The Threat of Terror

Last month, President Obama admitted to the world that “we don’t yet have a complete strategy” to defeat ISIS. Unfortunately, recent events have proven his statement to be true. It’s been almost a year since the U.S. began to lead operations against ISIS, yet ISIS continues to gain ground and more and more wannabe terrorists are getting inspired online, then trying to flee their country to join ISIS on the battlefield. Just last week, innocent civilians on three different continents were murdered in the name of religion by radical jihadists. The cancer of radical Islam has spread throughout the world and the threat it poses to our national security has never been more severe.

In order to succeed, the U.S. needs to better understand this enemy and to develop a strategy to win. I recently introduced 3 amendments to the Intelligence Authorization Act, which passed the House of Representatives, to help us do that:

1. Requires Director of the National Intelligence (DNI) and other intelligence agencies to produce a comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIL, al Qaeda and affiliated groups.
2. Requires DNI to report to Congress how terrorists are using social media to recruit foreign fighters, assess the intelligence value of terrorist posts on social media, and evaluate the impact that terrorist use of social media has on our national security.
3. Requires DNI to produce a report on how terrorist organizations are financing their activities through wildlife trafficking and how this impacts U.S. national security.

Not only has the Administration failed to develop a complete strategy to defeat ISIS, but our leaders also sit across the table from another enemy: the world’s leading State Sponsor of Terrorism, Iran. This is the same enemy that shouted “Death to America” and “Annihilate Israel.” Tuesday marked the day where a “deal” was supposed to be announced, but once again, this deadline has been delayed. Recent reports of the terms of the working agreement confirms that each stall tactic by Iran has led the U.S. to make more concessions. Make no mistake - Iran is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This is a country that has tried to deceive the world about its nuclear weapons program for decades. It cannot be trusted. Extending the negotiation clock gives Iran the time it needs to make its nuclear ambitions a reality. A nuclear Iran risks the national security of not only our ally, Israel, but our own country as well. No deal is better than a bad deal with this enemy. The alternative to this bad deal is not war. The alternative is walking away from the negotiating table, instituting tougher sanctions, and then negotiating a good deal that would actually stop Iran from becoming a nuclear weapon state.