Join Up With Terrorists, Lose Your Citizenship

No one knows how many citizens of Western countries have gone to Syria and Iraq to wage jihad under the black-and-white flag of the insurgent Islamic State. Various government and analysts’ estimates put it at roughly 2,000, a number that includes Douglas McCain, the American killed in August in Syria, and the masked British executioner known in the London tabloids as “Jihadi John.”

Britain is on alert for what Prime Minister David Cameron says is a “highly likely” domestic terror attack. On Sept. 1, Cameron unveiled his strategy for countering the threat: legislation that would give police temporary power to confiscate the passports of British citizens suspected of planning to join terrorist groups, particularly Islamic State, a Sunni offshoot of al-Qaeda. “Adhering to British values is not an option or a choice,” Cameron told Parliament.