White House press secretary Josh Earnest explained to reporters today that the United States needs to “redouble” efforts to explain “what the tenets of Islam actually are.” He made the comments in response to a question about how the U.S. might respond to the terror attack today in France.
A reporter asked, “On the U.S. response to the attack in France, is the U.S. concerned about any risk here from this group or similar groups, and is there any plan to raise threat levels or anything like that in response to the attacks in France?”
“I’ll say a couple things about that. The first is as it relates to the threat level. This is a decision that’s made by the Secretary of Homeland Security, that he makes a decision about raising or lowering the terror threat level based on available intelligence. I don’t know of any plans to make a change to the terror threat level, but I would encourage you to check with the Department of Homeland Security to verify that,” Earnest said, according to a transcript provided by the White House.
“What I can tell you is that today’s events in Paris that are so tragic are a reminder of how important it is for everybody to be vigilant about the threats that we face. I don’t say that to hint that somehow the French fell short of needed vigilance, only that today’s tragic terror attack is an indication of just how serious a threat we face. And there are men and women in the U.S. national security infrastructure that are working around the clock to try to protect the American people and American interests both here at home and around the world.
“The threat that we face is serious, but what we have is strong international cooperation with our partners around the globe to try to mitigate the threat that is posed by foreign fighters. We are working very closely with leaders in the Muslim community both at home and around the world to try to counter the violent extremist messaging that ISIL and other extremist organizations are using to try to radicalize individuals around the globe.
“There are some individuals that are using a peaceful religion and grossly distorting it, and trying to use its tenets to inspire people around the globe to carry out acts of violence. And we have enjoyed significant success in enlisting leaders in the Muslim community, like I said, both in the United States and around the world to condemn that kind of messaging, to condemn those efforts to radicalize individuals, and to be clear about what the tenets of Islamactually are. And we’re going to redouble those efforts in the days and weeks ahead.
“And obviously, we’re still trying to figure out exactly, like I said, who’s responsible for this attack in Paris, what their motivations are. But as a general matter, we’re very mindful of the threat from foreign fighters and the threat — and the need to try to counter some of the extremist ideology that ISIL is propagating, using some pretty sophisticated social media strategies.”
