jimnyc
01-10-2014, 06:18 PM
Dozens of people from the U.S. who fought in Syria have returned home and are under FBI surveillance, but American officials fear that they haven't identified all of them, several senior officials told ABC News in interviews beginning last October.
The senior officials said that more than 50 "U.S. persons" -- a designation that covers both natural-born and naturalized citizens as well as those who have lived in the U.S. -- have returned here after battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the Middle Eastern nation's bloody civil war. One of the senior counter-terrorism officials went further, saying the actual number of returning U.S. fighters from Syria is classified but is "much higher" than 50.
Not all of those who have returned are considered "jihadis" who adhere to the anti-U.S. violent ideology espoused by the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but many are suspected of such sympathies, officials say.
Al Qaeda-aligned jihadi commanders in Syria screen new American arrivals in the ranks of foreign fighters to recruit those with clean passports who have the capability to conduct future operations against the West, two national security officials told ABC News.
One of the officials compared that process of selection to how the U.S. military screens raw recruits for Special Operations Forces qualification courses.
FBI Director James Comey said Thursday the threat is one of his "greatest concerns."
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-stateside-al-qaeda-threat-us-homeland-191006958--abc-news-topstories.html
The senior officials said that more than 50 "U.S. persons" -- a designation that covers both natural-born and naturalized citizens as well as those who have lived in the U.S. -- have returned here after battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the Middle Eastern nation's bloody civil war. One of the senior counter-terrorism officials went further, saying the actual number of returning U.S. fighters from Syria is classified but is "much higher" than 50.
Not all of those who have returned are considered "jihadis" who adhere to the anti-U.S. violent ideology espoused by the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but many are suspected of such sympathies, officials say.
Al Qaeda-aligned jihadi commanders in Syria screen new American arrivals in the ranks of foreign fighters to recruit those with clean passports who have the capability to conduct future operations against the West, two national security officials told ABC News.
One of the officials compared that process of selection to how the U.S. military screens raw recruits for Special Operations Forces qualification courses.
FBI Director James Comey said Thursday the threat is one of his "greatest concerns."
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-stateside-al-qaeda-threat-us-homeland-191006958--abc-news-topstories.html