Texas facing 'clear and present threat' from ISIS

 

The Washington watchdog organization that earlier reported the presence of ISIS factions in Mexico, just across the border from Texas, now says there appears to be a “clear and present threat” to the state, because of the increased security efforts being implemented at a key military installation In a report Thursday, Judicial Watch said its military sources believe that the increase in security “indicates that [the Army post] is a target.” 

 “It’s a significant issue when this is done,” retired Army Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin said of the higher security measures at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas – which is just across the border from Juarez, Mexico “That means they’re getting a threat stream. Fort Bliss had to have a clear and present threat,” said the former Delta Force commander who also spent four years as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. Local media outlets, such as KVIA Television, had reported on the post statement regarding increased security. 

Spokesman Lt. Col. Lee Peters over the weekend issued the statement about the security, as well as an advisory that accessing the post may take a little more time. “Based on [Department of Defense] guidance from recent nationwide incidents, and our own internal assessments coupled with recent media reporting, we decided to implement increased security measures on Bliss. 

These changes are not as a result of a specific threat but rather to simply get prudent security measures in place to protect our military, employees and visitors,” the statement said. That move was made shortly after Judicial Watch said, “Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.” 

The report had said, “High-level federal law enforcement, intelligence and other sources have confirmed to Judicial Watch that a warning bulletin for an imminent terrorist attack on the border has been issued. Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies have all been placed on alert and instructed to aggressively work all possible leads and sources concerning this imminent terrorist threat.” 

The organization said the sources “reveal that the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) is confirmed to now be operating in Juarez, a famously crime-infested narcotics hotbed situated across from El Paso, Texas. Violent crimes are so rampant in Juarez that the U.S. State Department has issued a number of travel warnings for anyone planning to go there. The last one was issued just a few days ago.” 

       

The report said intel officers have heard “radio talk and chatter indicating that the terrorist groups are going to ‘carry out an attack on the border.’” The report said commanders at Fort Bliss were briefed. The concern was heightened because of the looming anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by Muslim terrorist on New York and Washington. 

And it comes just after Barack Obama told the nation he doesn’t have a strategy yet to battle ISIS. Judicial Watch also has reported on the growing number of illegal aliens entering the U.S. from Mexico who actually are from “terrorist nations like Yemen, Iran, Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan.” 

Other sources have said another U.S. Army post in Texas, Fort Hood, also is a target. That installation actually was attacked by a Muslim, a “radical Army psychiatrist,” Nidal Hasan, who shot and killed 13 after chanting, “Allahu akbar.” “Given how easy it is to cross the border, terrorist[s] can easily cross it,” Boykin warned.