Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) has honorably proposed the National Strategy to Combat Terrorist Travel Act of 2016 to address the rising threat of the Islamic State group and its rapid radicalization.

An improved version of the bill, which consists of several main areas of focus that intertwine with one another, was introduced by Katko, a Syracuse University alumnus, last week. The act includes a call for the president and Congress to continuously assess the terror threat to the United States, record the existing measures the government has taken to curb foreign fighter travel and reform these methods accordingly. The crux of the proposal is its petition to evaluate and act upon the United States’ current vulnerabilities regarding terrorist travel.

With Katko’s new bill, the U.S. government would be pushed to provide a way to stop Americans from leaving the country to join the Islamic State — a trend that has also manifested itself in New York state. If passed, the act would require each branch to be responsible for monitoring travel overseas and regularly assess whether the United States is at-risk for a terrorist attack.

Hopefully, this bill will be passed in the House of Representatives, considering its success or failure will impact the security of the United States. It’s astonishing that the federal government has even taken this long to come up with a plan to stop its people from becoming foreign fighters.

“It’s a bipartisan congressional effort to make our country more secure in the face of ISIS and other terrorist affiliates near the homeland,” said Miriam Elman, an associate professor of political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

The act comes after a 66-page report authored by the House of Representatives’ Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel was published in September 2015. Katko is clearly experienced in navigating this issue, as he played an active role by leading the committee that hailed its work to address foreign fighter travel as the most in-depth anti-terrorism measure since the 9/11 Commission.

The end result of a 6-month investigation, the document details exactly what the country is dealing with regarding the Islamic State and its recruiting tactics in the West. One of its main findings was that the United States has done a lackluster job of preventing and keeping track of Americans that have left to fight with extremists abroad. Part of this issue stems from the fact that Western countries have yet to compile a global list of foreign fighters — a fault that allows them to slip through the cracks.

It was speculated that one of the Islamic State’s main methods is training Americans abroad so that they can come back into the country with a valid U.S. visa or passport. It’s a brilliant-but-terrifying tactic that has received no tangible response in Washington. Katko’s bill, though, seems to be more of a preventative measure as there are reportedly only a handful of foreign fighters that have come back to the United States.

“It has become more urgent because of what’s going on in Europe,” Elman said. “Some of the European countries have thousands of citizens who have gone and become fighters for ISIS and now have returned.”

However, that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to fear close to home. On New Year’s Eve, a 25-year-old man was arrested in Rochester for planning to stab people in a restaurant on the Islamic State’s behalf. Thankfully, the plot was foiled by authorities. The attempt came after a pizza shop owner in the same city pled guilty in 2014 to recruiting and raising money for the terrorist group.

These cases just go to show that the threat of terror is real in local communities — in this case, only about an hour and a half away from Syracuse — and Europe’s observed problems of sleeper cells and foreign fighter travel can happen here as well. In New York state there are currently 14 Islamic State suspects accounted for and two have been convicted, according to The Washington Post. Islamic State recruits might be neighbors, people at the mall or any person hiding in plain sight while they prepare an attack.

Some critics may say that Katko’s bill will encroach on civil liberties of travel because it would limit people from going on vacation or to see family outside of United States. However, the House task force report continually states the importance of law enforcement collaborating with civil liberty advocates.

Without proper safety measures, communities all over the United States are at risk. The Islamic State group has made clear its intentions to rid the Western world of its democracy by any means necessary. It seems that the Islamic State will stop at nothing to advance their agenda, yet the U.S. government doesn’t seem to have much of a plan when it comes to stopping Americans from joining the terrorist’s cause.

Washington owes the American people a response to the terror that could be brought to the homeland and Katko’s proposal is a step in the right direction. However, legislative action must be taken quickly or else U.S. cities, like those in New York state, will be targets for deadly attacks.

Kyle O’Connor is a sophomore sport management major and political science minor. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at kdoconno@syr.edu.

Published on February 7, 2016 at 11:53 pm