Islamic State jihadists are reportedly gleaning information from social media accounts to build "kill lists" of Americans overseas who can be stalked and targeted outside of a secure location.
The startling claim came during a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing, the
Washington Examiner reports.
"One of the emerging tactics that ISIS in particular is trying to use is stalking and killing its foes, especially those who are affiliated with governments," Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst.
Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, who chairs the committee, called the hearing to talk about the terrorism threat following the Brussels bombings last month, the Examiner reports.
"What some of the followers and adherents of ISIS have tried to do is expose military personnel and their family members with personal data, addresses, etc.," Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security adviser under President George W. Bush told the committee.
"So there is a very real effort underway to at least threaten, if not put at risk, family members and personnel outside the bounds of classic security."
Just as frightening is how the terrorists are building their lists, the experts say.
"A lot of the information ISIS got when it put out addresses of service members who were on their kill lists was just easily gleaned, not from hacking, but from going to people's social media accounts and finding out this information about them," Gartenstein-Ross told the panel, the Examiner reports.
"But ultimately, I think this is a very high-level concern that fits both with what the organization has done and also the direction that it's moving in with its evolving tactics."
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