ABC "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" - Transcript: National Security
Interview
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RADDATZ: Our thanks to Iona. Let's bring in Chairman Michael McCaul from the House Homeland Security committee and ABC News contributor Admiral Robert Harward, former Navy SEAL and former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command. I want to talk to you, Chairman McCaul first you have been briefed on this. What do you know?
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, (R) TEXAS: Well, if the reporting is accurate, this is a very significant drone strike. As you know, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, poses probably the greatest external threat to the homeland itself. They're the ones who are involved with bomb making devices to go undetected on airplanes. They are the ones who created Inspire magazine that inspired the Boston bombers that we'll be talking about later in the show.
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RADDATZ: Thanks, Brian.
Chairman McCaul is back with us along with former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly now an ABC News contributor. Welcome again to you Chairman McCaul and to you Commissioner Kelly.
I want to start with you Chairman McCaul. The race director says Boston is now the safest place on the planet. Do you agree? Are you that confident?
MCCAUL: Well, I talked to the Boston police commissioner the other day, I've talked to our homeland security operations on the ground. I do believe it's very ramped up security wise, cameras, personnel, canines, all sorts of bomb detecting equipment. So I do think it's very well fortified. It'll be difficult to penetrate that.
I am concerned, as was noted, a copycat type demonstration, or someone who was inspired by the Tamerlan brothers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, to perpetrate another act of jihadism. That's a very real scenario.
We don't have any chatter right now. But I think as Brian pointed out earlier, we didn't have that last time.
So I think this -- what's the good news is since last time after we've done our reports and investigations of what happened last time, is that now we're having full cooperation, I think, with the FBI in terms of on the ground security and so I feel confident we're going to have a safe and successful marathon tomorrow.
I know the entire nation is cheering for Boston.
RADDATZ: They certainly are.
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RADDATZ: And Chairman McCaul, the report from your committee said the FBI failed to fully act on intelligence it received last year about Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Quickly, if you will, could we have stopped this last year?
MCCAUL: Well, you know, my reports and also the inspector general came out with a report saying that investigative steps were not taken when the FBI were investigating Tamerlan prior to the bombing. Then they potentially would have shown these signs of radicalization. They were taking place. Interviews were not taken; leads were not followed up, warning signs were not -- were sort of missed and --
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RADDATZ: So could it have been stopped?
MCCAUL: Well, I think the overseas travel was a key here. And we missed that completely. And even the FBI supervisor said that was a significant event that -- and quite frankly, would have changed everything had the case agent on the ground reported that to his supervisors.
I would hope that would never happen again.
RADDATZ: Thank you, Chairman, we hope as well.
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