Jihad in America: The True Scope of the ISIS Threat

WASHINGTON -- From taking down a Russian airliner to horrific terror attacks in Beirut and Paris, ISIS is spreading its tentacles worldwide.

The threat reached into America recently when two ISIS supporters slaughtered 14 people in San Bernardino, California – and there could be more to come.

More than 250 American citizens have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS, and dozens have already returned to the U.S.  That finding comes directly from the House Homeland Security Committee.

Now, investigators believe an alarming number of Americans may welcome these ISIS recruits back home with open arms.

Obama administration officials say ISIS now has an extensive network of supporters and sympathizers inside the United States from coast to coast.

The husband and wife terror team that wreaked havoc in San Bernardino could be a sign of a growing trend.

FBI Director James Comey has said the Bureau is investigating ISIS-related activity in all 50 states – and that ISIS is recruiting here "24 hours a day."

In fact, FBI resources are reportedly running down some 1,000 ISIS cases, raising fears that the agency is being stretched thin as it tries to get a handle on the homegrown jihadist threat.

Still, President Barack Obama has said that his strategy to defeat ISIS is working and that the terror group is contained.

"I think that the FBI knows full well how serious the threat is on the ground," Katherine Gorka, president of the Threat Knowledge Group, told CBN News. "They're trying to grapple with it."

Gorka co-authored a recent report called "ISIS: The Threat to The United States," along with her husband, Dr. Sebastian Gorka.

"The reason we did the report in the first place is we were getting the sense that the threat in the United States was being downplayed for political reasons," Gorka told CBN News. "And that was exactly what the report showed – that the threat is far greater in this country than we had been led to believe."

The report found that American law enforcement has intercepted some 82 ISIS supporters since March 2014, and that ISIS is recruiting within the U.S. at about three times the rate of al Qaeda.

"Out of the 82 cases that we looked at – this is in the last 20 months – 82 people who've been interdicted by law enforcement in this country," Gorka said. "Only 18 have been turned in by someone that they knew. So this notion that the Muslim community is trying to protect us from radicalism right now is not really holding true."

The ISIS goal for these American supporters? Rise up and carry out regular terror attacks in U.S cities, creating an atmosphere of guerilla war.

It's no wonder recent polls show that concern over terrorism is as high today among Americans as it was in the weeks following 9/11; a majority lack confidence in the Obama administration's handling of terrorism and expect "lone wolf" jihadi attacks to continue on U.S. soil.