AP: Foreign recruits flocking to ISIS at a rate 'without precedent'

Last week, Canadian police infiltrated and dismantled an ISIS recruiting cell operating out of Ottawa, Ontario. Previously, we'd seen reports of ISIS recruiting in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. They're even reaching out to potential American jihadists via social media. So, just how widespread are ISIS recruiting efforts?

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According to the Associated Press, it's beyond anything we've ever seen:

The U.S. bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria has failed to slow the pace of foreign fighters flocking to join the Islamic State and other extremist groups, including at least 3,400 from Western nations among 20,000 from around the world, U.S. intelligence officials say in an updated estimate of a top terrorism concern. Intelligence agencies now believe that as many as 150 Americans have tried and some have succeeded in reaching the Syrian war zone, officials told the House Homeland Security Committee in testimony prepared for delivery on Wednesday. Some of those Americans were arrested en route, some died in the area and a small number were still fighting with extremists. The testimony and other data were obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Nick Rasmussen, chief of the National Counterterrorism Center, said the rate of foreign fighter travel to Syria is without precedent, far exceeding the rate of foreigners who went to wage jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any other point in the past 20 years.

Now, obviously, there's an upside to this. First and foremost, we're on the low end of the recruitment ladder. 150 people isn't many, and it should be a managable number for even the most incompetent of governments. ...If they're actually taking the problem seriously. More importantly, If would-be terrorists are heading to the Middle East - and they're arrested or killed in the fighting there - good riddance. At least they're not wreaking havoc at home. Unfortunately, in both Europe and the United States, there's at least some concern that this isn't happening. Once recruits enter the Mid-East fray, they're extremely difficult to track and the fear is that they'll head back to their country of origin to carry out attacks - something that already happened in France.

U.S. officials fear that some of the foreign fighters will return undetected to their homes in Europe or the U.S. to mount terrorist attacks. At least one of the men responsible for the attack on a satirical magazine in Paris had spent time with Islamic extremists in Yemen.

These people, if only due to geography, are obviously going to have an easier time getting back into Europe than they would have trying to re-enter the United States. Hopefully the feds are watching them and they're all accounted for. Still, if even one slips through the net they could cause untold levels of death and destruction. Given the threats that ISIS has leveled against the west, and considering their obvious intentions of carrying out attacks inside the U.S, maybe - just maybe - this is a good time to talk about beefing up our border security... Oh wait. I forgot. Harry Reid has promised us that our borders are secure. So no worries.