Former CIA Director Michael Morell Talks Jihadi Groups and ISIS on CBS

Former CIA Deputy Director and CBS News Senior Security Contributor Mike Morell said that the fact that jihadi groups in Egypt and Libya are pledging their support to ISIS is 'a very big deal,' in an interview that was broadcast live today, Nov. 10, 2014 on CBS THIS MORNING (7:00-9:00 AM) on the CBS Television Network.

'It shows the popularity of the group, it shows the spread of its influence, and what you'll see as a result is these groups trying to mimic ISIS,' Morell said. 'So what you'll see is these groups trying to take territory in the weeks and months ahead.'

Morell also discussed the news that U.S. operations may have seriously injured or even killed ISIS leader al-Baghdadi this weekend. Morell told co-hosts Norah O'Donnell, Gayle King and Jeff Glor that it was encouraging that U.S. forces were able to find and target the ISIS leader, and added that taking out leadership one member at a time is 'one of the key ways to degrade a terrorist organization.'

Watch the clip here.

A transcript of the interview is below:

NORAH O'DONNELL: Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell is a CBS News Senior Security Contributor. He joins us from San Diego. Michael, good morning. U.S. officials this morning are not confirming that al-Baghdadi has been killed or wounded, but what do you think about the significance that we may have struck him?

MICHAEL MORELL: What's significant to me is that we hit a military convoy that we knew ISIS leadership was part of. So what's important here is, obviously, if we got Baghdadi that's a good thing, but what's really important here is that we found a leadership target and we went after it.

JEFF GLOR: But Mike, how good is our intelligence if two days later we still don't know if he's safe, or wounded, or killed?

MORELL: This was a convoy that we struck that we knew was a leadership convoy. That takes very good intelligence. What happens in the aftermath, there's no pattern that I've ever seen. Sometimes we learn very quickly that somebody has been injured or killed, and sometimes it takes days and even weeks. It all depends on how these groups handle these kinds of things.

GAYLE KING: If the reports are true, Mike, how concerned should we be about people stepping up to take his place?

MORELL: Somebody would obviously step up and take his place. The reason these strikes are so important is they force the leadership of a terrorist group to think about their own security rather than conduct their operations. The other reason is that as you remove leaders, over time you get weaker leaders, and that is one of the key ways to degrade a terrorist organization.

O'DONNELL: Mike, one of the things we've talked about is the growing romanticism around some of these terrorist groups like ISIS, and this morning we're learning that Egypt's most active jihadi group has declared its allegiance to ISIS. How significant is that?

MORELL: So Norah, it's not only this group in Egypt, there's also a group in Libya that's done the same thing. So this is the first two times that terrorist groups in other parts of the world have given their allegiance to ISIS. I think this is a very big deal. It shows the popularity of the group, it shows the spread of its influence, and what you'll see as a result is these groups trying to mimic ISIS. So what you'll see is these groups trying to take territory in the weeks and months ahead.

GLOR: Mike Morell, joining us. Mike, thank you very much.

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