TERRORISM“High Risk” from Foreign, Domestic Terrorists: U.S.
DHS warned Thursday of a “high risk” from domestic and foreign terrorists for the coming year. The department’s threat assessment points to the prevalence of conspiracy theories, personal grievances and what it describes as “enduring racial, ethnic, religious, and anti-government ideologies,” often shared in online forums, all serving to motivate small groups and individuals within the U.S.
U.S. officials are warning of a “high risk” from domestic and foreign terrorists for the coming year, part of a new threat assessment released Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The report points to the prevalence of conspiracy theories, personal grievances and what it describes as “enduring racial, ethnic, religious, and anti-government ideologies,” often shared in online forums, all serving to motivate small groups and individuals within the U.S.
It also warns that prominent foreign terror groups, like al-Qaida and the Islamic State, are actively seeking to rebuild their brands and will be looking to inspire followers to carry out acts of violence.
“Foreign terrorists continue to engage with supporters online to solicit funds, create and share media, and encourage attacks,” according to the 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment, calling out the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, also known as IS-Khorasan or ISIS-K.
IS-Khorasan “has garnered more prominence through a spate of high-casualty attacks overseas and English‐language media releases that aim to globalize the group’s local grievances among Western audiences,” the report says.
Additionally, the new assessment warns that foreign terrorists appear to be probing the U.S. for soft spots.
“Individuals with terrorism connections are interested in using established travel routes and permissive environments to facilitate access to the United States,” it says.
The latest assessment is largely consistent with a National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin that DHS issued in May, when it warned the U.S. was stuck in a “heightened threat environment.”
But the warnings about IS-Khorasan and potential attempts by foreign terrorists to infiltrate the U.S. stand out in the wake of recent statements by DHS officials and those from other U.S. agencies that seemingly sought to reassure Americans about their safety.
In March, for example, DHS counterterrorism coordinator Nicholas Rasmussen said the possibility of an attack resembling the one on Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four aircraft and killed nearly 3,000 people, was “almost inconceivable.”
“We have achieved what I would call [a] suppressive effect on the ability of groups like ISIS and al-Qaida to carry out large-scale attacks here in the homeland,” Rasmussen said at the time, using an acronym for Islamic State.
And Monday, on the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack, National Counterterrorism Center Director Christy Abizaid said al-Qaida in Afghanistan is practically dead.
“Its revival is unlikely,” she said. “It has lost target access, leadership talent, group cohesion, rank-and-file commitment, and an accommodating local environment.”
