent black hole for the u.s. and that's a handicapped with these military operations. and if it is true that they had gotten him, it would show that their intelligence had improved. >> nick, the u.s. thinks they got their target in the bomb maker. >> reporter: there were five strikes and david drugeon was amongst those hit. but al nusra headquarters, the al qaeda affiliate in syria prescribed as a terror organization but another building hit belonged to ahrar ash sham and they are not considered a terror organization and they are not allied to al qaeda. there are some syrians scratching their head as to how they came under u.s. cross-hairs and saying that women and children were killed in that blast. an

officials say he's david drugeon, a 24-year-old french national and master bomb-maker for the khorasan terrorist group in syria. on the first night of u.s. air strikes in syria last september, 47 cruise missiles fired off navy ships were aimed at khorasan targets. a terrorist group with ties to al qaeda, khorasan, was reportedly plotting to launch terrorist attacks inside the u.s. and across europe. as master bomb-maker, he was involved in developing bombs that would be undetectable. and that the khorasan group has already perfected and tested a bomb that could be concealed in a laptop computer. >> supposedly this individual had perfected a method in which he could sneak explosives on board an aircraft by soaking clothes in a liquid explosive. >> reporter: u.s. officials stress there's currently no evidence of a specific threat against the u.s. but warn if khorasan is left unchecked, it's only a matter of time. jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. >>> one more note tonight about overseas terrorism. this one is hard to believe. top officials at interpol have told the associated pre

david drugeon is said to be a french militant and one of the most dangerous members of the khorasan group. the pentagon says the group was plotting to attack american interests. >>> congressional leaders head to the white house today for their first meeting with president obama since the gop's big election gains on tuesday. mr. obama and republican leaders will lay out their agenda, but the president is being warned not to take independent action on immigration. susan mcginnis is in washington. good morning. >> good morning, anne-marie. it's unclear how much we can expect to be accomplished but we may see the very first evidence of whether these two sides can work together, finding common ground or even more importantly, compromising. but immigration is only one issue where we are already seeing an impasse. emboldened by republican wins in the house and senate, house speaker john boehner sketched out a republican agenda for the new congress. >> we can act on the keystone pipeline, restore the 40-hour workweek. >> like the incoming senate majority leader mitch mcconnell he warned president

david drugeon is said to be a french militant and one of the most dangerous members of the khorasan group. the pentagon says the group was plotting to attack american interests. >>> congressional leaders head to the white house today for their first meeting with president obama since the gop's big election gains on tuesday. mr. obama and republican leaders will lay out their agenda, but the president is being warned not to take independent action on immigration. susan mcginnis is in washington. susan, good morning. >> good morning, anne-marie. it's really unclear how much we can expect to be accomplished at this very first, very highly publicized meeting, but we may see the very first evidence of whether these two sides can work together, finding common ground or even more importantly compromising. but immigration is only one issue where we are already seeing an impasse. emboldened by republican wins in the house and senate, house speaker john boehner sketched out a republican agenda for the new congress. >> we can act on the keystone pipeline, restore the 40-hour workweek. >> like the in

this man, david drugeon. officials believe drugeon was riding in this car wednesday when it was destroyed by u.s. missiles fired by a reaper drone. although they have no conclusionive evidence that he's dead they say they were successful in taking out targets. the u.s. command said, quote, we're still assessing the outcome of the attacks but we have initial indications that it resulted in the intended effects by striking terrorists. b-1 bombers and f-16 aircraft destroyed a number of buildings in northwest syria believed to house the group's bombmaking and terror-training facilities. khorasan has been exploiting the lawlessness of syria to develop hard-to-detect nonmetallic bombs, explosive devices that can be smuggled aboard airliners, hid, in shoes, clothing, cell phones, and even human bodies. in recent months, u.s. intelligence has suggested that khorasan was inching closer to launching attacks on targets in both europe and the united states. in response, security on u.s.-bound international flights has b

officials say he's david drugeon, a 24-year-old french national and master bombmaker for the khorasan terrorist group in syria. on the first night of u.s. air strikes in syria last september, 47 cruise missiles fired off navy ships were aimed at khorasan targets. a terrorist group with ties to al qaeda, khorasan was reportedly plotting to launch terrorist attacks inside the u.s. and across europe. as master bombmaker, he was involved in developing bombs that would be undetectable. and that the khorasan group has already perfected and tested a bomb that could be concealed in a laptop computer. >> supposedly this individual had perfected a method in which he could sneak explosives on board an aircraft by soaking clothes in a liquid explosive. >> reporter: u.s. officials stress there's currently no evidence of a specific threat against the u.s. but warn if khorasan is left unchecked, it's only a matter of time. jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. >>> one more note tonight about overseas terrorism. this one is hard to believe. top officials at interpol have told the associated press

david drugeon, 24 years old, a french national and a convert to islam. considered a high value target. part of a group believed to be plotting to take down a plane using cutting edge explosives that can pass through airport security undetected. >>> tonight, there are reports of a cyber attack on the nation's critical infrastructure. hackers targeting america's power grids, gas lines, water treatment plants. and more, using malicious computer software. the hackers now believed to have links to the russian government. abc's senior justice correspondent pierre thomas has the late breaking details. he's been talking to his sources today. pierre? >> reporter: david, some of the computer systems serving the country's most important utilities have been penetrated by hackers using a malicious software called black energy. it was planted years ago, but has not been activated and only recently discovered. what's at risk? power plants, the electric grid, water treatment facilities, natural gas pipelines. in theory, this software could allow a hacker to use the inte

drugeon. we'll give you more when we get more information. >>> carlesha freeland-gaither was abducted. she's back home after being found alive. she was dramatically rescued by the police from the car of her alleged kidnapping in parking lot in maryland. this all unfolded after a tip led atf suspects to the suspect. he has been feed as delvin barnes. according to police he has a long criminal record is in custody and will now face federal charges. this morning on "today," philadelphia price commissioner charles ramsey said the surveillance video of the abduction was instrumental to the investigation. >> we put stuff on youtube as fast as we get it. we have a very, very good success rate. we have a great relationship with the media in philadelphia. it was picked up even nationally and it really helped us out and probably saved the woman's life. had she remained much longer, don't know what the outcome would have been. >> our reporter is in maryland where carlesha was found. >> reporter: hey, tam

we're told he's a 24-year-old french national named david drugeon. we'll give you more when we get more information. >>> carlesha freeland-gaither was abducted. she's back home after being found alive. she was dramatically rescued by the police from the car of her alleged kidnapping in parking lot in maryland. this all unfolded after a tip led atf suspects to the suspect. he has been feed as delvin barnes. according to police he has a long criminal record is in custody and will now face federal charges. this morning on "today," philadelphia price commissioner charles ramsey said the surveillance video of the abduction was instrumental to the investigation. >> we put stuff on youtube as fast as we get it. we have a very, very good success rate. we have a great relationship with the media in

bomb maker david drugeon was center to the plans to attack the u.s. his skill of concealing explosives inside small personal electronics such as cell phones, with the intention of smuggling them on to u.s. commercial aircraft helped spark u.s. airstrikes against the hideouts in syria, including a series of strikes on thursday which appear to have killed him. but officials still consider the threat imminent and in the final stages. >> the u.s. and the west have been cracking down hard on foreign fighters attempting to make their way to iraq and syria to join isis. interpol telling the a.p., to get around those, they are taking cruise ships to turkey and crossing the border into iraq. just another sign of how the groups adapt to the many measures taken to try to stop them from fuelling isis with more foreign fighters. the latest estimate something in the order of a thousand per month making their way to the conflict. >> a thousand per month. and as we were talking with bob boehner, nothing like this has been seen before in modern history. juning me is b

is believed to have struck and killed khorasan bombmaker david drugeon. is this true? >> we know there were casualties as a result of these strikes, but we aren't exactly ready to say who. we are still working through that assessment. >> nick paton walsh is reporting that the strike hit a building with moderate rebels. >> we're working through the assessment as fast as we can. that's certainly not the goal, to cause any casualties among opposition groups, but we have no operational reporting. >> the vetting for syrian rebels and the training still tbd, if the vetting is still in progress. what is the timetable for this entire mission? when will these moderate rebels be operational? >> given the fact that the vetting hasn't begun, and it will take three to five months all by itself, and the training is being set up for 5500 fighters. that could go up the more sites we get, the more capacity we might get. we're talking between 9 months and 12, once we get the vetting started. it's going to take a little while. we've been very honest about the fact that this mission, both