The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the approximately 40 Americans who have fought in the Syrian Civil War and returned stateside pose no threat to the United States. “We’ve since found they went for humanitarian purposes or some other reasons that don’t relate to plotting,” Clapper told an audience Monday. “In fact, at this point, we’re not aware of any of these people who have returned who are engaged in plotting. If they come back and they are not involved in plotting – don’t have a nefarious purpose – then that’s their right and privilege as an American citizen to come back.” Currently, the U.S. government is loath to send arms to the conflict because there are no moderate Syrian rebel groups with enough strength to fight Bashar al-Assad’s regime and ISIL. But we’re okay sending people to fill the ranks of un-vetted groups willy-nilly. More…

Correction: This post was amended to reflect that the 40 American citizens have already returned to the states.