Texas Department of Public Safety Issues Bulletin Warning of Increased "ISIS Interest on the Southwest Border"

This is Judicial Watch's claim, but, as you'll see, they're claiming multiple sources.

We'll see if anyone else can confirm it themselves.

Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices (VBIED). High-level federal law enforcement, intelligence and other sources have confirmed to Judicial Watch that a warning bulletin for an imminent terrorist attack on the border has been issued. Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies have all been placed on alert and instructed to aggressively work all possible leads and sources concerning this imminent terrorist threat.

Specifically, Judicial Watch sources reveal that the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) is confirmed to now be operating in Juarez, a famously crime-infested narcotics hotbed situated across from El Paso, Texas....

Intelligence officials have picked up radio talk and chatter indicating that the terrorist groups are going to "carry out an attack on the border," according to one JW source. "It's coming very soon," according to this high-level source, who clearly identified the groups planning the plots as "ISIS and Al Qaeda."

Another source says that the personnel at Fort Bliss, a military base near the border, are being briefed.

The reporting from Judicial Watch says the attack will be "on" the border, which I guess could mean Brownsville or another large town.

But that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Seems more likely the incursion would be at the border, but the attack would be elsewhere.

Still, what the reporting says is "an attack on the border." I think that might be garbled in translation, but that's what it says.

Thanks to "Cowboy Poet."

Update: Fox Now Reporting. A few new details:

The Fox report is less alarmist than the Judicial Watch one (but that may be just because they have fewer sources -- they just seem to have confirmed the alert itself).

The alert found by Fox comes from the Texas Department of Public Safety, not the feds, though I suppose they themselves might have been tipped by the feds.

"A review of ISIS social media messaging during the week ending August 26 shows that militants are expressing an increased interest in the notion that they could clandestinely infiltrate the southwest border of US, for terror attack," warns the Texas Department of Public Safety "situational awareness" bulletin, obtained by FoxNews.com.

The three-page bulletin, entitled "ISIS Interest on the US Southwest Border" was released to law enforcement on Thursday.

"Social media account holders believed to be ISIS militants and propagandists have called for unspecified border operations, or they have sought to raise awareness that illegal entry through Mexico is a viable option," states the law enforcement bulletin, which is not classified.

It notes that as of Aug. 26, no known credible homeland threats or specific homeland attack plot has been identified.

Based on that much, I'm taking down the flaming skull, for now, as it seems less urgent and less well-sourced than I first thought.

In addition, Andy McCarthy, who is an expert in these things, is concerned by the memo, but also says he expects this sort of thing in the weeks before the 9/11 anniversary.

For those of us who've been raising alarms about both the jihadist threat and the national-security vulnerability created by the Obama administration's non-enforcement of the immigration laws, this is not a surprise -- particularly less than two weeks before September 11. But it is nonetheless jarring to read.

The way I read McCarthy there is like this: "Yes, this is worrying, but I see this sort of thing all the time."

So I'm resetting my personal Terror Threat Alarm System back down to orange from red. This is a reason for great concern, but not panic.

Not yet, anyway.

Sorry for making you jumpy.

But to add a caveat to the caveat: Fox is only confirming one of Judicial Watch's sources, the bulletin itself. Add in those additional sources and this appears to be more alarming than a routine "Be Advised" memo.

posted by Ace at 02:01 PM

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