Jihadists among us

A few items that ought to concern you:

Foggy Bottom just plain lost track of 'em:

At a House Oversight Committee hearing yesterday, a State Department official admitted the government does not know the whereabouts of thousands of foreigners who had their visas revoked over terror concerns.

“You don’t have a clue do you?” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told Michele Thoren Bond, assistant secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Bond told the committee that the U.S. has revoked more than 122,000 visas, 9,500 of which were revoked due to terrorism concerns.

Chaffetz asked Bond where those individuals were located now, to which she responded: "I don't know."

The startling admission came as members of the committee pressed administration officials on what safeguards are in place to reduce the risk from would-be extremists.

At issue is how closely the U.S. government examines the background of people seeking entry to the country, including reviews of their social media postings.

"If half the employers are doing it in the United States of America, if colleges are doing it for students, why wouldn't Homeland Security do it?" said Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass. "We don't even look at their public stuff, that's what kills me."

And a Golden Corral server heard something and said something:

In the latest suspicious incident in Missouri in recent weeks, a Camden County woman told authorities that two men who were Middle Eastern in appearance asked unusual and detailed questions about a local dam, including whether they could rent a boat and tour it.

According to KMIZ-TV, a Camden County Sheriff’s Office deputy was eating at a Golden Corral in Osage Beach, Missouri, when a member of the waitstaff approached him. The woman said that a group of “Middle Eastern” men had come in and asked questions about the nearby Bagnell Dam.

The incident came after several suspicious incidents in Missouri that have led many to believe terrorists may be planning an attack there.

And here's a novel use for a pizza oven. Where were these guys headed?

Turkish authorities detained two suspected Islamic State militants (ISIS) at Istanbul’s main international airport carrying at least 150 original European passports, an official said today.

Counter-terror police detained the suspects, a Syrian and a Turk, at Ataturk Airport after they flew in from a European country, finding they had stuffed the passports into pizza ovens, media reports said earlier.Airport police… found at least 150 fake passports among their personal belongings,” a Turkish government official, who asked not to be named, told

“Airport police… found at least 150 fake passports among their personal belongings,” a Turkish government official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

The private Dogan news agency said the police seized a total of 148 European passports hidden inside “five mini-pizza ovens”. The suspects have been taken to the anti-terror headquarters of Istanbul police for questioning, it added.

Two hidden cameras, scores of memory cards and SIM cards were also seized, it added. Dogan had said that the passports were all original. Long criticised for not doing enough to stem the flow of jihadist fighters across its volatile border with Syria, Turkey has stepped up the fight after a number of deadly attacks on Turkish soil blamed on IS, making almost daily arrests of would-be jihadists.

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