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Foreign terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and al Qaeda, and even Iran-allied forces such as Hezbollah and Hamas, pose an immediate threat to the American homeland and warrant a serious response by the Biden administration, key House Republicans said in a new report.
The “Terror Threat Snapshot,” compiled by the House Homeland Security Committee, lays out in disturbing detail the number of jihadi cases in the U.S. over the past three years and shines a spotlight on how “soft targets” could be vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The report, shared exclusively with The Washington Times before its public release, also pointedly faults the administration for what it says has been a “weak” and inadequate response to the danger in recent years.
The report was released at a crucial moment, as the conflict between Israel and its Middle East adversaries, most notably Iran and its network of proxy groups across the theater, is on the verge of a full-blown regional war. U.S. military, intelligence and law enforcement officials in recent months have warned about the resurgence of ISIS in the Middle East and the group’s desire, and perhaps its ability, to directly strike targets in Europe and the U.S.
Taken together, those factors have created an environment for attacks on Americans at home, House Republican members said.
“Foreign jihadist networks like ISIS and Hezbollah, as well as homegrown violent extremists ideologically motivated by these terrorist groups, present security threats to the homeland,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark E. Green, Tennessee Republican, said in a statement accompanying the report.
DOCUMENT: House Homeland Security Committee's Terror Threat Snapshot
“The Department of Homeland Security’s mission is to protect the American people from every threat at our doorstep,” he said. “The system is blinking red yet again, as even the head of the FBI has noted. Despite heightened threats from terrorists, the Biden-Harris administration continues to demonstrate weak leadership on the world stage and fails to admit its policy failures that brought us here. We must change course and take the necessary actions to protect the homeland.”
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told House lawmakers in July that he fears an attempted attack similar to the shooting and fire at a crowded Moscow concert hall in March. More than 140 people were killed. ISIS-K, the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, claimed responsibility for that attack.
“We are increasingly concerned about the possibility not just of a foreign terrorist attack, which is very much a concern, but even the potential for a coordinated foreign terrorist attack, perhaps like what we’ve seen against the concert hall in Russia,” Mr. Wray told the House Judiciary Committee in his July testimony.
The House Republican report offers an exhaustive list of troubling cases since 2021. It includes the arrest last month of Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national with ties to Iran who was charged in an alleged murder-for-hire plot thought to be targeting former President Donald Trump.
The report also highlights cases from New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maine, Idaho, California, Illinois, Nevada and virtually all other corners of the country where people have been charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists or other terrorist-related offenses.
In all, the report lists more than 50 jihadi cases across 29 states since April 2021.
At the same time, terrorist groups abroad are gaining strength, potentially giving them the resources and motivation to target America more aggressively. In May, the U.S. Institute of Peace released a comprehensive study that found terrorist groups such as ISIS-K and al Qaeda have been reconstituting themselves in Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021.
The USIP report cited the rising threat from ISIS-K and continued support for al Qaeda from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban regime as two of the most immediate threats confronting America and its allies. The report’s authors called on the Biden administration to consider new rounds of U.S. strikes in Afghanistan against terrorist groups targeting America, along with cyberattacks to disrupt the communications and propaganda campaigns of ISIS-K and al Qaeda.
U.S. officials have repeatedly warned in recent years that both of those groups want to strike the American homeland.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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