I have seen claims being bandied about by some people that ISIS has an army on the Mexican border ready to attack the US - a claim being thrown around by Breitbart and by Judicial Watch. So, I did what any hard-thinking Objectivist does - I mindlessly repeated the unsubstantiated claims on Facebook! Oh, no, wait. Thats what @Jeffrey Meek and @Grant Jones did. What I actually did is email Homeland Security and just ask them if the contents of the article were correct. My email: Im a blogger and Im writing to get your response to a claim by Judicial Watch (link below) that the Federal Government has issued a warning about an imminent terrorist attack on the US Border with Mexico in Juarez. judicialwatch.org/bulletins/imminent-terrorist-attack-warning-feds-us-border/ Can you address the claims in this article? Particularly, a warning bulletin for an imminent terrorist attack on the border has been issued. If such a bulletin was issued may I have a copy of it? It seems that Grant Jones will be very disappointed that he is not likely to be martyred by decapitation any time soon. I got a response in under 1 minute: As Secretary Johnson stated earlier today, “the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are unaware of any specific, credible threat to the U.S. homeland from ISIL.” Full release is below. ON BACKGROUND(from a DHS official): We are aware of absolutely nothing credible to substantiate this claim. Press Office U.S. Department of Homeland Security Press Release Aug. 29, 2014 Contact: DHS Press Office, (202) 282-8010 STATEMENT BY SECRETARY JOHNSON ON THE UNITED KINGDOM’S DECISION TO RAISE THEIR THREAT LEVEL Today, the United Kingdom raised the domestic threat level from international terrorism from “Substantial” to “Severe,” related to developments in Syria and Iraq. I have spoken to U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May about these changes. At present, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are unaware of any specific, credible threat to the U.S. homeland from ISIL. Plainly, however, violent extremists who support ISIL have demonstrated the intent and capability to target American citizens overseas, and ISIL constitutes an active and serious threat within the region. Additionally, in response to recent threats generally from overseas, the Department of Homeland Security over the past several weeks has taken a number of steps to enhance aviation security at overseas airports with direct flights to the United States, and the United Kingdom and other nations have followed with similar enhancements. This government, in close collaboration with our international partners, has also taken a series of steps to track foreign fighters who travel in and out of Syria, and we are contemplating additional security measures concerning foreign fighters. Some of the security measures will be visible to the public and some understandably will be unseen. At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security is mindful of the potential for homegrown violent extremism inspired by radical ideology overseas, and, both through law enforcement and community outreach, we are taking steps to counter that potential threat. The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. government are deeply concerned about the current situation in Iraq and Syria. We will continue to evaluate and adopt serious and prudent homeland security measures as the situation warrants. ###
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 20:35:16 +0000
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