British Prime Minister David Cameron's raising of his nation's terrorism alert to the second-highest level has set the somber tone for the world's fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and other deadly extremist groups, says Jonathan Gilliam, a former Navy SEAL and FBI special agent.
"Countries that succeed against enemies like ISIS — they set the tone," Gilliam told Rick Ungar, guest host of "The Steve Malzberg Show" Friday on
Newsmax TV.
"They don’t allow ISIS to set the tone because you don’t want people like that setting the tone."
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Cameron said ISIS, which has been slaughtering Christians and beheading journalists and soldiers in the Middle East, poses Britain's greatest ever security risk.
Gilliam said he is not certain why Cameron raised the alert level, although it could have something to do with the ISIS member who beheaded American journalist James Foley on camera.
Before the atrocity, Foley's killer spoke about America's crimes towards Islam and had a distinct British accent, raising the possibility that he grew up and was educated in the United Kingdom.
"A lot of times they change these terror threats publicly to comfort people and say, hey, we’re amping this up, we’re on it. The reality is, we’re always under a threat whether it’s a known threat or not a known threat and that may be part of it," Gilliam said.
"There may actually be people who were shaken by this and when they started to dig in it the numbers truly came out of how many people are being recruited [by ISIS in Britain]."
Gilliam said the United States has been successful in warding off terror attacks since 9/11 as a result of excellent sources and informants. The nation's law enforcement and military are also top notch, he added.
"The way we’re set up as far as law enforcement goes is very responsive. Militarily, we’re very direct action and we move forward on any type of information we get law enforcement," Gilliam said.