Growing Terrorist Sanctuaries and the Threat to the U.S
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THE RISE OF RADICALISM: GROWING TERRORIST SANCTUARIES AND THE THREAT TO THE U.S. HOMELAND JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 18, 2015 Serial No. 114–45 (Committee on Homeland Security) Serial No. 114–178 (Committee on Foreign Affairs) Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Foreign Affairs Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 99–750 PDF WASHINGTON : 2016 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas, Chairman LAMAR SMITH, Texas BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi PETER T. KING, New York LORETTA SANCHEZ, California MIKE ROGERS, Alabama SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan, Vice Chair JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina BRIAN HIGGINS, New York TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania CEDRIC L. RICHMOND, Louisiana LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania DONALD M. PAYNE, JR., New Jersey CURT CLAWSON, Florida FILEMON VELA, Texas JOHN KATKO, New York BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN, New Jersey WILL HURD, Texas KATHLEEN M. RICE, New York EARL L. ‘‘BUDDY’’ CARTER, Georgia NORMA J. TORRES, California MARK WALKER, North Carolina BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia MARTHA MCSALLY, Arizona JOHN RATCLIFFE, Texas DANIEL M. DONOVAN, JR., New York BRENDAN P. SHIELDS, Staff Director JOAN V. O’HARA, General Counsel MICHAEL S. TWINCHEK, Chief Clerk I. LANIER AVANT, Minority Staff Director COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida TED POE, Texas BRIAN HIGGINS, New York MATT SALMON, Arizona KAREN BASS, California DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina ALAN GRAYSON, Florida MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California PAUL COOK, California ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California RANDY K. WEBER, SR., Texas GRACE MENG, New York SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania LOIS FRANKEL, Florida RON DESANTIS, Florida TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas TED S. YOHO, Florida ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois CURT CLAWSON, Florida BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan LEE M. ZELDIN, New York DANIEL M. DONOVAN, JR., New York AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director (II) C O N T E N T S Page STATEMENTS The Honorable Michael T. McCaul, a Representative in Congress From the State of Texas, and Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 1 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 3 The Honorable Edward R. Royce, a Representative in Congress From the State of California, and Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 4 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 6 The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland Security: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 7 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 8 The Honorable Eliot L. Engel, a Representative in Congress From the State of New York, and Ranking Member, Committee on Foreign Affairs: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 9 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 11 The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress From the State of Texas: Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 13 WITNESSES General John M. Keane (Ret. U.S. Army), Chairman of the Board, Institute for the Study of War: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 18 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 20 Mr. Matthew G. Olsen, Co-founder and President, Business Development and Strategy, IronNet Cybersecurity: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 23 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 25 Mr. Peter Bergen, Vice President, Director, International Security and Fel- lows Programs, New America: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 26 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 28 FOR THE RECORD The Honorable Candice S. Miller, a Representative in Congress From the State of Michigan: Letters ................................................................................................................... 59 The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress From the State of Texas: Article .................................................................................................................... 89 Statement of the Syrian American Council ....................................................... 90 Statement of the Syrian Community Network (Chicago, IL); Syrian Amer- ican Medical Society; Karam Foundation; Syria Relief and Development; Syrian Expatriates Organization; Watan USA; Rahma Relief Foundation; Hope for Syria ................................................................................................... 91 Statement of Brian Michael Jenkins, RAND Office of External Affairs ......... 93 (III) THE RISE OF RADICALISM: GROWING TER- RORIST SANCTUARIES AND THE THREAT TO THE U.S. HOMELAND Wednesday, November 18, 2015 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY, JOINT WITH THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The committees met, pursuant to call, at 10:08 a.m., in Room 210, HVC, Hon. Michael T. McCaul [Chairman of the Homeland Security committee] presiding. Present from Committee on Homeland Security: Representatives McCaul, King, Rogers, Miller, Duncan, Marino, Barletta, Perry, Clawson, Katko, Hurd, Carter, Walker, Loudermilk, McSally, Ratcliffe, Donovan, Thompson, Sanchez, Jackson Lee, Langevin, Higgins, Keating, Payne, Vela, Watson Coleman, Rice, and Torres. Present from Committee on Foreign Affairs: Representatives Royce, Smith of New Jersey, Rohrabacher, Chabot, Wilson, Salmon, Cook, Weber, DeSantis, Yoho, DesJarlais, Zeldin, Engel, Sherman, Meeks, Connolly, Deutch, Cicilline, Bera, Lowenthal, Meng, Frankel, Gabbard, Castro, Kelly, and Boyle. Chairman MCCAUL. The Committee on Homeland Security and Committee on Foreign Affairs will come to order. The purpose of this hearing is to examine current and evolving terrorist sanc- tuaries abroad and the threats they pose to the United States homeland. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Before we begin, I would like to have a moment of silence in memory of those who lost their lives in the attacks in Paris and in honor of those who were wounded. Today, we must make this much clear. We are at war. The world was reminded last week that Islamic terrorists are seeking to harm our people, destroy our way of life and undermine the foundational principles of the free world. The Paris attacks also confirmed our worst fears, that of the thousands of foreign fighters who have gone to Syria and Iraq to join access, some would be deployed to bring terror back to the West. For more than a year, my committee has warned of this growing threat. We launched a bipartisan Congressional task force to focus on closing security gaps both at home and abroad to make it harder for terrorists and foreign fighters to slip across the border unde- tected. (1) 2 More than 5,000 individuals with Western passports, including Americans, have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq, and some have al- ready returned, battle-hardened and prepared to strike. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks, we traveled to Paris and met with the counterterrorism officials on the ground who have known that Eu- rope was wide open to this danger. We conducted site visits along the jihadi super-highway from Western Europe to Turkey and then into the conflict zone. Our findings were alarming. This September, the committee’s final task force report concluded that we are losing the struggle to stop Americans from going overseas to join jihadist groups.