Wall Street Journal: Canada Privacy Law Hampered Intelligence Sharing
Devlin Barrett and Siobhan Gorman of The Wall Street Journal report on concerns raised by the recent attacks in Canada:
WASHINGTON—Neither of the two Canadian men who attacked soldiers and Parliament this week were on a terror watch list in the U.S.—one because of privacy laws in Canada—raising concerns among American officials about possible intelligence gaps close to home.
Both incidents underscore a security concern of U.S. and Western counterterrorism officials: These types of one-off, homegrown attacks are far more difficult to detect than bigger, long-term conspiracies—and they may grow with the increasing media prominence of the extremist group Islamic State.
It isn’t clear, however, whether Islamic State militants are intentionally pursuing a smaller-scale strategy or if they are just encouraging others to mount what are likely to be more limited attacks.
“It may be all they’re capable of doing at the moment,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, (D., Calif.), a member of the House intelligence committee.
“It doesn’t take much to create a lot of mayhem,” he added.
Mr. Schiff said he believes that if Islamic State is able to hold territory in Syria or Iraq for an extended period and can establish a haven, it could seek to direct larger attacks.
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By: Devlin Barrett and Siobhan Gorman
Source: Wall Street Journal