DHS Confirms Threat to US from Foreign Fighters with Western Passports

Press Release

Today, the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, chaired by U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., held a hearing entitled "One Flight Away: An Examination of the Threat posed by ISIS Terrorists with Western Passports."

At the hearing, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, questioned DHS witnesses on the potential for individuals with Western passports, who have joined the ISIS's fight against America, to jump on a flight back to the United States undetected, with the intention of harming and killing Americans. Chairman McCaul reiterated his concern that unknown terrorists -- those with no criminal record or intelligence traces -- could use a valid U.S. passport or the Visa Waiver Program to enter and exit the United States.

DHS's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Office of Intelligence and Analysis, as well as the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism testified on the federal government's efforts to prevent terrorist travel internationally.

"My biggest concern is we don't have sufficient intelligence, human intelligence, in particular in Syria, to identify the 100 to 200 Americans that are over there, and that we don't have sufficient intelligence on these tens of thousands of foreign fighters that could board an airplane and come into the United States…" said Chairman McCaul. "When I ask the question "Do we have a high degree of confidence?' as to who these people are over there, I'm not always satisfied with the answer. I think the honest answer is "We don't.' I would urge this administration - and I'm hopeful that the president tonight will articulate a policy, a strong policy, since we pulled out of Iraq completely without a status of forces agreement and left a vacuum there that has developed into what is one of the biggest threats to the homeland in Iraq and Syria - that we regain that reconnaissance, that intelligence, and also that intelligence on the ground to determine who is over there so that we can stop them from coming back to the United States and killing Americans."

Subcommittee Chairman Miller said "Although CBP continuously vets all visa applicants against our terrorism holdings, that information is imperfect if we do not have a complete picture of an individual's travel route -- collecting more information up front may be helpful to do just that."

DHS said they are reviewing the collection of additional data on individuals in the Visa Waiver Program. "As an operational organization, we're always looking for additional sources of information to help us paint a better picture of a traveler - if we can figure out what their intentions are by having access to additional information and how we would us it, in what circumstances we would use it and how we would protect it," said John Wagner, Assistant CBP Commissioner for Office of Field Operations.

Tony Miller, Acting Assistant CBP Commissioner for Intelligence and Investigative stated this is a concern for DHS as well. "We continue to look at the known terrorists to look at travel patterns, to look at who they're connected to, to look at some of the data elements that we may be able to utilize to identify future people," he said.

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