After Iran’s retaliatory airstrike on Israel on April 13, Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and senior advisor to DHS Secretary John F. Kelly during the Trump administration, is warning that DHS is “worried” about potential ISIS attacks on U.S. soil.
Taylor wrote on X: “*Another* homeland security official tells me they’re worried about ISIS attacks here at home. The terror threat is high. FBI, DOD, DHS have all been getting anxious. The public isn’t paying much attention.”
CAUTION — *Another* homeland security official tells me they’re worried about ISIS attacks here at home. The terror threat is high. FBI, DOD, DHS have all been getting anxious. The public isn’t paying much attention.
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) April 16, 2024
Taylor’s alarm is being heard and circulated on social media and is triggering questions from “the public” including, “Tell us what to do” and complaints including, “It isn’t that the public isn’t paying attention…it’s that the public isn’t being told!”
BREAKING — Pres Biden reportedly cutting short weekend in Delaware to return to the White House. The Iranian strike against Israel looks bad. This could spiral — with real implications for U.S. homeland security.
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) April 13, 2024
FBI Director Christopher Wray last week publicly warned Congress about potential attacks on U.S. soil due to events overseas.
While urging Congress to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Wray told the House Appropriations Committee: “But now increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia Concert Hall a couple weeks ago.”
Note: FISA, which allows the government to collect communications of non-Americans overseas on US platforms without the use of a warrant, was passed (273-147) and renewed for two years, rather than the proposed 5-year renewal. Section 702 also allows Americans directly linked with foreign targets under investigation to be surveilled under certain circumstances.
Note: Miles Taylor anonymously wrote the September 2018 The New York Times op-ed, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” He said that in April 2019 he witnessed then-President Trump offer Homeland Security staff federal pardons for any criminal prosecution arising from their actions in stopping illegal immigration to the United States. Taylor resigned from the department shortly afterward.