House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) has released February’s Terror Threat Snapshot a monthly assessment of the growing threat America, the West, and the world face from ISIS and other Islamist terrorists.
Key takeaways in this month’s Terror Threat Snapshot:
- Although ISIS faces continued counterterrorism pressure in its key safe havens, the group’s external operations plotting appears undiminished. This year opened with a deadly ISIS-linked attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, leaving 39 dead and demonstrating the terror group’s continued ability to inspire and organize major attacks.
- European nations are moving forward with counterterrorism reforms designed to cope with the surging terror threat. Yet despite improvements, the continent still suffers from major security weaknesses that make European countries more vulnerable to attack and put U.S. interests overseas at risk.
- On the home front, ISIS and radical Islamist ideology may have played a part in inspiring an attack this month on travelers at a Ft. Lauderdale airport by Esteban Santiago, a mentally disturbed gunman who has been charged with murdering five people in the attack.
“I am very encouraged that the Trump Administration is preparing to put greater pressure on jihadists in their safe havens throughout the world,” said Chairman Michael McCaul.
“But as they do, we can expect to see militants returning to the West to build new networks and to plot more deadly operations.”
“I look forward to working with the new Administration on shutting down terror pathways in America. We must also remain vigilant here at home, because Americans are being radicalized at an alarming rate.”
