CNN "The Situation Room"- Transcript: Terrorism

Interview

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SEN. JAMES RISCH (R), IDAHO: Thank you.

KEILAR: And can you shed any more light on these three recent ISIS arrests, this couple from a small Mississippi town and this New Jersey man?

RISCH: Well, I think probably the best way to look at this is to step back and look at the overall picture. There has been well over 50 arrests made this year in 2015 falling into generally two different categories, these arrests by the FBI.

One is a category of people who actually have been, at the very least, inspired by ISIS and have taken steps towards an attack right here in the United States. On the -- in the other camp are people who have either offered assistance to ISIS or in fact have planned and actually moved toward going to the Middle East to fight with ISIS, which, of course, the newest couple from Mississippi fall into.

But this is going on right now. We have got a robust program here in the United States to uncover these. And the FBI has been very good, very diligent and very successful this year in both of those categories.

KEILAR: Do you worry that this -- the second category you mentioned, someone who has been inspired and wants to provide support and maybe travel overseas, do you worry this is the new face of the radicalized individual in the U.S., a former homecoming princess and a soon-to-be- grad-student?

RISCH: Well, I think that there is no question that the people you're going to see may be very, very ordinary people, as these two are. They're very young. One was just out of her teens. The other one was 22. Young people a lot of times do really stupid things.

And this certainly falls in that category. Americans, whether they're young, old, whatever, who are duped by what ISIS is offering as solutions to world problems or satisfaction for an internal peace that a person might have, anybody who swallows that stuff is way out there and not very smart.

KEILAR: Now, part of this was easy to track, because you're talking about this young woman who posted things on social media. It's public.

What do you do if it's not public? If someone doesn't put something on social media, how do you find them?

RISCH: Well, you know, we don't talk about the various programs that we have publicly, for obvious reasons.

But there are ways and means. And the most important thing is that most of the people who do get involved in this are very proud of it and glad to tell their friends and glad to tell the world as to what they're doing. Most of it falls into that category. There are people who you don't hear anything from. And then you have got to use other ways and means to root those out.

[18:10:07]

KEILAR: All right, Senator Risch, stand by. I have many more questions for you after a quick break.

Trying to figure out where an entire squad of U.S.-trained Syrian rebels went. We will see what Senator Risch can tell us in just a moment.

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[18:15:00]

KEILAR: We are waiting for Donald Trump's campaign event in Michigan.

Right now, let's turn back to Senator James Risch. He's a top member of the Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees. We are talking about successes and failures in the war against ISIS, as the U.S. prepares to launch new airstrikes from Turkey.

And we understand, Senator Risch, that this entire group of about 60 U.S.-trained Syrian rebels, the first class really of its kind, have scattered, the ones who were not captured. How did the U.S. lose track of all of them?

RISCH: When this thing started out, there were a lot of us that had really serious reservations about that.

It is so complicated there, which groups are fighting which. And what they did is they wanted to pick out or identify the so-called moderate Syrians that they could use to fight ISIS. The difficulty is, is that most of the Syrians don't want to fight ISIS nearly as much as they want to fight Assad, the regime that is in power there.

And so you train them up, you give them guns. You do all these things. And they're all ready to, but they're ready to fight Assad. And they're not that excited about fighting ISIS. And, look, this is a complex group of people who are separated into religious sects and ethnic groups and combinations of both of those and a lot of them over the years have fought each other.

And so it is really, really difficult. Look, there is a group there that we have been telling -- we have been preaching the administration forever, look, let's get tied to the Kurds. They have been our friends. They have taken really good care of us. They fought alongside of us. Not only that. These guys win. They're really good fighters. And they have proven themselves over and over again there. The

administration of course feels that they have to -- anything they do with the Kurds that are in Iraq, they have to go through Baghdad, which to me is absolute nonsense. And then, of course, you have the political problems in Turkey because the Turks are very squeamish about the Kurds and about the Kurds getting power.

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KEILAR: Which is to say it lightly.

RISCH: Well, the Kurds really have done really good things on the Syrian side of the border all along Turkey.

And, as result of that, you have heard the discussion about the safe zone that they're trying to set up. And of course that is what has been the catalyst for these F-16s moving into Turkey from Italy.

KEILAR: And I want to ask you about that. Are you concerned that basing bombers in Turkey, this is a relatively new announcement here, that this could elevate security risks for Americans who are in Turkey?

RISCH: Well, there's no question about that.

Even more so, it probably elevates the security concerns for the Turkish government themselves. They -- now that they are being much more aggressive or positive about actually engaging, they're going to wind up being a target themselves. And they -- undoubtedly, they understand that. But they feel that the risks are worth it because of the issues that they're having to face with ISIS.

KEILAR: I want to switch topics, Senator, and ask you about something else that we have just found out.

Fragments of a suspected Russian missile system have been found at the MH-17 crash site. Of course, the expectation, the long-held belief by the U.S. government and claims that this was Russian separatists using Russian weapons that shot down this plane, knowing what we have now -- what has been discovered, what do you have to say? What is the U.S. government's position?

RISCH: Well, I'm certainly not the one to state the U.S. government's position at this time.

But there is really so little known about the facts that you have just rolled out here, that before we jump to conclusions on those, I think we need a little bit more analysis before we use that as a point to make a point.

KEILAR: Meaning what, you want there to be U.S. analysis of this?

RISCH: Well, U.S. analysis certainly, not necessarily physical, but at least some in-depth conversations with those who have -- who are closer to the facts, to those facts.

KEILAR: All right.

Senator Risch, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

RISCH: Thank you. Thanks, Brianna.

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