'This Week' Transcript: Former CIA Director Michael Hayden
December 14, 2014 — -- Below is the rush transcript of "This Week" on December 14, 2014. It may contain errors.
ANNOUNCER: Now on ABC This Week. Developing this morning, stunner in the skies: a Russian military plane narrowly avoids a collision with a passenger jet. What has officials so alarmed?
The CIA and torture: shocking new details from the explosive investigation.
2016 showdown, could new moves preview a battle between Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren?
And Jeb Bush dropping his biggest hint yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH, FRM. GOV. OF FLORIDA: I'm going to make up my mind in short order.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: And the pilgrimage: wounded American vets go overseas looking for a miracle.
From ABC News, This Week with George Stephanopoulos begins now.
MARTHA RADDATZ, HOST: Good morning. I'm Martha Raddatz. And we're tracking stories developing on several fronts, including nationwide protests against police brutality. Saturday, tens of thousands hit the streets in New York and Washington, the mother of Michael Brown taking part. Events were mostly peaceful, although 23 people were arrested in Boston.
But also breaking this morning, alarms raised after a mid-air scare involving a Russian military jet, a very close call putting a passenger plane at risk, the latest sign of that high stakes tension growing between Russia and the west.
ABC's Terry Moran on how it happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TERRY MORAN, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Russian military jets like these have been probing deeper and deeper into NATO airspace over Europe in recent months. And yesterday, a near disaster. About 11:15 a.m. local time, a Scandinavian Airlines flight over the Baltic Sea gets an urgent warning from Swedish air traffic control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 755, (inaudible) 22. So, 22 unidentified traffic in the area.
MORAN: That unidentified traffic, a Russian military jet flying with its transponder switched off, making it almost invisible to commercial traffic.
The Scandinavian Airlines pilots can't see the Russian in the haze. And seconds later a mid-air collision is just averted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, it looks like you put behind him.
MORAN: Swedish officials reacted with fury, the defense minister declaring "this is serious. This is inappropriate. This is outright dangerous when you turn off the transponder."
And it's part of a grimly relentless pattern. These amazing pictures show a close encounter less than 100 feet between NATO interceptors and Russian jets over the Baltic Sea just last week.
And in October, this grainy photo and advanced sonar data sent the Swedish navy scrambling to scour the waters of Stockholm searching for a covert Russian sub. But it apparently slipped away.
The Russian deny everything, including yesterday's incident, but the Swedes and NATO aren't buying it. The Swedes say Russia even conducted a practice bombing run over Stockholm last year.
It's all part of Moscow's message to Europe and the U.S. We're back. And we can pierce your defenses -- Martha.
RADDATZ: Thanks, Terry, that does indeed sound dangerous.
Let's take this on now with our ABC contributor and former State Department official Steve Ganyard. Steve is also a former Marine Corps fighter pilot. So let's start from that vantage point, Steve.
How dangerous was this?
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