Westerners that join ISIS – a big terror threat

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Of the 10,000 foreign fighters who have already joined militant groups in Syria and Iraq, 3,000 hold European or other Western passports, making it easy for them to travel across most borders.

U.S. officials report that as many as 100 foreign fighters hold U.S. passports, leading to worries that foreign fighters may return to the United States to launch an attack.

“It’s the largest number of Western fighters we have ever seen in a jihadist theater,” said Seth G. Jones, a former U.S. counterterrorism official now with the Rand Corporation.

According to Homeland Security News Wire in addition to concerns about terrorists relocating back to the United States to launch an attack, U.S. officials are worried that territories in Syria and Iraq held by militants belonging to the Sunni Muslim group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), could become sites for launching future attacks

Intelligence agencies have also intensified the screening of passenger manifests of flights in and out of Turkey, the main entry point to Syria.

A counterterrorism task force of FBI agents and federal prosecutors is investigating dozens of Americans who they believe have or plan to travel to Syria to join militants.