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FBI Deeply Concerned About Terrorists Fleeing Syria And Iraq, Forming Communities In Other Countries

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Jonah Bennett Contributor
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FBI Director James Comey told Congress Tuesday that law enforcement agencies are terrified of the prospect of terrorists flooding out of places like Syria and Iraq into other countries, where they’ll form a rather large diaspora.

“There will be a terrorist diaspora sometime in the next two to five years like we’ve never seen before,” Comey told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

The hearing was an attempt by Congress to get a handle on security threats still facing the nation 15 years after 9/11 took place, the Associated Press reports.

One of those security threats is the prospect of thousands of terrorists fleeing the impending destruction of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. As the U.S. slowly squeezes ISIS, the amount of time left before the group implodes and loses whatever is left of its territory in the Middle East is rapidly shrinking.

The panel also included officials like Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Nicholas Rasmussen.

Johnson noted that there’s been an evolution in terror techniques away from hierarchical organizations giving direct orders and instead for organizations to simply put out loads of propaganda in the hopes that an adherent will commit terror on their own volition. Those attacks are called “terror-inspired.”

But for Johnson, the fact that many Muslims in the U.S. have the potential to be radicalized doesn’t mean the country should follow GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s approach to restrict Muslim immigration.

Rather, it means the U.S. should be focused on “building bridges to diverse communities.”

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the panel, noted that “In all, Islamic extremist terrorist have killed 63 people on U.S. soil since our committee last held its annual hearing to consider threats to the homeland.”

Just a week prior to the hearing, police captured Ahmad Khan Rahami, a Muslim behind the bombings in New York City and New Jersey. Before being captured, Rahami was injured in a shoot-out with police. He had planned the bombs for months, writing in his journal praise for Osama bin Laden and other jihadis.

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