WARNING FROM BRITAIN – AT 8:16 A.M. ET:  At least some people are taking the ISIS threat seriously.  From London's Daily Mail: 

MI6 is to recruit 1,000 new spies following a stark warning from its chief that the threat from Islamic State-style terrorism will last a 'professional lifetime'.

Alex Younger – known as 'C' – said IS-style terrorism posed a 'persistent threat', driven by the internet revolution and the breaking down of international barriers.

In a rare public appearance at a security conference in Washington DC, he said 'deep social economic and demographic drivers' meant there was little sign of the 'enduring' danger disappearing soon.

And he warned of the damage done by the theft and leaking of US and UK secrets by Edward Snowden.

His warning came as it emerged that MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, is to dramatically expand its staff with another 1,000 spies – a 40 per cent rise by 2020 to 3,500.

The expansion was reported by BBC Newsnight, which suggested the new staff were needed because technology, including the internet and facial-recognition techniques, had made it easier for the UK's enemies to identify intelligence officers.

COMMENT:  The British assessment sounds correct.  I would add that such factors as leftist bias in the press, corruption in educational institutions, and a general lack of traditional patriotism in Western democracies will add substantially to the burden felt by intelligence agencies.  Indeed, the presence of non-Islamic fifth columns in the decaying Western alliance may be the fatal blow, after all the decades of fight.

September 22, 2016