Australia threat led to U.S. alert

House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., says a recent message to ISIS recruits in Australia to attack in their own country rather than traveling to Syria was part of the threat stream that led to Homeland Security increasing security at federal buildings. He says 14 recruits were ready to travel:

They got a note back from ISIL that said: ‘No, No.What we want you to do, stay in Australia. We want you to randomly kidnap people off the street behead them, videotape it, send it to us for further propaganda’.

He says the Australian beheading plot in mid-September was the culmination of that message. Terror activity in Canada, the U.S., Germany, France, Spain and parts of Europe has similar motivation:

What you know now is these folks are sending out that message that spontaneous terrorism is the word of the day, and that’s what’s so concerning to individuals that they’re radicalizing these folks to attack government officials. They wanted to have a high-profile event in a Western country.