The FBI has conducted more than 100 investigations into suspected Islamic extremists within the military, NPR reports. About a dozen of those cases are considered serious. The FBI and Department of Defense call these cases “insider threats.” They include not just active and reserve military personnel but also individuals who have access to military facilities such as contractors and close family members with dependent ID cards.
Officials would not provide details about the cases and the FBI would not confirm the numbers, but the cases seen as serious could include suspects who seem to be planning an attack or were in touch with “dangerous individuals” who were goading them to attack. The numbers were disclosed in a closed session of a House-Senate committee hearing in December. “I was surprised and struck by the numbers; they were larger than I expected,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, told NPR.