(Photo Credit: EPA)
Don’t say he didn’t tell you so.
Speaking at a U.S. intelligence community conference back in September, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned Americans about the possibility of Syrian terrorists infiltrating the United States and other Western countries disguised as refugees.
During the conference, as reported by the Washington Times, Clapper said he had serious concerns about the refugee vetting process in European countries, and even here in the America.
From the report:
America’s top spy said Wednesday that U.S. intelligence officials have a “huge concern” about Islamic State’s ability to infiltrate waves of Syrian war refugees flowing into Europe and potentially the United States as pressure mounts on Western nations to take in a growing number of people fleeing the conflict in the heart of the Middle East
“As they descend on Europe, one of the obvious issues that we worry about, and in turn as we bring refugees into this country, is exactly what’s their background?” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said. “We don’t obviously put it past the likes of ISIL to infiltrate operatives among these refugees.”
“That is a huge concern of ours,” Mr. Clapper said during a rare and unusually informal public appearance at an annual U.S. intelligence community conference that kicked off Wednesday morning in Washington.
While he added that U.S. authorities, who have so far allowed in fewer than 2,000 of Syria’s some 4 million refugees, have a “pretty aggressive” system for screening the backgrounds of those seeking entry into the United States, Mr. Clapper said he’s not so confident about the capabilities of some European nations.
President Obama has continually backed his plan to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States, even as many Republican members of Congress have expressed serious concerns about inadvertently admitting terrorists among the asylum-seekers.
To date, dozens of governors have already said they will close their states’ borders against the wave of Middle Eastern refugees the administration admits.