Former NCIS agent: Inside the mind of ISIS

Would ISIS ever target America on American soil? Eyewitness News anchor Todd Kunz asked a former NCIS special agent, who was speaking in Eastern Idaho recently, this question and others.

Believe as they believe or suffer the consequences. ISIS aims to create a caliphate centered in the Middle East. One Islamic State governed by one supreme religion. The United States and allies have formed a coalition to defend against ISIS.

“This is not something that will be solved overnight,” said President Barack Obama in a recent department meeting. But critics say it will take a lot more to defeat ISIS.

“Airstrikes alone are not going to do this,” said Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson.

Former NCIS special agent Robert McFadden said there is more to it, than just defeating ISIS as it stands today.

“I am confident we and the allies will degrade and work to destroy the physical entity of ISIS, say the same thing for Al-Qaeda, but you know what endures, it’s the ideology that’s still out there and the conditions that are the incubators for that ideology,” said McFadden.

McFadden spent 30 years in counter-intelligence for the U.S. government and the last three and a half in the private sector. He has seen this same ideology in ISIS before, from Al-Qaeda. The perception of ISIS being more violent is largely accurate, but their tactics are different.

“Where there is a big difference though, Al-Qaeda never was, and up to this point, a terrorist organization that endeavored to seize territory, hold onto territory, and govern. whereas ISIS has been the opposite,” said McFadden.

McFadden said Al-Qaeda remains the major trans-national terrorist threat. But Kunz asked him about the possibility of ISIS coming to America.

“ISIS a threat here in the homeland?” asked Kunz.

“Uh, on any given day, it is a threat that can’t be ruled out,” replied McFadden.

“Is ISIS considering our porous border?” asked Kunz.

“Well, I don’t have any information specifically intelligence that I’ve heard about, read about, from various sources on that, that it’s considering infiltration operations either from the south border or the north border,” replied McFadden.

McFadden said there are other more efficient and easier ways to get into the U.S. to do bad things. Easier would be tapping into someone with a current U.S. passport or visa or encouraging others to act out violently.

“Not that U.S. intelligence would ever rule out border infiltration operations, but you know, when you talk about the logistics, language barriers, and other impediments, it’s probably less likely than the other scenario where a fighter from the U.S., having gone over there and received training, and has a U.S. passport, would be dispatched,” said McFadden.

McFadden said the mentality of ISIS stems from these factors; religious extremism, poor or failed governance, area awash with weapons, and little-to-no alternative for young men when it comes to jobs and education.

“These are the underlying factors that are the fuel that cause these kind of things, that result in violent extremism,” said McFadden.

But the real question.

“Hey on any given day, I don’t care if it is New York or Idaho, what’s the threat? Are these guys coming after us? Well, no. right now. That is really not at all the situation,” said McFadden, answering himself.

But Idaho does contain one possible single target.

“When you have the word nuclear involved it is always one of those very dramatic, very important and potential targets for a terrorist group. But again, from the intelligence community, from my experience, you go on history, trends, modus operandi, capability, intention, and intelligence that comes from various sources. What we know about Al-Qaeda as the international terrorist group, and those that think like Al-Qaeda, is very dramatic, high density population areas, and targets of symbolic value. You know, whether it is going after the Pentagon, the world trade center, other great landmarks in America. And also because they want to sew maximum fear, aviation continues to be one of Al-Qaeda’s targets. So that would tend to mitigate, by degree, going after a target like a nuclear facility in the heartland of the country,” said McFadden.

McFadden was in Eastern Idaho speaking to employees at the Idaho National Laboratory, the Idaho Falls Rotary Club, and political science students at Brigham Young University Idaho.