Gen. Flynn: We have to recognize radical Islam for what it is
Gen. Michael Flynn goes 'On the Record' on whether intel is enough to keep America safe from a Brussels-type attack
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," March 23, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Terror investigations are ripping apart the safe house rented by the Brussels terrorist brothers.
Former director of Defense Intelligence Lt. General Michael Flynn goes ON THE RECORD.
Good evening, sir.
LT. GEN. MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER DIRECTOR, DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE: Hi, Greta. Thanks for having me.
VAN SUSTEREN: Nice to have you, sir.
FLYNN: Are we giving our intelligence, sir, here in the United States everything they need to do their jobs?
Yes. I mean, you know, Greta, let's lay out a couple of things here. And I won't get too long in the tooth here. But, first of all, having Staff Sergeant Johnny Jones on our team is an incredible asset because we are going to need him in the future.
To specifically answer your question, the intelligence services of our country are doing everything that they can, but they need to be unleashed when it comes to developing much more human intelligence not only in Iraq and Syria but helping our friends and allies around the world.
We have to be able to do more. We are going to have to put the resources into that. And they're going to have to shift resources from other priorities that were involved in.
And, you know, what you laid out, Greta, up front, you laid out kind of the what has occurred here in this latest attack. We're going to have more of these attacks. And we're going to have more of these attacks, Greta, because we have not clearly defined why they are coming at us the way they are coming at us. I believe I know why.
And the other thing is the so what? What are we going to do about it? What action are we going to take? So we are going to see more of this and we're going to keep meeting like this, sad to say.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, so what is the why? Why do you think they are?
FLYNN: The why? Because there is a deep seated ideology within the Islamic religion and it is a strongly held cancerous form of this religion. And we have to recognize it for what it is. And it's this, you know, it's the term radical Islamism that everybody gets bent out of shape about. And all the people that want to be politically correct and want to apologize for using a term like that, it is very, very real.
And we're talking about a large, large number. When, if you look at the last six months, since October, we've had 75 attacks, at least 75 attacks that have resulted in death or serious injury outside of Iraq and Syria. So, in other places around the world. That's just in the last six months alone.
I mean, some of those have resulted in over a hundred deaths a couple of times. So we are talking about hundreds, if not thousands of people killed, and certainly thousands of people wounded in the last six months outside of Iraq and Syria.
So, the campaign plan that I believe that this enemy is on is being very effective. Our strategy, Greta, is not working.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. President Obama hasn't said radical Islam or at least I don't recall if he has. He certainly gets criticism for not saying it. Would it make a difference if he embraced that term or not?
FLYNN: What makes the difference is clearly defining the enemy that we are facing. Once you do that, once you --
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: Does he do that? Does he do that?
FLYNN: No. He doesn't do that. Obviously, he hasn't done that. And, you know, it's funny, I listened a little bit to Secretary Clinton today. She came close. She came very close. She called it radical jihadism.
You know, I mean, we've got to get off the dime, Greta. This is really unbelievable. And, I -- frankly, you know, to be very blunt, I'm sick of it because we are going to have another one of these attacks and we have to -- you know, you are doing your job. The media is doing their job to sort of dissect the bombs and the individuals and all of the tactical things. But at the end of the day, we are going to continue to have these attacks and we're going to continue to have these interviews like this.
If we don't figure out an international strategy and we're going to have to get the Muslim world involved. Muslim world has to wake up. Otherwise, it's going to bite them in the rear end.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. If you were in the Oval Office with the president tonight and he said to you, what should I do? Am I doing enough? Your answer is what?
FLYNN: My first thing would be get back to the Oval Office because this is a problem that we have that we have to come to grips with. My first thing with him would be we have to organize ourselves much, much better than we already are inside of this country. And we have to make sure that we have the leadership involved that needs to be involved and has the authorities to basically do what they are being asked to do.
When our military, our intelligence, our other resources that we have, have to keep coming back to the National Security Council and to the White House for mother may I's, nothing will happen, Greta. And it's just not going to happen on the speed that these guys are operating at.
The enemy that we're facing are operating on a much, much higher speed today, both in social media and in the world of cyber, as well as tactically on their battlefield.
Brussels is their battlefield. Paris is their battlefield. San Bernardino is their battlefield. We don't look at it like that. We have to do that. So that's the first thing I would do is tell the president that. And then we can start to figure out what we need to do internationally. But we have to get our own house in order first.
VAN SUSTEREN: General, thank you very much for joining us. I hope you'll come back soon, sir.
FLYNN: Yes, I sure will. I hope I don't have to come back, though, for another reason like this.
VAN SUSTEREN: Indeed.
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