Homeland Security Committee Chair: Islamic State biggest threat since 9/11

The Islamic State presents the greatest terrorist threat to Americans since 9/11, and fighting it will take more than airstrikes in Iraq, according to a top member of Congress and a retired four-star general.

The Islamic State, also referred to as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, has vaulted in notoriety after the beheading of American journalist James Foley last week. On ABC's This Week, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, called Foley's murder a turning point.

"I do think they present the greatest threat we've seen since 9/11," McCaul said. "This has been festering for the last year, and now it's culminating with the killing and the beheading of an American journalist. ... The American people — it has sort of opened their eyes to what ISIS really is, the true character of ISIS, how savage they really are and ... their intent to harm Americans."

Retired Marine general John Allen, who served in Iraq and commanded all allied forces in Afghanistan, said attacking militant support areas in Syria will be necessary. The limited U.S. airstrikes that have helped Kurdish and Iraqi forces retake a strategic dam near Mosul in northern Iraq are not enough, he said.

A regional approach with a coalition of regional allies, bolstered by U.S. special operations forces, will be required to hit the militants hard enough, Allen said.

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Retired General John Allen:




Rep Michael McCaul (R-TX):

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