While the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has no current plans to attack the United States, the “unprecedented” number of foreign fighters in the group poses a very real threat of terrorism, officials said Wednesday.
The concern is that at least some of those fighters will be inspired by the Islamist extremist group’s sophisticated social media campaign to use the skills they learn in combat in Syria to launch terrorist attacks in their home countries, officials from the State and Homeland Security departments told a House Homeland Security subcommittee.
“That’s a very clear near-term concern that we have,” said Jennifer Lasley, deputy undersecretary for analysis in the Department of Homeland Security.
She said officials also are concerned that Syria could become a base of operations for al Qaeda.
It’s a large enough concern that President Obama plans to lead a Sept. 25 U.N. Security Council summit on the issue of foreigners fighting with terrorist groups.
A report published in June by the Soufan Group, a strategic intelligence firm, suggested that civil war in Syria is “an incubator for a new generation of terrorists,” and noted that the 12,000 foreigners who have traveled there to fight with militant organizations are a bigger group than the number that went to Afghanistan to fight for al Qaeda, the Taliban and their precursor groups.
Though most fighters are from other Arab countries, about 2,500 are from Western countries, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most members of the European Union, the report said.
Officials told the panel they are working with a growing number of foreign partners to identify and track these potential threats before they arrive in their home countries.
“Terrorists could be just one visa-free flight from arriving in the United States,” said Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., the subcommittee’s chairwoman.
