Former FBI Agent: "Al-Qaeda gave a lot of power to their affiliates"

On the backdrop of a deadly shooting inside a mall in Kenya, on Monday evening "Piers Morgan Live" invited Ali Soufan to share his unique perspective and professional insight.

A former FBI agent, and a Lebanese-American, Soufan offered his reaction to revelations that Al-Shabaab, the militant group responsible for an attack that has resulted in at least 62 deaths, includes Americans:

"This is very interesting. I'm not surprised that there's Americans involved with Al-Shabaab. There is probably about 50 Americans that actually left the United States and went to join Al-Shabaab," he explained. "Al-Shabaab is probably one of the only affiliates of Al-Qaeda that was able to recruit people from the West and from the United States ... this is scary, because if some of these guys made it back to the United States, they might create some problems."

In the dozen years since 9/11, Soufan says that Osama bin Laden's Islamist organization has changed the way it functions:

"Al-Qaeda switched its role from being an operational entity to being a motivational entity. So we were focusing on Al-Qaeda's central organization, we didn't focus on the narrative. Al-Qaeda gave a lot of power to their affiliates today," Soufan told Piers Morgan. "Al-Qaeda is basically gaining a lot of power and that narrative that we disregarded for a long time is becoming the fuel that's bringing Al-Qaeda back."

Watch the clip for more of Morgan's interview with Soufan, and for the next edition of "Piers Morgan Live," watch CNN every night at 9.
-
» Follow "Piers Morgan Live" on Twitter
» Follow "Piers Morgan Live" on Instagram