US terror threat at 'highest possible level' - dire warning issued

Speaking on CBS, Turner, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said that the threat was “no longer speculative, no longer hypothetical”.

He added: “We have terrorists that are actively working inside the United States that are a threat to Americans.”

Turner said that the government needed to share more information on enhanced terror threats.

He said: “Of the threat, what we have done and continue to do, and what this administration needs to be held to, is that they need to declassify the information of the terrorist threats that they're seeing so that there can be a public discourse concerning what the administration's risk and threats are.”

His comments come after eight Russian nationals with links to Isis have been arrested in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia after “planning Boston marathon bombing-like attack”.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers said that eight people, all hailing from Tajikistan, have all been arrested as part of a huge sting operation.

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Turner said he could not comment on the arrests but pointed to recent testimonies from top officials warning of the growing threat of a terror attack.

FBI Director Chris Wray cautioned lawmakers that a “coordinated attack” could take place in the US following an Isis attack on a concert hall in Moscow, which killed 145 people after terrorists stormed the building with machine guns.

“Our most immediate concern has been that individuals or small groups will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home,” Wray told a House Appropriations subcommittee.

“But now, increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the Isis-K attack we saw at the Russia concert hall a couple weeks ago.”

He said that since October 7, “the threat from foreign terrorists has risen to a whole other level”.

“I would be hard-pressed to think of a time when so many different threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at the same time.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland agreed that October 7 was a turning point, and said that the possibility of an attack has risen “enormously” in recent months.

“I am worried about the possibility of a terrorist attack in the country after October 7,” Garland said during a House Judiciary Committee earlier this month.

“The threat level for us has gone up enormously.”

“Every morning, we worry about this question. We try to track anyone who might be trying to hurt the country,' he continued. 'Of course, this is a major priority for the Justice Department.”