• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

State Dept hasn’t canceled passports of any US-based Islamic State jihadis

Dec 3, 2014 11:08 am By Robert Spencer

john-kerry-Why not? When they went to fight for the Islamic State, they were joining an entity that considers itself at war with the United States. That is treason, and they should be treated like traitors or enemy combatants. But that, of course, would require a sane administration and media establishment.

“State Dept. Has Not Cancelled Passports of Any ‘ISIS or Foreign Fighters’ Returning to U.S.,” by Susan Jones, CNS News, December 3, 2014 (thanks to Lookmann):

(CNSNews.com) – The United States must use “all of the tools at our disposal” to deal with the threat posed by Americans and other Westerners who go to Syria and Iraq to fight with ISIS, a State Department official told Congress on Tuesday.

But so far, that does not include revoking the passports of U.S. citizens who have traveled to Syria to fight with ISIS.

“Has the State Department cancelled the passports of any U.S. citizens who have joined any terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq?” Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) asked Ambassador Robert Bradtke on Tuesday at a hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

“To my knowledge, the State Department has not cancelled any passports,” responded Bradtke, a senior adviser with the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism who was called out of retirement to focus on foreign fighters.

“As Secretary Kerry said, he does have the authority to revoke passports. And this is something we would only do in relatively rare and unique circumstances because of the importance for average Americans (to) have the freedom to travel,” Bradtke said.

“We would only do it also in consultations with law enforcement authorities. And we have not yet had any requests from law enforcement authorities to cancel the passports of ISIS or foreign fighters. So again, we have the authority; it is one tool; we do have other tools to use as well in this regard.”

A second government official told lawmakers that the no-fly list is one of those other tools:

“Congressman, if we have indications that someone on the no-fly list is trying to fly back to the United States, we would deny them boarding,” said Thomas Warrick a deputy assistant secretary for counter-terrorism policy at the Department of Homeland Security.

“If someone shows up in the United States and there’s indications that that person has been a foreign fighter in Syria, it would be referred to the FBI, and then it would be a matter for law enforcement,” Warrick explained.

“We would have the ability at the border to ask any questions that were necessary and appropriate; we would have the ability and the authority to inspect their luggage, inspect their personal possessions, in order to determine whether they were or were not a foreign fighter who had been fighting with ISIL. Anything like this, I can assure you, is taken extremely seriously.”

Later in the hearing, Warrick was asked what would happen if an Irish national, for example, tried to come to the U.S. after fighting with terrorists in Syria.

“Where somebody has been identified as a foreign fighter fighting for ISIL in Syria…they’re going to be in all likelihood on a no-fly list or another list of the U.S. government that is going to attract a great deal of attention before they’re allowed to get on board an airplane for the United States.”

But Warrick admitted that the no-fly list can’t guarantee that foreign fighters will be kept out of this country:

“Well, they wouldn’t be able to fly here,” he said. “The no-fly list obviously doesn’t apply to other modes of transportation. However, I can assure you that there are equal or equivalent measures in place so that somebody on the no-fly list is almost certainly not going to be allowed entry into the United States, if they come by cruise ship or if they fly to Canada, for example…and they were to try, let’s say, to come across the U.S.-Canadian border.”

No one mentioned the U.S.-Mexico border, which was overwhelmed by an influx of people from Central America just a few months ago….

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Featured, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), United States, Useful idiots Tagged With: U.S. State Department


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. Jeff says

    Dec 3, 2014 at 11:16 am

    Obama is going to do as much damage to the USA in his last 2 years as he can. I think his presidency and admin will be the undoing of the progressives for many years to come. People are getting wise to them.

  2. noellsq says

    Dec 3, 2014 at 11:26 am

    Our POTUS only thinks of himself nothing about this country. He would do what ever the UN wanted. I believe him and Holder have put race relations back 20 years. I also believe that he believes in ISIS but will not say so. Why did he wait so long to start bombing?

  3. Don McKellar says

    Dec 3, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    Welcome back, nazis and SS men on leave from your positions at the concentration camps — to go camping in Yellowstone! Welcome back, communists on leave from your position with KGB selling American secrets, so you can winter in Miami! Welcome back Islamic jihadi, on vacation from your work with the Islamic State, murdering, enslaving, raping, plotting bombings of Amercian targets, and now kicking it in your uncle the sheik’s Beverly Hills estate! Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back!

  4. somehistory says

    Dec 3, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    These guys, like Kerry, and his boss, cannot be trusted to do the right thing.
    “Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils (Isaiah 2:22.”

  5. gp says

    Dec 3, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    The White House was much too busy attending the Ferguson funeral and following the mischief of Eric Holder and Al Sharpton to worry about ISIS and terrorists and the safety of America. After all, the bad guys are the police not ISIS terrorists who are simply following the “Religion of Peace”.

  6. Myxlplik says

    Dec 3, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    “That is treason, and they should be treated like traitors or enemy combatants. But that, of course, would require a sane administration and media establishment.”

    I think our administration is quite sane, they know who the Muslim Brotherhood is, what it stands for and what it’s goals are, yet it has and continues to allow the M.B. to drive it’s policies in regards to Islam and the Middle East. What our administration does or doesn’t do regarding traitors fighting for ISIS is entirely in line with its over all treasons policies.

    Obama and all of his MB handlers should be prosecuted for treason, and punished to the fullest extent of the law.

    • Salah says

      Dec 3, 2014 at 11:53 pm

      “Obama and all of his MB handlers should be prosecuted for treason, and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

      Amen to that.

  7. Richie says

    Dec 3, 2014 at 6:25 pm

    Because liberals like Obama are pro Islam because of their shared hatreds; a hatred of the Jews and desire to see the Jews driven out of Israel

  8. Tom W Harris says

    Dec 4, 2014 at 12:15 am

    Kerry looks more like a hairdresser than a diplomat in that pic. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  9. Lorensacho says

    Dec 4, 2014 at 9:28 am

    Well maybe the State Department is too busy cancelling the visa of an Israeli basketball player owned by the Indiana Pacers to spend any time on security threats like retuning Jihadists.

  10. BW022 says

    Dec 4, 2014 at 10:53 am

    This is just amazing. Canada revoked passports of ISIS suspects back in September. It didn’t need any specific requests from law enforcement, nor can I understand why the US States Department wouldn’t take some initiative and simply ask the FBI if it wanted to revoke passports?

    Yes… I could imagine some cases in which you might not wish to pull a passport because you *want* that person travelling for some ongoing covert surveillance, they work for the CIA or something, but… if they are on a no-fly-list anyway… why not revoke the passport just to make extra sure… and to make it harder for anyone on a boat or land crossing to get into the US — or third country. More importantly, “no-fly list” does not mean arrest and hold. Someone with a pulled passport would be arrested upon entry into a country — since they can’t be returned.

    There is no harm to any American citizens. Even if you made a mistake and pulled the wrong passport (assuming that person was outside the US at the time), the worst that would happen is someone would arrive in the US or third country with an pulled passport and be stopped by their immigration folks. They would then be held and the embassy or FBI contacted. They could then interview that person and quickly determine if an obvious mistake was made — they are six years-old, they couldn’t be in Syria since they were in the US, etc.

    I’m starting to wonder if the US just doesn’t want to deal with the fact that it is going to end up with such people returning and it is going to need to actually have laws, courts, prisons, etc. do deal with this?

  11. john says

    Dec 4, 2014 at 11:35 am

    as i see this country foundation crumble .i am troubled about why are family values are being attacked by so many fronts.what made this country great over the last 200 years was love of GOD and country plus family was a way of life.now they blame everything on some else.accept no responsibility .and learn how evade the law of the land.you are seeing this daily. sad as it is it start with our leader .until we get back to the basics put GOD back in our lives and trust him.i can only more discord down the road

  12. Darren says

    Dec 4, 2014 at 12:48 pm

    Don’t worry the Department of Homeland Insecurity will get right on this. They are such astute observers they even managed to lose track of one million foreigners inside the country. Let us hope the muslim world never tries sneaking a couple of divisions inside the country.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/30/homeland-security-loses-track-of-1-million-foreign/?page=all

  13. Maryann says

    Dec 4, 2014 at 12:50 pm

    What does anyone expect from this White House, he is a Muslim. I don’t understand why Comgress can’t do something about him. We a are going down the tubes!

  14. PatnCats says

    Dec 4, 2014 at 5:54 pm

    “Neiggggghhhhh! Where’s the racetrack? That botox makes him look even weirder. Very very strange. Someone ought to tell him.

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • SKA on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West
  • Eva on Chief Rabbi of UK Says It’s ‘Alarming’ That 44% of Muslims Are Anti-Semitic
  • Eva on Chief Rabbi of UK Says It’s ‘Alarming’ That 44% of Muslims Are Anti-Semitic
  • Infidel on Chief Rabbi of UK Says It’s ‘Alarming’ That 44% of Muslims Are Anti-Semitic
  • Eva on Chief Rabbi of UK Says It’s ‘Alarming’ That 44% of Muslims Are Anti-Semitic

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.