House Homeland Security panel releases October report on terror

The Terror Threat Snapshot for October released Oct. 6 by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said efforts to stop Americans and others from traveling to join jihadists overseas have largely failed, among other conclusions.

The monthly assessment by the committee also said the terrorist group ISIS is alive and well.

“Islamist extremist groups are consolidating their control over crucial terrain and seizing the initiative to expand their global footprint," McCaul said. "Destabilizing aggressors, from the Putin regime in Russia to the world’s leading state sponsor of terror in Iran, are filling the void of American withdrawal to disastrous effect.

“This global surge in radicalism and instability has directly contributed to the elevated threat level here at home. We need decisive American leadership that starts with shoring up our defenses and advancing a credible strategy to stop the threats at the source.”

The report is a monthly assessment of the committee’s continuing effort to highlight the growing threat America, the West, and the world face from ISIS and other Islamist terrorists.

The October report said the Homeland Security Committee’s bipartisan Foreign Fighter Task Force found that authorities have only managed to stop a tiny fraction of the hundreds of aspiring U.S. jihadists from leaving the country to join terrorists abroad. Moreover, the U.S. government lacks a strategy for combating terrorist travel and security gaps overseas are putting the American homeland in danger.