Federal authorities issued an intelligence bulletin Friday warning of potential terror attacks in the U.S. during the July 4 holiday, media reports said.
The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Counterterrorism Center issued a joint intelligence bulletin to state and local law enforcement across the country, CNN reported. The bulletin warned of the potential Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL or Daesh in Arabic) inspired terror attacks targeting police and the military. However, the bulletin does not give detail of any particular plot.
The possible terror threat is based on both intelligence and analysis, the federal law enforcement sources said, according to NBC News. The analysis of the July 4 threat is based in part on the "new normal" of the Islamic State's planning, which uses social media to recruit jihadists worldwide and encourage them to organize terror attacks.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson issued a statement on Friday on terrorist attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia, saying that law enforcement agencies should remain vigilant and prepared during the holiday, CBS News reported.
"Particularly with the upcoming July 4th holiday, here in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI continue to communicate with state and local law enforcement about what we know and see," he said.
"We are encouraging all law enforcement to be vigilant and prepared. We will also adjust security measures, seen and unseen, as necessary to protect the American people," he said, according to The Hill.
Federal authorities recently arrested two terror suspects Fareed Mumuni and Munther Omar Saleh for plotting to commit Islamic State-inspired terror attacks in the U.S. Their arrests were part of federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies push to arrest homegrown terror suspects before Independence Day.
