U.S. Can’t Track All of the American Jihadists Home From Syria
Eli Lake of The Daily Beast reports that “more than 100 Americans have joined the jihad in Syria to fight alongside Sunni terrorists there.” The Syrian opposition has already noticed and condemned the presence of foreign fighters, who number in the thousands, but so many of the extremists fighting in Syria carry Western passports that it is difficult for U.S. intelligence to determine who has returned. Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center Matthew Olsen says the main concern for national security is the undetected return of “radicalized individuals with extremist contacts and battlefield experience” and a mission against their home countries.