After this week’s horrible terrorist attacks in Istanbul, CIA Director John Brennan was asked if ISIS may be planning something similar in the United States and his answer was startling:
June 30, 2016
CIA Director: ISIS Is Planning Istanbul-Style Attacks In The United States
After this week’s horrible terrorist attacks in Istanbul, CIA Director John Brennan was asked if ISIS may be planning something similar in the United States and his answer was startling:
QUESTION: Mr. Brennan, you said in an interview yesterday that you’d be very surprised if ISIS wasn’t plotting an Istanbul-style attack in the United States. Do you have credible evidence that such an attack is in the works? And has the chances of such an attack gone up in recent months or weeks?
BRENNAN: What I was saying was that we’ve seen ISIL carry out and incite an array of terrorist attacks in the region, beyond the region, directly, indirectly, and that I would be surprised that ISIL is not considering carrying out these attacks in the near abroad as well as the far abroad. And the United States, as we well know, is leading the coalition to try to destroy as much of this poison inside of Syria and Iraq as possible.
So it would be surprising to me that ISIL is not trying to hit us, both in the region as well as in our homeland. And I think what you see in the propagation of their material—they have a magazine, Dabiq, that goes out—that says exactly that. It exhorts individuals to do it.
So if anybody here believes that, you know, the U.S. homeland is hermetically sealed and that Daesh or ISIL would not consider that, I think—I would guard against that.
As ISIS plots to attack us at home, it is crucial that President Obama and his administration take all necessary steps to keep us safe. Unfortunately, the President’s track record on this issue does not inspire much confidence. As is well known by now, the President referred to ISIS as the “JV Team,” and repeatedly said in the past that there was no strategy to deal with them.
Global events over the past few months have shown that ISIS poses an existential threat to our country. With the danger ISIS presents only growing, this Administration must assure the American people that steps are being taken to destroy them and ensure that our country will be safe.