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DHS agents. (shutterstock)
Basing their assessment on increased social media chatter, American security agencies are warning of the possibility of ISIS terror attacks in the US in the near future.
US security agencies are on heightened alert and have issued an irregular bulletin warning of impending Islamic State (ISIS) terror attacks against American targets in the US, Fox News reports.
Tracking support for ISIS on social media, the agencies have concluded, according to the latest information, that “US military bases, locations, and events could be targeted in the near-term.”
The findings, appearing in a new, six-page bulletin obtained exclusively by Fox News, include warnings to law enforcement and specifically military personnel to be vigilant during upcoming national holidays and military events due to the “heightened threat of attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).”
The joint bulletin from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and National Counterterrorism Center states that although there is no “credible” information which specifically threatens to target events on US federal holidays, they have evidence pointing to the conceivable possibility that it will happen.
While the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have issued warnings in the past, this bulletin seems more urgent as it underscores the recent heightened chatter on social media and states precautions that should be taken.
ISIS Uses Social Media to Promote Terror
The communiqué points out that the investigators are faced with the challenge of sifting through a high volume of content while differentiating between rhetoric and actual threats.
The “reach and popularity” of social media platforms has made it easier for US-based extremists to “identify and connect” with foreign terrorist organizations, which can “potentially direct” them. It said the FBI estimates there are “hundreds, possibly thousands” of people in the US getting “recruitment overtures or directives to attack the United States,” and that ISIS is using social media in “unprecedented ways” to send messages advocating attacks in the US, Fox News reports.
The bulletin warns that “given the recent uptick in social media usage by violent extremists, we continue to advise current and former US government employees and military personnel to actively review their online social media accounts for any information that could attract the attention of violent extremists and routinely exercise operational security in their interactions online.” Security agencies have issued similar directives in the past.
While the bulletin advises there is no “credible” threat information, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said at a National Governors Association meeting in February that the “credible” threat qualification in such statements has become “less and less relevant,” as officials do not necessarily know when the next attack is going to happen.
ISIS claimed responsibility for its first attack on US soil in May after two Muslim terrorists, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, opened fire on a cartoon contest for the best depiction of the Muslim prophet Mohammed in Dallas, Texas. “We tell America that what is coming will be even bigger and more bitter and that you will see the soldiers of the Islamic State do terrible things,” ISIS threatened. “The future is just around the corner.”
In March, US security forces arrested an Illinois Army National Guardsman after he attempted to travel to Libya to join ISIS.
The FBI arrested three ISIS terrorists in Brooklyn, New York, in March. They were preparing attacks in the US as an alternative if they would not succeed in joining ISIS in Syria.
By: United with Israel Staff
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