‘That mindset is disturbing,’ Loretta Lynch says of D.C. cop charged with supporting ISIS
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday that the troubling reach of terrorism was demonstrated by the shocking news of a Washington, D.C., transit police officer being charged for trying to help the so-called Islamic State.
Nicholas Young, of Fairfax, Va., was arrested Wednesday morning at the Metro Transit Police headquarters in the nation’s capital and charged with attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
During a wide-ranging interview in Detroit later that day, Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric asked Lynch to provide some insight into the first terrorism-related charges being brought against a law enforcement officer in the United States.
Lynch began by noting that the case is ongoing and that there would be more to discuss after the suspect’s court appearance in Virginia. (He requested an attorney and is scheduled for a second hearing on Thursday.)
“What I can say is, however, that obviously, we have always been concerned about individuals here — citizens, people who live here, who grew up here, being drawn in to the rhetoric of any group, ISIS, al-Qaida — all of them, and then acting in interests that are against America,” she told Couric.
Lynch explained that Young, 36, a police officer with the Metro Transit Police Department, was caught trying to help someone he thought was an ISIS sympathizer figure out the best way to travel abroad and join the terrorist group.
He is also suspected of having purchased nearly $250 in gift cards in July that were intended to help ISIS purchase mobile apps for secretive communication, according to court documents.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Young had been under surveillance since 2010 and was actually in contact with agents from the bureau’s Joint Terrorism Task Force who were posing as terrorists.
“That mindset is disturbing. That mindset is something that is of great concern to us, obviously. Because it does illustrate the reach of this radical thought process on a number of people,” she said.
Lynch said it’s important to note that, at this time, they have no evidence that he was involved in plotting any attacks against the homeland.
Couric asked Lynch if the U.S. Department of Justice would deal with police departments differently as a result of this arrest. After all, she said, law enforcement agencies have a lot of resources at their fingertips that could hypothetically fall into the wrong hands and help the Islamic State group plan a terrorist attack.
“I think what you’ll see from this case is that this was a matter in which we worked very closely with the police department making sure — that we knew what this individual was doing and tracking his movements,” Lynch responded. “I will certainly say that, as we look at the larger issues of national security and terrorism, our local law enforcement officers are some of our greatest partners in this effort.”
Lynch said that local law enforcement departments will continue to be valued partners in the fight against terrorism.
“We’ve seen this threat shift and morph over the years from the large-scale 9/11 attacks to the homegrown extremists,” she continued. “And often, it is our local partners and colleagues who are first on the scene, who are the first responders or who are the first to notice these issues and bring them to our attention.”
