CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: On ISIS-Inspired Terrorist Attacks

Interview

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BLITZER: All right. We're going to get back to you. A horrible situation in Copenhagen unfolding.

Thanks very much, Pamela Brown.

With us now in THE SITUATION ROOM, the top Democrat of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Adam Smith of Washington State.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

When you see an attack like the one we've just seen in Copenhagen this weekend, going after some journalists, if you will, then going to a synagogue, are you concerned about something like this potentially happening here, because it certainly has the feeling of a copycat attack that occurred in Paris, now Copenhagen?

How worried are you?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA), HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Well, that's what we've long been worried about, is all the foreign fighters that have gone to Syria and Iraq, primarily, but Libya, as well, to fight on behalf of ISIS and would they return home?

Now, Europe's in a different situation. The numbers are much, much higher of people who have left Europe to go fight for ISIS and then go back. So they've got a bigger problem in that regard.

But, yes, it is a -- I think it's our number one security concern in the U.S. right now, is being concerned about people who support ISIS, either who have been over there and come back, or who simply pledge allegiance to them.

So I know our security forces in this country are tracking that very closely.

BLITZER: Well, how do you deal with, you know, like a wannabe terrorist, let's say, inspired because of a copycat or whatever, something he or she might read on the Internet?

How do you deal with these kinds of individuals?

SMITH: Well, you need good intelligence and good law enforcement. Now in both the case in Paris and the case in Copenhagen, the individual was known to law enforcement. At least that's what has been reported.

So I think you need to do a better job of getting to these people before they act.

But they do leave trails. You can find them, whether it's because they've been in these countries, stuff that's posted on the Internet, intelligence that's available. That's the way you deal with it, is you try to find them before they commit these types of acts.

But it's not easy. You know, you're absolutely right about that.

BLITZER: We've heard some of your colleagues in the House and the Senate suggest to us, Congressman, that ISIS may now be moving beyond the inspirational -- aspirational, I should say -- aspirational element of desiring to go after a U.S. homeland target, but may be actually getting involved in a specific plot.

Is there evidence that you've come across pointing to specific evidence of a plot or sleeper cells, something along those lines?

SMITH: Not that I've seen. No.

BLITZER: But this is the great concern that you have and other law enforcement and Homeland Security officials have?

SMITH: You know, I mean there's two levels to the concern. One is an al Qaeda 9/11 type attack, where it's plotted, planned. They send in the people to commit the attack.

The other, which is, you know, more difficult to deal with, in some ways, is the lone wolf, the person who's individually motivated in the U.S. acting out.

So tracking both of those is of utmost concern to our law enforcement.

BLITZER: All right, I want you to stand by, Congressman.

We have much more to discuss, including these latest poll numbers, as far as the American public is concerned.

Much more with Congressman Adam Smith right after this.

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BLITZER: In our new exclusive CNN/ORC poll, voters give President Obama poor marks for handling of the situation with ISIS, as well as the overall war against terror.

We're back with the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Adam Smith. These numbers are not very encouraging for the president right

now, Congressman. The latest poll numbers show 57 percent of Americans disapprove of the president's handling of foreign affairs; 54 percent disapprove of his handling of terrorism; 57 percent disapprove of the way he's handling ISIS. What does he need to do to get a majority of the Americans to think he's doing the right thing?

SMITH: Well, I think first of all, to clearly and comprehensively explain his strategy. And I -- you know, one of the other poll numbers you mentioned earlier was the number of people who think that we ought to send ground troops, which I think would be the exact wrong approach. That would empower ISIS. That would have them fighting off western invaders, which would, I think, add to their appeal.

What we need to do is what the president has outlined: build support amongst Sunni Arabs in the region to fight that fight and support them.

Now, I think we were, you know, a little slow to do that in Syria. I've been arguing for some time that we should have been supporting the -- you know, the moderates there, the people who were not backing ISIS, the Free Syria movement and others.

But I think more than anything, he just needs to explain that strategy consistently and show a commitment to it. I am worried that we will think that, because things aren't going well, military force must be the answer. I think we learned in Iraq and in Afghanistan that there's a limit to what U.S. military force can do in terms of reshaping a nation in the Muslim world. We need Muslim allies. That's what we have to work on.

BLITZER: Because that poll number you mentioned, I was surprised when I saw it, as well. Should the U.S. send ground troops to fight ISIS, 47 percent favor it, 50 percent oppose. That's almost an even split right now. You say the U.S. should not send ground troops. Are you with the president on the language he submitted to Congress last week for military authorization to go ahead and fight this war?

SMITH: I think it's a good start. I want to make sure it's not too open-ended. This president is only going to be in office for, gosh, a little less than two years, so another president will have this authority, as well. So we can't simply rely on what President Obama has said he's going to do. We've already seen how the 2001 AUMF was expanded beyond what was imagined at that time.

I'm worried about the language about associated forces, but I think overall, putting -- putting a time limit on it and putting a limit on the use of ground troops makes sense. And I think Congress should give the president the authority in this fight. But we have to do it in a way that makes sense and is not unlimited.

BLITZER: Well, let's see if the Republicans and Democrats can get together, because this is the -- the sort of strange situation. The Republicans want to give the president more military authority. The Democrats want to restrain that military authority on a Democratic president. It's a little unusual.

We'll get back to that. I want to turn to the video that was released over the weekend, horrible video of ISIS showing the murder of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya. So this is just brutal, the way these individuals, these Egyptian Christians who had gone to Libya to work were simply beheaded, most of them, by these ISIS terrorists. What should the U.S. do as far as expanding airstrikes right now, not only in Syria and in Iraq against ISIS but maybe to include Libya? Would you be in favor of that?

SMITH: If we had targets. If we had clear targets to hit, I think we should. I think also we need to work very closely with Egypt as an ally. I know Egypt has been very actively involved in Libya trying to turn back ISIS, as well.

Again, we need to work with our allies. We need a united front amongst the countries in that region who, frankly, you know, are far more threatened by ISIS directly than we are. We mentioned at the top of the show here that the concerns -- and they are real in the U.S. and they are real in Europe -- but by far, the most carnage that's being caused by ISIS is being caused in the Muslim world.

So we need them to unite against ISIS and put together a cohesive coalition to fight them. We had a meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan. They are very committed to it. Egypt is committed to it. We need to build on that and build solid coalition.

BLITZER: Congressman Smith, thanks very much for joining us.

SMITH: Thank you, Wolf.

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