#349

Will America Be Attacked?

We’re Not Immune

As I’ve been reporting on the war in Israel against Hamas, time and time again I hear leaders from Israel both in and outside the military tell the rest of the world they must win or they are next. It may be falling on deaf ears for a variety of reasons, but maybe they know something we don’t. On September 10th of 2001 Americans like you and I went to bed thinking the next day would be just as uneventful as the day that just ended. I can’t speak for anyone else, but as I was getting ready for work I casually turned on the television and saw that a plane had hit one of the twin towers in New York City. Then, as I listened to the news announcers talking about how it could have just been a plane malfunction, another plane hit the second tower and the talk of a terrorist attack began. I called my wife to come see what was happening and she and I were transfixed by what we were learning as details slowly came out. The plane that hit the Pentagon and then another plane heading towards Washington, DC after all flights were grounded came out next. It was a crazy day where I worked and the only time the CEO of the company addressed the entire company over the internal intercom that they were in contact with the US government and there was no danger to us. This was after the tallest building in our state emptied out since they thought that tall buildings were the next targets for these terrorists. The lesson we all learned was that even the mighty America could be attacked on our own soil.

We Seem To Have Forgotten That Lesson

With all the precautions we put in place after 9/11 and with all the advancements in detection we have at our disposal now, Americans may have grown lax in their thinking. Right now Israel is warning us that terrorists are planted all over the globe in sleeper cells just waiting to be activated. And with the porous borders we have now and with Hezbollah having a strong presence in Mexico there is a very good chance that they are preparing to strike here since we are supporting Israel in their current war against Hamas. There are those who downplay such talk and counter that we vet everyone we let come into the country and yet the rumors persist. If all these illegal immigrants are fully screened, then why are there so many who commit crimes once here? And a great deal of them never show up at their hearings once they are released into the country. If the 9/11 report told us anything it is that even the most well-trained intelligence agencies can let threats slip through the cracks. In Christian circles people talk about how God is bringing the world to us and we need to welcome more and more people into our country even if they came in illegally because that is what Jesus would do. Jesus also told us to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves:

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matt 10:16, ESV)

I digress a little here, but giving a cup of water in the name of the Lord is like Jesus, but so is being The Good Shepherd that protects the sheep. As we will see, there are more than a few wolves crossing our borders right now.

And About Those Wolves

It wasn’t hard to find examples of potential sleeper cells, one of the most infamous ones happened rather recently although there is some dispute over who it really was. Lost in the smart Alec “fact checkers” ranting that it wasn’t a terrorist were the words he used:

“If you were smart enough you would know who I am…but soon enough you are going to know who I am.”

Regardless, of whether it was a guy from Azerbaijan or not, there really are sleeper cells in America right now as we read in an article from CBN.com:

New data gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies warns the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah could soon strike Americans. Defense experts agree the terror group has the ability to attack U.S. interests at home, or abroad.

"Hezbollah is a very real threat to us here in the United States," Simone Ledeen, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Mid-East Policy, told CBN News.

She says the Iran-backed group has a longer reach than many others in the region.

"They have sleeper cells here in the U.S. in many cities across the country. This has been documented in multiple court cases, and we have reason to believe that they also have caches where they have stored materials around the country, in the event that someone hits the go button to start attacks. I believe they are pretty well prepared. They have been sitting in wait for the order to go, many believe, for years now," Ledeen said.

Again, when I or anyone else raises these concerns there are lots of people out there burning up their keyboards doing all they can do to refute these allegations, mostly by taking shots at the messengers instead of researching the allegations. As believers we need to heed the instructions of Jesus and lean more on the wise as serpents advice now and not let those with political leanings undersell what is going on.

A Terrorist In Our Midst

If you want another example of a terrorist roaming around America even after he was vetted by authorities, here is another report, this time from the Daily Caller, of one such person who went a full year living in our country until he was rightly arrested:

Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) reporter Jennie Taer warned Thursday about the potential influx of terrorists entering the United States through the southern border during an appearance on Sky News Australia.

While Sky News host James Morrow expressed reluctance to be “alarmist” regarding the possibility of terrorists crossing into the United States, Taer asserted that such concerns are not overstated. Taer referenced her reporting on al-Shabaab terrorist who was allowed to roam the U.S. totally free for nearly a year, based on an internal memo exclusively obtained by the DCNF, (RELATED: Feds See Highest Ever Number Of Southern Border Crossings In A Single Month).

In an exchange with the Sky News host, Taer went on to inform him how such a mistake happened:

The al-Shabaab terrorist was apprehended by federal authorities near San Ysidro, California on March 13, 2023 but was subsequently released. The Terrorist Screening Center characterized him as a “mismatch” after running his name through the terror watchlist, according to the memo, which was sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

He was arrested nearly one year later in January in Minnesota, according to the memo, which did not name the individual but identified him as a member of the Somali terror group al-Shabaab.

The host responded to the information like this:

“This sounds like there will never be any way to really realistically deport people even if they have been on terror watchlists. Is America now stuck with potentially — well I don’t want to be alarmist — but even potential sleeper cells and things like that within its own borders?” Morrow asked.

Taer then added this:

“I don’t think it’s alarmist at this point because we recently reported on an al-Shabaab terrorist that crossed the southern border in March, was apprehended by border patrol and was deemed a ‘mismatch’ on the terror watchlist, which actually ended up not being true,” Taer said.

“He was actually a member of al-Shabaab. They didn’t find that out until after they released him almost a year later in January. Just last month, ICE nabbed him in Minnesota. He was actually not only a member of the terrorist organization, but he was involved in weapons and firearms and explosive manufacturing and movement, and so what was someone like that doing in the country for almost a year? And that’s something that I don’t think is just a one-off case,” Taer asserted.

A Huge Backlog

In another Daily Caller report, we see that the system in place is just not able to discover all the potential threats even when they are actually looking:

Federal immigration authorities caught and released a Pakistani man who illegally crossed the southern border and whose name appeared on the terror watchlist, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Pakistani national entered the U.S. illegally on Nov. 9, 2023 and was nabbed by Border Patrol the next day in Tecate, California, according to a memo the DCNF received from two different Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources. While in Border Patrol custody on Nov. 22, the Terrorism Screening Center (TSC) confirmed he was a positive match on the terror watchlist, according to the memo.

Even after being caught, he was released back into the United States and it wouldn’t be until January 24th of this year that he was arrested again. That’s three months of being in our country to do only what literally only God knows. These terrorist know more about our system than we do and are using it against us:

“Imagine how many cases like this one get through without us knowing,” a DHS official told the DCNF on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.

When individuals are placed in expedited removal proceedings, asylum officers conduct interviews to determine whether or not someone has a “well-founded fear of persecution on account of your race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion if returned to your country” that would keep them from returning home and allow them to access the asylum process, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). If an asylum officer denies the credible fear claim, the individual claiming fear can ask to have their case heard by an immigration judge.

We know that there are people who have well-founded fears and really do need to avoid going back to their country of origin, but determining this is the problem:

Immigration judges each have an average of 4,500 pending cases, according to a December report from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) … “One of the biggest issues in preventing terrorists from entering the United States, in my opinion, is the backlog of records checks being run by the massive amounts of people flooding the border,” a second DHS official told the DCNF. “When it takes more than three months for an agency to determine if someone is/was a Known Suspected Terrorist, that is a huge problem!”

“Who knows how many after-the-fact realizations were made after releasing someone into the country? We may never know until they are encountered by law enforcement at a later date. Very well after it’s too late,” the second official said.

Will America be attacked again? It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.

I’m Not Trying To Scare You

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. (2 Tim 1:7, AMPC)

The information I’m sharing isn’t meant to have you cowering in fear and not leaving your home. After the pandemic you can do that for a time with all the services willing to deliver just about anything you need right to your door, however what if that Door Dash driver is from Somalia or Pakistan? Ok, I’ll stop being the bearer of bad news now. My purpose for this lesson is to prepare you for what could happen down the road and to live your life accordingly. Even if a person, foreign or domestic elects to cause you or your family harm, you can’t let that fear paralyze you from living how God wants you to live. This verse in 2 Timothy 1:7 gives us the perfect balanced approach. First, don’t let fear, which is a spirit that can and should be rebuked, dominate your life. As believers we know that life can deal us unexpected challenges, challenges that we simply are not able to adequately prepare for beforehand. That’s where knowing God and knowing that He has a plan for our lives and as such, is looking out for us at all times (see Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:38) will help assuage our even justified concerns. Second, the rest of the sage advice given to Paul’s young protégé includes what should replace that spirit of fear and it is the three words of power, love, and a sound mind. Of those three it is the sound mind part that fits the bill here. It can be translated as being balanced in our view of things. When it comes to terror and terrorists, we shouldn’t live in extremes of either procuring a cache of military equipment or not locking our doors or windows since we think God has our back. Get a good alarm system and even firearms if you like. Take a self-defense class. All of these are available and prepare you for things that could come into your life. Even stock up on supplies or get a generator if you can. But the one thing to avoid is living in fear. Rebuke that immediately.