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Admiral Bill
Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command and the North
American Aerospace Defense Command, said he was particularly
concerned about radicalized youth in the United States who were
"in receive mode" but not communicating back.
U.S. authorities could potentially track recruits who
communicate with Islamic State recruiters, but it was tougher to
identify potential recruits, such as the shooter who killed five
servicemen in Tennessee in July, Gortney told an event hosted by
the Atlantic Council think-tank.
Gortney said heightened security at military bases around the
United States - now at the highest level in nearly four years -
would likely remain in effect for "quite some time," given the
government's inability to predict when or where such attacks
could occur.
"It’s going to be a long slog," Gortney said, adding that the
United States need to counter Islamic State's narrative. "It's a
war of words. ... We have to go after and break this pattern of
radicalization."
Gortney said the U.S. government was doing a comprehensive
review of its efforts to counter Islamic State's recruitment
drive, but the fight needed to be led at the local level by
parents, communities and schools, not the military.
Gortney ordered increased security in May, affecting everything
from recruiting stations to National Guard posts and military
bases and camps in the continental United States, Alaska and
U.S. territory in the Caribbean.
The move came after two men opened fire outside an exhibit of
caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in Garland, Texas; they were
shot dead by police. The two were later found to have had
contact with militants, including a British man linked to
Syria-based Islamic State rebels.
Investigators believe the Garland attackers and the Tennessee
shooter principally radicalized themselves through Internet
contacts, and were not directly ordered or encouraged to carry
out the attack by Islamic State leaders.
Gortney said his staff was working with the intelligence
community to understand when the threat level could be lowered,
but warned it would be a "glacial" process.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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