The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent a joint warning to law enforcement across the United States about teens within the U.S. wanting to join the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL), CNN reports.
Citing an anonymous law enforcement official, CNN mentions that the warning was issued last weekend following the arrest of a 17-year-old teenage boy in Northern Virginia.
The teenager from Woodbridge, VA, is accused of successfully helping a man join ISIS in Syria, according to The Washington Post.
Law enforcement is keeping tabs on “lots” of similar of cases around the nation, reports CNN.
“They’re growing increasingly concerned about the issue,” it adds.
The warning highlights motivations for boys and girls.
“For boys: they tend to be older going over to fight and be a part of foreign fighters, or they want to attack in the U.S. (like the Brooklyn case),” reveals CNN. “For girls: they tend to be younger and have a fanciful notion of what life is like in Syria. They often want to go over and be Islamic brides.”
Late in February, FBI Director James Comey indicated that the tentacles of ISIS reach into all 50 U.S. states.
“We have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states,” said Comey, adding, “This isn’t a New York phenomenon or a Washington phenomenon. This is all 50 states and in ways that are very hard to see.”
Federal authorities indicted a 19-year-old man from Minnesota in February on accusations that he conspired to support ISIS.
Last week, three men from Brooklyn, including a 19-year-old, were arrested and charged with planning to travel to Syria to fight with ISIS.
If their plan to travel failed, the three men were planning to commit an act of terrorism inside the U.S. homeland, according to authorities.
Federal authorities have thwarted a number of ISIS-related plots involving teenagers in the U.S.
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