Story highlights New report says al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, al Nusra Front, is "more dangerous to the U.S. than ISIS" in the long term

Al Nusra is an "existential" threat, according to the report's authors

Washington (CNN) Al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, is a greater threat to the United States in the long term than is ISIS, making the United States' current single-minded focus on the latter group misguided, a new report is charging.

Al-Nusra is "much more dangerous to the U.S. than the ISIS model in the long run," according to the authors of a report labeling both groups "existential" threats. The report was released last week by the Institute for the Study of War and American Enterprise Institute.

The report criticizes the administration's ISIS-centric strategy, saying, "Any strategy that leaves Jabhat al-Nusra in place will fail to secure the American homeland."

However, the chief of staff of the U.S. Army, Gen. Mark Milley, in a speech Wednesday said that only Russia constituted a potential "existential" threat due to its possession of a large nuclear arsenal capable of striking the U.S.

The report argues that ISIS and al-Nusra attacks could threaten the global economy and provoke "Western societies to impose severe controls on ... freedoms and civil liberties," thereby endangering "American values and way of life."

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