The challenge is to effectively communicate potential threats that are part of a new pattern of attacks by terrorists – whether inspired or directed – by foreign groups, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said at a conference in Washington Monday.
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Federal officials are planning to roll out a new terror threat system in coming days, on the heels of new warnings about home-grown attacks.
The current system replaced a color-coded one enacted in 2011.
Johnson said the National Terrorism Advisory System [NTAS] is inadequate, and has never been used because it is dependent on a specific threat or threats to the country.
The shooting in San Bernardino, which killed 14 people, was carried out by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, who had reportedly become radicalized.
Johnson described the change as a new alert system, which he said would better inform the public about threats to the United States, but he did not provide specific details.
“We need to get beyond that to go to a new system with an intermediate level”, Johnson said. He made his remarks in the wake of the shooting in San Bernardino that left 14 victims dead and 21 other injured, which the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism. US government officials have expressed concern about so-called lone-wolves who commit attacks in support of organizations like the Islamic State but without direct orders. “It could happen at a moment’s notice”.
Johnson made the announcement during a Defense One magazine forum on Monday.
The plan to change the system was announced in the wake of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, which the FBI has declared a terrorism investigation.
“We’re encouraging European countries to do more about their own internal security when it comes to travel”, he said listing off measures such as the addition of more USA air marshals on worldwide flights and expansion of USA security technology that can more easily recognize travelers.
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“I don’t really think that the alert system is particularly that important for most Americans”.
