CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Interview

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OUTFRONT tonight, senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Adam Schiff, joining us.

Thanks very much. Always good to have you.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: You bet. Good to be with you.

SCIUTTO: Congressman, you heard Jim speaking about the president and the White House not deciding yet or hasn't determined definitively if it would need congressional support if it decides to attack ISIS. Do you believe it needs congressional support?

SCHIFF: I believe it does, Jim. Apart from circumstance where there's another rescue attempt or where there's a very immediate threat as in a cell is planning and well along in launching an attack against the homeland, under those emergency circumstances, the president can act first and then come to Congress. But if he's talking about a sustained air campaign in Syria with the general objective of setting back ISIS or defeating ISIS, then he really does need to come to congress for an authorization.

SCIUTTO: The president's decision-making on this has fallen into a familiar rhythm. You have the presentation of options, the consideration of those options, and initial step in this case, surveillance flights but not airstrikes over Syria authorized.

Do you believe that the Obama administration's response to this is being outpaced by events on the ground?

SCHIFF: I don't think it's being outpaced, but I do worry about the expectations that are being created. On the one hand, I can understand the president saying, well, tell me if you can get good targets and then tell me why I should go after these targets. There's a certain logic to that.

At the same time, there's also a certain momentum that's put into place when you ask for targets and you get them. The people expect you to act on them. And if you don't, they say, well, you had this person in your sights and you let them go.

But I haven't seen a compelling case yet, Jim, and I'm not sure the White House can make one, what strikes in Syria at this point would accomplish, because we don't have anybody on the ground that can really work with us the way the Kurds an the Peshmerga work with us, the way the Iraqi government can work with us. And if we are to attack ISIS in these pinpoint airstrikes, who will come in and occupy territory that ISIS might have to temporarily give up, is it going to be the al Qaeda affiliate, al Nusra, is it going to be Hezbollah? Is it going to be Bashar al Assad's forces? Because I don't think the rebels such as they are, are cohesive or strong enough to really maintain any kind of ground offensive or hold ground they seize from ISIS.

SCIUTTO: The administration has two challengers here, because you have ISIS' advance on the ground, how do you respond to that militarily?

But you also have the threat of ISIS fighters, foreign fighters, including Americans going back and forth, you know, signals that missed possibly with Douglas McCain before he went there. U.S. authorities also missed when a Florida man Mohammed Abu Salah who later became a suicide bomber in Syria, he actually went to Syria, came back to the U.S., tried to recruit his friends to jihad before going back to Syria and carrying out his attack -- certainly a worrisome thing to happen.

Do you believe U.S. authorities have a handle on these fighters, particularly Westerners, particularly Americans?

SCHIFF: We're certainly very focused on it. The challenge is that you can get into Syria pretty easily through that Turkish border. It's quit a se a sieve, and getting to Turkey which is a tourist attraction, is not very difficult to do. So, for us to keep track of everyone who's going to Turkey, for example, and separate those who are going on vacation from those who are going to join the jihad is tough in and of itself.

But certainly in the case you point out where an American goes to Syria, joins the fight, and then comes back home and then goes back to Syria, that's a real red flag. That's a real danger sign when somebody has been radicalized, has been in the fight and comes back home because they could have attacked us while they're home instead of heading back to join the fight again.

SCIUTTO: There seems to be a mismatch in the administration's messaging here whether ISIS is a direct threat to the U.S. homeland today. You heard some officials saying, well, it's largely a regional threat. They're not an al Qaeda 9/11 sort of level of concern. But earlier, we had Brett McGurk saying it's a serious threat to the homeland right now.

Where do you stand? Where should -- how concerned should our viewers be?

SCHIFF: Well, there is a near-term threat, but the broader threat is going to be in the mid and long-term. When these hundreds and thousands of European fighters come back or try to come back home, trying to keep track of those that mean us harm is a monumental challenge.

But there is no near-term risk. I mean, this Floridian you mentioned, he could have come back and attacked us. It may not have been very effective or very destructive, but as we saw in Boston, it doesn't take much to create a lot of mayhem.

So, there is some near-term risk but I don't think it's on the scale it's going to be, frankly, a few years down the road.

SCIUTTO: Well, it's an alarming prospect for sure. Thanks very much, Congressman Adam Schiff. We appreciate your thoughts.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Jim.

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