Lone wolf attacks in the U.S. and Canada are all part of “one big problem” of Muslim extremism, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Sunday.
The California Democrat, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an interview on ABC that attacks from the 2009 Fort Hood shooting to this week’s assault on Canadian parliament buildings were connected.
“The Internet, as well as certain specific Muslim extremists, are really firing up this lone-wolf phenomenon,” Feinstein said, explaining that the attacks “show that their propaganda is having some effect.”
That propaganda, Feinstein suggested, includes material put out by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
“I don’t think people see the evil and the vicious side of it,” said Feinstein, trying to explain why the Islamic State’s propaganda affects individuals. “I don’t think they see the beheadings,” she claimed, before being cut off by show host Martha Raddatz.
Feinstein warned that lone wolves exposed to extremism would target uniformed officers in the police or military in the future.
“I believe word has gone out into these communities that a strike target would be someone in uniform, whether it’s police or it’s military,” she said. “The police and military have to be on guard.”
That includes the “halls of government,” she added, referencing last week’s attack on the Canadian capital in Ottawa. Feinstein declined to spell out what she meant in detail on television, but asserted that “one thing’s for sure: We are going to protect our institutions of government.”
