All-Star Panel: Reaction to expanding global terror threat

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," January 19, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Former CIA director Leon Panetta, another former CIA director, Morell saying this weekend on the Sunday talk shows that another attack here in the U.S. is coming. It's just a matter of when. This as the dragnet continues in Europe for active terror cells.

We're back with the panel. Tucker, is this a changing point, do you think, for Europe, a wakeup call after hearing Prime Minister Cameron last week and you are seeing what is happening in France and Belgium.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: I think the New York Times just ran an op-ed by Marie Le Pen, unless I misread that, so yes, everything is changing. This is the pivot point I think where the elites wake up and realize it has gotten out of control.

I think in the United States too it is a moment of reckoning where honest people concede, probably not a lot you can do in terms of hardening our protection to prevent a terror attack short of turning into a police state, and nobody wants that. It probably wouldn't even work.

So really let's start thinking realistically. What would you do if you were Europe 30 years ago? You would say maybe we should slow down immigration from countries with a real Islamic extremism problem, and, two, maybe we should talk to the clerics in Egypt and Saudi Arabia because that's where the most influential clerics in Islam reside, and say to them you have a stake in getting out there and changing the culture and making it less acceptable to become a nutcase in the name of Islam. Where are they in this? Pushing them.

BAIER: You have Egyptian President Sisi who came out and had a pretty forceful speech. It wasn't covered by a lot of people, Ron, but one of the few Islamic nations, while he runs a secular government, who stepped up against this.

RON FOURNIER, SENIOR POLITICAL COLUMNIST, NATIONAL JOURNAL: Yes. And I think Tucker is exactly right. That's where we can show leadership and force that kind of open conversation from the Muslim world.

I also worry about, you know, we are definitely getting hit. I think it is remarkable we haven't gotten lit by another 9/11 this long. I worry about how we are going to respond as a people, as a country. In a time where we are much more polarized and we go to our political corner so much quicker than we did even in 2001 and we saw how 9/11 was politicized relatively quickly against President Bush, I really worry about what would happen in this day and age, whether it's President Obama or the next president when we get hit, whether or not we -- will we come together or will we fall apart.

BAIER: Charles?

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: I'm amazed that the lesson of 9/11 wore off so relatively quickly. I know that it was exhaustion with the Afghan War and the Iraq War. But do we have to have an injection of being reminded every 10 years or so?

Yes, Europe is having its 9/11 moment and they are going to crack down. They are actually thinking along the lines of our Patriot Act, but they wouldn't call it that, but they're going to change their laws, probably tighten up immigration, but be a lot tougher on intrusion into particularly the mosques and other the places where all this stuff brews.

But for the United States, we have hardened ourselves against 9/11 style attack by watching the borders. So we have been quite successful with that. And the problem is an internal attack, you know, the lone wolves. But we have had, and I think Obama was right in saying this, we've had more success in assimilating Muslim immigrants, much less of isolation and alienation than there is. Not none. We know there are people out there who are. So I think the scale of the problem is less here. But I do think that if and when we get hit again we are going to have the same reaction as 9/11, and again that will be healthy. It will be unfortunate.  It will be late and a pity that it has to happen after, but that's generally how we act, in a reactive way.

BAIER: Quickly Tucker, is this battle between the civil liberties of how much we are willing to give up in the wake of this growing terrorist threat going to be the primary political issue, do you think, setting up the next election?

CARLSON: I think the real issue is about multiculturalism. It didn't work and it's time to admit it. You can, you should have a multiethnic, multiracial, multi-religious society, but you have to have a common culture, or else you wind up like France. That's the debate. And nobody is saying it out loud and I think it's a about to -- Bobby Jindal has given an amazing speech on this, and I think that's going to become the debate.

BAIER: That is it for the panel. But stay tuned for a lesson in securing your personal information.

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