Obama administration: Some Americans fighting with ISIS have returned to U.S.

A senior official of the Obama administration said Monday that some of the Americans who have fought with ISIS are back in the United States.

The statement marks the government's first official confirmation that some of the Americans fighting alongside ISIS have returned to the country. The official gave his remarks during a press briefing in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Monday. The official added that the National Counterterrorism Center estimates that more than 100 Americans have tried to fight alongside ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

"It includes those who've gone, those who've tried to go, some who've come back and are under active — the FBI is looking at them," the official told reporters. A different official explained the ways the FBI attempts to stop the fighters from returning to America, including airport screening methods and no-fly lists.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

President Obama will chair a summit at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to address the issue of foreign fighters joining terrorist organizations. The U.N. is "expected to pass a resolution establishing an international legal framework for addressing the spread of foreign fighters," Time reports.