Nathan Sales

Terrorist fighters are always looking for the next battleground, and I think we're concerned about the possibility that jihadis who've been defeated in Syria might relocate elsewhere, whether you're talking about ISIS Khorasan in Afghanistan or moving into the Sahel.

As the false caliphate collapsed, we saw ISIS' toxic ideology continue to spread around the globe in 2018, iSIS recognized new regional affiliates in Somalia and in East Asia. Foreign terrorist fighters headed home or traveled to third countries to join ISIS branches there. And homegrown terrorists, people who have never set foot in Syria or Iraq, also carried out attacks.

We are looking into the leader, his role in the organization, where he came from. I don't have anything to announce on that, obviously, publicly, but anytime there is a leadership transition in a terrorist organization, we want to make sure that we have the latest information we have, that we need to have to confront the threat effectively.

It is not a smoking gun -- but it is a bombshell. by Nathan Sales

It is not a smoking gun -- but it is a bombshell.

This could drag on for the rest of the 2016 campaign cycle -- maybe into 2017 or 2018. This is not the sort of investigation in which we could have clear and definitive answers overnight.