State, Feds Cooperated To Investigate National Guardsman

NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS | By Brian Mackey

Published March 27, 2015 at 8:40 AM CDT

Rodger Heaton, center, is public safety director in Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration. On Thursday, he presided over the first meeting of the governor's Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform.

Two Chicago-area cousinsaccused of trying to help the so-called Islamic Statemade their first appearance in court Thursday. A top Illinois law enforcement official says the state's National Guard worked with federal authorities to prevent an attack.Brian Mackey reports on the arrests of two Chicago-area men alleged to have been planning to attack a military facility.

Rodger Heaton isGov. BruceRauner'spublic safety director — overseeing several state agencies. He says the governor is confident the FBI and National Guard worked cooperatively, both to protect Illinois armories and soldiers, and “to ensure that we do everything we can to make sure that someone who is complicit — or interested in aiding and supporting groups like ISIS — does not have access to the kinds of information and other resources that exist in the National Guard."

Federal prosecutors say 22-year-old National Guard Specialist Hasan Edmonds was on his way to fight with ISIS in the middle east. Prosecutors say his cousin, 29-year-old Jonas Edmonds, planned to attack a military facility in northern Illinois.