Washington: The United States is never
going to be immune from terror threats, a top Obama
administration official said on Sunday, warning that at some point
"somebody may get through" even (with) all of the protective
layers.
"I believe we are safer. I believe, however, that
there is no 100 percent guarantee," said Janet Napolitano, the
Homeland Secretary.
Because we are never going to be totally immune from
threats...at some point somebody may get through even all of
the protective layers that we have created, she underlined.
She also highlighted the issue of home grown terror as
many US persons have been radicalised and travelled to
Pakistan's restive tribal region for training.
Noting that the United States is not immune to
terrorist attacks, she said: We do see US persons who, for
whatever reason, have been radicalised to the point of
violence, maybe violence in the name of Islam. And they travel
to the FATA, they train, they learn the tradecraft, they come
back."
That is something that is relatively new in kind of
the known threat stream that the US has been dealing with, she
said referring to the recent increase in home grown threats.
"But it's not unique, nor was it unanticipated,
really, that that could occur, she told the CNN in an
interview.
The Secretary underlined that the key thing is to
minimize those threats and be able to anticipate and intervene
early.
"There are threats now, and as I said before, we live
in a global ever-changing threat environment. The key thing is
to do everything we can to minimize those threats, to be able
to anticipate and intervene early, but also to empower
communities and individuals on how to respond if something
were to happen," she said.
The top official said some of the ever-evolving
threats result from US persons.
"We are always dealing with ever-evolving types of
threats. And some of them are international in derivation;
some of them result from US persons. It is a very dynamic
threat environment," she said.
She said one of the things the US is focused on "is
really getting preparation for and the ability to respond to
threats of any kind outside of Washington, D.C., spread across
the homeland, into state and local hands, empowering them;
more information-sharing, more resources to them."
Napolitano conceded that Osama bin Laden, is
"certainly" an active recruiter.
"Particularly his use of the Internet, his use of
language, his ability to reach out to Westerners, including
Americans, and attract them into -- into the movement -- yes,
he's very dangerous," she said.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, September 12, 2010, 22:34