Republican New York Rep. Peter King is pushing for more surveillance of mosques in the United States, saying that Islamic terrorists visit them.
King, a member of the House's Homeland Security and Select Intelligence committees, said "99 percent" of Muslims in the U.S. are good people
"But the fact is, [mosques are] where the threat is coming from," King told Fox News.
He also scored some Americans for having "blind political correctness" on such issues and said that civil rights advocates and critics of more surveillance of mosques can "cry all they want."
King cited that Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was told to leave a local mosque because of his radical statements and thoughts, but nobody in the mosque told the police about it.
"If they had known that in advance, you combine that with the fact that the Russians had already told us to be on the lookout for him, we could have possibly prevented the ... bombing," he said.
His call for more surveillance followed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's call for similar effort following the San Bernardino, California terrorist attack last Dec. 2 that resulted in the death of 14 people and injury to 22 others.
King said the plan of the terrorist Islamic State (ISIS) group to attack the U.S. "has become clear" to intelligence officials over "the last several months."
He also agreed with ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's comment in a video this weekend that the 16 months of U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria have done little to the terror group.
"I would expect al-Baghdadi to say that. We've had some impact, but unfortunately overall he is probably right. ... ISIS is stronger," he said.
He added that ISIS has expanded its territory and is making "great inroads" in Afghanistan.
King said he supports the Transportation Security Administration's plan to conduct full-body scans on select airline passengers following the San Bernardino and Paris attacks.
