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This March 23, 2008 photo provided by the Hennepin County, Minn. Sheriff's Office shows Douglas McAuthur McCain. The Obama administration has offered a wide range of assessments of the threat to U.S. national security posed by Islamic State extremists in an area straddling eastern Syrian and northern and western Iraq, and whose actions include last week’s beheading of American journalist James Foley. Some officials say the group is more dangerous than al-Qaida. Yet intelligence assessments say it currently couldn’t pull off a complex, 9-11-style attack on the U.S. or Europe. (AP Photo/Hennepin County, Minn. Sheriff's Office)

At heart of Syria fears, extremists returning home

Associated Press

U.N. says Syria refugees top 3 million mark

By John Heilprin - Associated Press

President Barack Obama returns a Marine's salute as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014, as he travels to Westchester County, N.Y., and Newport, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

As Obama leaves Washington, White House tries to explain his ‘no strategy’ remark

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times

President Barack Obama speaks the economy, Iraq, and Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, before convening a meeting with his national security team on the militant threat in Syria and Iraq. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama confesses: ‘We don’t have a strategy yet’ for dealing with Islamic State

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Sen. Rand Paul warns against interventionism in Middle East

By Seth McLaughlin - The Washington Times

The World Trade Center terror attacks in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. (Associated Press)

‘Significant increase’ in terror chatter as 9/11 nears; Islamic State’s rise complicates analysis

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times

110531-N-TU221-167
PACIFIC OCEAN (May 31, 2011) An F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81 deploys flares during an air power demonstration over the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are underway in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Travis K. Mendoza/Released)

Obama to hold national-security meeting on Syria in possible prelude to air strikes

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times

Iraq ISIS ISIL Jihadi Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

SUTTON: The radical side of social media

By Rupert Sutton

Mom pleads for release of Steven Sotloff, a U.S. journalist held captive

By Curt Anderson - Associated Press

This March 23, 2008 photo provided by the Hennepin County, Minn. Sheriff's Office shows Douglas McAuthur McCain. On Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014, a U.S. official said McCain, a U.S. citizen, is believed to have been killed in Syria and was there to fight alongside a terrorist group, most likely the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hennepin County, Minn. Sheriff's Office)

Q-and-A on Westerners who join the fight in Syria

By AMY FORLITI - Associated Press

FILE - In this circa 1945 file photo provided by Associated Press reporter Bob Thomas, right, plays poker with legendary comedians Bud Abbott, left, and Lou Costello, during an interview. When Thomas began writing a Hollywood column for The AP in 1944, there were 500 journalists covering the movie scene. Fresh, newsy interviews were hard to come by, so he began writing &quot;participation stories.&quot; Thomas died of age-related illnesses Friday, March 14, 2014 at his Encino, Calif., home, his daughter Janet Thomas said. He was 92. (AP Photo/Courtesy Bob Thomas, file)

CROWLEY: Obama on the Islamic State: Who’s on first?

By Monica Crowley - The Washington Times

White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that President Obama — who has called the Islamic State a 'cancer' — is not focusing on politics, but is instead focusing on putting a plan in place to defend the United States. (Associated Press)

Congress pushes Obama on Islamic State strategy

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times

U.S. counterterrorism officials say efforts to use social media to spy on the Islamic State have been thwarted by Twitter's crackdown on ISIL tweets. (Associated Press)

Terror alert rises for Islamic State plots against West

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times

President Obama has authorized reconnaissance flights over Syria, a U.S. official told CNN Monday. (Associated Press)

Obama authorizes reconnaissance flights over Syria, official tells CNN

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem speaks during a press conference, giving the first public comments by a senior Assad official on the threat posed by the Islamic State group, in Damascus, Syria on Monday, August 25, 2014. Al-Moallem warned the U.S. not to conduct airstrikes inside Syria against the Islamic State group without Damascus’ consent, saying any such attack would be considered an aggression. Al-Moallem also said that Syria is ready to work with regional states and the international community amid the onslaught of Islamic militants there and in Iraq, adding that the Syrian government is a crucial partner in the war on terror. (AP Photo)

AP sources: U.S. surveillance planes fly over Syria

By Lolita C. Baldor and Julie Pace - Associated Press

A convoy of vehicles and militant fighters move through Iraq's Anbar Province. The U.S. government is tracking and gathering intelligence on as many as 300 Americans who are fighting side-by-side with the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and are poised to become a major threat to the homeland, according to senior U.S. officials. (Associated Press)

U.S. citizens joining Islamic State pose major threat to homeland

By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times

President Barack Obama speaks about veterans issues at the American Legion&#8217;s 96th National Convention at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014. Three months after a veterans' health care scandal rocked his administration, President Barack Obama is taking executive action to improve the mental well-being of veterans. The president was to announce his initiatives during an appearance before the American Legion National Convention that is fraught with midterm politics. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama vows ‘direct action’ against Islamic State

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times

FILE - This undated file image posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) marching in Raqqa, Syria. Moderate Syrian rebels are buckling under the onslaught of the radical al-Qaida breakaway group that has swept over large parts of Iraq and Syria. Some rebels are giving up the fight, crippled by lack of weapons and frustrated with the power of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Other, more hard-line Syrian fighters are bending to the winds and joining the radicals. (AP Photo/Militant Website, File)

Islamic State video indicates terror group has sophisticated drones in Syria: report

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times

FILE - This Aug. 20, 2014 file photo shows Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey speaking in New York. President Barack Obama's military leadership made clear in recent days that the threat from the Islamic State militants, who murdered American journalist James Foley, cannot be fully eliminated without going after the group in Syria, as well as Iraq.&quot;This is an organization that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated,&quot; said Dempsey. &quot;Can they be defeated without addressing that part of their organization which resides in Syria? The answer is no. That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a nonexistent border.&quot; (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

Dempsey: We will act if Islamic group threatens U.S.

By LOLITA C. BALDOR - Associated Press

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem speaks during a press conference, giving the first public comments by a senior Assad official on the threat posed by the Islamic State group, in Damascus, Syria on Monday, August 25, 2014. Al-Moallem warned the U.S. not to conduct airstrikes inside Syria against the Islamic State group without Damascus’ consent, saying any such attack would be considered an aggression. Al-Moallem also said that Syria is ready to work with regional states and the international community amid the onslaught of Islamic militants there and in Iraq, adding that the Syrian government is a crucial partner in the war on terror. (AP Photo/SANA)

Syrian official warns US: No unilateral airstrikes

By ZEINA KARAM - Associated Press