ISIS operatives are entering Europe ‘unimpeded,’ says new Pentagon intel report

(NationalSecurity.news) Fighters and operatives loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are infiltrating into Europe “mostly unimpeded,” according to a recent report from the Defense Department’s J-2 (intelligence) section, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The report, from the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, outlined both legal and illegal methods that terrorists are using to enter the continent, a particularly concerning finding in the wake of the deadly Paris attacks in November that left 130 people dead and hundreds more wounded.

Including in the J-2 briefing was a slide that read “ISIL traveling to Europe mostly unimpeded,” the Free Beacon reported. ISIL is another acronym for ISIS.

The slide also warned that security measures implemented by the Europeans have only had a minimal impact on the identification of terrorists.

In addition, the flow of refugees from war-torn Syria to Europe is taking its toll on counterterrorism efforts on the continent, which is also raising concerns that refugees from Syria being settled in the U.S. could pose additional security problems there as well – though many governors are defying the Obama administration and pledging not to allow Syrians to settle in their states.

“That ties directly to security efforts here,” one official familiar with the briefing who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Free Beacon.

The J-2 provides intelligence briefings to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, and to other U.S. commanders.

In recent days leaders from Europe and Turkey agreed on a deal to reduce the flow of migrants to the continent. The European Union agreed to provide $3.2 billion in aid in return for ramping up security along borders.

As a result of the Syrian conflict, some 2 million people have fled the country to seek refuge in Turkey.

A number of lawmakers, as well as state governments, are concerned that the Obama administration’s pledge to allow thousands of Syrian migrants into the U.S. would potentially result in ISIS infiltration. In fact, some – including the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said ISIS operatives are in 30 countries already, including the U.S.

The Free Beacon noted that security analysts believe that ISIS has already established sleeper cells in Europe like the one that carried out the Paris attacks. Meanwhile, the FBI is pursuing ISIS-linked Islamists in the U.S.

Also in recent days, the former chief of staff of the Czech Republic army warned, as others have, that ISIS is using the migrant crisis to infiltrate its operatives into Europe and elsewhere.

“Gen. Jiri Sedivy told the Prague newspaper Provo that Germany’s intelligence service recently disclosed that Islamists were targeting refugee camps as a recruiting ground for terrorists,” the Free Beacon reported.

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