A Kurdish protester sits behind a sign reading " STOP ISIS terror" in front of the United Nations headquarters in Vienna October 9, 2014. A group of Kurdish people living in Austria are on hunger strike since Monday in solidarity for Syrian Kurd
A Kurdish protester sits behind a sign reading " STOP ISIS terror" in front of the United Nations headquarters in Vienna October 9, 2014. A group of Kurdish people living in Austria are on hunger strike since Monday in solidarity for Syrian Kurds who are fighting to defend the Syrian-Turkey border town of Kobane from Islamic State militants. Reuters/Leonhard Foeger

A former U.S. official has warned that the U.S. may soon experience a Paris-like terror attack or worse unless President Barack Obama will acknowledge that the West is "at war" with ISIS. He warned that the U.S. will have to send military troops on the ground to overcome ISIS before it becomes too late.

John Bolton, an ex-ambassador to the United Nations and a former undersecretary of state for arms control and international security under George W. Bush, told a New York radio show that Mr Obama is treating the terror attacks as a law enforcement matter that needs to be subjected to due process, WND reported. However, Bolton said that the Paris shootings is part of a larger picture but Mr Obama may not have woken up to that reality.

The former ambassador to the United Nations said fighting ISIS would require American boots on the ground. Bolton believes it was wrong to strengthen the Iraqi army since it has failed in stopping ISIS militants. He insisted that the U.S. needs to "destroy ISIS" and the delay in doing so may only increase the lives at stake.

Bolton expressed his fears that ISIS may carry out attacks through militants who are receiving military training and possibly return on valid passports to the U.S. and Europe. When militants succeed in entering the country, the Paris attacks may be "duplicated or worse."

Meanwhile, in the wake of Paris massacre, the New York City Police Department and other authorities are on alert in response to renewed threats of ISIS in a new video being circulated in the Internet recently. According to CNN, the video mentioned the U.S., Canada, Australia and France as prime targets of ISIS. The NYPD was told to remain alert and observe tactics at all times while on duty.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had issued a similar bulletin to other law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Following the heightened alert in the U.S., the social media accounts of the U.S. Central Command were hacked by CyberCaliphate, a group of hackers claiming to be part of ISIS. A defence official has confirmed to NBC that the social media accounts have been compromised but the information that hackers shared on Twitter was not deemed "highly classified."

Contact email: r.su@ibtimes.com.au

RELATED STORIES