Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement:
“The terrorist bombings in Brussels this morning – focused on the airport and transit system – bear all the hallmarks of an ISIS-inspired, or ISIS-coordinated, attack. Europe is facing a real threat from the thousands who have traveled abroad to Syria and Iraq to train with ISIS, and have returned home. It is enormously difficult to track all of them, or defend soft targets like those attacked in Brussels and previously in Paris. And as we saw in San Bernardino, we are not immune from the threat at home, even if it is still more likely to come from home-grown radicals than ISIS fighters returning from Syria or Iraq.
“In the wake of these attacks, we here in the U.S. and our allies across Europe must be on alert for possible copy-cat attackers who activate in the wake of these bombings. We do not know yet what role, if any, encrypted communications played in these attacks – but we can be sure that terrorists will continue to use what they perceive to be the most secure means to plot their attacks. That the attackers could go forward even when Brussels was under constant vigilance for just this kind of assault, shows how difficult and dangerous the threat from ISIS remains.
“We must continue to build the capacity of our partners and allies to improve their intelligence and law enforcement capabilities and track terrorists as they travel, and we must go after terrorist safe havens whether in Iraq, Syria, or places like Libya.”
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