Senator presses FBI for information about Americans in Syria

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) is pressing the FBI about the possibility of American citizens joining Islamic extremist groups in Syria and then returning to the United States to launch attacks.

“Given our nation’s ongoing fight against violent extremism, we must remain mindful that developments abroad have potentially serious ramifications for our homeland, and remain ever-vigilant in countering those emerging threats before they materialize,” Ayotte said in a June 16 letter to FBI Director James Comey.

Ayotte asked Comey to answer eight questions, including the number of Americans who have traveled to Syria; who is recruiting Americans and the tactics they are employing; the FBI’s assessment of the threat, and which countries are of particular concern.

The letter comes after an American from South Florida carried out a suicide attack in Syria. An online video posted by Jabhat al-Nusra, a group linked to al-Qaeda, showed him and another fighter packing a large truck with shells and apparently driving toward their destination.

Dozens of American have traveled to Syria since the civil war began, raising concerns that some could return to the West to carry out attacks. Preventing that from happening has become one of the FBI’s top counterterrorism priorities.

Ayotte said she found the recent developments “deeply troubling.”