BLITZER: Let's talk about this with Congressman Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, who is the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. Do you accept his explanation that he didn't know something had occurred in Britain, the arrest of these terror suspects 12 hours earlier?

REP. PETE HOEKSTRA, (R) MICHIGAN, RANKING MEMBER INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It is very simple. His staff screwed up. As you said, he is going on national TV, he's talking to a major anchor, and he is not briefed on what has been on TV all day.

You go into these things prepared. It's not that I am chairman of the board, I should know this stuff, you know you are going to get these kinds of questions. His staff screwed up when -- before he went into the interview, and then afterwards when they started to make all of these excuses, well, he is working on North Korea, he's working on START. No, it's kind of like, the staff screwed up, he should have known, he should have been prepared, but he wasn't.

BLITZER: And that is rule number one. If you are going to do a TV interview, you are the ranking member of the House Intelligence, you ask your staff, is there anything I need to know? What is the latest developments going in, right?

HOEKSTRA: We spent the last two hours before -- I had a staff person watching the last two hours of CNN before I came here to kind of say, OK, what are they talking about, I need to make sure the same thing does not happen to me. But that is rule number one, that's how you always work.

BLITZER: And it is not just public relations or a media issue. You are the director of national intelligence, they have a major terrorist operation that they deal with in Britain, which is our number one ally. You should know about that.

HOEKSTRA: Yes, you should know, because at the same time what we have seen is all these threat streams in Europe. I am sure that Jim Clapper is aware of all these threat streams. You have got threat streams here in the United States. It would have been very simple. It is not that the operation center is in a different building. It is about his press person coming in before he goes or some time in the day saying, hey, you need to know that they have arrested these 12 people in Europe. We are getting all the details. We know that NCTC and these people, they were following it, but he should have had the information. He was badly served.

BLITZER: I guess the only explanation that would have made some sense if there was a much bigger crisis that was unfolding, and maybe there was. Maybe North Korea, South Korea, the tension on the Korean peninsula was dominating all of his energy right there, and he could not afford to deal with some other issues. And that is a possible explanation.

HOEKSTRA: That's possible, but still, his people should have told him these are the kinds of things you are going to be asked about. You need to be prepared. You don't go in cold. BLITZER: Do you know Clapper?

HOEKSTRA: Yes, sure I do.

BLITZER: What do you think of him?

HOEKSTRA: I think, you know, I did not support his appointment to DNI, but I don't think that there is any question about his integrity, his competence. He is a very smart individual. I have got confidence in his capabilities to do this job.

I think that this was a blip, it was a serious mistake by his staff. It doesn't undercut my belief that Jim Clapper can do this job.

BLITZER: You think he is worthy of this job and he can handle all of the responsibilities?

HOEKSTRA: Yes, I don't think this is symptomatic of a deeper problem.

BLITZER: Is there another problem, though, that may be at stake, some layers of bureaucracy that prevented him from knowing about this?

HOEKSTRA: That is one of the frustrations I've had with the DNI's office. We always wanted the DNI to be a chairman, to have the big picture idea. What has now happened with the DNI, it has grown into a whole big bureaucracy. It has layers upon layers upon layers that should not be there. He should be setting strategic operations, not managing day-to-day operations.

BLITZER: Let's get back to this, what I thought to be an extraordinary appearance today by John Brennan, the president's counterterrorism adviser. All of a sudden, without any notification, he goes into the White House press briefing room and starts talking about potential threats out there on the eve of Christmas and New Year's. We remember what happened last year, the Christmas day bombing.

Is Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda associates now, are they -- do they look at the American calendar, if you will, and try to plot something to coordinate with Christmas or New Year's?

HOEKSTRA: I think, number one, he went there, he wanted damage control, he wanted to change the subject. He wanted to be talking about something else.

BLITZER: From the Clapper issue?

HOEKSTRA: From the Clapper issue. He wanted to move beyond that. I think the second thing is clearly, I mean, we have seen, you know, the attack at Ft. Hood, we have seen New York, we have seen all of these other attacks. Al Qaeda, specifically Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula, wants to attack the United States. They are not looking at the calendar, other than it's been nine and a half, you know, nine years since they have had a major success. We are coming up to the tenth anniversary of 9/11. I look for, you know, from January 1 to 9/11, 2011 as being a very active time. They want to hit us. They are committed to hitting us. They will pull out all the stops to make it happen.

BLITZER: People are going to be traveling in the coming days for Christmas and New Year's. How worried should the American public be right now?

HOEKSTRA: I don't necessarily see a higher, you know, intensity level right now between now and Christmas and those types of things. I think the American people need to be aware these folks want to attack us. It is going to be our reality for much of the next year.

And you know, then we have got to have the confidence that John Brennan, Jim Clapper, Napolitano, they are doing the things - they are doing a lot of things that are right. The fundamental thing that they're not doing - they are not unwilling to call this radical jihadism, you know, and those types of things. But we have come a long way since 9/11, but we are still not safe. We are still vulnerable.

BLITZER: Because I have always been told that there is a difference between the traditional Al Qaeda, bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, that group which committed 9/11 and some of these spinoff groups like Anwar Al-Awlaki, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, some of whom are Americans, like Anwar al Awlaki, the cleric, that they have a different modus operandi, and they do look at the American calendar, because they are in fact, at least some of them, are Americans.

HOEKSTRA: Well, they do look at our calendar, they do look at 9/11's 10th anniversary. They understand us. The Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, they are the focal point, they are the brain center for attacking the U.S. Awlaki understands our psyche and how, you know, the impact that a successful attack or a series of smaller attacks would have on us.

Bin Laden and that group are focused on holding out until August in Afghanistan and then watching us pull down and believing that they can then defeat us in Afghanistan.

BLITZER: Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.

HOEKSTRA: Always good to be with you, thank you.

BLITZER: We will have you back, and good luck with the next chapter in your life after leaving congress.

HOEKSTRA: Thank you.