House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, released a new counterterrorism strategy Tuesday that he said would update U.S. plans that currently don’t reflect the nature of online and other technical threats to the United States.
“The idea of high jacking airplanes in a spectacular event is probably not a likely scenario any more. What is more likely is an active shooter, is an IED going off, or a suicide bomber,” he said during an event at the American Enterprise Institute.
McCaul said his plan has already been submitted to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and will be given to Hillary Clinton as well.
President George W. Bush released his counterterrorism strategy in 2003, and President Obama released an update in 2011. McCaul said both of these are outdated.
One of the biggest changes McCaul wants is a new emphasis on countering terrorism online, where terrorists have discovered they can spread their ideology. This is the biggest difference between terrorist leaders U.S. officials had to combat 15 years ago compared to those today, like Islamic State members, he said.
“I think the main difference is the digital age. The fact [is] that Bin Laden was very top to down command and control, very primitive in his communications,” McCaul said. “Now we have this new generation of terrorists who are very savvy on the Internet. They know how to exploit it to both recruit, to train and radicalize from within.”
One point of his new plan calls on Congress to create a national digital security commission that could work on ending virtual safe havens for terrorists online.
“It is no longer enough to remove combatants from the battlefield if their fellow operatives can turn to the Internet to inspire thousands more. Washington has failed to establish an adequate system for offensive cyber operations against terrorists’ virtual networks, so we must establish a clear policy for when and how to take such actions,” according to McCaul’s report outlining his strategy.
He also called for doing more screening of social media to catch potential terrorist activity early.
McCaul said his proposal has been in the works for about three months, but called it especially timely to release it now following a weekend of terrorist violence across the United States, including attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota.
