U.S. threat landscape presents daunting but familiar test for Trump’s second term
During Donald Trump’s first term as president, he watched the violent civil war in Syria heat up, a resurgence of Islamic State activity, and an increase in ISIS-inspired attacks abroad and in the United States.
Eight years later, many monsters are back.
Over the past eight weeks, Syrian rebels have launched a lightning offensive to wrest control of the country and then the capital, forcing longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia for refuge. As in Trump’s first term, instability in the Middle East has raised new questions about whether or what role the United States should play in Syria, amid fears that failure to act will further open a power vacuum in Syria and turn it into an Islamic opportunity for the country to take advantage of.
On Wednesday, U.S. authorities scrambled to investigate and respond to two attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas. Despite occurring thousands of miles apart, both incidents are being investigated as possible acts of terrorism — a clear sign that the threat of homegrown extremism remains as prevalent as ever.
Ahead of Trump’s second term, violence and the unexpected collapse of Syria’s authoritarian regime have raised new questions about how the United States will act.
Bomb-making materials found at New Orleans AirBNB may be linked to Bourbon Street terrorists: report
On January 1, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana, law enforcement officers from multiple agencies were working on the scene on Bourbon Street after someone allegedly drove into a crowd in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing at least 10 people. Dozens of people were injured after a suspect allegedly drove a rental pickup truck around a barricade and through a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street. The suspect then got out of the vehicle, fired at police, and was later shot dead by law enforcement officers. (Michael DeMock/Getty Images)
Trump’s choice
Trump, for his part, has long opposed the idea of involving U.S. troops in foreign wars. In 2019, he ordered the complete withdrawal of all military personnel from northern Syria.
He reiterated this view in an article published in Truth Social last month, saying that the United States should have “nothing to do” with the situation in Syria.
“Let it play out,” he said.
It’s unclear whether or to what extent this week’s deadly attacks influenced Trump’s decision. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas native and U.S. Army veteran, killed 14 people in New Orleans early Wednesday morning . Kareem Abdul-Jabbar himself was shot and killed by police.
FBI officials said Jabbar put an Islamic State flag on a rental vehicle and that he was “100 percent inspired by the Islamic State” when he carried out the terrorist attacks, but it was unclear whether he had any legal ties to the group. .
Officials say Jabbar has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and is believed to have joined the group last summer. Surveillance footage also showed him planting two explosive devices in coolers at the corner of Bourbon and Orleans streets and another nearby intersection, although bomb squads later made both devices safe.
Separately, the FBI said it was investigating the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas as a possible act of terrorism.
The suspect in the case, Matthew Allen Liversberg, was a member of the U.S. Army’s elite Special Forces before the bombing, and FBI officials raided a Colorado Springs home Thursday that they believe may have been linked to case related.
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On Thursday, January 2, 2024, investigators searched the rental home used by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Kate Ramirez, Fox News Digital)
If Trump chooses to continue his longstanding opposition to U.S. intervention in “foreign wars,” he has other options available to him to combat violent attacks at home. That could include cracking down on immigration — a policy long supported by Trump and many Republicans in Congress — to prevent possible threat actors from crossing the border.
Indeed, the Department of Homeland Security told reporters in June that it had identified more than 400 immigrants from Central Asia and other countries who had been smuggled into the United States by ISIS-linked smuggling rings over the past three years, sparking a new wave of Immigration action.
Homeland Security officials said the arrests, first reported by NBC, were made out of an “abundance of caution,” noting at the time that they did not identify the immigrants as posing any credible threat to the United States and that they may simply be trying to find their way into the country. an american way
Still, border crackdowns may not be enough to solve the problem, which is compounded by the role of lone wolf threat actors and individuals who become radicalized online.
A driver reportedly rammed a car into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing at least 10 people. (West Virginia University)
common threat
As the FBI noted in its latest “Global Threats to the Homeland” report, the agency is focused on the terrorism risks posed by domestic and homegrown violent extremists.
The report notes that these small groups or individuals pose the greatest risk to national security, often using readily available weapons such as guns and cars to attack so-called “soft targets,” or groups of civilians who gather in accessible locations.
“The greatest and most immediate international terrorist threat to the homeland” are individuals primarily residing in the United States whose actions are inspired by, but not under the explicit direction of, foreign terrorist organizations, such as the law enforcement agency Islamic State.
In early December, the FBI and other authorities warned of a higher risk of vehicular attacks by lone wolf criminals during the holiday season, noting in a shared advisory that threat actors had “planned and carried out attacks in previous years.” “Attacks targeting festival targets” are likely to include “lower security” public spaces where large gatherings are held.
The threat hasn’t gone away either. During Trump’s first presidential term, numerous attacks were carried out by individuals who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State or other jihadist groups — even if they were not acting at the behest of the group itself. These individuals are responsible for the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, the 2017 New York City truck attack, the 2017 machete attack at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, and many more acts of violence.
Vehicle attacks have also increased: Since 2014, there have been at least 16 vehicle-ramming attacks by jihadists in the United States and Europe, according to a report by the think tank New America.
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The number of domestic terrorism investigations conducted by the FBI has more than doubled since 2020, an alarming rate that illustrates the scope and complexity of the growing problem.
FBI officials told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that New Orleans attack suspect Shamsuddin al-Jabbar was “100 percent inspired by the Islamic State.”
“First of all, let me be very clear on this,” FBI Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Christopher Raia told reporters. “This was an act of terrorism. It was a premeditated, evil act.”
