The time to draw a conclusion

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Sunday for improvements to be made in how terrorists are tracked and information is shared between the United States and its allies, saying that the failure to stop recent attacks in and around Paris was an intelligence failure.

Panetta, speaking on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” said the United States has “pretty good security” when it comes to managing terrorist watch and no-fly lists. But he added that parts of Europe do not and that they are less aggressive in monitoring potential terrorists returning from countries like Iraq, Syria and Yemen, where they can receive training.

“So the real challenge here is going to be for the United States to work very closely with our counterparts in Europe to make sure that these watch lists are shared, that we’re working together to make sure that these individuals are being tracked when they try to come back to the various countries, and that we work together operationally to be able to go after them once that happens,” Panetta said. 

Failure to stop Paris attack was ‘intelligence failure,’ former defense secretary says