Former acting CIA Director Michael Morrell said the media are ignoring the "very significant threat" of self-radicalization inspired by propaganda from the Islamic State.
"We have had three attacks in the last week--two in Canada, one in New York City," Morrell said. "There was a terrorist attack in the United States last week, the media sort of didn’t pay a lot of attention to it, but there was.
"This is a very significant threat—the self-radicalization inspired by ISIS’s message."
Morrell stressed the importance of monitoring and investigating potential 'lone wolf' terrorists on the Internet, where they are radicalized by the Islamic State narrative.
"You also have to take on the narrative," Morrell said. "Not something the United States can do by itself; we need the help of allies and moderate clerics to be able to fight this."
Morrell also said leaks from former NSA official Edward Snowden has "made both law enforcement against this problem and intelligence against this problem more difficult."