A former Army National Guardsman pleaded guilty Monday to trying to support ISIS, the terror group that claimed responsibility for the recent Paris attacks and helped inspire the shooting in San Bernardino, California.
The Hill reported that 23-year-old Hasan Edmonds, a former specialist in the Illinois National Guard, pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to ISIS.
The ex-soldier was arrested along with his 30-year-old cousin Jonas Edmonds, both of them U.S. citizens, in the Chicago area in March. According to the criminal complaint, Hasan planned to join ISIS overseas and particularly use his military training to fight on behalf of the terrorist group.
Hasan, who the FBI had been watching since late 2014, was arrested at the airport before traveling out of the country.
Hasan and Jonas also planned for Jonas to carry out an attack on the National Guard base in Joliet, Illinois, where the National Guardsman had trained. Jonas was going to wage the attack using Hasan’s uniforms and knowledge about the military installation after he had traveled abroad to join ISIS.
Jonas pleaded guilty to similar charges last week.
"They admitted planning to wage violence on behalf of [ISIS] in the Middle East and to conduct an attack on our soil.," John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice, said in a statement Monday. "Thanks to the efforts of many prosecutors, agents, and analysts, we were able to ensure these plotters did not attain their violent endgames, and with these guilty pleas, they will be held accountable."
Hasan is scheduled to be sentenced in March and faces as many as 30 years in prison; Jonas will be sentenced in January and faces up to 23 years.
Federal authorities have made multiple arrests related to ISIS in recent months. On Friday, a Maryland man was arrested for providing material support to ISIS and lying to the FBI.
Terrorism concerns have heightened in the U.S. since the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino that together killed nearly 150 people. Americans currently name terrorism as the top concern facing the nation, a Gallup survey out Monday found.