Andrea Mitchell to DHS: Will Trump’s Comments Spur More Lone Wolf Terrorists?

MITCHELL: “Let me ask you, again, about — drill down on what you suggested. We’re in a new era now, a new phase. So when you’re dealing with inspirational terrorism, it is the lone actor or the small group, it’s not as we have experienced with al Qaeda in previous decades, large-scale attacks, long-range planning and long lead teams. How does this kind of rhetoric, Donald Trump’s rhetoric, exacerbate the problem of someone sitting alone in a room and potentially being inspired by al Baghdadi?”
JOHNSON: “We’re in a new phase. You’re right, earlier we were dealing with terrorist-directed attacks where someone is recruited, trained, equipped, directed from overseas and exported to another country to commit a terrorist attack. We’re now in a phase, through the use of social media, Internet, groups such as ISIL hope to inspire somebody in our homeland to commit a terrorist attack, which has made our efforts to build bridges to Muslim communities all the more important. That’s we’ve been doing. We encounter suspicion every once in a while. But we also encounter a lot of hope, a lot of willingness to work with us. It requires that we build trust. And so the message, yesterday and the message again today, after Mr. Trump’s comments, are those of us in government who are responsible for national security and homeland security do not believe that we are renouncing and rejecting his remarks and we want to continue to build bridges with the Muslim community, help us help you. Help us with public safety and your homeland security, and the protection of your families.”