--- title: ISIS Is Still a Threat, CIA Director Says description: CIA Director John Brennan warned Congress that U.S. efforts to stop ISIS had had some success, but that the group was still a threat. canonical: https://time.com/4372381/isis-john-brennan-cia-congress/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-16T21:05:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:40:12.353Z article:section: Politics og:title: CIA Director Warns That ISIS Is Still a Threat og:description: John Brennan warned that more Orlando-inspired attacks could be coming og:url: https://time.com/4372381/isis-john-brennan-cia-congress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80d4c27092694553/69876e5a428a9e512fcc5ffb/john-brennan1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John Brennan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CIA Director Warns That ISIS Is Still a Threat twitter:description: John Brennan warned that more Orlando-inspired attacks could be coming twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80d4c27092694553/69876e5a428a9e512fcc5ffb/john-brennan1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CIA Director Warns That ISIS Is Still a Threat by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jun 16, 2016 9:05 PM UTC  CIA Director John Brennan attends a news conference at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., on Dec. 11, 2014. CIA Director John Brennan attends a news conference at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., on Dec. 11, 2014.Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jun 16, 2016 9:05 PM UTC U.S. efforts to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) have done little to diminish the threat posed by the terrorist group, CIA Director John Brennan told Congress Thursday, warning that there could be more Orlando-style attacks coming. “Unfortunately, despite all our progress against ISIL on the battlefield and in the financial realm, our efforts have not reduced the group’s terrorism capability and global reach,” Brennan warned the Senate Intelligence Committee using an alternate acronym for the group, according to CNN. While Brennan declared that ISIS had taken some hits, losing “large stretches” of territory in Iraq and Syria — he said the group still has between 18,000 to 22,000 fighters in the region. Brennan was speaking days after 49 people were killed at an Orlando nightclub Sunday, telling Congress that other attacks carried out by lone wolfs inspired by ISIS could follow, presenting “an exceptionally challenging issue for the intelligence community.” Omar Mateen, the Orlando shooter, had “no direct links” to ISIS, according to Brennan, but was inspired by the group. “We have not been able to uncover any direct link between that individual, Mateen, and a foreign terrorist organization. But that inspiration can lead someone to embark on this path of destruction,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4372381/isis-john-brennan-cia-congress/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4372381/isis-john-brennan-cia-congress/"},"headline":"CIA Director Warns That ISIS Is Still a Threat","datePublished":"2016-06-16T21:05:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:40:12.353Z","description":"John Brennan warned that more Orlando inspired attacks could be coming","url":"https://time.com/4372381/isis-john-brennan-cia-congress/","keywords":["Congress","Senate","Terrorism","ISIS","CIA","Orlando","Orlando Shooting"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80d4c27092694553/69876e5a428a9e512fcc5ffb/john-brennan1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80d4c27092694553/69876e5a428a9e512fcc5ffb/john-brennan1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Brennan","caption":"John Brennan","creditText":"Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4372381/isis-john-brennan-cia-congress/","name":"CIA Director Warns That ISIS Is Still a Threat"}}]}] ```