It’s no mystery that most FBI-foiled “ISIS plots” are paper thin, based on FBI informants pretending to be ISIS on Twitter and then trying to get people to commit to enough of a “plot” to justify arresting them, then bragging about preventing attacks.
Speaking to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs today, Director James Comey claimed that the bureau has “followed dozens of potential militants” full-time, and has disrupted their possible activities, assuming indeed they were planning any.
Comey’s evidence that this has accomplished anything is that there are comparatively few US recruits to ISIS compared to nations in Western Europe, saying there were only 250 Americans compared to 700 Britons. Of course, each of those numbers is just a rough estimate.
And to that end, Comey conceded that intelligence on ISIS is “inadequate,” and that even with 36 “watchers” following each suspect to cover them 24-7, he is not satisfied that they really have control over the assorted foreign fighters.
Wait a minute…36 "watchers" for each "suspect"? Is this what the FBI has become – a permanent stakeout to watch possible recruits to ISIS? How many friggin people does the FBI employ that they can afford to dedicate that many employees to watching "possible" recruits? Did everyone of those 250 Americans who were successful (supposedly) each have 36 "watchers" who failed to stop them from joining up with ISIS?
And why is joining up with ISIS such a big deal anyway. They're joining up and going to Syria where they will most likely die. And how much of a difference is 250 going to make in the grand scheme of things over there? Well, I guess if the Pentagon can field 54 supposedly trained fighters and expect them to turn the tide anything is possible. The point being if there are Americans who want to be martyrs here in this country, not being able to go to Syria and "train" is not going to change anything. They can learn whatever it is they think they need to learn right here. My feeling is, let em go. The FBI should have better things to keep them busy – like investigating Wall Street and Congress, IMO.
But, that's just this old Curmudgeon's opinion…
I recall I think it was in Florida The US government helping and providing explosives to some rather stupid young Muslims and than turning around and arresting them for being terrorists that the FBI had stopped . These kids would have never been able to accomplish any of this with out help .
OMG, has Coomey gotten approval from the CIA to interdict these ISIS recruits? Does one hand know what the other is doing? I think these efforts are "…misguided and doomed to failure."