CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Global Security
Interview
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BLITZER: A significant meeting, getting ready for that. Thanks very much, Elise Labott, reporting.
Let's get some more on all of the dramatic news happening right now.
Joining us now, the Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. She's a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, also a Gulf War veteran.
Congresswoman, thanks very much for coming in.
REP. TULSI GABBARD (D), HAWAII: Aloha, Wolf. Good to be here.
BLITZER: Let's talk, first of all, about the message these Gulf leaders, by refusing to come to Washington, Camp David for the highly anticipated summit, what message did the Saudi king, these other Gulf leaders who are not coming, what message are they sending?
GABBARD: Well, I think each of them have their own reasons why they say they're not being here.
But I think the overarching concern that we hear consistently across the board is their concern about this negotiated deal with Iran. I think they share the same concern that we all share. And that is making sure that this deal is airtight, making sure that there are very strong, any time, anywhere inspection provisions in there that ultimately make it so that Iran is prevented from developing a nuclear weapon.
BLITZER: Because, if they're not satisfied, you -- last hour, we had the new foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Adel Al-Jubeir, sitting where you are right now. And he's not ruling out the possibility that Saudi Arabia would go ahead with a nuclear weapons program if they're concerned about the Iranian program, if this is not a good deal. That's pretty alarming.
GABBARD: It is, and it is understandable, given the fact that Iran is right on their doorstep and this threat from Iran remains a constant concern from each of those countries in the region and to countries around the world.
And this is where I think it's very important for the president and the White House to really hear the concerns coming from the countries in the region, as they hear the concerns coming from Congress and the American people about making sure that this deal doesn't end up just for the sake of being a deal, but actually making sure that it's a good deal that makes sure that Iran doesn't get this nuclear weapon capability.
BLITZER: And, as you know, these Gulf states, whether the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, they also want better security guarantees from the United States, making sure they get the weapons they think they potentially could need against Iran or others, for that matter.
Some of them want to be elevated to what is called major non-NATO ally status of the United States. I'm not sure they were getting the kind of reassurances that they wanted in advance of this summit. What are you hearing?
GABBARD: I think there are mixed messages going around.
And I think that the concerns that we heard from the foreign minister just last hour, I think, highlighted again what many of those concerns are, is, if we go forward with the picture that we're seeing in the Middle East, with the picture that we're seeing with Iran, with this threat of ISIS continuing to grow, making sure that we have strong partnerships there to be able to defend and work with our allies and work with strong partners who will work with us to defeat enemies like ISIS and Islamist extremists.
BLITZER: I want to pick up that ISIS notion in a moment.
Congresswoman, we have a much more to discuss. We will take a quick break -- more with Tulsi Gabbard right after this.
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[18:17:36]
BLITZER: We're following the growing concern over a possible attack by a lone terrorist right here inside the United States.
The homeland security secretary, Jeh Johnson, is now warning that such a terror attack could happen, in his words, at any moment.
We're back with Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. She's a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.
You have got some military bases in your district in Hawaii. They have got on a heightened state of alert. What does that mean?
GABBARD: Each of them has gone on this heightened state of alert. I have got a military base really on each island in my district in the state of Hawaii.
And what that means is, there is an increased awareness of a potential threat that could exist, that they're checking 100 percent of I.D. cards as they go in through the military bases. And really it's making sure that people are understanding this heightened state of awareness and potential threat that exists, not just for military bases, but that we're seeing unfortunately become more prevalent here in the United States.
BLITZER: Because, when they go on a higher state, they raise it up to threat level Bravo, as it's called, that's -- it's expensive. It's a major burden.
They say there's no specific plot out there, but there's just an abundance of, what, chatter? Is that what they're concerned about? What are you hearing?
GABBARD: Yes, I think it's -- you look at, what are the threats that are out there, what are people talking about, and you look at the potential and the possibility, and making sure that we are prepared.
In other instances, where this FPCON threat has been raised has been for, for example, on the anniversary of 9/11. They look at situations where potentially there could be a terrorist threat or a threat of an attack and make sure that our military bases are ready and prepared.
BLITZER: That's from people coming in from the outside.
But there is a possibility that someone, a civilian or a military personnel, they could be radicalized, they could be inspired by ISIS on social media. We remember Major Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas. He wound up killing a lot of fellow soldiers.
What do you do about that, somebody who is already on a base and all of a sudden becomes an ISIS terrorist?
GABBARD: What happened there at Fort Hood that you mentioned, that major who went and killed so many of our service members, I stood in that exact same building where he opened fire just a year before he did that attack.
That was the outprocessing building for soldiers who were coming back from those long deployments. I think the key here is, when you look at social media, the fact that there are still tens of thousands of accounts on various social media platforms, different Web sites where you have people who are either directing terrorist attacks, they're recruiting, they're spreading their propaganda, these Web site, these social media platforms, these social media accounts, they need to be shut down.
[18:20:07]
There's no question about the fact that the strategy that has been in place in allowing these to go really without check has failed, because we're seeing this threat growing here at home, this radicalization threat here on the home front.
BLITZER: What about freedom of speech, First Amendment and stuff like that?
GABBARD: People who are threatening violence, terrorists, are not protected by the First Amendment.
We have to protect and keep the American people safe.
BLITZER: James Comey, the FBI director, you know him. He is a serious guy. He says in the aftermath of what happened outside of Dallas in Garland, Texas, he said: "I know there are other Elton Simpsons" -- he's one of the shooters -- "out there. It's almost as if there's a devil sitting on the shoulder saying kill, kill, kill, kill all day long."
What can Congress do about this? Can Congress itself -- and you're a member -- do anything?
GABBARD: Well, the federal government needs to do a couple of things.
The government needs to crack down on these Web sites, these social media accounts and platforms, and shut them down. So you're turning down the volume. Yes, they may try to look for other places, but the point is, you want to reduce the amount of propaganda and access that people have towards this Islamic extremist terrorist propaganda.
And the second thing is, what that does is, it narrows the pool. So, we need to focus our resources, whether it's through the NSA or other federal agencies. Stop wasting money on spying on innocent Americans all across the country, because that is actually counterproductive to us being able to defeat our enemy.
It's making it so that we don't have the resources necessary in order to focus on the bad guys. So we need to stop spying on the American people as a whole and use those resources in a very targeted way to track down these lone wolves, these potential lone wolves, those who are really looking to take action based on this Islamic extremist terrorist propaganda that they have taken.
BLITZER: We have heard it takes maybe 20 or 30 people, individuals to do full-time surveillance on somebody who might be sympathetic, could become radicalized, could go out and commit a terror attack, and there simply aren't enough personnel to get that job done. You have heard that.
GABBARD: I have heard that many times. And that goes back to the point where we are spending hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars on these surveillance operations, on gathering and collecting this data, on spying on innocent Americans, which is actually counterproductive.
First of all, it's never been proven to be effective. There are zero cases that have shown that this policy that is in place through the Patriot Act has been effective in thwarting a terrorist act. Not only that -- it's actually wasting resources that do need to be focused on providing the surveillance, tracking down and targeting those who are these potential threats to the safety of the American people.
BLITZER: We have got to end it. We have got to leave it on that note, but I want to just point out, on a very happier note, since the last time we spoke -- and we will show our viewers a nice little picture. There you are. You got married. Congratulations, a beautiful wedding in Hawaii.
GABBARD: Thank you.
BLITZER: How did it go?
GABBARD: Oh, it was wonderful. It was a magical, perfect, spiritual, awesome day spent with my husband, Abraham, and our family and friends.
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BLITZER: I saw a video, and you guys were having a great, great time, a beautiful wedding.
Tulsi Gabbard, congratulations.
GABBARD: Thank you very much, Wolf. Aloha.
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