Republican top intelligence officials warned of the “highest level of a possible terrorist threat” and called on the Biden administration to release information on terrorist threats after eight individuals with suspected ties to ISIS were in the United States last week arrested.
Republican Ohio Congressman Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, where he said the threat was “no longer speculative and no longer hypothetical.”
“We have terrorists actively working in the United States who pose a threat to Americans,” Turner said.
Last week, eight Tajik nationals with alleged links to ISIS were arrested in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia after US officials warned for months of a possible terror attack on the US.
Turner told moderator Margaret Brennan that he could not confirm or deny the details of the arrests, but he pointed to recent testimony from U.S. law enforcement officials who warned of the growing threat of a terrorist attack.
Congressman Mike Turner warned on Face the Nation that the terror threat is ‘no longer speculative, no longer hypothetical’ and called on the Biden administration to release information on terrorist threats
Earlier this month, Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before a House committee that he “concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack in the country after October 7′ and that ‘the threat level to us has increased enormously’.
Separately, FBI Director Christopher Wray said they “I have seen the threat of foreign terrorists rise to a whole new level after the October 7 Hamas attack.
In December, Wray said, “I’ve never seen a time where threats were at such a high level all the time.”
Turner demanded that the Biden administration share more information about heightened threats on Sunday.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before the House Judiciary Committee on June 4. During the hearing, he said the threat of a terror attack on the US has increased “tremendously.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray said terrorist threats against the US have risen to a “whole different level” and warned that the US-Mexico border poses unique challenges.
“Of the threat that we have made and continue to make, and what this government must be held to, is that they must release the information about the terrorist threats that they see so that there can be a public debate about what the risks and threats from the government,” Turner said.
Turner claimed that it ‘remarkable and expected as a result of the Biden administration’s policies.”
The Biden administration and Republicans have been fighting for years over how to handle the border and immigration system, but a recent bipartisan bill to address border security failed after Republicans spoke out against it under pressure from Donald Trump.
Encounters involving illegal border crossings into the United States from Mexico reached a record high in December before the number of illegal border crossings fell this year.