CNN "Wolf" - Transcript: Islamic State

Interview

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BLITZER: That's the Pentagon spokesman, Admiral John Kirby, talking to reporters a little while ago about those U.S.-led air strikes against an al Qaeda splinter group in Syria. The area east of Aleppo, Syria, was a supposed safe haven for planning those attacks against the west, including attacks against the U.S. homeland.

Joining us now, the California Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff. He's a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

A quick question. When did you guys, in the Intelligence Committee, get a heads-up that there was an imminent threat, imminent threat from this splinter group, this offshoot of al Qaeda, if you will, the Khorasan group?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, we had been briefed really for weeks and months about the danger that's posed by this group. We weren't permitted to talk about it until the director acknowledged its existence just about a week ago. But it's one of the reasons why many of us have been pointing to the fact that al Qaeda, and in particular this Khorasan group, opposes the most immediate threat to the country. ISIL is still very much focused on gaining territory, holding territory, fighting the regime in Iraq and in Syria. But this core group of al Qaeda, in combination with some of the bomb makers in Syria, and all the foreign recruits poses a very proximate threat to us, and that's not one that we could ignore. And I think the fact that this may have been the first sortie last night I think is very significant because that is the most immediate threat to the country.

BLITZER: And you accept this notion that the threats from this Khorasan group were, in the words of a U.S. official - in the word of a U.S. official, imminent?

SCHIFF: Well, I certainly think they were immediate. Whether we have intelligence, I'm going to wait to find out, that we knew a time, a place, a location, they were planning to attack. Some of what they're suggesting seems to indicate that was the case. That I'll be interested to be briefed on this week. But certainly that they were an immediate threat to the country, that their focus was attacking the U.S. merely using the safe haven in Syria. Their motivation wasn't the same as even al Nusra or certainly ISIL in terms of fighting the regime or holding territory. Their reason for being was going after us and that makes it a top priority for us to deal with.

BLITZER: Do you know what the target was?

SCHIFF: I can't say what the target was. And, you know, I know that

they've been involved in plotting against the United States as well as Europe. But whether we got within the last 24 hours some very explicit intelligence about a particular target, I don't know. As you saw the general, the Pentagon spokesman, is being a bit ambiguous about whether the threat was in Europe, the U.S. or both. But I'll have to wait to find out, did we actually have a lead as to a very specific plot and where was that - the locus of that plot.

BLITZER: In his statement today the president, once again, thanked Congress for working with the White House on these measures. You voted for the plan to train and arm rebels. But did that legislation, per say, authorize the president to conduct these air strikes inside Syria?

SCHIFF: No, it didn't. And, you know, ironically, Wolf, the one piece of what took place over the last 24 hours that the president could probably rely upon, the 2001 authorization use of force, was merely those attacks against that Khorasan group. They're a part of al Qaeda and I think there is a much stronger legal argument there than there is for the broader strikes against ISIL, which the president has said is not an imminent threat. But nonetheless, the defeat of which will be a multi-year effort that amounts to war. So, no, the vote we've had is not enough. I think constitutionally we're required to have an authorization and support or reject the military strikes the president is undertaking. And it's my hope that the first thing we do when we go back in is take up a new authorization to use force.

BLITZER: We're going to have to wait until after the midterm elections in early November for that debate and that discussion to unfold in the Congress. Congressman Schiff, thanks very much for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Wolf.

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