ISIS Threatens FBI, Police, And The Media In America
ISIS is threatening “lone wolf” attacks against the FBI, police officers, government officials, and “media figures” in America, according to a new warning issued by federal officials. A Joint Intelligence bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI as sent to law enforcement agencies across the United States.
An Islamic State spokesman recently recorded an audio message which reportedly urged lone wolf ISIS supporters in all Western nations to attack “soldiers, patrons, and troops” along with “police, security, and intelligence members.” The ISIS recording informed their supporters in America and the United Kingdom that they did not need to ask for “advice” or perhaps, permission, from anyone prior to initiating such an attack, because such strikes are considered “legitimate.”
An English translation of the ISIS message was posted to a jihadi forum in late September, according to NBC News. The terrorism threat recording was attributed to Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani. During the same time period an ISIS supporter published a document on an “ISIS-dominated web forum” that called for both lone wolf “operations” and “open source jihad” against a list of “potential targets” that also include the same demographic.
The ISIS bulletin also informed Islamic State supporters that they should conduct attacks on United States overseas targets with little warning. “Because of the individualized nature the radicalization to violence process it is difficult to assess triggers that will contribute to HVEs [homegrown violent extremists] attempting acts of violence,” the bulletin also added.
An unnamed former U.S. official called the ISIS warning “quite standard” during an interview with NBC. “Once a terror organization urges such action, regardless of whether any adherents might take actions, terrorism officials need to get the word out to increase state and local officials’, as well as reporters’, awareness. In the case of ISIS, given their skilled use of social media, these threats to inspire ‘lone wolves’ produce a bit more urgency for intelligence and law enforcement officials,” the former government official warned.
FBI Director James Comey had this to say when discussing the terrorism networks and threats in Syria, during an interview with CBS News, “They’re a product of what I describe as the metastasis of al Qaeda. And so you have two in particular in that area, a group called al-Nusra and then ISIL [ISIS] they are both vicious. Sort of the inheritors of a lot of the mantle of al Qaeda and present different threats in a lot of way.” When asked if ISIS and the other terrorist groups were competent, FBI Director Comey replied simply, “highly.”
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