Should we be worried? I’d say so:
President Trump was asked on Thursday if Americans needed to worry about the possibility of terrorist reprisals by Iran inside the United States. He responded, not quite reassuringly, “I guess.”
His follow-up response was even colder comfort. “Some people will die,” he said.
His remarks did not go unnoticed inside the Justice Department and the F.B.I. — especially among agents and prosecutors who handle national security and terrorism cases. After a year of constant firings, resignations and other disruptive distractions, elite counterterrorism and counterintelligence units have been stretched thin and left short-handed, current and former officials say.
There is widespread concern about the capacity of these units to deal with threats unleashed by Iran in particular, an adversary known for its willingness to combine espionage, cyberwarfare and attacks in the real world in bringing the fight overseas.
I don’t mean to alarm you but it gets worse:
Donald Trump’s White House is blocking top US intelligence agencies from warning law enforcement across the country about rising threats to the homeland tied to his war with Iran, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The FBI, Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center were preparing to put out a joint intelligence statement on Friday to state and local authorities alerting them of a heightened threat due to the ongoing war in Iran, a senior DHS official said. The bulletin, which was reviewed by the Daily Mail, details ‘elevated threats by the government of Iran to US military and government personnel and facilities, Jewish and Israeli institutions and their perceived supporters, and Iranian dissidents and other anti-regime activists in the United States.”Radicalized individuals with a variety of ideological backgrounds also may see this conflict or other geopolitical events as a justification for violence,’ the report continues.
The five-page bulletin blocked by the White House provides specific details on how Iranian proxies may carry out attacks across the country. One section explains how local law enforcement can respond to this type of violence.The official title is ‘A Public Safety Awareness Report: Elevated threat in the United States during US-Iran conflict’.
Homeland Security broke protocol and gave the White House a heads-up about the nationwide bulletin hours before it was set to be released. Top Trump officials ordered it placed on ‘hold’. The White House did not deny blocking the terror bulletin in a statement to the Daily Mail.
‘The White House is coordinating closely with all government agencies to ensure information being disseminated is accurate, up to date, and has been properly vetted — even if that means taking additional time to review to ensure nothing is done in a vacuum,’ said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.
Sure. What’s the harm in waiting?
We’re lucky that Trump is the luckiest man who ever lived but I don’t know how long his luck — or ours — is going to hold out.