CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript:

Interview

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Joining us, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Republican Congressman Mike McCaul of Texas.

Mr. Chairman, thanks very much for joining us.

Do you know of any evidence that this particular hostage holder, this man, Man Haron Monis, had been communicating with radical groups?

Any evidence he was part of a broader plot?

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX), CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: We have no evidence of that at this time. That is clearly what U.S. And Australian law enforcement officials, homeland security are investigating right now.

We do know that he pledged allegiance to ISIS on his Web site. He called the United States, the U.K. And Australia terrorists.

So it's clear there is a radical Islamist bent to this individual. Whether he was directed by ISIS, we don't have evidence at this time. Clearly, he was inspired, though, by ISIS. I think that's very clear from his postings.

BLITZER: Is there any indication, anything we know about the timing, why this occurred, the hostage holding, right now?

MCCAUL: Well, I think it's important to note that after the airstrikes began in Iraq and Syria, ISIS began a very aggressive social media campaign calling for these types of attacks, these lone wolf attacks. And they have obviously connections with Australia, Western Europe and the United States. I think that's what makes U.S. Officials most concerned, is the idea of this type of thing happening also in the United States.

So I think it's a direct result of the September order, if you will, from ISIS to have people that are more bent toward radicalization to start conducting attacks. And that's what we saw, unfortunately, in Sydney.

BLITZER: This location in Sydney, right in the heart of Sydney, some are saying compared to New York, it would be right near Times Square in New York, this Lindt Chocolate Cafe. There's -- I understand, based on what experts are saying, that there was a specific reason he wanted this location.

MCCAUL: Well, it's in the business district. I think that's symbolic. I think, also, it's what we call a soft target. There's not a lot of security there. And it's also a place that average Australians, and, frankly, Americans would go to, a cafe. So it hits the psyche of the Australians and the Americans when you see something like this happen.

But remember, the prior plots that were ed in Australia, that led to the arrests of over 20 individuals and the plot to behead someone and posted on a video, that was also directed at this business district. And that's interesting if they go back to this site again.

BLITZER: And that was in September, that earlier plot, to supposedly go ahead and behead somebody right in downtown Sydney.

Mr. Chairman. I want you to stand by.

I have more questions, especially how this could impact here in the United States, copycat attacks, other inspirations.

Stay with us.

Much more on the breaking news, right after this.

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BLITZER: Let's get back to the breaking news. SWAT teams stormed a cafe in Sydney, Australia. You're looking at the video of the self- styled Muslim cleric who had been holding hostages in a marathon standoff. Two hostages were killed. The gunman is dead, as well.

We're back with the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Republican Congressman Mike McCaul of Texas.

Mr. Chairman, this individual, his name is Man Haron Monis, he was well-known to Sydney police in Australia. He had been charged, with actually being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife. He'd been charged with sexual assault. He pled guilty to writing awful letters to relatives of Australian soldiers who were killed in war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was obviously closely monitored but not close enough, right?

REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R), TEXAS: I think that's right. It's somewhat reminiscent of the Tsarnaev Boston bomber case where he's on the radar screen of authorities and somehow drops off. I think that's what happened in this particular case. In fact, he did harass families who had their sons killed in Afghanistan and was referred to as the hate sheikh.

Then, when you look at his postings on his website, they become even more disturbing, not unlike a Tamerlan Tsarnaev as well where we compares Australian servicemen to Hitler's soldiers and then pledges his allegiance to ISIS. So this is a classic case that we need to be able to prevent in the future, not only in Australia but here in the United States, as well.

BLITZER: How concerned is U.S. law enforcement in -- all over the country right now about a possible copycat attack in the United States?

MCCAUL: It's the No. 1 counterterrorism threat to the United States. And it's a dual threat, Wolf. There are two threats.

One would be the foreign fighters who traveled to Iraq and Syria and have trained in the art of warfare coming back to the United States. We know a similar amount have gone from the United States have also come from Australia to Iraq and Syria.

Then, of course, Western Europe has probably the most flood into the Iraq-Syria.

So it's that foreign fighter threat, direct threat. But there's also the Internet threat of radicalization over the Internet, which I think is probably going to be the case. We'll find out in this Sydney hostage situation, where you have an individual who can radicalize over the Internet and teaches you how to make bombs, how to go on acts of terrorism. And so that's the one that's most difficult to stop, because you don't have a cell, per se, that you want to be trying to break up. It's really the idea of being able to monitor somebody on public Web sites and be able to stop an act of terror before it happens.

BLITZER: And this individual clearly wanted attention. He did this assault at this cafe directly across the street from a major television studio -- television station in Sydney.

Mr. Chairman, you've called -- you've said this should be a call to action for the United States. Explain what you'd like to see U.S. law enforcement -- local, state, federal authorities -- do?

Unfortunately, I think, we've lost our satellite with the chairman, Mike McCaul. We're going to try to reconnect with him, get some more. But clearly, he wants -- he wants action right now by the Department of Homeland Security on a national level, also state and local authorities to beef up their monitoring, potentially, as he points out of some sort of copycat, lone-wolf attack, which he says is the No. 1 threat facing the U.S. from terrorism right now.

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