White House Confirms Some American ISIS Fighters Have Returned to U.S.

Shortly before the White House began
dropping
bombs on Syria yesterday, the White House
confirmed that some of the estimated 100 Americans who have
gone to the Middle East to join terrorist groups like the Islamic
State (a.k.a. ISIS) have returned to the United States.

Discussing National Counterterrorism Center (NCC) activity, an
unnamed senior administration official said the FBI is looking at
“those who’ve gone, those who’ve tried to go, some who’ve come
back.”

How many are there? The administration official couldn’t say.
But, two weeks ago, Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) claimed the FBI is
watching
40 jihadists in the U.S.

Time points
out the significance of the official’s statement:

It marked the first official government confirmation that at
least some of the Americans fighting alongside the Islamist
extremist group have returned to the U.S. As late as Monday
morning, Secretary of State John Kerry said on MSNBC that “we have
over 100 fighters there from America,” leaving out any mention of
Americans who have returned.

The Hill
notes that President Barack Obama will be “chairman of a
Security Council meeting later this week, when the U.N. will seek a
new resolution demanding countries strengthen laws and programs to
prevent the flow of foreign citizens to the Middle East to join
terrorist groups.” Also, the revelation about ISIS fighters
returning to America “could prompt new security concerns about the
prospect that Americans who were radicalized abroad could do damage
to the homeland.”

However, the president has stated that there are no known ISIS
plots against the U.S. Likewise, although ISIS’s threats to the
U.S. are
getting louder, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FBI,
and House Foreign Affairs Committee leadership have all stated that
the terrorist group
does not pose a credible threat to the American homeland.

An estimated 15,000 people total, including 2,000 European
citizens, have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the fight to
establish a Sunni Islam caliphate. A week ago, a New York man was

charged in federal court for trying to recruit
fighters for the Islamic State.

Part of the Obama administration’s plan to prevent more
Americans from radicalizing is by reaching out to the Muslim
community. Attorney General Eric Holder
announced last week that the NCC, DHS, and FBI would all
participate in an “engagement meeting” pilot program.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, who has been touching base with
Syrian and Somali communities in the Midwest, says he has “enhanced
the visibility” of “programs to engage in outreach to communities
which themselves are able to reach young men who may turn to
violence.” Unfortunately, the DHS’s strategy also includes pushing
retailers to
rat out people who buy broadly defined “explosive precursors”
(think pressure cookers, fertilizer).