CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Senator Jim Risch on ISIS

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BLITZER: Well, now that they have multiple cell phones, that might help in this investigation. Evan, thanks very much.

Let's get some more on what is going on.

Joining us now, Republican Senator James Risch of Idaho. He's a member of both the Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees.

Senator, thanks, as usual, for joining us. We have lots to discuss. Let's go through several of the late-breaking developments.

First of all, the German media now reporting that France actually alerted German police to what was described as an Iraqi sleeper who had plans to blow up this soccer stadium in Hannover, Germany, today at a game, an international match between the Netherlands and Germany that Angela Merkel, the chancellor, was supposed to attend as well.

What can you tell us about it? Specifically, do you know if this was another ISIS plot?

SEN. JAMES RISCH (R), IDAHO: Well, obviously, at this point, you can't say positively that it was an ISIS plot, but chances are 99.9 percent that it was.

It's really early in the investigation on this, Wolf. Obviously, the European authorities are working on that. We do have people over there now, as you have noted on your show, that are willing and ready to help and our technology, our intelligence work is substantially better than their, substantially better anyone else in the world.

[18:10:18]

They do call on us for help and we stand ready to help and it's in our interests to do so, because we're in the crosshairs just like they are.

BLITZER: We're going to get to that in a moment, but these cell phones that were found on the scene, presumably belonging to the terrorists who killed themselves with their explosive vests, they potentially be critical in determining, getting more information about these terrorists who executed the attacks and how the whole thing unfolded, right?

RISCH: Yes. I would give that a maybe.

But what it does do is it confirms now in open source what we have known for a long time. And that is that these people are very, very good in using the dark side of the Internet to communicate and to be able to do it to where you can't get at it, at least under present technology.

But, obviously, whenever these things happen, when new technology comes up, there's always ways to try to penetrate that. But, for right now, it is a serious problem for us, as you have noted in previous shows.

BLITZER: How sophisticated was this terror attack in Paris?

RISCH: Well, more sophisticated than most.

People always said that the 9/11 attack was very sophisticated. When you break it down, it really wasn't, particularly compared to the kind of things that are done today. This one, the one that took place in Paris, required a lot of coordination.

And I think, if it tells us anything, it tells us that they are very good at using social media and the means of communication today that are available to ordinary people and people who are engaged in nefarious acts.

BLITZER: The plot clearly was missed by law enforcement, by intelligence in Europe, here in the United States, I should say, as well. There wasn't any direct intelligence warning of this imminent attack in Paris, I take it; is that right?

RISCH: To a degree.

First of all, the one thing that is clear to us is that the four people who have been identified by the French were known to us. They were people that were known to us. They were not known to the Europeans.

And I suspect we're going to do some things to change that. As far as the mechanics of the attack, the exact time and that sort of thing, you're right. That -- we didn't have that. And it was the result of the encrypted type of communications that they are using.

There was, as has been reported, general indications that things were heating up. And, of course, once it all started to unfold, everybody knew what was happening.

BLITZER: Well, when you say these four terrorists were known to the U.S., were they on U.S. watch lists, do-not-fly lists?

RISCH: Wolf, I can't tell you exactly what that means. But what I can tell you is these people were known to us, known to be involved in terrorist activity, known to be people who need to be scrutinized. Which exact lists they were on is classified.

BLITZER: All right, Senator, we have more to discuss because we're getting more information right now on this expanding investigation. Stay with us.

Much more with Senator Risch when we come back.

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[18:18:23]

BLITZER: We have a key race alert and breaking news.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has just announced he's suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential campaign.

In a written statement, the Louisiana governor says he doesn't go in to details about why he's dropping out of the race, but he does say, going forward, "I believe we have to be the party of growth and we can never stop being the party that believes in opportunity." He says, "I am suspending my campaign for president of the United States."

All right, Bobby Jindal dropping out of this race right now.

Let's get back to the Senate Intelligence Committee member James Risch. He's back with us, a member of the Intelligence Committee.

Senator, stand by, because we're getting some more information right now, more breaking news, a source telling CNN there's "a strong presumption" another terror suspect is at large in addition to Salah Abdeslam who is wanted for those terrorist attacks.

Let's bring in our national correspondent, Deborah Feyerick.

Deborah, with ISIS threatening to attack Washington, D.C., U.S. officials, they are clearly study the Paris massacres very closely.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They really are, Wolf, because they want to see what they missed.

In hindsight, certain clues, certain arrests become much more relevant than they were before Paris happened. For example, a man stopped in Germany almost a week before the attacks with eight Kalashnikovs, and Paris as the destination set in his GPS.

Investigators are looking at what information they have and what information that they need to share with others to possibly prevent an attack.

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FEYERICK (voice-over): With ISIS now threatening to strike the United States...

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We will strike America in its stronghold, Washington.

FEYERICK: ... the police chief there is making sure all threats are run to ground.

CATHY LANIER, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA POLICE CHIEF: My philosophy is, no matter the level of credibility, we have to act as if every one of them is credible, because the first time you take those things for granted, it could be a mistake.

FEYERICK: U.S. officials are analyzing the Paris attacks in minute detail, the FBI dispatching special agents to help the French any way they can, but also to identify any intelligence that could foreshadow a plot against the U.S.

DIEGO RODRIGUEZ, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE: And so, at this time, we're trying to just get any information that might tie us back to the city that we might have to conduct any further investigation.

FEYERICK: At the Paris command center, three NYPD detectives have been attending briefings and reporting back, NYPD officials trying to learn as much as they can about the suicide bombs, how they were built and detonated. Traces of the explosive TATP have been recovered from the Paris crime scene, according to French officials. That's a big concern to law enforcement, as similar explosives were used in the plot against the New York City subway in 2009. That plot was uncovered. But, in Paris, the seven suicide bombers were able to stay below the radar.

WILLIAM BRATTON, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: We seek to understand what are they retrieving from the seven assailants whose remains they recovered? What type of devices were they using for communication, what type of smartphone, what types of apps possibly on that phone?

FEYERICK: The Paris attacks were well-organized, the CIA director warning about external operations, concerns about ISIS' ability to launch attacks outside its stronghold in Syria and Iraq. This appears to be the second cell organized by ISIS central under the command of sudden ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national.

In January, Belgian commandos raided an ISIS safe house in Verviers, killing two operatives, taking a third into custody, inside, weapons, fake documents, and precursor chemicals to make TATP.

Authorities in Europe and the U.S. are now looking at similarities in both plots, attempting to gain additional intelligence to possibly stop another attack from happening.

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FEYERICK: And Wolf, in May, DHS issued an intelligence assessment that essentially said that ISIS does have the capability to carry out attacks in the West. That clearly has now been elevated, a lot of people shaken by the fact that this cell was on no one's radar before it happened -- Wolf.

BLITZER: They should be shaken by that. All right, thanks very much, Deborah Feyerick.

Senator Risch is still with us.

Senator, ISIS says they're coming. They're coming here to Washington, D.C., next. How is it believed ISIS would attempt to attack the U.S.? Is this a serious threat?

RISCH: Well, it is a serious threat.

This video that's gotten a lot of play in and of itself doesn't mean a lot, because there's lots of those floating around out there on the Internet. The timing of it, however, is troubling, because it comes right on the heels of not just the Paris attack, but if you step back and think that in the last three weeks, ISIS has killed over 500 people, and they have attacked the air transportation system and were successful.

They used IEDs in Lebanon. They were successful. And now they hit the soft targets, which are very, very vulnerable in Paris. And if you put all three of those together, that is pretty impressive, that they were able to hit all three of those kinds of ways of carrying on an attack.

So it's troubling. It's concerning to all of us. And as time goes by, we're continuing to ratchet things up here in the United States.

(CROSSTALK)

RISCH: Go ahead.

BLITZER: I just want to clarify one thing, because you told us that four of these terrorists who were involved in the Paris terror attacks were known to the U.S.

But we have been reporting, we have been told that none of them were really on any U.S. watch lists. So, there seems to be some confusion there. What specifically -- how far can you go in telling us what is going on?

RISCH: You know, I can't, Wolf.

What I can tell you is this. They were known to the U.S. How that information came to us, the manner that we got that, what lists they are on, that stuff is all classified. And I can't go there. And you're going to have to cut me slack on that. But I can tell you that they were known to us.

BLITZER: All right, because the only thing that concerns me, if they were known to the U.S. and they weren't on any U.S. watch list, that would seem to be a major blunder there.

And I think we're going to have to investigate to make sure that wasn't the case. But I'm going to leave you alone. I know you can't talk about it.

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RISCH: There was no major blunder there. Let me tell you that.

BLITZER: All right, well, that's good to know.

Let's talk a little bit about this mastermind of the Paris attacks, this guy Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Back in January, right here in THE SITUATION ROOM, we had a report from our Paul Cruickshank. I want you to listen to this.

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PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, Wolf, a senior Belgian official tells me they think that the ringleader behind this plot in Belgium last week was very likely Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian Moroccan who is 27 years old who is thought to have traveled in around January of 2014 to Syria and to have connected there in Syria and Iraq with the senior leadership of ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. So back in January, we reported that. We knew he was a threat. U.S. officials knew he was a threat.

So why wasn't more done to target this guy, to find him?

RISCH: Well, you know, we do look for the high-value targets.

There are lots and lots of them. Here in the United States, it's substantially easier to do than it is over there. And there's a lot of different reasons, but one of them is that they have, particularly France, particularly Belgium, have a very large population of Middle Eastern, North African people, many of whom are on the list that they want to keep an eye on.

You heard earlier that the French themselves have admitted that they are overwhelmed with a number of people they have that need to be watched. And so, as a result of that, we obviously are focused first and foremost on the United States, who's coming, who is going, who is doing what here. It's much more difficult for the Europeans to do that for the reasons that I mentioned and for other reasons.

BLITZER: Yes, I know that they have got their problems over there.

Final question, Senator. What U.S. officials have said to me, what really concerns them about ISIS is the tons of cash. They have a lot of money. They have all that oil revenue when they took over Mosul in Northern Iraq, a city of two million people. They robbed the banks, they took the gold, they took the cash. They have got a ton of -- they have got billions of dollars to launch terror attacks. How much of a problem is that?

RISCH: Big problem.

In fact, if anything that we can underscore there is, that is the difference between they and al Qaeda. They have been very smart as far as focusing on how important money is in carrying on the jihad. And they get their money from essentially three sources.

They get it from the sale of oil. They get it from kidnappings and they get it from contributions from wealthy radicals around the world. And early on, when they started, the assessment was they were taking in around $2 million a day. That has gone up, but I can tell you that that is a specific targeting enterprise for the United States of America and for our partners who are trying to do something about ISIS.

BLITZER: It's a huge problem, indeed. Money talks, as they say, and they have got a lot of it.

Senator Risch, thanks very much for joining us.

RISCH: Thank you.

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