WASHINGTON: The United States is not aware of any specific threat to the US homeland from Islamic State (IS) militants, the Department of Homeland Security said yesterday after Britain raised its international terrorism threat level.
Islamic State militants and their supporters, however, “have demonstrated the intent and capability to target American citizens overseas,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. He noted that DHS took steps over the summer to strengthen security at overseas airports with direct flights to the United States.
Johnson said he has spoken to UK Home Secretary Theresa May about Britain’s decision to raise its terrorism alert to the second-highest level. It is the first time since mid-2011 that Britain has been placed on this high of an alert level.
US authorities are particularly concerned about former foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq who have British or other European passports that would allow them to enter the United States with instant visas and minimal security vetting.
US and European officials have estimated that as many as 100 Americans have traveled to Syria or Iraq to fight with militants, along with four or five times as many Britons and hundreds of other Western Europeans.
“This is a threat that the United States has been focused on. We’ve been coordinating closely with our allies, both the Brits, but others in Europe, about countering this threat and mitigating it,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing.
There was no plan to raise the US threat assessment level, he said. While the United States once characterized threats under a system of color coded warnings, the Obama administration abandoned that system and now issues warnings targeted to particular transport or economic sectors.
The US military’s bombing raids and other operations in Iraq cost about $7.5m a day, the Pentagon said.
Since IS militants seized territory in northern and western Iraq in June, President Barack Obama has deployed about 865 US troops to Iraq to bolster security for American diplomats and advise Baghdad government forces fighting the extremists.
Both manned and unmanned US aircraft have flown surveillance flights to track IS jihadists and since August 8, American warplanes have carried out more than 100 air strikes against the militants — most of them around the strategic Mosul dam in the north.
REUTERS
