It’s not just barbarians at the gate anymore.

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee warned Sunday that the United State is facing dangers not just in the Middle East war zone, but also from Americans who have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight on the side of the Islamic State – as well as home-grown jihadists radicalized by the Internet.

“We’ve had hundreds of Americans that have traveled to fight in the region, and of those have returned,” Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, told Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation.”

“Talk about barbarians at the gate. We need to keep them out of the gate. And we need to monitor those who get through the gate,” he said.

The slickness of Islamic State propaganda and its availability on the Internet have also heightened the danger of American citizens being caught up in the moment — and fighting for the wrong side against their own country, he said.

“We don’t want to see what happened in Paris happen in the United States,” McCaul said.

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Joe Saunders

Joe Saunders, a 25-year newspaper veteran, is a staff writer and editor for BizPac Review who lives in Tallahassee and covers capital and Florida politics. Email Joe at [email protected].

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