State of Homeland Security: ‘Highest Threat Environment Since 9/11’

By Terence P. Jeffrey | December 7, 2015 | 2:20 PM EST

House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) (Screen capture)

(CNSNews.com) - House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul delivered an address today at the National War College on the “state of homeland security” in which he said the United States is in the “highest threat environment since 9/11.”

McCaul specifically described ISIS as growing threat that now has a presence in 19 countries. If the San Bernardino attack is included, he said, ISIS has now been connected to 19 terrorist plots or attacks inside the United States.

“In November,” McCaul said, “the group managed to conduct three major terrorist attacks on three separate continents in just three weeks.”

“Make no mistake: we are a nation at war,” he said. “Fourteen years after 9/11, the fight against Islamist terror rages on, and our adversaries have opened up new battlegrounds across the world. Our own city streets are now the front lines. Indeed, San Bernardino was not an isolated event.”

“I believe the state of our homeland is increasingly not secure, and I believe 2015 will be seen as a watershed year in this long war—the year when our enemies gained an upper hand and when the spread of terror once again awoke the West,” he said.

McCaul criticized President Obama for what McCaul views as an unrealistic approach to the threat posed ISIS.

 “Last month the president claimed ISIS was ‘contained,’ only days before its operatives launched the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II,” said McCaul. “Last week, the president said America was safe from an ISIS attack the same morning that the San Bernardino terrorists conducted their massacre.

“I have had enough,” said McCaul. “We cannot be blind to the threat before us. ISIS is not contained—it is expanding at great cost to the free world.”

“In fact, I believe this leadership void has put the United States homeland in the highest threat environment since 9/11,” said McCaul.

McCaul described ISIS as a security threat with expanding global reach.

“ISIS has been linked to more than 60 terrorist plots or attacks against Western targets,” said McCaul. “It has established a presence in 19 countries. And it has recruited operatives from more than 100 nations—creating the largest global convergence of jihadists in history.”

McCaul enumerated the ISIS threat within the United States.

“The FBI is investigating nearly 1,000 homegrown terror cases—most of which are ISIS-related—across all 50 states,” he said. “Already, federal authorities have arrested over 70 ISIS supporters in our country.

 “If you add San Bernardino to the list, there have now been 19 ISIS-connected terrorist plots or attacks here at home,” he said. “These include plans to murder tourists on Florida beaches, to set off pipe bombs on Capitol Hill, to detonate explosives at New York City landmarks, and to live-stream an attack at an American college campus.

“The overall uptick in extremist activity has made 2015 the single most active year for homegrown terror we have ever tracked,” he said. “In fact, there were more homegrown terror cases in the first six months of 2015 than any full year since 9/11”

One of the threats McCaul cited was from foreign fighters going to Syria from Western nations, including the United States, and then returning home.

“More than 30,000 individuals from around the world have become foreign fighters in Syria, and over 5,000 of them have Western passports, which make it easier to get into America,” he said. “As we saw in Paris, some are being sent back to conduct attacks. More than 250 Americans have also sought to join the fight, and close to 50 have already come home. Some have been arrested on terrorism charges, while others could be ticking time bombs.”

McCaul said that the U.S. government has information indicating persons tied to terror groups in Syria have tried to enter the U.S. using the refugee program.

“I can also reveal today that the U. S. government has information to indicate that individuals tied to terrorist groups in Syria have already attempted to gain access to our country through the U. S. refugee program,” said the Homeland Security chairman.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/state-homeland-security-highest-threat-environment-911