Thread by @jseldin

US "took major strides last year" against terror, per @StateDept's Amb Nathan Sales on the new 2019 State Department Country Reports on Terrorism

Hails defeat of #ISIS caliphate... repeats that US now focused more heavily on ISIS & #alQaida affiliates in #Africa

#ISIS - "It's evolved" from an entity that purported to control territory to a global network that reaches almost every continent" per @StateDept's Sales

US remains worried about rise in racially/ethnically motivated terrorism, per @StateDept's Amb Sales "We're particularly concerned about white supremacist terrorism"

"We're using the full suite of counterterrorism tools" against white supremacist terrorism, per Sales

#Taliban - #alQaida - US expects #Taliban to make "a clean break" from terrorist groups, per @StateDept's Nathan Sales, adding US has met its obligations under its deal with the Taliban

#Afghanistan

"We expect the #Taliban to live up to the commitments they have made" per Sales "We will be monitoring very closely"

"We are aggressively using our authorities to target foreign individuals and foreign groups" that threaten American lives, per @StateDept's Sales on white supremacist threat

"This is a priority that this administration has put at the top of the queue"

#Iran-terrorism: "It is a state - it has the capabilities and it has the resources of a state" per @StateDept's Amb Sales "It is a reason for severe concern"

Sales says he's surprised Iran isn't mentioned even more in the 2019 Country Terror report

MORE from @StateDept 2019 Country Reports on Terror

"The United States & our partners made major strides to defeat and degrade international terrorist organizations" per report "Despite these successes, dangerous terrorist threats persisted..."

#ISIS "adapted to continue the fight from its affiliates across the globe" per @StateDept report

Report cites concerns about ISIS activity across #Africa and in south/southeast #Asia

#ISIS, #alQaida in #Africa - "The number of attacks in the Western Sahel region increased 250% since 2018" per @StateDept "Partner countries remain strong willed against terrorism but lack the means to contain or degrade the threat on a sustained basis"

"There's still counter-terrorism work to do" per @SecPompeo, noting "#ISIS and #alQaida branches and affiliates in #Africa, #Venezuela and #Cuba"

US partners seeing persistent threat from at-large #ForeignFighters

"Southeast #Asia|n governments remained concerned about foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) returning from #Iraq or #Syria...using their operational skills, connections & experience to launch domestic attacks"

#Malaysia "remained a source, a transit point, and, to a lesser extent, destination country for terrorist groups including #ISIS, #AbuSayyaf Group (ASG), #alQaida, & Jemaah Islamiyah" per @StateDept report

"The #Philippines remained a destination for FTFs [foreign terrorist fighters] from #Indonesia, #Malaysia, and countries in the #MiddleEast and #Europe" per @StateDept country terror report

On #ISIS, "We have to be very mindful of the need to keep up the pressure" per @StateDept Counterterrorism Coordinator Amb Nathan Sales