RAND Official: 'We Are Partly Blind in Syria'

The United States is "partly blind" in Syria because we have no ground forces to back up airstrikes, says an official with the RAND Corporation.

Seth Jones, director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at RAND, was responding to FBI Director James Comey's comments on "60 Minutes" Sunday that the Khorasan group may still be planning an imminent attack on the United States or Europe even after airstrikes in Syria intended to knock it out.

"Airstrikes alone, without a ground campaign, are like mowing grass," Jones said Monday on Fox News Channel's "The Kelly File."

Al-Qaida, of which Khorasan is a part, is plotting attacks from Syria right now, Jones said, adding that airstrikes have not weakened their ability to strike Western targets.

"We are partly blind in Syria," he said. "We're probably more blind than at any recent jihadist battlefield."

Comey also faced criticism on his comments to "60 Minutes" that the dozen or so Americans the FBI knows are fighting for the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group in Syria are free to return to the United States if they have valid passports.

Comey said if they do return, "we will track them very carefully."

Retired Judge Andrew Napolitano told host Megyn Kelly that he respects Comey, "but he forgot there's a statute called, providing material assistance to a terrorist organization."

That, Napolitano said, gives the FBI evidence to arrest them upon return.

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