CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript: Surveillance Programs

Interview

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SCHIEFFER: The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee is in San Diego this morning. He and some other members of his committee are inspecting the border situation there and border security. But, Mr. Chairman, I want to ask you about this threat we're hearing. What precautions are we taking? Is there anything we're not doing we ought to be doing here?

MCCAUL: Well, we're on a high state of alert. I have been given every assurance we're doing everything we can to prevent this threat from happening. And I must say, this is probably one of the most specific and credible threats I've seen perhaps since 9/11. And that's why everybody is taking this so seriously. In fact the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called it "extremely significant." The State Department's warning with respect to the Arabian Peninsula is significant as well because, as your commentator mentioned, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is probably the biggest threat to the homeland. They're the al Qaeda faction that still talks about hitting the West and hitting the homeland. And their expertise is chemical explosives, hitting the aviation sector, as we saw with the underwear bomber. So we on a high state of alert. I think the administration's call to close these embassies, the 21 embassies was actually very -- a very smart call, particularly in light of what happened in Benghazi when warnings were not heeded in that case. I'm glad to see that in this case they're taking this very seriously. And one more thing. You mentioned the prison breaks. I find that to be very interesting as well because we had in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, in Pakistan, and in Benghazi, literally thousands of terrorists have been broken out of jails, and they're spread out all throughout the Middle East now. And that presents a very high threat as well.

SCHIEFFER: Mr. Chairman, let me ask you, what is it -- can give me some specifics or what is it that has caused you to call this one of the most serious threats since 9/11 that you've heard about? What in particular makes you feel that way?

MCCAUL: Well, as you know, I'm confined -- I mean, it's classified...

SCHIEFFER: Sure.

MCCAUL: ... briefings, but I will tell you because of the specificity, because of where it is coming from, the credibility of it, the level of chatter, it seems to be a fairly large operation. It's giving the intelligence community quite a bit of pause right now. And the other thing that one of your commentators mentioned as well, Ramadan. Why is that important? Because tonight is the night of power. It's a night that they try the first attempt on a USS Cole- style attack. This week 15 years ago they bombed the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. And then Zawahiri has basically set out a decree to the jihadists on his Web site saying, now is the time to attack U.S. interests. This warning from Zawahiri really comes right on the heels of the State Department warning. And so that's of grave concern to us.

SCHIEFFER: You know, the fact that, obviously, this information is coming to us intercepts, is the fact that they've been talking about this on the phone, obviously, or in some way, they must know the abilities of the United States in this field -- the fact that they're talking about it, does that lead you to believe they're just more confident or could they be just trying to talk about it to lead us off in odd directions or something here?

MCCAUL: Well, you know, I can't talk, really, about sources and methods, as you know. However, hopefully, you know, the good news is, in this case, there may have been some loose intelligence on the part of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. And that's a good thing if, you know, that's happening. So I -- I have to be very careful about what I say on this, but I will tell you again the threat is, I perceive, very imminent. The one good thing, I think, about the State Department issuing these warnings, and the administration, is that, when you let them know that you know, you put them on their heels, and they oftentimes back down. We've seen that -- as a counterterrorism federal prosecutor, we've seen that happen time over time. And so I'm hopeful, in this case, that, you know, that will happen as well. And I want to assure the American people that we are doing everything we can to protect them and to prevent this from happening.

SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, for joining us this morning. In our broadcast center in New York, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer is with us this morning. Senator Schumer, all of this comes as there is increasing pressure in Congress to rein in the National Security Agency. Do you think this is going to change that debate in any way or should there be more controls on the NSA?

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