Biden’s Afghanistan Catastrophe Increases Terror Threat in US - Michael Cutler

 

by Michael Cutler

Biden administration, meanwhile, focuses solely on "domestic extremists".

 

The twentieth anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 is just a few weeks away.

The first step in solving a problem is to acknowledge that there is a problem.

 

The good news is that the Biden administration acknowledges that America faces an increased threat of terrorism, especially as the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks of 9/11 by al-Qaida approaches.

 

The bad news, even as the Taliban has now taken back all of Afghanistan because of the Biden administration’s abysmally failed policies, the Biden administration, incredibly, is entirely focused on the threats posed by domestic terrorists and extremists.  

 

Biden utterly ignores the failures of the immigration system that continue to undermine national security and public safety in this especially dangerous era. 

 

On August 13, 2021 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a press release titled, DHS Issues New National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin.

 

The focus of the press release, and as you will see, the NTAS Bulletin was Domestic Terrorism without a single reference to possible entry of foreign terrorists into the United States even as it addressed the elevated threats posed by various terror groups as the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks of 9/11 is nearly upon us.

 

In fact, the above-noted press release included this excerpt:

 

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, DHS has increased the development, production, and dissemination of intelligence and other actionable information central to countering threats in the current environment.  DHS has established a new, dedicated domestic terrorism branch within the Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A).  Further, DHS has established the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) to help build local prevention frameworks to provide communities with the tools they need to counter terrorism and other targeted violence.   

 

In February, Secretary Mayorkas designated combating domestic violent extremism as a National Priority Area for the first time in FEMA grant programs. As a result, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments are required to spend at least 7.5 percent, or a minimum of $77 million, of their DHS grant awards toward combating this threat.   

 

These initiatives are taken in concert with the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Domestic Terrorism Strategy which highlights the whole-of-government approach being take to enhance the analysis and distribution of actionable intelligence to stakeholders; prevent domestic terrorism recruitment and the mobilization to violence; disrupt and deter domestic terrorism activity; and confront long-term contributors to domestic terrorism. 

The National Terrorism Advisory Bulletin referred to above begins with this summary:

Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland

 

The Secretary of Homeland Security has issued a new National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin regarding the current heightened threat environment across the United States.  The Homeland continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment leading up to and following the 20th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks as well religious holidays we assess could serve as a catalyst for acts of targeted violence. These threats include those posed by domestic terrorists, individuals and groups engaged in grievance-based violence, and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences. These actors are increasingly exploiting online forums to influence and spread violent extremist narratives and promote violent activity. Such threats are also exacerbated by impacts of the ongoing global pandemic, including grievances over public health safety measures and perceived government restrictions.

This bulletin articulated concerns about domestic extremists and their numerous possible motivations.  When the bulletin did mention foreign terrorist organizations, the concern was limited as to how those terror groups could motivate domestic terrorists,  presumably Americans, via the internet.

Consider these two excerpts:

Additionally, leading up to the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula recently released its first English-language copy of Inspire magazine in over four years, which demonstrates that foreign terrorist organizations continue efforts to inspire U.S.-based individuals susceptible to violent extremist influences.

 

Foreign and domestic threat actors, to include foreign intelligence services, international terrorist groups and domestic violent extremists, continue to introduce, amplify, and disseminate narratives online that promote violence, and have called for violence against elected officials, political representatives, government facilities, law enforcement, religious communities or commercial facilities, and perceived ideologically-opposed individuals. There are also continued, non-specific calls for violence on multiple online platforms associated with DVE ideologies or conspiracy theories on perceived election fraud and alleged reinstatement, and responses to anticipated restrictions relating to the increasing COVID cases.

 

There was not a single word in the two DHS documents cited above, about concerns that foreign terrorists would seek to enter the United States to carry out terror attacks even as the Taliban was rampaging across Afghanistan, the country that provided safe havens for al-Qaida and other terror organizations before the attacks of 9/11 which prompted American military action in that country to help prevent future terror attacks against the United States.

 

Now even the Mainstream Media is alarmed over the loss of Afghanistan to the Taliban as  direct result of the abrupt way that the Biden administration essentially turned tail and fled from that dangerous country, even leaving the U.S. Embassy staff in harm’s way, ordering them to “Shelter in place” as the Taliban captured city after city, including Kabul. 

 

On August 15, 2021 Newsweek reported, Clip of Biden Saying People Won't Be Lifted Off Embassy Roof in Afghanistan Resurfaces as Just That Happens while on that very same day AOL posted the Associated Press report, Concerns over U.S. terror threats rising as Taliban hold grows.

 

The first paragraph of the preface of the official report, 9/11 and  Terrorist Travel - Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States” states: 

 

It is perhaps obvious to state that terrorists cannot plan and carry out attacks in the United States if they are unable to enter the country. Yet prior to September 11, while there were efforts to enhance border security, no agency of the U.S. government thought of border security as a tool in the counterterrorism arsenal. Indeed, even after 19 hijackers demonstrated the relative ease of obtaining a U.S. visa and gaining admission into the United States, border security still is not considered a cornerstone of national security policy. We believe, for reasons we discuss in the following pages, that it must be made one.

Page 47 contained this excerpt:

Once terrorists had entered the United States, their next challenge was to find a way to remain here. Their primary method was immigration fraud. For example, Yousef and Ajaj concocted bogus political asylum stories when they arrived in the United States. Mahmoud Abouhalima, involved in both the World Trade Center and landmarks plots, received temporary residence under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers (SAW) program, after falsely claiming that he picked beans in Florida.” Mohammed Salameh, who rented the truck used in the bombing, overstayed his tourist visa. He then applied for permanent residency under the agricultural workers program, but was rejected. Eyad Mahmoud Ismail, who drove the van containing the bomb, took English-language classes at Wichita State University in Kansas on a student visa; after he dropped out, he remained in the United States out of status.

Page 61 contained this passage:

Exploring the Link between Human Smugglers and Terrorists 

 

In July 2001, the CIA warned of a possible link between human smugglers and terrorist 

groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Egyptian Islamic Jihad.   Indeed, there is 

evidence to suggest that since 1999 human smugglers have facilitated the travel of 

terrorists associated with more than a dozen extremist groups.  With their global reach and connections to fraudulent document vendors and corrupt government officials, human smugglers clearly have the “credentials” necessary to aid terrorist travel.

 

The only conclusion I can come to is that inasmuch as the Biden administration is determined to ramp up the “Immigration Delivery System” as I have come to refer to the administration’s malfeasant immigration policies, there can be no acknowledgment that terror attacks from foreign terror organizations depends on multiple failures of the immigration system.

 

One of my earlier articles, Jihad At The Border, explained how the border crisis facilitates the entry of terrorists.

 

Given all of the foregoing facts I have provided today, my earlier article was all too prescient:  Biden Ends War On Radical Islamist Terrorists 'Over Here' and 'Over There'.

 

Michael Cutler

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/08/bidens-afghanistan-catastrophe-increases-terror-michael-cutler/

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