Vigilance in a time of heightened concern over terrorism is important for improving security

(Bugout.news) In recent days we posted a story warning of the potential for dangerous criminal gangs to infiltrate the country from Latin America, due to the lax enforcement of our immigration laws by the current administration.

But there is another danger as well, and it comes from much further abroad: Terrorists intent on disrupting our lifestyle and livelihood. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security, in 2011, arrested a Pakistani human smuggler who was operating out of Quito, Ecuador, who stated he was more than willing to smuggle known members of terrorist organizations into the U.S.

As The Hill newspaper reported in December, Islamic extremists are planning to use U.S. refugee resettlement policies and programs to get inside the country, according to various intelligence officials who testified before the House Homeland Security Committee.

During the hearing committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, revealed portions of a classified letter from the National Counterterrorism Center which warned that the administration’s resettlement program could be infiltrated by members of the Islamic State, for the purposes of conducting attacks on U.S. soil similar to those that occurred that month in San Bernardino.

The NCTC has identified “individuals with ties to terrorist groups in Syria attempting to gain entry to the U.S. through the U.S. refugee program,” the intelligence agency told McCaul in a letter.

“The refugee system, like all immigration programs, is vulnerable to exploitation from extremist groups seeking to send operatives to the West,” the agency added, noting that a small number of Iraqi refugees were arrested on terror charges in 2010.

Our president doesn’t appear to share those concerns, however. He has repeatedly defended his plans to resettle tens of thousands of people displaced from the fighting in the Middle East, despite the warnings from his own intelligence community and despite the fact that the Islamic State has also said it would use the mass migration of humanity into Europe as cover for infiltrating its members to that continent.

“I believe the state of our homeland is increasingly not secure,” McCaul said in a speech to National Defense University.

“I believe 2015 will be seen as a watershed year in this long war — the year when our enemies gained an upper hand and when the spread of terror once again awoke the West.”

Why does any of this matter to ordinary Americans? Because the threat is real enough that elements of our intelligence community are spending no small amount of time and resources to study and track this situation. And what’s more, there have already been arrests made of persons willing or attempting to smuggle terrorists into the country.

So the issue becomes one of how vigilant the citizenry wants to be.

You may recall that prior to the San Bernardino attacks, neighbors of the jihadi couple told news agencies they were suspicious of some activity that was occurring at the couple’s home, but were reluctant to inform authorities because they didn’t want to be perceived as being bigots or racists.

“We sat around lunch thinking, ‘What were they doing around the neighborhood?’” one eyewitness to the activity told a local CBS affiliate, noting that he had discussed what was going on with some of his friends. “We’d see them leave where they’re raiding the apartment.”

If we want to keep our homes, families and neighborhoods safe from a terrorist threat many in our government believe is on the way or already hear, we have to adopt a much different mindset than that.

It’s not that you have to or should call police for every minor anomaly, but you know your neighborhood or your neck of the woods well enough to know when there is a pattern of odd behavior. And that is what should trigger your suspicions.

Consider what happened recently in Missouri, as reported by NaturalNews:

A series of events and purchases throughout the state of Missouri has residents on edge and police and federal officials investigating the possibility that they may be related to terrorism.

Bulk purchases of cell phones – which can be used to remotely detonate IEDs (as our troops have discovered the hard way in places like Iraq and Afghanistan) – by what some witnesses described as “Middle Eastern-looking men,” as well as thefts of large numbers of propane tanks, were examples of unnatural events that caught the attention of local residents.

And because of that, they informed their local authorities, who then began to investigate and who also passed the information up the chain to state and federal authorities.

Vigilance pays, and in this day and age, it is imperative.

Things that qualify as suspicious behavior worthy of your attention include:

— Bulk purchases of electronic or explosive items, as mentioned above

— A number of vehicles suddenly coming and going from a house in your neighborhood, that lasts for more than a week

— Vehicles parked in odd places

— Packages or luggage left unattended in public buildings or even along the side of the road

— Doors that are usually closed found standing wide open

— Someone paying unusual attention to a building or other location, especially a public or government building and especially for several hours at a time

— Extending loitering at such places

— Excessive videotaping or picture taking of similar buildings, counting paces or sketching floor plans

An act of terror killed those 14 people in San Bernardino a couple of months ago, no question about it. But given the fact that neighbors were too intimidated by ridiculous political correctness to report what they knew to be suspicious activity at the shooters’ home likely led to the slaughter of innocents. In this day and age, we can’t afford to let such concerns get in the way of protecting ourselves.

See also:

The Hill

WorldNetDaily

Freedom.news

NaturalNews

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