{"id":125534,"date":"2017-10-21T05:18:40","date_gmt":"2017-10-21T09:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=125534"},"modified":"2017-10-21T05:18:40","modified_gmt":"2017-10-21T09:18:40","slug":"us-official-is-burrowing-for-footholds-from-asia-to-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/10\/21\/us-official-is-burrowing-for-footholds-from-asia-to-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"US official: IS burrowing for footholds from Asia to Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of IS’ priorities is creating a presence in West Africa, where an ambush killed four U.S. soldiers two weeks ago. No extremist group has claimed responsibility for the deadly ambush.(Photo:<\/a> Rande Archer\/ Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON\u2014 Losing real estate in the Middle East will not sharply affect Islamic State militants’ ability to inspire attacks against the West or burrow footholds from the\u00a0Philippines\u00a0to Africa, which has forced the U.S. to spread its resources thinly around the world, the nation’s top counterterrorism official said Friday.<\/p>\n

IS is an \u201cadaptable\u201d organization that knew it would lose cities in Syria and Iraq, Nicholas Rasmussen, the National Counterterrorism Center director, said. He spoke after Kurdish-led forces declared victory over IS in Raqqa, the former Syrian \u201ccapital\u201d of its self-proclaimed caliphate where militants terrorized the population for four years.<\/p>\n

In an interview on on C-SPAN’s \u201cNewsmakers\u201d that airs Sunday, Rasmussen said ISIS these days mostly inspires individuals overseas to act in the name of the group. In this way, it differs from al-Qaida, which runs a clandestine network that carefully vets members. The Islamic State sets low barriers for entry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you say you’re ISIS and you want to act on ISIS’ behalf, you’re in,\u201d Rasmussen said, saying the group’s ability to inspire individuals won’t dry up because of battlefield losses.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., the greatest threat from IS isn’t sleeper cells, but individuals inspired or motivated by the group’s ideology, he said. He said extremists remain preoccupied with aviation, \u201cpart of the terrorist problem set that I think gives me the most concern every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rasmussen said the group can still operate in a degraded form.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur assessment is that there is still a command-and-control apparatus at senior levels of ISIS,\u201d Rasmussen said. It has been forced to relocate, making it harder for the group to communicate with overseas affiliates and colleagues worldwide.<\/p>\n

But it has created an organizational bureaucracy, including a sector guiding global operations. \u201cWe have made that less effective, but we have not eliminated it,\u201d Rasmussen said.<\/p>\n

One of IS’ priorities is creating a presence in West Africa, where an ambush killed four U.S. soldiers two weeks ago. No extremist group has claimed responsibility for the deadly ambush.<\/p>\n

Rasmussen said IS has worked to use the existing terror platform created by Boko Haram, another Islamist extremist organization already present throughout West Africa. IS’s push into the region doesn’t directly threaten the U.S. homeland, but Rasmussen said Washington worries the group will carve out a haven there and replay its campaign in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n

\u201cControl of territory would, over time, give the organization the ability to carry out more ambitious attacks that might ultimately threaten U.S. interests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has about 1,000 troops in that part of Africa to support a French-led mission to disrupt and destroy extremist elements. The U.S. provides aerial refuelling , intelligence and reconnaissance support, and ground troops to engage with local leaders.<\/p>\n

IS’s global reach makes it a challenging adversary, forcing the U.S. to spread its diplomatic, military and intelligence resources \u201cmore thinly\u201d around the world than in the past, Rasmussen said.<\/p>\n

It is moving into northern Africa, joining forces with extremists operating in places such as Libya, Algeria and Morocco, he said. While these groups are seen as local, not transnational threats, Rasmussen said: \u201cYou don’t have to look too closely at a map to see that north Africa edges up pretty close to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recently returned from a trip to\u00a0Southeast Asia\u00a0where\u00a0Philippine\u00a0troops have been crushing a final stand by the last dozens of pro-Islamic State group militants in a southern city. Still, he said threat there is escalating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s certainly a capacity within\u00a0Southeast Asia\u00a0for extremism to manifest itself into terrorism and if IS taps into that successfully, it could create a regional threat of the sort we haven’t seen in the last several years,\u201d Rasmussen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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