ISIS training jihadis for West: CIA

The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Mr John Brennan, said on Thursday that the United States and its allies have made gains against ISIS, but he expects the group to change its tactics to make up for lost territory.

“To compensate for territorial losses, ISIL (Islamic State) will probably rely more on guerrilla tactics, including high-profile attacks outside territory it holds,” Mr Brennan testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Mr Brennan told Congress on Thursday that the Islamic State remains “formidable” and “resilient,” is training and attempting to deploy operatives for further attacks on the West.

Giving the Senate intelligence committee an update on the threat from extremists, Mr Brennan said ISIS has been working to build an apparatus to direct and inspire attacks against its foreign enemies, as in the recent attacks in Paris and Brussels — ones the CIA believes were directed by ISIS leaders.

“ISIL has a large cadre of Western fighters who could potentially serve as operatives for attacks in the West,” Mr Brennan said, using another acronym for the group. He said ISIS probably is working to smuggle them into countries, perhaps among refugee flows or through legitimate means of travel.

Mr Brennan also noted the group’s call for followers to conduct so-called lone-wolf attacks in their home countries. He called the attack in Orlando a “heinous act of wanton violence” and an “assault on the values of openness and tolerance” that define the United States as a nation.

Mr Brennan said the CIA is sharing intelligence with the FBI to help identify potential lone-wolf attackers, but the CIA’s responsibility is to gather information about operations overseas.

He said ISIS is gradually cultivating its various branches into an interconnected network. The branch in Libya is likely the most advanced and most dangerous, but ISIS is trying to increase its influence in Africa and to plot attacks in the region and in Europe. The ISIS branch in the Sinai has become the “most active and capable terrorist group in all of Egypt,” attacking the Egyptian military and government targets in addition to foreigners and tourists, such as the downing of a Russian passenger jet last October.