'This Week' Transcript: DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson

Below is the rush transcript for "This Week" on February 22, 2015. It may contain errors and will be updated.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: OK. Thanks for that.

Let’s more on this now from the Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us this morning. What more can you tell us --

JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Thanks for having me.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What more can you tell us about this threat against the Mall of America?

JOHNSON: Well, George, the video that was released by al Shabaab reflects what I believe is the new phase we’ve evolved in terms of the global terrorist threat and what we need to do in terms of counterterrorism.

Groups like ISIL, al Shabaab, AQAP, are now publicly calling for attacks, either through the Internet, through videos, through publications, which means that we need to respond militarily. But we also have to have a whole government approach to law enforcement, Homeland Security and frankly, countering violent extremism efforts here in the homeland and communities.

So, I’ve been personally out there in places like Minneapolis, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, L.A., Boston, meeting with community leaders, talking about the importance of public participation in our efforts. We’re in a new phase now and I’m afraid that this most recent video release reflects that.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We know that some 20 to 30 citizens and others in Minneapolis have been targeted by ISIS, have gone overseas, how serious is the problem in that community specifically?

JOHNSON: Well, the profile of a so-called “foreign fighter” is a little difficult to discern. They tend to be all over the map, literally and figuratively. But through the FBI, through Homeland Security, we’ve done a pretty good of tracking those individuals who attempt to leave and go to Syria. A number have been arrested, charged with material support to terrorism.

And we’re doing our best to track these people in their travel. We do a pretty good. Broken travel is a challenge, which is why it’s all the more important that we work with our international partners, with our counterterrorism partners overseas, to build systems, to track the travel of individuals of suspicion. We come a long way in that regard, but there is more to do and we had a conversation along those lines earlier this week.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You talk about this new phase that al Shabaab, ISIL and others are in -- Lindsey Graham, Senator Lindsey Graham is going to come on the program later. He said he’s never been more worried about a terrorist attack here in the United States. That echoes what the attorney general told Pierre Thomas this summer.

Is that hyperbole? And if not, are we doing enough to stop this threat?

JOHNSON: Look, my view is this: 13 1/2 years ago when we were attacked on 9/11, we were attacked by core al Qaeda through a relatively straightforward command and control structure where they would train operatives in their camps, dispatch them, send them overseas to commit attacks. We’re now in a different phase, that is more complex, more decentralized, more diffused, which involves pretty effective by these groups of the Internet, of social media, of print.