CNN "Erin Burnett OutFront"- Transcript: Interview with Ryan Zinke

Interview

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I want to go straight to the Republican congressman from Montana, member of the House Armed Services Committee, Ryan Zinke. He is also a former SEAL Team Six commander, the first Navy SEAL elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Congressman Zinke, I appreciate you taking the time to be with me.

You were briefed moments ago by the FBI director, also by the secretary of Homeland Security. A lot of that information I know may be classified.

But are you able to give us any sense of what you learned?

REP. RYAN ZINKE (R-MT), HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Well, the sense is their vetting process needs work. There is no database about Syrian refugees. And when they look at the process, there's holes in it and we need to correct that.

I think the prudent step is stop, let's evaluate, let's make sure that we had the right oversight over the vetting process.

The refugees are only one part of it. We also have a porous border. We have U.S. citizens that are overseas fighting with is. Those passports need to be revoked.

What was said earlier is exactly correct -- there's about 5,000 European Union citizens that have been to Syria. They've been fighting. We need to make sure we know who those are and restrict their access to North America.

BURNETT: And, Congressman, do they feel they have a sense on who is coming into the United States? You know, I mean, obviously, I was with Syrian refugees yesterday and they were talking about how easy it is to fake a Syrian passport. Obviously, that's not going to get you in the United States.

But, you know, they talked about how you can actually could buy a British passport, and you don't pay until you get into the U.K. It's proof of delivery. One of his friends was able to do that. I mean, that's pretty concerning. Once you get there, you can get closer and closer.

ZINKE: Well, absolutely. Our southern border remains a threat. We had 250,000 illegal immigrants coming across, we don't know. And, of course, in Syria, we just don't have the database. Europe doesn't have the database. Assad, you can't trust that database.

And so, we just don't no. And I think it's prudent to stop the refugees, secure our southern border, revoke passports and these that are within the power of the administration to do it and we need to act.

BURNETT: Congressman, CIA Director John Brennan said the Paris attacks were not a one-off. He said ISIS is likely to have more attacks in the pipeline. John Kerry, though, called the attacks an aberration and said they are not the new normal. It's pretty concerning I think to the American people -- and there is a lot of uncertainty, everyone understands that.

But when the U.S. government is sending such mixed messages, when you have one arm saying the opposite as the other arm. ZINKE: Well, and this is not new. You have the Department of

Defense saying we have ISIS contained. You have the president saying it's contained. And, clearly, ISIS isn't contained.

And so, there is a credibility issue with our government. And I think Congress needs to step up the plate, make sure we have the right oversight. And, look, this is not a partisan issue.

[19:35:02] This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. This is an American issue and America is at risk.

BURNETT: Congressman Zinke, thank you very much, as we said, House of Representatives and former Navy SEAL Team Six.

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