A senator on the intelligence and foreign relations committee on Wednesday warned about the prospects of a lone wolf terror attack on American soil.
Pointing to “imminent” plots that were thwarted — at least one within “hours or minutes” — Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, said he has no doubt a lone wolf attack will eventually be successful in the U.S.
The terror threat environment has shifted from terrorist groups focusing on complex terror plots like the 9/11 attacks to smaller-scale attacks carried out by lone wolves who may have been inspired by groups like ISIS.
Risch, in an interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” referenced the attack in Tunisia on a beach resort that killed 38 people, which was carried out by a lone gunman.
“That’s going to happen here,” Risch said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that.”
Risch added that while U.S. intelligence officials “are very good,” it only takes one extremist slipping through the cracks to result in the kind of attack carried out in Tunisia.
“They’ve got to be right every day, 100% of the time. The bad guys only have to be right once,” Risch said. “If they do it enough chances are they are going to break through.”
Law enforcement officials shot and killed a terror suspect in Boston last month after they learned he was about to carry out an attack on police officers.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies have beefed up their surveillance efforts of individuals in the U.S. who may be becoming radicalized online by ISIS. And law enforcement have carried out a string of arrests in recent months, thwarting individuals intent on helping ISIS or carrying out attacks in the U.S.