How FBI Databases Are Helping France ID the Charlie Hebdo Gunmen

The FBI is sharing intelligence with France's law enforcement agencies in order to help hunt down the masked gunmen behind Wednesday's attack on a French satirical newspaper that has left at least a dozen dead, officials said.

"FBI Legal Attaché Paris is fully engaged with French authorities," a spokeswoman said to National Journal in a statement. "Currently we are conducting various database searches to provide our partners with any information available that may lead to the identification, apprehension, and ultimately prosecution of those responsible for this heinous crime. We will continue to monitor the situation and are prepared to offer additional assistance as requested."

The FBI did not say specifically what information was being shared or what databases were being analyzed in order to pursue the Charlie Hebdo attackers.

Several Republican lawmakers quickly pointed to the attack as reaffirmation that the U.S. must maintain a strong intelligence-gathering apparatus, both at home and abroad, and warned against legislation that would rein in the National Security Agency.

Budget cuts to military and intelligence operations "are destroying the ability to gather intelligence and defend this country," Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a statement earlier Wednesday. "I fear our intelligence capabilities, those designed to prevent such an attack from taking place on our shores, are quickly eroding," he added on Twitter.

French authorities have reportedly identified three suspects in the attack on the satirical newspaper, according to multiple French news outlets. At least two of them are believed to be brothers and French nationals.

At least 12 people, including two police officers, were killed in Wednesday's shooting spree, which French President Francois Hollande called a "terrorist attack [of] exceptional barbarity."