Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell said Tuesday Islamic State terrorists will soon attack America if their rapid expansion is not stopped.
“The head of the UK’s domestic security agency recently warned that ISIS is planning mass casualty attacks in Britain,” Morell wrote in a Time op-ed Tuesday. “His concerns are well founded. We will not be far behind.”
Morell, who served as CIA acting director twice, noted the FBI has already opened more than 900 investigations into “homegrown extremists” that have been radicalized by the Islamic State in the U.S., many of which had been planning local attacks.
While the sophistication of such attacks will likely be low, Morell said the terrorist group could potentially launch a large number of them given its massive group of followers around the world.
“ISIS has gained affiliates faster than al-Qaeda ever did,” Morell noted. “From nothing a year ago, there are now militant groups in nearly 20 countries that have sworn allegiance to ISIS.”
The former CIA deputy director said the recent string of Islamic State attacks should prove President Obama’s strategy in Syria, where the terrorist cell has seized a large swath of territory, is failing. He warned that the Islamic State is positioned to take even more territory, potentially in Libya.
“[T]he downing of the Russian airliner, only the third such attack in 25 years, and the attacks in Paris, the largest in Europe since the Madrid bombings in 2004, make it crystal clear that our ISIS strategy is not working,” he said.
