Last October, in an interview with “60 Minutes,” FBI director James Comey revealed that there were “a dozen or so” Americans fighting in Syria on the side of terrorists.
Only nine months later, Comey revised those numbers when he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that “upwards of 200 Americans have traveled or attempted to travel to Syria to participate in the conflict.”
These growing figures are alarming for U.S. security and speak to the widespread reach and effectiveness of terrorist recruiting tactics.
Stories have begun to surface that illuminate the appeal of terrorist networks to Americans living thousands of miles away. In June, New York Times journalist Rukmini Callimachi detailed how a 23-year-old American girl from rural Washington State built an intimate relationship with an ISIS recruiter through various social media platforms and was nearly persuaded to join the terrorist group in Syria. However, in the end, she decided against it.
Furthermore, this August, a newlywed Mississippi couple was arrested for planning their “honeymoon” to Syria. The young husband and wife, who had been in contact with FBI agents posing as ISIS recruiters, repeatedly voiced a desire to join ISIS and even arranged a travel itinerary that would land them in ISIS-controlled territory.
Beyond Americans joining terrorist organizations abroad, the threat of homegrown or “lone wolf” attacks presents an even more critical security risk to the American public. Since the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, other jihadi-inspired incidents in the U.S. include the beheading of a woman in Oklahoma City in September 2014, the attempted shooting outside the Muhammad Art exhibit in Texas this May, and a knife attack against Boston security units in June. Law enforcement has also arrested more than 13 other extremists for planning or attempting to carry out acts of terror within the past two years.
According to reports published by the Heritage Foundation, as of August 2015 there have been 73 jihadi-inspired terror plots that have targeted the U.S. homeland since 9/11, eleven planned for this year alone. These statistics establish 2015 as the year with the highest number of jihadi incidents. The list does not include the suspected jihadi-linked murder of five U.S. military personnel in Chattanooga this July, as authorities are still determining a motive.
By some counts, homegrown terrorism represents a category that includes both jihadi-motivated incidents as well as violent acts carried out by other groups, such as right-wing extremists. A database authored by the New America Foundation found that there have been 19 attacks carried out by right-wing extremists since September 11, resulting in 48 deaths, compared with seven successful jihadi attacks within the same time frame, which have resulted in 26 deaths.
Irrespective of the motives, terrorism in the U.S. is on the rise and law enforcement faces the daunting task of thwarting this dangerous threat. Yet Comey offers reassurance: “These threats remain among the highest priorities for the FBI and the intelligence community as a whole.”
Bennett Seftel is an analyst with The Cipher Brief.
