CNN "The Situation Room"- Transcript: Syria

Interview

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Let's bring in a leading member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees, Republican Senator James Risch of Idaho.

Senator, thanks very much for coming in.

What are you hearing? Could Russia strike at any time?

SEN. JAMES RISCH (R), IDAHO: Well, they could strike at any time.

I think the analysis that was just done was clear, and concise and to the point, although I would say that Putin does not need Assad. He needs Syria. And if Assad is still in power in Syria, so be it, he will work with Assad. But if indeed he sees that Assad is not what -- who is going to stand up in the country, then he will go a different direction and it won't bother him at all. He needs Syria, though.

BLITZER: You heard the NATO supreme allied commander, Philip Breedlove, say that the Russians are putting equipment there in Syria right now, equipment you don't need to fight ISIS, air-to-air defenses, for example, surface-to-air missile batteries. ISIS doesn't have warplanes. They are doing something there that has other objectives.

RISCH: I think maybe they are planning for the second step.

There is another school of thought that they think that Assad is not going to survive very long and they want to be to take advantage of the situation. Here is the problem for them, Wolf. If Assad goes, it is very, very hard to game out where this thing goes, because there will be a vacuum, as there always is in these kinds of situations. There's already chaos with all the different groups and all the different tribal connections, and religious and ethnic groups there in Syria.

[18:10:08]

And how this all shakes out afterwards is very difficult and where do the Russians land in this? Do they land as being a player in it or not?

BLITZER: Senator, we have more to discuss, including this new Homeland Security report. It's pretty shocking, eye-opening. No U.S. strategy in dealing with these foreign fighters who are traveling back and forth between Syria and the United States.

Much more with James Risch when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:25]

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

Senator, we are learning more about what these jihadists do. American citizens, this new report that just came out, final report of the Task Force Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel put out by the Homeland Security in the House, they go over there, maybe 250 Americans. Some of them are now back here in the United States.

RISCH: That's right.

BLITZER: Is the U.S. law enforcement community all over them? Do they know who these people, who these people are, or have they just melted away?

RISCH: Well, Wolf, I can't really talk about the details of this.

But you can well imagine that anybody who's traveled to Syria, and particularly where they have determined that they have fought with ISIS, those people are of deep, deep interest to the United States government and our security agencies.

So, there are, as you point out and as the report points out, a number of them that have come back. And it -- when you are doing this kind of thing and you are doing the kind of look at that what needs to be done with these people, it does strain resources. There no question about it. It is a top, top priority.

BLITZER: I understand that, but are all of them under surveillance? Are any of them out there and about and ready to do whatever they want?

RISCH: The numbers are classified.

But, again, as you can well imagine, it's difficult to keep every single one of them -- keep track of them all the time and, for that matter, any time.

BLITZER: Because I read this report, and that's a worrisome part of this.

RISCH: It is. It's very worrisome.

BLITZER: Potentially, there's not enough law enforcement or whatever to get the job done.

It also says this. And here is a damming indictment. It says the U.S. lacks a national strategy for combating terrorist travel and has not produced one in nearly a decade.

RISCH: That's true. We have pressed the administration on that particular issue.

BLITZER: But Congress has a role in this as well.

RISCH: Well, we do, but that kind of thing is part of the executive. We give money to the administration and they are supposed to oversee it and develop the strategies for that.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: You can fund a strategy, too, right?

RISCH: That's absolutely correct.

And this strategy is very important because, as you point out, just one of these people getting lost within the population is a serious problem that can cause difficulty.

BLITZER: The so-called train-and-equip program to train moderates in Syria to go out there and fight ISIS, and the U.S. appropriated about a half-a-billion dollars, maybe $50 million already spent. And for that, the U.S. got four or five rebels who are now fighting ISIS. What a waste of money.

RISCH: Incredible waste of money. And there were a lot of us right at the outset that were very,

very reluctant to grant that authority, if you would, or think that it had any chance of success. The problem is, is the complexity of the ground in Syria. These people really want to fight Assad much more than they want to fight ISIS. So, it's difficult to train them and do all these things and say, OK, now go fight ISIS.

BLITZER: Who is going to lead the fight against ISIS in Syria?

RISCH: Obviously, to have any success at all, it's going to need to be Syrians do that. It can't be foreigners.

BLITZER: But they are not ready do it, apparently.

RISCH: Some are. Most aren't. The vast majority are not.

BLITZER: Four or five rebels, that's not a whole lot.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Here's the question. Russia -- can Russia be helpful to the United States in fighting ISIS, even though it supports Bashar al-Assad's regime?

RISCH: The answer to that is yes. Will it? That remains to be seen.

We have differences, in fact, deep differences with Russia on a lot of fronts. But it's not a secret that we do work with other governments, even ones we have issues with. A good example, you recall, on the Boston bombers. There was an exchange of information on the Boston bombers.

It wasn't enough and it wasn't good enough what came to us. But, nonetheless, the agencies were working together when you have a common interest. We have a common interest with Russia. Indeed, we have a common interest with everyone in the world. There's nobody who wants ISIS to prevail, other than ISIS itself.

BLITZER: You could see the U.S. working with Russia to fight ISIS. Could you see the U.S. working with Iran, which also opposes ISIS?

RISCH: I can see that. Again, a little bit more difficult situation.

But, look, when you are trying to accomplish beating a foe like ISIS, you do what you have to do and team up where you have to team up to do some good. Like I said, there's nobody that wants to see ISIS prevail. The Russians, certainly, they have got all kind of issues with their own terrorists at home. They have got the Chechen territory that they have to do with.

The Iranians, they view themselves as the leader of the jihad, not ISIS. They're dedicated to eliminate ISIS also.

[18:20:05]

BLITZER: There's an alarming report in the U.K.'s "Daily Express."

A journalist supposedly embedded with ISIS saying they are trying, ISIS, to get hold of a nuclear weapon to kill hundreds of millions of people potentially. Here is the question. How concerned are you that ISIS could get its hands on a nuclear weapon?

RISCH: Well, I'm probably not as concerned that they would get themselves -- get their hands on an actual nuclear weapon.

They could get material where they could make a dirty bomb. More importantly than that, they could much more easily get their hands on biological or chemical material, which could be very disruptive and very damaging. A nuclear weapon itself, is it possible? Yes, it's possible, but you don't go down to the arms store and just buy a nuclear weapon off the shelf. But these other things that -- you can get your hands on.

BLITZER: Senator Risch, thanks very much for coming in.

RISCH: Thank you.

BLITZER: Senator Risch of Idaho.

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