The FBI has stepped up its efforts to monitor ISIS’ activities in the US in wake of the Paris terror attacks.
FBI Director James Comey. (AP/Mark Humphrey)
By: Atara Beck, World Israel News
The FBI is pursuing 900 active Islamic State (ISIS) terror-related investigations, spread over all 50 states in the US, FBI Director James Comey confirmed on Sunday, according to a Fox News report.
Comey has reportedly told field offices across the country to intensify surveillance on ISIS suspects, hoping to prevent terror attacks in the US such as the multiple ISIS terror attacks in Paris that have claimed 132 lives so far.
The US has been sharing intelligence on ISIS with the French authorities, and the FBI is reportedly involved in the investigation of the Paris terror attacks.
ISIS’ threat in the US “is high and has escalated dramatically this year and remains high,” according to the latest “Terror Threat Snapshot” for September released by House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul.
Approximately 4,500 Western fighters, including 550 women and 250 Americans, have traveled to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Many of these fighters return home with knowledge in warfare and terrorism they acquired while fighting with ISIS, and employ this knowledge in establishing domestic terror cells, as was the case in the Paris attacks.
Last month in a Cincinnati visit, Comey said that ISIS’ efforts to recruit potential homegrown terrorists go on “24 hours a day” across the US.
The growing threat of ISIS terrorism in the US has surpassed that of al-Qaeda, Comey warned in July, as US security agencies continue to track down individuals influenced by ISIS who may be planning to act on their radical ideology.