Former CIA/Al Qaeda Double Agent: U.S. Likely To Be Hit In Two Weeks

MEANWHILE, THE WASHINGTON POST SAYS THE FBI IS BRACING FOR "HOLIDAY ATTACKS" BY ISIS

Officials familiar with the bureau’s preparations, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said Director James Comey has put a brave public face on the bureau’s fight against ISIS that masks significant tensions behind the scenes with the Obama administration. 

Bureau officials are deeply worried they don’t have enough resources to track a growing number of radicalized Americans inspired by the Islamic State, with more possibly entering as President Obama opens the borders to thousands of Syrian refugees. 

Rep. Blake Farenthold, Texas Republican and a member of both of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform Committees, told a Washington Times radio show Tuesday that the U.S. government does not have the resources to screen a new wave of Syrian refugees for terror ties as the administration has promised. 

“They’re basically lying to you saying, ‘oh we’ve got this vetting process to make sure that their safe.’ But you had the FBI director testify before Congress, under oath saying that if they have no information on someone they have nothing to vet them against,” Mr. Farenthold said on the “Capitol Hill Show” with Tim Constantine. 

“We have testimony saying, and I think common sense also dictates that in a failed state like Syria you don’t have any government information, police reports to rely on to vet somebody,” the congressman added. 

“So there’s no way to do a background check from somebody coming out of Syria. There’s no way we can find out whether they’re safe or not.” 

Likewise, the bureau is frustrated that the White House and Justice Department have not pressured Congress to act more quickly to force technology companies to help break the encrypted communications of suspects, fearing political appointees have been too deferential to a politically connected, well-monied industry. 

“We have suspects we’ve been tracking that have gone dark, because we can no longer follow their encrypted activities. Physical surveillance can only take us so far and the urgency to solve that gap in the political realm isn’t there,” one official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.