WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSAU) — One of Wisconsin’s U.S. Senators says America needs to be doing everything possible to watch for possible terrorist activity in our country.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) says with recent terror sleeper cell activity in Europe over the past week, it’s clear we need to be taking steps to ensure our security. “I’m not aware, specifically, of any sleeper cells in America, but when you see what’s happened, what happened in Paris, what’s happening and how widespread IT may be in Europe, I think we have to assume that certainly in America we are at risk of having those sleeper cells here.” He adds, “We need to do everything we can to keep this nation safe and secure. One of the things we have to do is we have to have a robust — well, let’s put it this way, an effective intelligence-gathering and intelligence-sharing capability, together with robust monitoring and congressional oversight so that we don’t infringe on any Americans’ rights.”
Along with the killings in France, there have been ISIS sponsored attacks on police and citizens in Belgium and the Netherlands. Western intelligence reports say as many as 20 sleeper cells of between 120 and 180 people could be ready to strike in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and also Germany.
ISIS has well-funded training facilities in Syria that recruit terrorists to carry out attacks in these and other countries.
