Katko asked by Congressmen to discuss report about combating terrorism

A phone call from the Speaker of the House interrupted Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) from watching college football games on Saturday night.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-W.I.) and numerous other leaders in Congress wanted to hear more details about a report that Katko helped release in September. The report detailed the threat of the Islamic State in the West and what actions the U.S. needs to take against IS. Katko is the co-chair of the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee’s bipartisan Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel, whose members authored the report.

As he was watching the news earlier in the evening, Katko, the congressman for New York state’s 24th district of which Syracuse is a part, said he realized the report on foreign fighters related very closely with the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Katko said measures have been taken to combat terrorism to some extent in response to his report, but added that these measures are nowhere near enough.

“And like anything, until crisis hits, (the reports) really don’t get the scrutiny they deserve,” he said. “Crisis is now here.”

Katko listed three attacks around the world that IS has claimed responsibility for. The attacks include a Russian plane crash in Egypt on Oct. 31 that killed all on board, a number of suicide bombings in Beirut that killed 40 people and the most recent series of attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people.

“(The incidents) pointed out a need for legislative accomplishments we’ve done in our Congress to get the ball rolling to make sure America is as safe as it possibly can be,” Katko said.

Katko said there are several reasons Western countries are susceptible to IS threats, including a lack of information sharing, “broken travel” and IS recruitment. “Broken travel” happens in Europe when IS associates take various forms of transportation to get to their destination. In regard to recruitment, IS recruits people to come to over from the West while simultaneously gathering online allies, who will stay and plan attacks in the U.S.

Katko said he was asked by leaders in Congress to fly out to Washington, D.C. on Monday afternoon to discuss his report and what to prioritize. Katko said he will also have discussions on how to move bills of his that pertain to combating terrorism and are stuck in Congress. Katko added that he will meet with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) later in the week “to start moving” his legislation on airport security.

As for the attacks in Paris, Katko said that based on his travels to Turkey and other parts of Europe earlier this year, the attacks were “exactly what we thought was going to happen based on the vulnerabilities we knew in Europe.”

Many of the report’s recommendations have to do with making the U.S. safer, Katko said, which is the job of those in the Department of Homeland Security. The U.S. cannot streamline with just one country, Katko said, but instead should coordinate a global response to terrorism. This response includes information sharing, he added.

“What we don’t know — and there’s a lot — and that’s because of information sharing and intelligence sharing. That’s what scares me the most,” Katko said. “It’s not what we know, it’s what we don’t know.”