President Obama said Thursday that his administration is quickly evolving to stop the “new phase” of terrorism threats against the United States, chiefly the risk of small but highly organized and motivated groups of radicalized people in America.
“We are in a new phase of terrorism, including lone actors and small groups of terrorists,” Obama said at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Virginia.
“Because they are smaller, often self-initiating, self-motivating, they’re harder to detect, and that makes it harder to prevent,” he said. “But just as the threat evolves, so do we. We’re constantly adapting, constantly improving, upping our game, getting better.”
The federal government has “gotten much better” at protecting against large-scale attacks such as the ones on Sept. 11, 2001, he added. Since that day, the U.S. has taken “extraordinary steps to strengthen our national security,” he said. “We’ve gotten much better … our folks are the best” he told the audience of intelligence agency employees.
And when attacks like the Dec. 2 shooting massacre in San Bernardino happen, “it tears at our hearts but it also stiffens are resolve” to be even more vigilant, Obama said.
Obama held a meeting with his top national security officials in Washington, and told reporters that those officials continue to believe there is no imminent risk of a terror attack against the country.
“At this moment, our intelligence and counterterrorism professionals do not have any specific and credible information about an attack on the homeland,” he said. “That said, we have to be vigilant.”
He met earlier with intelligence leaders gathered at the National Counterterrorism Center. In addition to Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Obama discussed threats to the homeland with 15 other intelligence agency heads and top staffers, including FBI Director James Comey, National Intelligence Director James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan, who participated by video conference.
It was the second such meeting he convened this week. On Monday, he spoke from the Pentagon about the military campaign against ISIS after meeting with the National Security Council there.
He told intelligence leaders that they have “the full support of the federal government” in their investigation into the San Bernardino terrorist attack that left 14 dead and 21 injured and directed them to leave “no stone unturned,” he said.
“Anyone trying to harm Americans need to know we are strong, resilient, we will not be terrorized,” he said. “We have prevailed over much greater threats than this.”
Obama thanked the gathered employees and assured Americans that those “dedicated patriots working around the clock” are keeping them safe during this holiday season.
