A former CIA operative says that the Islamic State group is in the United States and its members are capable of carrying out attacks.

“The people who collect tactical intelligence on the ground, day-to-day — and this isn’t Washington — but people collecting this stuff say they’re here, ISIS is here, they’re capable of striking,” CNN national security analyst and former CIA operative Bob Baer told Jake Tapper on Tuesday.

Mr. Baer said that the intelligence community are currently collecting evidence on individuals suspected of being Islamic State members.

“They can’t prove it. They’re waiting to get enough intelligence to actually run them in. And then there’s the unknown, of how many people have come back they’re not even aware of,” Mr. Baer added.

The former CIA operative’s assertion comes only days after the government watchdog Judicial Watch said that the federal government believes a terrorist attack linked to Islamic State terrorists is imminent.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that Judicial Watch’s story involving a terror bulletin on terrorists operating out of Mexico was untrue. He said, “the most detailed intelligence assessment that I can offer from here is that there is no evidence or indication right now that [the Islamic State group] is actively plotting to attack the United States homeland. That’s true right now,” the Daily Mail reported Friday.

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton stood by the nonprofit’s story, telling the Daily Mail that his sources were “golden” and that denials by the federal government were “so dishonest.”

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