It's Happening
Brace Yourself
Howdy,
I hate it when I’m right. Seriously. I’d rather be wrong. I’d rather people say — and they have my entire military career—that I’m just hyperbolic.
But it’s happening.
They’re coming for us.
Eight men from Tajikistan with potential ties to ISIS out of central Asia were arrested over the weekend in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, three people familiar with the matter told NBC News on Tuesday.
The suspects had been on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force radar and were arrested by personnel with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, the sources say.
According to two officials familiar with the matter, all eight men crossed the southern border into the United States, and their criminal background checks came back clean when they crossed.
At least two of the men crossed the border in the spring of 2023, and one of those men used the CBP One app, created by the Biden administration to allow migrants to book appointments to claim asylum, those officials say.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Taskforce has been aware of a potential terror threat originating in central Europe and began monitoring these men as part of that investigation, three sources say.
But maybe you don’t believe me. I mean, who am I? I have 1500 days in the field, but some people like to hear from the learned ones.
No problem.
Two and a half decades later, Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, is sounding similar alarms. His discussions within the Biden administration are private, but his testimony to Congress and other public statements could not be more explicit. Testifying in December to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Wray said, “When I sat here last year, I walked through how we were already in a heightened threat environment.” Yet after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, “we’ve seen the threat from foreign terrorists rise to a whole nother level,” he added. In speaking about those threats, Wray has repeatedly drawn attention to security gaps at the United States’ southern border, where thousands of people each week enter the country undetected.
Wray is not the only senior official issuing warnings. Since he became commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM) in 2022, General Erik Kurilla has been pointing out the worrying capabilities of the terrorist groups his forces are fighting in the Middle East and South Asia. These include al Qaeda, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), and especially Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), the ISIS affiliate that operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Christine Abizaid, the outgoing director of the National Counterterrorism Center, described “an elevated global threat environment” while speaking at a conference in Doha last month. And in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee just last week, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, talking about the possibility of a terrorist attack on the United States, said that the “threat level . . . has gone up enormously.”
Just remember — I’ve been saying this for a long time.
A little trip down memory lane, shall we?
And it wasn’t just The Bulwark, of course. I’ve been writing this in other publications.
And, of course, with the help of my friends, we — the team here at GCV+F—-broke that Sirajuddin Haqqani, a man with American blood on his hands, was in Saudi Arabia.
But before I published it at The Bulwark, I brought it here. You get my thoughts first.
Kate Kovarovic
But more importantly, you’re going to start hearing more from my friends—friends like our Co-Founder,
, who wrote a wonderful primer for those not familiar with Sirajuddin Haqqani.Of course, she wrote for The Bulwark, too, people.
Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the ongoing mental health challenges facing our volunteer community. During our conversation, I admitted that I didn’t know many things for certain when it comes to our work—but
one thing I know for sure is that this past year has indelibly altered the mental health of both our allies and volunteers. And without institutional support, we will lose people who already feel that they have lost themselves
Yeah. She’s a badass. She’s just warming up!
That’s because I only hang with such people, my friends. When I bring people on, I can guarantee they know what they’re discussing.
Who Are We?
GCV+F is a motley crew of warfighters. We’ve been in the trenches. We might not have big rank or fancy degrees, but we’re the ones who’ve been fighting this war for the last twenty years.
Come and learn about war from those who’ve experienced it.
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Lastly, if you’re interested in supporting us, you can become a founding member for $250. We already have two outstanding founding members. They will get early releases of my forthcoming memoir—inshallah—tentatively titled “Shame: America’s Betrayal of its Combat Veterans and Their Allies.”
Go get'em. Great team with GCV and yes we have been in the trenches you and others fighting or in my case helping veterans heal for 20 years. Have the hard conversations, blow through the bureaucratic covers and tell your stories.