Following reports that the Islamic State (IS, ISIS or ISIL) had beheaded four Christian children for refusing to convert to Islam, Concerned Veterans for America CEO Pete Hegseth called the terrorist group "modern-day Nazis."
"It is a level of brutality we cannot relate to. These are modern-day Nazis. These are ideologues who feed on the blood, on the violence," Hegseth told Fox's Gretchen Carlson on Friday.
"The radicalization takes them to a place where violence begets more violence."
Commenting on a Fox News poll indicating 81 percent of Americans believe IS will attempt to attack the United States, Hegseth said Americans are right to believe that IS is focused on America and the southern border, but the group's capability to do so remains in question.
"There's no doubt ISIS has seized the psychology," Hegseth said. "They've focused on lone wolf attacks through heavy emphasis on social media and trying to motivate, and you've seen their social media far advanced from what al Qaeda ever did."
Hegseth said members of the House Armed Services Committee have expressed concern about activities on the southern border that could leave the U.S. vulnerable for an IS attack.
"[They] won't carry the black flag of ISIS and say 'I'm from ISIS,' but there's a lot of question about the allegiance," Hegseth said.
"I don't want to overplay the threat. It's much more psychological and sort of a lone wolf focus. It's not clear that Baghdadi is as shrewd and sophisticated in long-term thinking as Bin Laden was, but he's a little bit more ruthless and bloodthirsty, which may not manifest itself here immediately, but they'd like to, and clearly they've seized our psychology."