House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., stated that the “national security blunders of the past four years” have “emboldened” foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and homegrown violent extremism. The committee released an updated Terror Threat Snapshot assessment, highlighting threats posed by homegrown extremists inspired by foreign jihadist networks like ISIS in America and around the world.
The report details more than 50 jihadist cases across 30 states between April 2021 and January 2025, including “dozens of attempts to provide material support to ISIS,” “providing material support to Hizballah and al Qaeda,” “receiving military-type training from ISIS and Hizballah” and “vehicle ramming attacks.”
The committee highlighted the January 1 New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, where a truck drove into crowds of revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people. Federal authorities described the attack as ISIS-inspired.
Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, stated that “Americans have been the target of terror at public celebrations, and ISIS and al Qaeda are emboldened in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.”
The committee also noted that vehicular-ramming attacks like the one in New Orleans are emerging as a significant and growing threat. Multiple victims of the attack have sued the city for negligence, citing multiple instances when the threat of a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street was mentioned in official city planning documents.
The city had planned to install new bollards on Bourbon Street as part of a $2.3 billion infrastructure project that began in 2017, but the project was delayed. The FBI continues to investigate the attack and said the attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was motivated by ISIS extremism.
