Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told CNN’s Jake Tapper that’s he’s very concerned that key areas of our infrastructure are vulnerable to terrorist/cyber attack, specifically our nuclear power plants:
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday that he's worried about reports that the terrorists who attacked Brussels had also staked out and planned a strike on a nuclear power plant."I'm highly concerned about that, but not only in Europe -- look at the attack on the Metcalf power station in California. We have not solved that. That's a very disconcerting chain of events here," Johnson said, referring to the 2013 sniper attack on a California energy grid substation, which took out power to parts of Silicon Valley.
He continued: "So trust me, our critical infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber-attack, to potential terrorist attack, and we are not taking this threat seriously enough. So it's very concerning."
Johnson called for "more robust" surveillance and a stronger U.S. military role in the Middle East.
But, he admitted, "We all have the problem of what do you do with the not-guilty-yet in free and democratic societies where you have the presumption of innocence. It's a very difficult problem."
Sen. Ron Johnson: "Our critical infrastructure is vulnerable" https://t.co/VKd8Qv2Zz8 #CNNSOTU https://t.co/rMsNufFzJo
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) March 27, 2016
No doubt it is a terrible problem, but we must also be reminded that our “presumption of innocence,” the right to a trial and public counsel, and our civil liberties is what separates us from them, especially when terrorist groups, like ISIS, want us to shred those values with these attacks. We must also remind ourselves that more often than not, the people who are tasked with carry out these attacks are not the smartest bunch. Mohammad Salameh, who rented the van used in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, was arrested after he tried to reclaim his $400 deposit. Faisal Shahzad, the would-be perpetrator of the 2010 Times Square bombing, left the keys to his getaway vehicle inside the Pathfinder that was set to explode.
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Scary times? Yes. We must always be vigilant and alert authorities when we see something odd. That could have prevented the San Bernardino shootings that were terrorist-inspired, though some neighbors were worried that they were being racist, or something. If they had, more likely than not, law enforcement would have prevented such an awful crime, as they have done so many times before.
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