If you thought that the tragic attacks on Paris carried out by ISIS militants at the end of 2015 was a complete surprise to all those in the West, you’d be wrong. Although, until recently, that would’ve been an entirely wise and prudent thing to say.

But a few in the United States intelligence community knew something was awry, and that something potentially very dangerous was brewing in the famous European city in the days leading up to the mayhem.

To be more specific, the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) knew.

This from the television news magazine 60 Minutes, its director John Brennan and RAW STORY:

Speaking on the channel’s 60 Minutes program, which was broadcast on Sunday, Brennan said that the agency and its allies were aware of covert ISIS activity in the lead up to the attacks in the French capital, however attempts to stop it was foiled by “sophisticated” use of encrypted Internet communication.

When asked what he and his colleagues have learned from the November attacks, Brennan said the attacks showed “that there is a lot that ISIL [an alternative acronym for ISIS] probably has underway that we don’t have obviously full insight into.”

“We knew the system was blinking red,” Brennan said “We knew just in the days before that ISIL was trying to carry out something. But the individuals involved have been able to take advantage of the newly available means of communication that are walled off from law enforcement officials.”

The exact number of the people involved was subject to some speculation in the aftermath of the attacks but all eight of the assailants who were either killed during the attacks or in the raids that followed have been identified as French citizens.

Brennan said that following the attacks he told his agents they had to “work harder” to prevent anything like that happening again.

Here’s Brennan talking about ISIS’s capability in the field of chemical and biological weapons:

Brennan also spoke about his Russian counterpart (Alexander Bortnikov), the terrorist attacks that U.S. intelligence has successfully foiled and “what keeps him up at night”.

To watch the interview in its entirety, click here.