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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., said Wednesday that the “homeland security mistakes of the past four years” have “emboldened” foreign terrorist organizations (OTC) and local violent extremism.
On Wednesday morning, the committee released an updated version of its Terror Threat Snapshot assessment, highlighting threats posed by local extremists inspired by foreign jihadist networks like ISIS in the United States and around the world.
“Emboldened by the national security failures of the past four years, foreign terrorist organizations and jihadist networks abroad remain committed to recruiting and radicalizing individuals on American soil.”
The updated report comes less than a month after Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas native and U.S. military veteran, killed 14 civilians on Jan. 1 while driving a truck through a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street around 3 a.m. in what federal authorities described as an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack.
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“The New Orleans terrorist attack was a stark reminder that the terrorist threat to the United States is alive and persistent,” Green said. “The House Homeland Security Committee highlighted this fact in October, and unfortunately, Americans have witnessed significant escalations in these threats in just the last three months.”
The report details more than 50 jihadist cases in 30 states between April 2021 and January 2025, including “dozens of attempts to provide material support to ISIS,” “providing material support to Hezbollah and Al Qaeda”, “receiving military-type training from ISIS and Hezbollah” and “vehicle attacks.”
NEW ORLEANS TERRORIST RADICALIZED BY ISIS ONLINE WITHIN WEEKS, FBI DIRECTOR SAYS
Officials on Bourbon Street after a vehicle crashed into a crowd at the New Orleans Canal and Bourbon Street, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
From the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 to the New Orleans attack, the report includes a detailed list of all alarming terrorism-inspired attacks and arrests since former President Biden took office four years ago.
“There is no doubt that our national security is in poor shape after the last four years of failed leadership.”
Counterterrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee Chairman August Pfluger said Wednesday that “Americans have been targets of terror at public celebrations, and ISIS and Al Qaeda are emboldened in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.
The FBI released photos of surveillance footage showing Shamsud-Din Jabbar an hour before driving a truck down Bourbon Street in New Orleans early on January 1, 2025. (FBI via AP)
“There is immense work to be done to correct course and strengthen our national security. That work begins now.”
The committee also noted that vehicle attacks like the one in New Orleans are emerging as a significant and growing threat.
Multiple victims of the New Orleans attack have sued the city for negligence, citing multiple cases in which the threat of a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street was mentioned in official city planning documents.
BOURBON STREET TERROR VICTIMS SUE NEW ORLEANS AS LOUISIANA AG INVESTIGATES SECURITY FAILURES
Investigators gather after a person drove a vehicle into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on January 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A lawsuit filed on behalf of seven victims by Morris Bart, LLC, says the defendants “had years of opportunity to fix this known problem” and “the city’s contractors failed to meet their contractual obligations and perform work in an orderly manner.” specified manner.
“A scenario presented by (contractor) Mott MacDonald eight months before this tragedy even involved a Ford F-150 pickup truck making a specific right turn onto Bourbon Street from Canal Street, a strikingly similar threat that was seemingly predictable before the 31st. of December”.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VICTIMS OF THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN NEW ORLEANS
Police investigate a crime on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on January 1, 2025. A driver plowed into a crowd of New Year’s revelers and began firing a gun in the early morning hours. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
Official recommendations for New Orleans security measures in the French Quarter as part of a $2.3 billion infrastructure project that began in 2017 included installing new bollards on Bourbon Street to prevent mass casualty events that the FBI identified as a potential threat in the popular tourist area.
The city began planning updated safety measures, including bollards intended to prevent vehicles from entering busy streets in the French Quarter, around that time.
BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT SAYS NEW ORLEANS ATTACK EXHIBITED ‘RED FLAGS’ BEFORE ATTACK
“The French Quarter is typically densely populated with pedestrians and represents an area where a mass casualty incident could occur,” said one 2017 report states. “This area also presents a risk and target for terrorism that the FBI has identified as a concern the city must address.
“Following the attacks in Nice, France; in London, England; and the recent incident in Times Square in New York involving life-saving bollards, it has become clear how popular tourist areas can be threatened by attackers with vehicles and arms”.
A masked Islamic State terrorist poses holding the ISIS flag in 2015. (Images by History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
A separate, confidential 2019 report obtained by Fox News from security consulting firm Interfor International warned that Bourbon Street was the “highest-profile target” in New Orleans for a terrorist attack. The 60-page safety assessment commissioned by the French Quarter Management District states bluntly: “The current bollard system on Bourbon Street does not appear to be working.”
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The FBI continues to investigate the attack and said Jabbar was motivated by ISIS extremism.
Federal authorities announced last week that Jabbar had previously visited New Orleans on two occasions: once on October 30, 2024, and again on November 10, 2024. The attacker also visited Cairo, Egypt, and Toronto, Canada, before of the attack. the FBI said.
While Jabbar apparently acted alone, authorities are still investigating whether he had accomplices.
