Dozens of Americans have joined terrorist groups and are posing a threat to the United States and its interests overseas, the president’s most senior adviser on counterterrorism and homeland security said Thursday.
“There are, in my mind, dozens of U.S. persons who are in various parts of the world, and they are very concerning to us,” said John O. Brennan, deputy White House national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Brennan said he would not talk about lists of targeted American terrorists.
However, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been following down U.S. nationals and U.S. passport holders who pose security threats, like the Yemen-based al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, he said.