CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Senator James Risch on Surveillance

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BLITZER: All right, thanks very much, Elise Labott, with that.

Joining us now is a leading member of the Senate Intelligence Foreign Relations Committees, Republican Senator James Risch of Idaho.

Senator, thanks very much for coming in.

I want to talk about Iran, Russia, Syria, all that stuff in a moment, but this military blimp that simply got untethered, and was floating around Pennsylvania, this is a -- billions of dollars have been invested in these two blimps, and some have suggested this is a waste of money. Have you a chance to look into this program?

SEN. JAMES RISCH (R), IDAHO: We have just had general briefings on this so far.

There really hasn't been any blame assigned. But obviously there is blame. There's clearly human error in this. This shouldn't happen under ordinary circumstances.

BLITZER: Because remember not that long ago, when the gyrocopter was floating around Capitol Hill, that blimp in nearby Maryland was supposed to have known that, but it wasn't operational that day.

"The L.A. Times" says the JLENS -- that's the official name for this military blimp -- "is a stark example of what defense specialists called a zombie program, costly, ineffectual, and seemingly impossible to kill."

This is a $2.5 billion program. It's a lot of money.

RISCH: It's a lot of money. And these are kinds of things that in the tight budget era that we're in, these are the kinds of things that are going to be looked at very critically.

And when you have something like this happen, it certainly doesn't speak well for the program.

BLITZER: Certainly doesn't. All right, let's talk about some of the other issues that are going on right now. First of all, you heard Elise Labott report the U.S. has now invited Iran to participate in these talks involving the future of Syria, the talks taking place in Vienna, Austria, starting on Friday. The foreign minister of Iran will be there. Are you with the administration on this?

RISCH: Well, I think that clearly when you're going to have talks like that, everybody should be invited. And I think people are expressing surprise that the Iranians are going to show up, particularly when the ayatollah said, we're not going to deal with the United States anymore.

You will recall he did that not long after the agreement was signed. But I'm not surprised. Why wouldn't they? The last time they sat down at the table with the United States, they walked away with the farm. I would think that they would delighted to sit down at the table involving any issues that we have our hands in, because they have been very, very successful in negotiations.

BLITZER: Because you're talking about the nuclear deal.

RISCH: Absolutely.

BLITZER: That you voted against.

RISCH: I did.

BLITZER: The fear is, at least the critics say that Iran coming into these talks about the future of Syria, together with Russia, both of them are strong supporters of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which has been so brutal against its own citizens.

RISCH: Well, just as with the nuclear agreement, there is basic irreconcilable differences between the two parties.

On the Iran nuclear deal, as you will recall, Iran said, well, look, we're not going to sit down unless you agree that we can continue to enrich uranium, which the United States didn't want to do. The U.S. agreed to it. They sat down and they walked away with that.

This time, you have the Russians and you have Iran saying, we're not going to be any part of a deal that boots Basar Ashad -- excuse me...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Bashar al-Assad.

RISCH: ... out of power.

And the United States' specific policy, announced policy is that Assad has to go. And so how you reconcile those two, I don't know. I suspect, as far as Assad is concerned, the courts in Europe are going to want to have a talk with he and the other people, in as much as they have used chemical weapons on their people.

BLITZER: On this -- on China, the South China Sea, this eyeball-to-eyeball potential confrontation between the U.S. and China over these manmade islands there, the Chinese say this is their territory, the U.S. says not so fast, hundreds of miles offshore.

[18:15:10]

Potentially, this could be very serious.

RISCH: It could be very serious.

And this is something that is really, really important for administration to get a handle on and get a handle on very quickly. They need to sit down and have the kind of talks they are talking about in these other things with China on this particular issue.

BLITZER: We have much more to discuss. Stay with us, Senator.

Much more with Senator Risch right after this.

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BLITZER: We're back with Senator James Risch. He's a top member of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees.

Senator, stand by for a moment.

We're getting some new information about maneuvers by Russian submarines that are setting off alarm bells within the U.S. intelligence community.

Let's bring back our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

What are you learning, Barbara?

STARR: Wolf, U.S. Naval intelligence for the last several months, since the summer pretty much, has been noticing Russian submarines' increased activity in the Atlantic.

And they think that one of their targets of surveillance, not attack, surveillance, are the undersea cables that run under the Atlantic between the U.S. and Europe carrying vital data, voice, Internet, all the communications fundamentally between the two continents.

This is some of the most critical infrastructure the U.S. has. What they have noticed is Russian submarines stepping up their patrolling, very secretly trying to maneuver near these cables, not to cut them, but maybe just to poke at the United States and say here we are because there are also sensors that warn the U.S. when a submarine, when something is approaching those cables.

They also last month saw a Russian intelligence ship, surface ship, very unusual, come down the East Coast of the United States, go down to Cuba and then go back across the Atlantic. We are told U.S. Naval intelligence tracked that all the way.

Perhaps all of this the latest wrinkle in the cat and mouse game between the U.S. and Russia, and a lot of concern that underlying all of this is the Russian effort to step up their military operations from Ukraine to Syria and off the coast of the United States -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Very worrisome developments. Barbara, thanks very much.

Let's bring back Senator Risch.

You're on the Intelligence Committee. What are you hearing about these Russian moves towards these underwater cables?

RISCH: Well, Wolf, it's no secret that all nations who are First World countries that track the military maneuvers of all other nations.

Barbara said that this was done secretly. The Russians know they can't do this secretly, any more than we could do this secretly.

BLITZER: What are they trying to achieve? Do they want to penetrate these cables, get sensitive information? They certainly don't want to destroy them, because that could -- who knows what that would lead to.

RISCH: That's exactly right.

If you had terrorist organizations looking at these, you would be very, very concerned. Look, if those cables were cut, injured or what have you, the Russians stand to lose a whole lot, because they are on those cables with financial transactions that go back and forth between London and New York as much as any other country in the world. They depend on them. The world economy depends on them. And they are very important.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But short of destroying them or breaking them or anything like that, could they tamper with them to pick up sensitive information?

RISCH: Yes, highly unlikely.

Is it possible? Yes, it's possible. Would they like to? Certainly, they would like to. But there are ways and means of people knowing when those things have been tampered with.

BLITZER: So, just they are trying to show off a little bit? Is that what they're trying to do?

RISCH: Well, I think this is all part of the Putin strategy of aggravation against the United States, and perhaps it's because of the sanctions that we put on Russia. That's the most likely thing that is aggravating him. But Barbara just ticked off all the things that Russia is doing to provoke, to aggravate, to cause the United States concern. And it's ongoing. And as she pointed out, I think everyone has noticed that, since late July, early August, this whole thing has ratcheted up and that's when all the movement started of the troops and the materials and everything else going into Syria.

BLITZER: So reminiscent of the bad old days of the Cold War that you and I clearly will remember.

RISCH: Yes.

BLITZER: Let's talk a little bit about Syria right now. The defense secretary, Ash Carter, suggesting maybe there is a greater combat role for the U.S., not only against ISIS in Iraq, but also in Syria. Is that OK?

RISCH: I think they got the cart before the horse. We need to know what the strategy is. We need to know what tactics...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: The strategy to degrade and destroy ISIS.

RISCH: Yes. Well, that's the objective.

The strategy of how you're going to do it and the tactics of how you're going to do it are another whole question. And I can tell you the Congress is not on board with stepping this up with mission creep, with going forward with combat troops there without knowing a whole lot more than what there is.

BLITZER: Do they need formal congressional authorization to step it up?

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RISCH: Of course they do. Yes. The White House says no. Congress says yes.

BLITZER: What do you say?

RISCH: I say they do need it.

One of the things that distinguishes the United States from other countries is we, the American people, have withheld the power to do military action with the civilian branch of the government, the first branch of government. That lies in the hands of Congress, not in the hands of the military.

BLITZER: Senator Risch, thanks for joining us.

RISCH: You bet.

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