America is vulnerable to attack by Islamic extremists from a southern flank but not where you think according to US Southern Command chief General John Kelly who oversees security in the Caribbean Sea and all lands south of Mexico.
The number of ISIS devotees living in or coming from the Caribbean is rising he said.
He said top ISIS leaders in a “few very, very radical mosques” in the region are directing wannabe terrorists to direct attacks from their homes instead of traipsing to the Middle East.
The numbers aren’t large but they are growing.
“It seems like the Islamic extremists and terrorists have shifted a lot of their message, and that is, ‘Hey, rather than come to Syria, why don’t you stay at home and do San Bernardino, or do Boston, or do Fort Hood?’” Kelly said Friday at a Pentagon press briefing.
About 150 radicals have left from the Caribbean to join ISIS in the last year.