House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., said Wednesday that “national security failures over the past four years” have “strengthened” foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and domestic violence.
The committee on Wednesday morning released an updated version of its Terror Threat Snapshot assessment, which highlights threats posed by domestic extremists inspired by foreign jihadist networks like ISIS in America and around the world.
“Strengthened by national security failures over the past four years, foreign terrorist organizations and jihadist networks abroad remain committed to recruiting and converting people on US soil.”
The updated report comes less than a month after Texas Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar killed 14 civilians Jan. 1, while driving a truck through crowds of New Year’s Eve revelers on Bourbon Street around 3 a.m. in what federal authorities described as an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack.
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“The terrorist attack in New Orleans was a stark reminder that the terrorist threat in America is alive and well,” Green said. “The Homeland Security Committee highlighted this fact in October, and, sadly, the American people have seen a significant increase in these threats over the past three months.”
The report details more than 50 jihadist crimes in 30 provinces between April 2021 and January 2025, including “numerous attempts to provide material support to ISIS,” “providing material support to Hizballah and al Qaeda,” “finding military-type training on ISIS and Hizballah” and “vehicle attacks.”
NEW ORLEANS TERRORIST IS STRENGTHENED ON THE NETWORK WITHIN WEEKS, FBI DIRECTOR SAYS
Officers on Bourbon Street after a car drove into a crowd at New Orleans’ Canal and Bourbon Street, Wednesday Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
From the controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 to the New Orleans attack, the report includes a detailed list of every terrorist-inspired attack and arrest since former President Biden took office four years ago.
“There is no question that national security is in dire straits after four years of leadership failure.”
The Chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence August Pfluger said on Wednesday “Americans have been victims of terror in public celebrations, while ISIS and al Qaeda are emboldened in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.
The FBI released surveillance footage showing Shamsud-Din Jabbar an hour before he drove the truck down Bourbon Street in New Orleans in early Jan. 1, 2025. (FBI via AP)
“There is a big job that needs to be done to prepare the way and strengthen security in our country. That job starts now.”
The committee also noted that car attacks like the one in New Orleans are emerging as a serious and growing threat.
Many of the victims of the New Orleans attack have sued the city for negligence, citing multiple instances where the threat of a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street was mentioned in official city planning documents.
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Detectives gather after a person drove a car into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
One lawsuit filed on behalf of seven victims by Morris Bart, LLC, says the defendants “had years of opportunity to resolve this known problem,” and “[c]The contractors failed to fulfill their contractual obligations and perform the work in the prescribed manner.
“One situation presented by [contractor] Mott MacDonald eight months before this tragedy even involved a Ford F-150 truck turning directly onto Bourbon Street from Canal Street, the same terrifying threat that seemed to be predicted before December 31.”
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VICTIMS OF THE NEW ORLEANS TERRORIST ATTACK
Police investigating a crime on Bourbon Street in New Orleans Jan. 1, 2025. The driver walked into a crowd of people who were reveling in New Year’s Eve and started firing a weapon in the early hours of the morning. (Fox News Digital’s Kat Ramirez)
New Orleans’ official recommendations for security measures in the French Quarter as part of a 2.3 billion dollar infrastructure project that began in 2017 included the installation of new bollards on Bourbon Street to prevent mass casualty incidents identified by the FBI as a potential risk in the popular tourist area.
The city began planning updated safety measures, including billboards to keep cars off the busy streets of the French Quarter, at that time.
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“The French Quarter is often crowded with pedestrians and represents a high-risk area,” a The 2017 report says. “This area is also at risk and a terrorist target area that the FBI has identified as a concern for the City to address.
“After the attacks in Nice, France; London, England; and the recent NYC Times Square incident citing life-saving bollards, it has become clear how popular tourist destinations can be threatened by attackers with vehicles and weapons.”
A masked Islamic State terrorist poses with an ISIS flag in 2015. (Photos from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
A separate, confidential 2019 report obtained by Fox News from the security firm Interfor International, warned Bourbon Street was the “highest target” in New Orleans for terrorist attacks. A 60-page safety assessment commissioned by the French Quarter Management District bluntly states, “The current bollard system on Bourbon Street appears to be ineffective.”
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The FBI continues to investigate the attack and said Jabbar was inspired by ISIS extremists.
Federal authorities announced last week that Jabbar had visited New Orleans twice before — once on Oct. 30, 2024, and again on November 10, 2024. The attacker also visited Cairo, Egypt, and Toronto, Canada, before the attack. , the FBI said.
Although Jabbar worked alone, authorities are still investigating whether he had accomplices.
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