Senior U.S. intelligence officials said attacks by extremists groups in the United States in 2016 are highly likely.
Speaking at a Senate committee hearing on Capitol Hill, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said most experts agree that ISIS will continue posing a threat in the coming year.
Clapper and other senior intelligence figures said Islamic State “will probably continue to involve those who draw inspiration from the group’s highly sophisticated media without direct guidance from ISIL leadership.”
Calling it a “pre-eminent terror threat,” he said ISIS can “direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world.”
Clapper said the attacks in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and San Bernardino, California, “demonstrate the threat that homegrown violent extremists also pose to the homeland.”
