A Terrorist Attack in the U.S.: State of Alert
A terrorist attack in the U.S. has remained a latent and constant fear; but with the arrest of several Tajik nationals, the fear has increased.
The recent arrest of eight Tajik nationals allegedly connected to ISIS has heightened concern among national security officials of a possible terrorist attack in the United States.
About the possibility of a dangerous member of the now splinter terrorist group carrying out an attack on U.S. soil.
Members of the group entered the United States through the southern border and applied for asylum under U.S. immigration law.
But it is unclear whether they arrived at the same time and through the same place.
By the time intelligence about ISIS targets overseas connected the men to the terrorist group, the men had already been vetted by immigration authorities and had obtained permission for entry.
Fears of a terrorist attack in the U.S. return with every attack on a Western city.
The attack on the twin towers, however, has left a constant wake of alarm.
A Terrorist Attack in the U.S.: State of Alert
While there is no hard evidence to indicate that they were sent to the United States as part of a terrorist plot raising fears of a terrorist attack in the United States, at least some of the Tajik nationals had expressed extremist rhetoric in their communications.
Either on social media or in direct private communications that U.S. intelligence was able to monitor, three officials said.
That discovery triggered an emergency investigation by federal agents and analysts across the country, the sources said, including physical and electronic surveillance of the men.
In the midst of a counterterrorism operation reminiscent of the years immediately following Sept. 11, when the FBI investigated numerous possible plots.
After a period of surveillance, federal officials faced a difficult decision: continue to monitor the men to determine if they were indeed part of some possible larger terrorist plot or network, or intervene and take them off the street.
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Rather than risk the worst-case scenario, which includes a possible terrorist attack in the United States, senior U.S. officials decided to intervene and have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detain the men, a source told CNN.
The men remain in federal custody on immigration charges and will eventually be deported following the counterterrorism investigation.
The fact that the men prevented from Tajikistan, a corner of Central Asia that in recent years has been a consistent source of recruitment by ISIS-K, the Afghanistan-based affiliate of the Islamic terrorist group, particularly concerned U.S. officials.
ISIS-K is run primarily by Tajiks, who have carried out a number of recent attacks in Europe on behalf of the group.
