Eric Swalwell: “First, let me express my thanks to Mr. LoBiondo, my colleague on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the…”

“First, let me express my thanks to Mr. LoBiondo, my colleague on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the chairman of its CIA Subcommittee. I serve as the subcommittee's ranking member. I appreciate the bipartisan way that the chairman of the whole committee and our ranking member, Mr. Schiff, as well as the way that Mr. LoBiondo and I have approached this critical issue of foreign fighter flow. ISIS is one of the greatest threats facing the United States today. Defeating ISIS means that the United States and its allies must be more coordinated in our efforts to scrub ISIS from this Earth and to protect Americans at home than ISIS is in attacking us. This will require a multifaceted approach, involving both foreign policy and the way that our intelligence community tracks ISIS here at home. The threat posed by foreign fighters who travel to and from a foreign zone or a terrorist safe haven and then return to wreak havoc in the West is both real and persistent. The challenge is that, when these foreign fighters go to these countries, if they are not killed on the battlefield, oftentimes they learn even better training and are able to return either to Western Europe or other parts of the world or even the United States with improved training and an increased hatred for innocent people. That leaves us very vulnerable.…”