Fewer Americans trying to join ISIS abroad, FBI director says
WASHINGTON -- FBI Director James Comey says federal law enforcement has seen far fewer Americans try to travel abroad to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in recent months.
He says the FBI is aware of six who have attempted to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the last three and a half months. That's in contrast to the nine or so who used to try to go each month.
Comey provided those numbers while testifying Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee.
He said he wasn't sure how to explain the drop, but said one factor may be the efforts the FBI has made in the last year to try to stop the flow.
Dozens of Americans have been arrested in the last year on charges related to supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Criminal charges filed in August said Jaelyn Delshaun Young, 20, and Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, 22, were arrested at a regional airport near Columbus, Mississippi, allegedly on their way to join jihad.
Officials say the couple were trying to travel to Syria to join ISIS. And they claim it was the 19-year-old Young who was the mastermind behind the plot to do so, which involved getting married and pretending to be on a honeymoon to get there, reported CBS affiliate WJTV in Jackson.
Both were officially charged with attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist group. An affidavit by an FBI agent said both confessed their plans after their arrest.