Jeh Johnson, secretary of Homeland Security, was featured on NBC’s “Meet the Press” where he expressed just how fragile the U.S. government has become.
He revealed there has been a threat issued on a Michigan mall and the American citizens should be “particularly vigilant” in the warning of growing terrorism on U.S. soil.
In addition, he spoke about the shutdown that may occur in the Homeland Security Department, causing enormous risks to the safety of the country.
Johnson was responding to threats posed by an al Qaeda-affiliated group from Somalia in a video released Saturday. The terrorist group, al Shabab, stated there would be attacks on shopping malls in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.
In the video Minnesota’s Mall of America was specifically shown. It is feared that an attack like the one in Westgate Mall in Kenya in 2013 could occur, which left 67 dead and 200 wounded.
“We’ve seen this a number of times now where a group will call for an attack on a country, on a specific location,” Johnson said in an interview on “Meet the Press.” “So, we’ve got to be vigilant.”
“I am not telling people to not go to the mall. I think there needs to be an awareness. There needs to be vigilance,” Johnson told Chuck Todd. “We’re in a new phase right now, and that involves public participation in our efforts.”
In the interview with NBC, Johnson expresses his concern of the global terrorism that is plaguing many countries. These terrorists have the ability to reach out to the impressionable via internet video, publications and social media, inspiring the average Joe to carry out heinous acts of violence.
In order to stay ahead of terrorist groups like ISIS, Johnson said later, he counts on personnel who will be furloughed if Congress does not fund the Department of Homeland Security by the end of this week. The secretary estimated 30,000 department employees will be let go temporarily if Congress does not act by Friday.
“A large part of the workforce will be required to come to work. But they’ll come to work without pay,” he said. “So, the working men and women of my department will be required to work on the front lines without a paycheck, which has serious consequences for working men and women and their families.”
Johnson said the department shutdown would halt grant-making for state and local law enforcement agencies. Additionally, the department would not be able to pay for the security added to the country’s southern border to block out immigrants from illegally coming into the U.S.
“It’s bizarre and absurd that we’re even having this discussion in these challenging times,” Johnson said, “given the global terrorist threat we’ve just been talking about, given the harsh winter we’re in the midst of, and all the other things that we do.”
It seems that the U.S. government has become extremely fragile under the Obama administration, breaking down our first lines of defense because congress simply can’t negotiate. They are more concerned about their own agendas than considering the needs of the American public, national security being a number one concern at this point.
At the moment there are major threats the U.S. faces. ISIS is claiming lives at an alarming rate and seeping into America, Iran has been trying to obtain nuclear weapons and Obama has managed to diminished peaceful ties with longtime allie Israel.
Congress needs to recognize that time isn’t on our side and the lack of funding to homeland security could leave the country vulnerable, leading to chaos.
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