Examining the Threat from ISIS and al Qaeda

Chairman Rose, Ranking Member Walker, and other members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. We are living in difficult times. Americans have many threats to worry about. The challenges we face are daunting – from the coronavirus pandemic to domestic terrorists to foreign actors seeking to exploit our divisions to various cyberthreats. This committee has to monitor many different types of issues, so I appreciate that you have not lost sight of the fact that al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) are still active. Even though most of their violence is carried out overseas, both groups are deeply anti-American and would like to exploit any holes in our defenses that they can find.

First, I would like to make several general observations. I will then turn to a brief analysis of recent events. My general points are as follows…

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