ABC "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" - Transcript: Olympic Games Security

Interview

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RADDATZ: Our thanks to Brian.

Let's bring in Congressman Mike Rogers, chair of the House intelligence committee. Right now he joins us from London.

We saw that security scare Friday in Brian's report. And we know there is still an ongoing concern despite the fact that it may feel OK there right now.

You get intelligence briefs, intelligence notifications every day. What should we be concerned about right now?

REP. MIKE ROGERS, (R) MICHIGAN: Yeah, first of all the guards, gates and guns portion of this is really unparalleled for an Olympic games. So the Russians have been very good about that physical security presence, an outer ring and they've had inner rings of security so that what your reporter was discussing is the closest proximity. So you won't see the big guards, gates and guns, that gets pushed out.

The other part that I think they've done well is aggressive counterterrorism operations. And I think Brian Ross talked about that earlier. They are aggressively pursuing leads that they have, some include kicking in doors and taking people down in the way that they did in Dagestan. That is a preemptive counterterrorism strike to try to secure the games.

Internationally, the intelligence is as never as good as I've seen it -- or is as good as I've seen it, excuse me. So the -- you know, the Brits are working with the French who are working with the United States and everyone in between to try to find those pieces of intelligence that might help protect the Games.

Though one last weakness -- and this was the tension between Russia and the United States, was that internal sharing of intelligence that we believe would be important.

RADDATZ: You know, a few weeks ago we saw those reports about the so-called black widow suicide bombers. Those women have not been found.

How big a threat is that now to those Games or outside those Games?

ROGERS: Well, you have to -- you have to take them at face value. They have had successful events. They blew up a -- a train station and two buses within the months leading up to the event.

Uh, we know that there are individuals that fit those descriptions who have the capability to actually pull off the event. That's what makes it to serious and so dangerous.

So it is something that they're -- they're looking for, they're trying to use every piece of intelligence they have external to Russia. They're kind of going on their own internal to Russia. Uh, and we can only hope that they'll find those individuals before they're able to penetrate any of the rings.

And I don't believe that the terrorists think they have to have a venue event, a terrorist attack on a particular venue. They just have to have some disruptive event somewhere. And that's what, I think, makes them more dangerous than the folks that believe they have to have some big event at a venue.

RADDATZ: Well, I -- I think we heard this week the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen, said there is, quote, "a substantial potential for a terrorist attack outside the venue at the Olympics."

Is that where you're focusing?

ROGERS: Well, clearly. And, again, I think there were, you know, again, lots of physical presence there. And I think they're going to try to find the weakest point that they can find. And it may be outside one of those rings of security.

So that's, obviously, our concern. It's the soft -- the softest part of the security -- security part.

RADDATZ: And -- and just quickly here, if there is an incident, do you believe the United States is prepared to evacuate the athletes?

ROGERS: I think, uh, all the preparation that can be done to protect our athletes, from a United States perspective, is there. And it's exceptionally well done.

So I believe that if there is any event that would lead to the -- the, uh, evacuation of our athletes, that in fact, would happen, and would happen orderly and in -- in good order.

Again, we -- we were hoping that the Russians would share more internal information on security threats so the operation in Dagestan is a great example. That obviously had some nexus to the Games. It would have been helpful, I think, if we had a full and robust relationship, that we could have shared that kind of information, so we could have compared it to information that we get from all of our, uh, intelligence partners around the world.

RADDATZ: Clearly, that's important.

Thanks, Congressman Rogers.

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