A new House report warns that the Oct. 7 attacks “significantly altered the terrorism threat environment” both in the United States and internationally.
Titled “National Security Improvements and the Domestic Threat Landscape 25 Years After 9/11/01,” the 130-page report states that the Israel-Hamas conflict “has been accompanied by a sharp increase in antisemitic violence, attacks targeting Jewish and pro-Israel communities and extremist mobilization inspired by events in the Middle East.”
The House Committee on Homeland Security released the report, which assesses changes in domestic security since 2001 and recommends policy responses, on Thursday.
The report states that Hamas and Hezbollah remain capable of influencing extremists despite suffering substantial losses since Oct. 7. It cites Hamas’s political networks and propaganda operation, as well as Hezbollah’s media apparatus, Iranian support and remaining military capabilities.
It also identifies individual attackers as an increasing threat. The number of young people radicalized without a formal connection to an extremist organization has risen by more than 300% in the past decade, according to the report.
“Many of these individuals are invisible to law enforcement until it is too late,” it states.
The committee warned that intelligence sharing problems, similar to those preceding Sept. 11, persist among federal, state and local agencies. “Intelligence is often present but not integrated or shared with the appropriate partners to form a common threat picture,” it states.
Among other recommendations, the committee called for more scrutiny of extremists and their use of social media and generative artificial intelligence. It also recommended doing more to “exchange terrorist information with trusted allies and raise U.S. and global security standards for travel and border crossing.”
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), chair of the committee, said that “25 years later, significant progress has been made towards strengthening our national security and ensuring we never again allow such an attack to be perpetrated against the United States.”
“This no-fail mission requires persistent vigilance and adaptation to keep pace with the contemporary threat environment,” he said.
