The FBI is setting up command centers at all of its 56 field offices across the country ahead of the July 4 weekend, to monitor any potential terrorist threats, law enforcement sources have revealed.
Sources told Fox News that local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. will be reporting any information about possible attacks to these command centers - where officials will decide how to respond.
The move comes amid growing fears that the terror group ISIS is working to awaken sleeper cells in Western nations, after sympathizers were linked to three back-to-back attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia last Friday.
While the FBI says there has been no specific credible threat so far, it seems to be more active in its warnings and actions ahead of Independence Day this year than previously.
Scroll down for video
The FBI is setting up command centers at each of its 56 field offices across the country ahead of the July 4th weekend over fears of a possible ISIS-inspired terrorist attack. This graph shows all the field offices except for the ones in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico
This global map shows where ISIS has seized land, where it is expanding its support and where it has committed terror attacks. Most worryingly, it also reveals the countries where ISIS terrorists hope to carry out imminent attacks, including America. ISIS also wants to cause deadly disruption to Muslim regions of the world before the holy month of Ramadan ends on July 18
Another law enforcement source told Fox that the FBI has even been working to take known sympathizers for groups like ISIS off the streets of America before the symbolic holiday.
Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, has warned citizens to 'remain vigilant' this weekend
That could mean arresting these alleged sympathizers on U.S. soil on lesser charges and building a broader case while they are temporarily in custody over the holiday weekend.
The FBI is specifically concerned about targets like shopping malls - where there are large groups of people but relatively little security.
Rep Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security has already warned Americans to 'remain vigilant' to terror attacks.
He also said that ISIS was no longer a regionalized threat but a global one.
‘I am extremely concerned that Syrian and ISIS recruiters can use the internet at lightning speeds to recruit followers in the United States, with thousands of followers in the United States, and then activate them to do whatever they want to do,’ he said, during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.
‘Whether it’s military installations, law enforcement or possibly a Fourth of July event parade.’
He added that America’s response had been slow in comparison to extremists’ rapid advancement of their internet presence.
Referring to the terror attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait last Friday, he said: ‘In light of the three attacks in three hours on three continents overseas, (it) shows us that ISIS is not just regionalized like the administration says, only in Iraq and Syria, but rather demonstrates a global threat - that they can conduct external operations and they’re very savvy doing that over the internet.'
A gunman opened fire on a beach packed with tourists in Tunisia, killing 38; a decapitated body was found after an attacker rammed his car into a gas container, triggering an explosion in France, and a suicide bomber attacker a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City, killed 27 and injuring 227. There is as yet no evidence that the attacks were coordinated.
Meanwhile the FBI has issued a warning to local law enforcement officials across America about a heightened risk of terror attacks targeting Independence Day celebrations this weekend.
No specific threat has been made by the terror group but bulletins are frequently issued in advance of major U.S. holidays.
The Institute for the Study of War, an influential think tank based in Washington DC, says that ISIS is soon likely to target other Western nations like the UK, France, Spain and Italy.
A chilling map, predicts just where ISIS is expected to seize new land, strike in the west and awake 'sleeper cells' all before the end of Ramadan.
This week ISIS promised ‘paradise’ and ‘rewards in heaven’ for those who carry out attacks during the holy month for Muslims.
Isis fighters, such as the ones pictured here in Syria, appear to be carrying out their promise to step up attacks for the holy month of Ramadan
The aftermath of the suicide bomb that killed 27 innocent worshipers at a Shia mosque in Kuwait last week. The attack came after the Institute for the Study of War predicted that ISIS would target Shia holy sites in the Middle East
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3144666/The-FBI-setting-command-centers-nation-monitor-terror-threats-Fourth-July.html#ixzz3eeBJd41e
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment