Congress: USA fails to stop most people trying to join ISIS

‘American returnees are not the only threat to the United States, ‘ it said.

“This threat is getting worse not better, and we are losing in the struggle to keep Americans from the battlefield”, said Michael McCaul, R-TX, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.

The report said a particular concern was western Europeans who travel to Iraq or Syria and would be permitted to fly to the USA without applying for a visa.

“Despite concerted efforts to stem the flow, we have largely failed to stop Americans from traveling overseas to join jihadists,” the report determined. Overall, nearly 30,000 people from around the world have traveled to the region in the same time frame.

Since 2011, more than 25,000 foreigners from the United States and other countries have traveled to Syria to join the group, with at least 7,000 of those joining the ranks since December 2014.

During the conference, U.S. President Barack Obama outlined a broad strategy to combat the spread of recruits for the armed group mentioning initiatives such as Sawab Center, which is an “online communication platform that aims to counter terrorist propaganda”.

While airstrikes by the USA and its allies have killed around 10,000 extremists, “new foreign fighters replace them nearly as quickly as they are killed”, the report says.

The report by the Homeland Security Committee said more than 250 US nationals travelled overseas to join ISIS in 2015 alone.

Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd, who worked for nine years as an undercover CIA agent, said that while coordination between agencies fighting to prevent attacks on USA soil still needs work, he said he’s noticed improvements.

The group also pointed to gaps in worldwide intelligence sharing efforts, noting that “there is now no comprehensive global database of foreign fighter names”.

The United States and its allies on Monday launched 12 air strikes in Iraq and five in Syria against Islamic State targets, according to a statement released by the coalition overseeing the operations. The money goes toward paying its fighters monthly salaries and providing stipends to their families.

Several dozen of the fighters have made their way back to the United States, the report said.

The much-awaited Congressional report released on terror outfit Islamic State (ISIS) reveals alarming figures.