U.S. Soldier Arrested for Supporting the Islamic State

A U.S. Army soldier stationed in Hawaii pledged allegiance to ISIS and offered the terror group documents and training according to the FBI.

JUST IN: US soldier arrested by FBI in Hawaii; accused of swearing allegiance to ISIS, attempting to provide military documents & training.

— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) July 10, 2017

NEW: Active-duty U.S. Army soldier arrested in Hawaii on charges of providing material support to ISIS, FBI says. https://t.co/smPnXDWc1U

— ABC News (@ABC) July 10, 2017

Ikaika Erik Kang was arrested this past weekend for alleged ties to the Islamic State after a year-long investigation.

#FBI SAC Paul Delacourt announced the arrest of Ikaika Kang, an active duty soldier based in Hawaii, on terrorism charges.

— FBI Honolulu (@FBIHonolulu) July 11, 2017

Hawaii News reports:

An active duty Hawaii soldier who was arrested for allegedly trying to provide material support and training to the Islamic State terrorist group told an undercover federal agent Saturday that he wanted to “kill a bunch of people.”

A criminal complaint alleges that Ikaika Erik Kang, 34, was arrested at his Waipahu apartment Saturday, shortly after pledging his loyalty to ISIS and making the threatening statement.

“A probable cause arrest was made in the interest of public safety,” Honolulu FBI Special Agent in Charge Paul D. Delacourt said Monday, after Kang’s first appearance in federal court. He added, “We believe that Kang was a lone actor and was not associated with others who present a threat to Hawaii.”

Delacourt said Kang’s arrest came after an investigation that lasted for more than a year, and involved multiple agencies.

Kang, who has two registered firearms and extensive “combatives training,” is assigned to the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks.

A criminal complaint alleges that he “attempted to provide material support to ISIS by providing both classified military documents, and other sensitive but unclassified military documents, to persons he believed would pass the documents to ISIS.”

Kang has reportedly served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ikaika Kang, the 34-year-old Army solider arrested on terrorism, allegedly swore allegiance to ISIS, did tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

— HansNichols (@HansNichols) July 10, 2017

https://twitter.com/chiIIum/status/884535377406644229

Even more startling, Fox News reports:

Kang has been under investigation by the U.S. Army and the FBI for over a year, according to Delacourt. The affidavit says the Army reported Kang to the FBI in August 2016 after “it appeared that Kang was becoming radicalized.”

The affidavit alleges that Kang had a history of “threatening statements.” At one point in 2012, Kang’s security clearance was suspended after he was reprimanded repeatedly for “threatening to hurt or kill other service members, and for arguing pro-ISIS views while at work and on-post.” The document claims Kang’s clearance was reinstated the following year after he complied with “military requirements stemming from the investigation.”

In 2012 NPR reported that as many as 100 Islamic extremists were under investigation in the U.S. military:

.@nprnews Exclusive: FBI Tracking 100 Suspected Extremists In Military http://t.co/vpLBvhCV

— NPR Extra (@NPRextra) June 25, 2012

In late 2008, following the election of Barack Obama, LTC Joseph Myers, Dr. Terri Wonder and I warned the U.S. Army about extremists in their ranks.

As the Washington Times reported:

Almost two years before the deadly Fort Hood shooting by a radicalized Muslim officer, the U.S. Army was explicitly warned that jihadism — Islamic holy war — was a serious problem and threat to personnel in the U.S., according to participants at a major Army-sponsored conference.

The annual Army anti-terrorism conference in Florida in February 2008 included presentations on the threat by counterterrorism specialists Patrick Poole, Army Lt. Col. Joseph Myers and Terri Wonder.

The meeting was organized by the Army’s provost marshal general and included more than 350 force protection and anti-terrorism professionals who came from major Army installations and commands from around the world, according to participants.

Mr. Poole, a counterterrorism specialist and adviser to government and law-enforcement agencies, said his presentation and that of the other two counterterrorism experts “attempted to instruct these anti-terrorism and force protection professionals not just in the indicators of Islamic jihadism, but also the strategic deficiencies in the military comprehension of the overall jihadist threat.”

The shooting at a recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark., in June and the November shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people have exposed the problem of the Army’s deficiencies in understanding the nature of the domestic Islamic terrorist threat, Mr. Poole said.

We have seen reports from Europe that more foreign fighters from those countries have been killed in service of the Islamic State than are serving in the respective militaries.

More British Muslims fight in Syria than in UK Armed Forces, MP claims http://t.co/SZ3ZqoBXCr (Al Hayat/AFP/Getty) pic.twitter.com/mTYwLv0VoY

— Telegraph Breaking News (@TelegraphNews) August 21, 2014

Is it too soon to mention that more Muslim-Americans have been killed fighting for terror groups in Syria and Iraq than have been killed fighting for the United States of America?