(CNSNews.com) - Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon press briefing yesterday that “because of open borders and immigration issues,” the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is an “immediate threat.”
In the context of this ISIL threat, Dempsey said he had had conversations with his European colleagues "about their southern flank." He did not specifically mention the U.S.-Mexico border, which is the southern flank of the United States.
Seven years ago, then-National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell publicly warned that terrorists were coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, and that "a significant number of Iraqis" had been "smuggled across illegally" the previous year.
"Now some we caught, some we didn't," McConnel told the El Paso Times inan interview published on Aug. 22, 2007. "The ones that get in, what are we going to do? They're going to write home. So, it's not rocket science, word will move around.
At yesterday's Defense Department briefing, a reporter asked Dempsey and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel: “Is it the calculation, though, that ISIL presents a 9/11 level threat to the United States?”
“ISIL is as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen,” said Hagel. “They're beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded.
“Oh, this is beyond anything that we've seen,” said Hagel. “So we must prepare for everything. And the only way you do that is that you take a cold, steely, hard look at it and get ready.”
Dempsey then added that the immediacy of the threat arose from non-Middle Easterners who had travelled to the area controlled by ISIL and who shared the group’s “ideology.”
“Well, the immediacy is in the number of Europeans and other nationalities who have come to the region to become part of that ideology,” said Dempsey. “And those folks can go home at some point. It's why I have conversations with my European colleagues about their southern flank of NATO, which I think is actually more threatened in the near term than we are.
“Nevertheless,” Dempsey continued, “because of open borders and immigration issues, it's an immediate threat. That is to say, the fighters who may leave the current fight and migrate home.
“Longer term, it's about ISIL's vision,” said Dempsey, “which includes -- I actually call ISIL, here we go, right, ISIS, I-S-I-S, because it's easier for me to remember that their long-term vision is the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. And al-Sham includes Lebanon, the current state of Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Kuwait.
“If they were to achieve that vision, it would fundamentally alter the face of the Middle East and create a security environment that would certainly threaten us in many ways,” said Dempsey.
In the past, federal officials have publicly stated that terrorists have come across the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...open-borders-and-immigration-issues-make-isil
In the context of this ISIL threat, Dempsey said he had had conversations with his European colleagues "about their southern flank." He did not specifically mention the U.S.-Mexico border, which is the southern flank of the United States.
Seven years ago, then-National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell publicly warned that terrorists were coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, and that "a significant number of Iraqis" had been "smuggled across illegally" the previous year.
"Now some we caught, some we didn't," McConnel told the El Paso Times inan interview published on Aug. 22, 2007. "The ones that get in, what are we going to do? They're going to write home. So, it's not rocket science, word will move around.
At yesterday's Defense Department briefing, a reporter asked Dempsey and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel: “Is it the calculation, though, that ISIL presents a 9/11 level threat to the United States?”
“ISIL is as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen,” said Hagel. “They're beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded.
“Oh, this is beyond anything that we've seen,” said Hagel. “So we must prepare for everything. And the only way you do that is that you take a cold, steely, hard look at it and get ready.”
Dempsey then added that the immediacy of the threat arose from non-Middle Easterners who had travelled to the area controlled by ISIL and who shared the group’s “ideology.”
“Well, the immediacy is in the number of Europeans and other nationalities who have come to the region to become part of that ideology,” said Dempsey. “And those folks can go home at some point. It's why I have conversations with my European colleagues about their southern flank of NATO, which I think is actually more threatened in the near term than we are.
“Nevertheless,” Dempsey continued, “because of open borders and immigration issues, it's an immediate threat. That is to say, the fighters who may leave the current fight and migrate home.
“Longer term, it's about ISIL's vision,” said Dempsey, “which includes -- I actually call ISIL, here we go, right, ISIS, I-S-I-S, because it's easier for me to remember that their long-term vision is the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. And al-Sham includes Lebanon, the current state of Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Kuwait.
“If they were to achieve that vision, it would fundamentally alter the face of the Middle East and create a security environment that would certainly threaten us in many ways,” said Dempsey.
In the past, federal officials have publicly stated that terrorists have come across the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...open-borders-and-immigration-issues-make-isil
