Al Qaeda or ISIS could attack America in competition to see which is the ‘biggest and baddest’, warns Obama terror chief

A trio of advisers to the president warned a congressional committee on Wednesday that Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are competing against each other to be the dominant terrorist group and that rivalry could lead to an attack on the U.S.

Responding to a question from GOP Rep. Peter King, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, and National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen expressed concern over the tug-of-war and acceded that Al Qaeda may be trying to reassert itself as the leading global terrorist network.

'These groups are in competition with one another for attention, for fundraising, for recruitment, and one way to compete is to show that you're the biggest and baddest group out there,' Johnson told members of the House Homeland Security Committee. 

'The logic of it is compelling,' Comey concurred. 'You're not going to be the leader in the global jihad without striking America.' 

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, center, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) James Comey, left, and Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Matthew Olsen, right, appeared before the House Homeland Security Committee today to update members on 'Worldwide Threats to the Homeland'

Olsen said the recent announcement by core Al Qaeda of a new affiliate in India could be interpreted as an indication that it's trying to reaffirm it's supremacy.

Al Qaeda and ISIS were once a part of the terrorist group in Iraq but the two groups parted ways earlier this year as the Islamic State's tactics became increasingly barbaric. Since then, Al Qaeda has denied any affiliation between their group and ISIS. 

They are now in 'what appears to be a competition' to 'see who is the true heir apparent to [Osama] Bin Laden,' Homeland Security Committee chairman Mike McCaul told his colleagues during today's hearing.

'It's a dangerous competition. And the way I see it, is to up the anty, what better way to do that than to attack the West,' he expounded.

McCaul said in a statement at the start of the hearing that the U.S. needs to only only rollback ISIS in Iraq, it needs to 'destroy them wherever they emerge' lest they grow to become an even greater threat to the U.S.

'Let us be clear, our nation is at war with this group and the twisted ideology it is seeking to spread,' he said.

And 'if we do not take the fight to the enemy oversees, we risk having to fight them here at home.'

 

 

The Texas Republican's comments came as new evidence of ISIS' designs on the U.S. emerged online. 

A Hollywood-style film trailer released by ISIS on Tuesday that claims to be a preview of what is 'coming soon' suggests the terrorist group may attack the White House if the president enlists American combat troops to fight alongside the Iraqi army.

While the the 52-second video, which has since been removed by YouTube, does not explicitly name the White House as a target, footage of the the president's quarters alludes to the group's intentions.

In a speech to servicemen and women at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, this afternoon, President Barack Obama admonished the extremist group and promised that the U.S. would hunt down and destroy them.

'Whether in Iraq or in Syria,' the president said, 'these terrorists will learn the same thing that leaders of al-Qaeda already know: We mean what we say.'

'Our reach is long. If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven. We will find you eventually,' he added.

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Ominous: A new ISIS video, which has since been taken down by YouTube, includes a brief and shaky clip of the White House as a car drives past - clearly threatening the home of the U.S. president

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New York City police officers stand guard in Times Square on Wednesday after a blog affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) mentioned the iconic city center as a target for bombing

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President Obama admonished ISIS this afternoon and promised the group that 'If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven. We will find you eventually'

The United States intelligence community believes that ISIS has now convinced as many as 30,000 people, including 15,000 foreigners, to join its missions in Iraq and Syria. 

The Pentagon estimates that 100 Americans have also joined ISIS' ranks, and U.S. officials fear that they could return home and commit acts of terrorism. 

During today's Homeland Security hearing McCaul pressed the Obama administration officials on their level of 'confidence' that the government capturing Americans aligned with ISIS.

'We have a reasonable degree of confidence, not a high degree of confidence...that we know the numbers and who is attempting to travel,' Johnson told him.

Comey explained that his agency spends its whole day 'sorting among that group to find the bad guys' and that it is able to jail many of them before they leave the country or as they attempt to come back.

But given the nature of the group, Comey said, he's not 'over confident' about their ability to catch each and every one of them.

The FBI chief assured McCaul that agents scour the internet looking for people who have been radicalized, however, 'in a country this big and this free,' he said, it's sometimes difficult to arrest people before they've committed a crime.

And while the FBI is 'interested' in suspending the passports of suspected would be terrorists like the British government, Comey later said, that may be a violation of due process rights.

 

Johnson and other members of Obama's cabinet have repeatedly stated that they've seen no evidence of an imminent threat from ISIS at home or abroad. 

'Having said that, we do need to be vigilant,' Johnson said today. 'We do need to be aware of the risk of potential infiltration by ISIL or any other terrorist group.' 

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