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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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October 12, 2014
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Emerson
with Judge Pirro on US Counter-Terrorism Strategy
by Steven Emerson
Interview on Fox News
October 11, 2014
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Clip from 60 Minutes: Ultimately an American citizen unless the
passport is revoked is entitled to come back. So if someone who has fought
with ISIL with an American passport wants to come back, we'll track them
very carefully.
Judge Jeanine: That's FBI director Jim Comey saying they'll track
any Americans returning here after fighting alongside ISIS. Really, track
them, that's it? Why are these guys even allowed back into the country?
With me now founder of the Investigative Project, Steve Emerson, and
National Review columnist Tom Rogan. Good evening gentlemen. You know Tom,
Prime Minister Cameron faced with the same issue on the return of ISIS
fighters returning to the UK is trying to actually prevent them from coming
in. How is he trying to do this?
Tom Rogan: Yes, thank you for having me on, Judge. He's doing a
number of things and all of that flows from the fact that British
intelligence are incredibly concerned about the threat that the Islamic
State poses to the UK mainland. But one of the main things he is doing is
trying to pass a law in Parliament that would actually allow the British
government to refuse entry to people coming back in, sort of extension
perhaps of being denied British citizenship and nationality, and sending
the message that if you go and fight with the Islamic State which because
of David Haines and Alan Henning is a clear enemy of the United Kingdom,
then you will face the consequences for action. So it is a much tougher
line than perhaps we've seen from the US Government.
Judge Jeanine: Well certainly, and Steve, I am sure you can speak
to that. But Steve what we're seeing is, and what you're investigating, is
the uptick in terms of the recruitment by ISIS in Western Europe as well as
the United States.
Steve Emerson: Judge, there has been a tremendous uptick in
recruitment. In the last month alone intelligence estimates say up to more
than 5,000 volunteers have come from Europe alone and several hundred from
the United States. And the notion that we can track them when they come
back to the United States I think is somewhat questionable since it takes
about 24 agents just to track one person for a 24 hour period nonstop.
Number two, I think our policy on the issue of radical Islam is really
screwed up here. Here you have a president at the UN praises a radical
sheikh who says he's opposed to ISIS but issues a fatwa calling for killing
of American soldiers. You have the President basically sending a welcome
message to the Oklahoma mosque which produced that crazy Islamist who
beheaded, Mr. Nolen, who beheaded his co-worker and who had on his Facebook
page photos praising bin Laden, praising 9/11, and even a picture of
somebody being beheaded. So I think our own policies [ are actually
constraining us], including that the fact that the Attorney General has
prohibited the FBI from using religious criteria from investigating
Islamists. I think right now, Judge, we have a [counter-terrorism] policy
that doesn't exist.
Judge Jeanine: Steve you may not know, Tom was nodding his head
while you were speaking. Tom, one of the things that Steve is referencing
is the fact that by our not identifying certain things as terrorism and
calling things work place violence, the United States and the Department of
Justice is almost tying the hands of our investigators. What is the
perception from Britain as to how we're approaching this in the United
States? We're both facing the same disaster.
Rogan: The British government is reluctant to criticize the US
government. But there is certainly much greater concern in the UK and
frankly I think that should be a great are concern here because the simple
fact is the Islamic State have learned from their predecessor, al Qaeda in
Iraq. They know to stay off of the internet and they know to actually come
back and not engage in some of the open extremist activities that previous
terrorists had done before. So they can actually stay, bide their time and
then move toward an attack. And that makes it very, very difficult for
intelligence services – the NSA and the British equivalent GCHQ - to be
able to develop the kind of intelligence picture, the same monitoring that
Steve is talking about, large teams of officers. MI5 is stretched to the
brink. That's why you see David Cameron so concerned about preventing
people coming back, because frankly MI5 officers are telling him we do not
have the capacity physically to monitor these people.
Judge Jeanine: What is interesting Tom, I have an article here
that says terrorist chatter raises the threat level for UK police, and that
it's been raised there from moderate to substantial. What can we do here,
Steve, given the constraints that we have and reluctance to even identify
things as work place violence? We've got this guy Nidal Hasan who writes
the Pope who says I am a terrorist. What can we do?
Emerson: First of all we have to reverse the damage done by the
Attorney General.
Judge Jeanine: How?
Emerson: First of all stop the purge that was done two years ago
in the FBI of all material that was considered to be 'offensive against
Islam' that stripped the FBI of thousands and thousands of books, pamphlets
and power points of anything that dealt with radical Islam, the Muslim
Brotherhood. That [material] has to be restored. Number two, the training
of FBI informants, that budget was slashed in half under the Attorney
General. Number three, there has to be a policy decision that recognizes
the Muslim Brotherhood, these other [Islamist] groups, are just as much a
threat to the United States and to our way of life as ISIS is. And if we
don't recognize that Judge, we're gonna be doomed.
Judge Jeanine: I couldn't agree with you more. Steve, Tom, thank
you so much for being with us this evening.
Rogan: Thank you, Judge.
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