Deadly New Orleans attack underscores looming threat of IS attacks in the US
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Islamic State has urged followers to attack the US, and the attorney general has called the group a top security concern. The Islamic State (IS) threat on the US homeland has caused renewed concern as more details emerge about the man allegedly behind what the FBI is calling an “act of terrorism” in New Orleans on New Year’s Day that killed 14 and injured scores more.
US citizen and army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was killed in the attack after driving into partygoers on Bourbon Street and engaging police in a gunfight. Found inside his rental truck was the infamous black flag of IS; it was later revealed he had pledged allegiance to the group in a series of videos posted to Facebook mere hours beforehand.
Though public perceptions of IS suggest it has now suddenly reappeared in the pantheon of terrorist organizations active in the US, top officials and analysts have been warning for months that a stateside attack was imminent. “The attack was hardly unexpected – there had been flashing warning signs,” said Clara Broekaert, a research fellow at the Soufan Center who tracks the online activities of IS. “In recent months, we’ve witnessed an unrelenting stream of rhetoric calling for violence during the holiday season, along with repeated chatter about low-tech tactics, from knife attacks to vehicle rammings.”.
Broekaert continued: “Given this, it’s no shock that an attack like this occurred.”. Both the outgoing FBI director, Christopher Wray, and the attorney general, Merrick Garland, called IS an ongoing and top national security concern in an October press release. In a rare public acknowledgment, the CIA director, Bill Burns, recently described IS as “resurgent”, a description now underscored by political chaos in Syria.
