A former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency warned on Sunday that the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, ISIS, is destined to launch attacks on the U.S. and other Western countries in its race to wage jihad and attract followers in the Arab world.

'ISIS is a very powerful local terrorist organization and probably a reasonably powerful regional terrorist organization,' retired Gen. Michael Hayden told a Sunday morning CNN audience, 'but it's one that has global ambitions.'

Islamist militants flying the ISIS flag include 'American passport holders' and 'European passport holders,' he said.

'So if it is not Tuesday, it's at a time and place of their choosing. And it will come probably sooner rather than later.'

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Former CIA chief Michael Hayden said Sunday that ISIS has global ambitions and will certainly mount attacks against the West

'Soldiers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria will pass from here soon': An ISIS sympathizer held up this warning -- and a Quran verse -- in front of the Old Republic Building in Chicago, and then tweeted the picture

On other TV networks, a chorus of Republican lawmakers were sounding alarms about the possibility of a 9/11-style ISIS attack on the U.S.

ISIS has been in operation for two years without a major challenge, said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, 'and that draws people from Britain, across Europe, even the United States to go and join the fight.

'They see that as a winning ideology, a winning strategy,' he said on NBC, and they want to be a part of it, and that’s what makes it so dangerous.'

'They are one plane ticket away from U.S. shores and that’s why we’re so concerned about it.'

Jihadis have posted online warnings which, whether serious or not, threaten attacks on U.S. cities.

The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a tweeted photo showing someone holding up a smartphone, displaying a picture of the ISIS flag, in front of the White House.

'[W]e are here #America near our #target :) sooooooooooooon,' read the message that accompanied it on August 9.

The taunting message followed a separate photo that first appeared online on June 30. It showed a hand-written note in Arabic, dated June 20, held up in front of the Old Republic Building in Chicago.

'Soldiers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria will pass from here soon,' the note read.

ISIS taunted the U.S. with a photo taken in front of the White House, showing a smartphone displaying the terror group's flag

A verse from the Quran followed: '... and Allah is perfecting His light even though the disbelievers hate [that].'

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday on CNN that the White House should 'assume the worst about these guys. They’re not the JV team anymore, they’re the most prominent terrorist organization in the world.'

Even more prominent than al-Qaeda, apparently.

Hayden said that the group is ' in a competition now with "al-Qaeda prime," the folks along the Afghan- Pakistan border. And there is no way more powerful to express their street credentials among the jihadist community than a successful attack against the West.

Ever since the 9/11 Commission released July 2004 report, observers have pointed to one of the group's central conclusions as a warning bell for future generations.

America, the panelists wrote, suffered from a 'failure to imagine' the worst calamity a terror group could visit upon a major city.

'We kind of underestimated our opponents in the past,' Hayden agreed on Sunday. 'We certainly did that. We lacked imagination with 9/11. We kind of did that with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. We knew they were up to something. We just didn't think it was going to be a Nigerian on an airliner over Detroit.'

'Well, we've got the same dynamic here. ... It is not just about defense. It is not just about keeping the right people off of aircraft. It's about offense. It's about disabling ISIS. It is about making them more worried, more consumed with protecting their own survivability rather than threatening yours or mine.'

MAYBE NOT: This ISIS militant, who taunted the U.S. in a video interview with the VICE news website, was killed just weeks later in an American airstrike





Arizona Sen. John McCain agreed, telling a Fox News Channel that President Barack Obama should go on offense and strike ISIS in both of the countries where it operates.

' There is no boundary between Syria and Iraq,' McCain said. 'One of the key decisions the president is going to have to make is airpower in Syria. We cannot give them a base of operations.'

McCain hinted that not even the recent videotaped beheading of U.S. photojournalist James Foley would likely be enough to jolt the White House into action, despite nearly 100 airstrikes targeted at ISIS strongholds.

'This is an administration which – the kindest word I can use is "feckless",' he said, 'where they have not outlined a role that the United States has to play. And that is a leadership role.'