The top 3 factors heightening the risk of terror attacks on the homeland

As a former military intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), I tracked foreign threats to the U.S. homeland and identified enemy plans, intentions, and capabilities that could harm Americans. . I predicted Russia's invasion of Ukraine over a year before it happened. In March, I wrote a Fox News Digital article entitled “If you ignore the FBI director's urgent warning about terrorist threats, you're at your own peril,” in which I wrote a story for Fox News Digital titled “Ignore FBI Director's Urgent Warnings on Terrorist Threats at Your Peril” Predicted the upcoming terrorist attack. Vegas.

Here are the top three reasons America is likely to face more terrorism this year. This time it will be unlike anything you've seen before.

Bureaucratic inertia hinders defense against threats

Bureaucratic inertia prevents government agencies from acting on the threats they identify and warn about. At last year's annual Congressional briefing on the biggest “global threats” facing the United States, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that the terrorist threat has reached “a whole other level” than the already heightened situation. did. Wray cited the “increased” threat posed by “domestic violent extremists, including jihadist-inspired extremists, domestic violent extremists, foreign terrorist organizations, and state-sponsored terrorist organizations.” did.

He also particularly criticized ISIS-linked gangs and smugglers who enter the country through the southern border. That was in March 2024.

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But Wray's concerns have not translated into stronger security postures that intelligence, security, and law enforcement agencies must adopt to avoid the tragic events in New Orleans and Las Vegas and save American lives. It could have been saved.

Millions of immigrants, primarily men of military age, continued to flow into our country, including criminals, terrorists, and foreign agents. Torren de Aragua, a highly dangerous transnational criminal organization originating from Venezuela, is active in 16 states as of November, including New Jersey and New York. They attack Americans at will.

To this day, the border remains incompletely secure, allowing millions of illegal border crossings, straining local law enforcement and endangering communities. The infamous free mobile application, called the CBP One app, remains widely available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Foreign nationals from all walks of life seeking admission to the United States use this tool to remotely schedule interviews for asylum and admission status. All courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Has the FBI implemented any of the 18 recommendations made by the William Webster Commission in 2012 to improve and detect terrorist threats? What actions did it take after Mr. Wray's March warning? Has this been done? These are legitimate questions Americans should ask their government. Especially given the two assassination attempts against President-elect Trump, mysterious drone flights over our nation's military installations, and rampant crimes by members of transnational criminal organizations, all of which have occurred since March. Even more so.

FBI Director Christopher Wray arrives to testify at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC on June 4, 2024 (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

The threat 'over the horizon' seems to be ignored

An entirely new threat is on the horizon. And it's not even on the government's to-do list yet. Drone warfare is a prime example of this new threat, driven by the democratization of high-tech capabilities such as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). UAS is a general term for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV – aircraft or drone), but it includes the entire operating system of the UAV, including the ground control station (which hosts the pilot who operates the UAV). communications hardware (linking the UAV and controller); payload (cameras, sensors, explosives, etc.); and flight planning software.

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Unmanned aerial vehicles easily pose the most dangerous threat our nation has ever faced for three reasons. They are commercially available, relatively inexpensive, highly maneuverable, extremely difficult to identify and characterize, and have virtually unlimited payload capacity. UAS can be equipped with non-kinetic payloads such as sensors and cameras, or with kinetic and lethal capabilities such as explosive devices, bombs, and weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological).

A masked Islamic State terrorist holds an ISIS flag in 2015. (History/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images)

Drones were originally adopted by the US military for surveillance purposes, then used as a counterterrorism tool to eliminate terrorist leaders, and are now widely available and used, including by terrorists. Drone warfare is being operationalized and perfected in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and in combat zones in the Middle East.

Drones are perfect for attacking soft targets and crowded areas that abound in the homeland. A 2023 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security noted: “The increasing use of unmanned aircraft in both the private sector and government operations means that more Expertise to help people access and operate these systems. “UASs are increasingly likely to be used in attacks.” “It also provides a great opportunity to avoid this,” he said. This characteristic can be very attractive not only to terrorists but also to state actors who are enemies of the United States.

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As of 2018, the U.S. government was aware of the drone threat. Kirsten M. Nielsen, the then-Secretary of Homeland Security, said in a Washington Post article that the United States was “unprepared for the growing threat of drones” and was vulnerable to them. She even revealed that “terrorist organizations like the Islamic State want to use armed drones against our homeland and American interests abroad.”

But to this day, we remain vulnerable to drone attacks. Recent mysterious drone incidents have made it clear to everyone how vulnerable we are to such attacks. Unidentified drones were reportedly flying over military bases and critical infrastructure facilities in several East Coast states, including New Jersey and New York, for several weeks starting in November, but the federal government State security authorities were also unable to stop it. The White House and Pentagon even admitted they didn't know the origins of those drones.

A Ukrainian air intelligence officer carries a drone toward Bakhmut, Ukraine, May 10, 2024. (Diego Herrera Calcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Politicization of intelligence leads to wrong targets

The entire government security apparatus is now politicized, with the focus shifting from foreign threats such as terrorists to US dissidents. Instead of identifying and stopping those bent on harming Americans, our government agencies have been targeting their own citizens who oppose the spread of woke ideology in our society. Ta. Catholics whose religious beliefs prevent them from accepting things like transgenderism, and parents who protest the indoctrination of their children by leftist ideologies such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) that permeate public schools. Currently considered by government agencies as: Domestic threat actors.

This vicious politicization comes from the top. President Biden has minimized terrorist threats to the homeland, including those emanating from ISIS. In June 2021, Biden said, “According to the intelligence community, white supremacist terrorism is the deadliest threat to our homeland today. It's not ISIS or Al Qaeda, it's white supremacists.” Is it any wonder that FBI agents initially denied any connection between the New Orleans attacker and terrorism or ISIS?The attacker, Shamsuddin Jabbar, 42, of Texas, Despite having an ISIS flag attached to his Ford pickup truck, he deliberately drove into a group of civilians celebrating the New Year in the French Quarter, killing 14 people. .

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the U.S. military doctor convicted of fatally shooting 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009 (U.S. Government Uniformed Services College of Health Sciences, via Getty Images)

Similarly, the FBI could not identify Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who shot dead 13 people and injured 31 others at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 as someone involved in terrorist activities. Despite the fact that they were in regular contact. Famous terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki. In his letter, Hasan, an American-born Muslim, discussed suicide bombers and whether it is acceptable to “murder innocent people for the sake of a valuable target.”

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According to the 2012 report of the William Webster Commission on the FBI, Counterterrorism, Intelligence, and the Events at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009, FBI agents with the San Diego Joint Terrorism Task Force , was aware that Hasan had been in contact with al-al-Afghan. -Awlaki many times before the shooting. Nevertheless, the FBI's field office in Washington determined that Hasan “was not involved in any terrorist activity.” As a result, the FBI did not issue a warning about Hasan's terrorist ties to the War Department and the Department of Defense, which classified the incident as workplace violence rather than terrorism. The 2012 report made 18 formal recommendations to the FBI to improve and detect terrorist threats.

The incoming Trump administration has promised to depoliticize government agencies. The nomination of former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence as part of a Republican administration is a step in the right direction. Intelligence agencies should be nonpartisan. Intelligence officers should not be afraid to speak truth to power, even if their analysis contradicts the policies of a sitting president. But eradicating government inertia will be a much tougher order. Let's see if DOGE can force government officials to strengthen defenses against the drone threat and save Americans.

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