Homeland chief: Homegrown attacks an increasing threat

FILE - In this March 21, 2016, file photo, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson addresses an audience during a forum at John F. Kennedy School of Government on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass. Bombings in New York and New Jersey, and a stabbing attack in Minnesota the same day, underscore that homegrown attacks inspired by violent extremists are as much a threat to the United States as those directed by terrorists, the nation’s Homeland Security chief said. Johnson said the U.S. should be ‘building bridges to diverse communities' to defend the homeland. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) FILE - In this March 21, 2016, file photo, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson addresses an audience during a forum at John F. Kennedy School of Government on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass. Bombings in New York and New Jersey, and a stabbing attack in Minnesota the same day, underscore that homegrown attacks inspired by violent extremists are as much a threat to the United States as those directed by terrorists, the nation’s Homeland Security chief said. Johnson said the U.S. should be ‘building bridges to diverse communities' to defend the homeland. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

By Associated Press September 27, 2016 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Bombings in New York and New Jersey – and a stabbing attack in Minnesota the same day – underscore that homegrown attacks inspired by violent extremists are as much a threat to the United States as those directed by terrorists, the nation’s Homeland Security chief says.

While all attacks are difficult to detect and prevent, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the United States and its allies continue to “take the fight militarily to terrorist organizations overseas” 15 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

In prepared testimony before a Senate committee Tuesday, Johnson said air strikes and special operations against the so-called Islamic State terror group have led to the deaths of a number of its leaders. While it remains a threat, the Islamic State has lost nearly half the populated areas it once controlled in Iraq and thousands of square miles in Syria, Johnson said.

At the same time it loses territory, the group has “increased its plotting on targets outside of Iraq and Syria and continues to encourage attacks in the United States,” Johnson said.

Johnson, FBI Director James Comey and Nicholas Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, are set to testify Tuesday as the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee looks at security threats 15 years after 9/11.