Speaking at a House hearing, the heads of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security said they are concerned about homegrown radicals and believe such people could try to disrupt the conventions with violence.
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Johnson has designated the convention, as well as the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia at the end of the month, as “National Special Security Events”, which allows for greater cooperation among the local, state and federal governments.
Democratic challenger Russ Feingold criticized Johnson for going to the convention.
According to reports, organizers and law enforcement have considered large vehicles, such as the one used to wreck such carnage in Nice, as potential threats to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland nearly since organizers began planning for the event.
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson is planning to travel to Cleveland on Friday ahead of the start of the GOP convention next week and to Philadelphia next week to personally inspect the security in place in both cities for the upcoming conventions. At each location, Secretary Johnson received detailed briefings from a multi-agency security team led by the Secret Service – with significant contributions from TSA and ICE HSI, among others – and met with Department employees participating in a variety of security operations.
Johnson said his department is deploying 3,000 people that will be dedicated to security at each convention.
The Republican convention in particular expects security concerns due to Trump’s controversial campaign, with thousands expected to protest both for and against his candidacy.
At a hearing examining terrorist threats to the USA more broadly, Johnson said his biggest concern is an individual who quietly and quickly becomes self-radicalized over the internet to carry out an attack with little warning. “Ohio is an open-carry state”, he said. He’ll be visiting that site next week. Last week’s fatal shooting of five police officers by a politically motivated gunman in Dallas particularly has put law enforcement on high alert. But we also want to make sure that we ask the community to remain vigilant..
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Authorities have not announced any updates to convention security plans since the Nice attack, but were already preparing for the possibility of violence at demonstrations or other events surrounding the national political gatherings.
