No kidding, really? That’s why Olsen holds his lofty position — because of insightful analyses like this one that no one else ever thought of. One wonders if he is ever puzzled by the fact that this entity that his boss and everyone around him thinks has nothing to do with Islam has enough adherents among Muslims in the U.S. for him to have to make this assessment.
“ISIL Stealing Upwards of $1 Million a Day to Fund Its Terror Regime,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, September 10, 2014:
The United States’ top counterterrorism official warned that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) is stealing some $1 million dollars a day to fund its operations and could have the ability to convince its American sympathizers to conduct terror strikes “here at home with no warning.”
Matthew Olsen, director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, recently delivered a candid and at times surprising assessment of ISIL’s capabilities and threat, concluding that the group “poses a direct and significant threat to us,” according to a transcript of his remarks before the Brookings Institution.
As President Barack Obama prepares to delivery an address to the nation Wednesday evening about ISIL, Olsen warned in his speech that, “left unchecked, [ISIL] will seek to carry out attacks closer to home.”
ISIL already has recruited upwards of 10,000 extremist fighters, including some from America, and currently controls territories “similar in size to the UK,” according to Olsen, who discussed the ways in which ISIL funds its terrorist activities.
“ISIL takes in as much as one million dollars per day from illicit oil sales, smuggling, and ransom payments,” Olsen said, adding that the group is quickly becoming a threat larger and more equipped than al Qaeda.
As ISIL grows in influence—due in part to its outsized presence on social media sites—the group could persuade sympathizers in the United States to carry out deadly attacks on the homeland.
“We remain mindful of the possibility that an ISIL-sympathizer—perhaps motivated by online propaganda—could conduct a limited, self-directed attack here at home with no warning,” Olsen said.
The FBI has already “arrested more than half a dozen individuals seeking to travel from the U.S. to Syria to support ISIL,” he warned.
ISIL, Olsen noted in terms not often employed by Obama administration officials, “poses a direct and significant threat to us—and to Iraqi and Syrian civilians—in the region and potentially to us here at home.”
The terror group’s major successes have been twofold: It is skilled on the battlefield as well as the propaganda front, Olsen said.
“ISIL has proven to be an effective fighting force,” he said. The group “views itself as the new leader of the global jihad. It operates the most sophisticated propaganda machine of any extremist group. ISIL disseminates timely, high-quality media content on multiple platforms, including on social media, designed to secure a widespread following for the group.”
ISIL has appealed to extremists across the world and seems to have surpassed al Qaeda as the terror group du jour, he said.
“We have seen ISIL use a range of media to tout its military capabilities, executions of captured soldiers, and consecutive battlefield victories,” Olsen explained. “More recently, the group’s supporters have sustained this momentum on social media by encouraging attacks in the U.S. and against U.S. interests in retaliation for our airstrikes. ISIL has used this propaganda campaign to draw foreign fighters to the group, including many from Western countries.”
The group has already proven that it can carry out terror attacks in Western countries.
“ISIL has the potential to use its safe haven to plan and coordinate attacks in Europe and the U.S.,” Olsen warned. “This threat became real this past year with the shooting in the Brussels museum by an ISIL fighter and with the arrest of an individual in France who was connected to ISIL and possessed several explosive devices.”
Jay Boo says
but first,
A BRIEF VISIT of the SONGBIRD
Truth is like a gentle songbird resting in the palm of each hand.
It sings such sweet songs of joy and peace and love
throughout all of Islam’s wasteland.
Now we know the (true reason) that all Muslims must
wash before their morning prayers begin,
to clean all its feathers from their bloodied hands.
Don McKellar says
Is he puzzled? His boss is the Puzzler! Of course he’s puzzled!
Huck Folder says
Deceived? allah is the greatest deceiver, likewise his sockpuppet obuMBoy.
Look how he deceives millions of moslems to not only kill each other, but to terrorize and torture by beheading and crucifixion.
And obuMBoy deceives millions of Americans.
AnneM says
Does not surprise me.
Sid says
Ooops. He said “global jihad”. Dass ist verboten, nein?
voegelinian says
At least we know from the Counter-Jihad consensus that Muslims who are American and Canadian citizens can’t possibly be suspect, since citizenship magically transforms them into harmless Muslims — particularly when superficially they manifest no signs of extremist appearance or behavior. We can rest easy on that front, and only suspect the non-citizen Muslims who tells us in advance that they are extremists. Whew! Thanks Counter-Jihad consensus, for putting my mind at ease!
mortimer says
Close to criticizing Obama’s boneheaded refusal to teach CIA and FBI about jihad, Olsen says: “ISIL…poses a direct and significant threat to us…at home”.
Why? Because Obama’s directives have left agencies unequipped to RECOGNIZE THE JIHADISTS!
Bring Robert Spencer back to brief the CIA and FBI.
Leith Wood says
Thank you Mortimer! I hope Mr. Olsen keeps speaking out and people start listening. Mr. Spencer must have scared the hell out of the FBI and CIA. I called the FBI last year to complain about the rewriting of the FBI handbook, excluding any mention of Jihad, etc. The phone clicked off four times. I was disconnected. It made me angry, so I called Michelle Bachman’s office and told them the story. They said they would pass the info on.
TH says
What is the NSA doing? Spending its fat budget on snooping on law abiding Americans and foreign leaders such as Merkel. Could it not do something to hack the ISIL high tech folks?
GP says
Just remember that the DOJ and WH both claim that the Fort Hood massacre was an incident of “workplace violence”.
Dave J says
NPR had some ex-CIA guy on the other day who admitted that the current IS problem is almost impossible to infiltrate, so intelligence is very scarce.
Basically its a lot easier to spy on Americans, grope them at the airport and be on guard for any greasy Islamophobia than it is to really stand up to the beheaders.
Kind of like the drug cops busting the unarmed amateur potheads while passing on the truly dangerous and well armed criminal heroin gangs.
Most people (except jihadists) want to go home to their families in the evening.
R Davis says
IF THE U.S. & IT’S EUROPEAN BUDDIES –
Oh, & Davis Cameron – may the carriage that will transport him to heaven come soon – for he is hard on the eyes & ears.
KEEP POKING STICKS AT RUSSIA – IT WILL BE PUTIN WHO WILL “strike” THE U.S., EVERYONE IS SICK TO THE BACK TEETH OF THIS GAME ROBERT – social media is crying out for Israel to be leveled – THE WAR IN UKRAINE WAS TOTALLY THE DOING OF THE U.S. & GERMANY & IT’S E.U. THUGS – THERE WAS NO NEED FOR ALL THIS – WHY ? – WHY ? – Unless it is to destroy & take over Russia.
Russia will not let that happen – never – if it means that they vanish off the face of the earth they will take The U.S. with them, trust me.
R Davis says
Stay cool Robert,