Watch CBS News

Mike Rogers: "Stop saying no" in ISIS fight

House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, and Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-California, discuss the amplifying threat from Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria
Mike Rogers on action against ISIS: "Stop saying no, start saying yes" 06:28

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, says it's time for the president to "stop saying no, start saying yes," in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

"We need to start talking about a plan to defeat ISIS. We probably shouldn't lay out our battle plans but we shouldn't take anything off of our battle plans," Rogers said in an interview on "Face the Nation." What you're seeing now I think is a frustration, frustration from the military saying, 'please don't limit us on what we need to do to defeat this terrorist group.'"

Rogers was talking about the president's insistence that he will not put U.S. troops into combat in Iraq once again. But a handful of U.S. military leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, have said they would not rule out the need for combat troops to defeat ISIS.

Both Rogers and his Senate counterpart, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it's time to start looking at a broader authorization for the president to combat Islamic militants.

"I think we need to deal with use of force in a general nature, in an amendment, perhaps, to the authorization to use military force, perhaps in something separate, that deals with non-state actors who are real threats to our country and who are creating massive violence throughout the world," Feinstein said in an interview alongside Rogers on "Face the Nation." "ISIS is a problem because it has access to Europe. So many fighters for Europe and visa wavier countries where they can go back and be waived into our country... I think we need to deal with this on a more comprehensive basis."

Rogers said he agrees with Feinstein that the U.S. needs to deal with the threat in a "comprehensive" manner.

Rogers also spoke about the threat from Khorasan, an al Qaeda cell focused on building bombs that can be sneaked onto U.S. airliners, and how it compares to the threat posed by ISIS.

"We described it as foreign deployed al Qaeda operatives who were engaging with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to develop a terror plot to bring down airplanes. They haven't lost that interest in doing it. That means it's serious," Rogers said. "They have both capability, financing, and people. All of that's dangerous. But if you step back so does ISIS, except they had something different. They have access to people with Western passports."

Feinstein said she shared concern about the group's potential to attack the U.S.

"Each one of these is capable one day, some sooner than later, of a strike against our country. So this is not a good situation," she said, noting that, "many of us believe [ISIS is] aimed at Baghdad, perhaps our embassy there."

She said that's all the more reason Congress needs to examine what kind of authorization to use military force it will give to the president as soon as lawmakers return after the election.

Last week, the House and Senate gave the president permission to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels so they can fight ISIS on the ground inside Syria.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.