Hawaii Army Sergeant Arrested And Charged With Aiding ISIS

An Army sergeant in Hawaii has been charged with attempting to provide classified military documents and training to the Islamic State, according to a report by NBC News.

Sgt. Ikaika Erik Kang, 34, an air traffic control operator with the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, was arrested Saturday by an FBI SWAT team after year-long surveillance, the report said, citing court records that were unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu.

He is charged with attempting to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

The Army had reported Kang to the FBI in August 2016, saying he had been making threatening statements and pro-ISIS comments as early as 2011, NBC said, citing an FBI affidavit in the criminal complaint.

The affidavit said Kang has the Army’s highest level of combat instructor training, and he used his knowledge to train another person believed to be an ISIS member.

The training sessions were videotaped so they could be used to train other ISIS fighters, the affidavit said.

Kang’s security clearance was briefly revoked in 2012, NBC said.

An undercover FBI operative reported that Kang had been researching “the most effective and painful ways people had been tortured,” the affidavit said.

Kang also expressed a desire to torture a civilian he held responsible for taking away his air traffic controller’s license, the affidavit said.

Kang had expressed sympathy for the shooter at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla., remarking that “the shooter did what he had to do,” the affidavit said.

Investigators found 18 military documents classified as “secret” on hard drives belonging to Kang, NBC said. They also found nearly 500 documents referring to ISIS or violence. Some were from the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire.

The FBI said last month Kang bought a retail drone with a camera that he said could be used by ISIS fighters to escape from approaching U.S. tanks, NBC said.

Kang was arrested Saturday after swearing a pledge of loyalty to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, NBC said.

Kang is a native of Oahu and graduated high school with honors. He enlisted in the Army after the 9/11 attacks. He served in Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea.

He appeared in federal court Monday afternoon and is being held pending a detention hearing on Thursday, with a preliminary hearing set for July 24, NBC said.

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