DHS chief says U.S. has "vulnerabilities" in preventing another terror attack
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Friday said that the U.S. has some "vulnerabilities" in trying to prevent another terrorist attack.
In an interview on "CBS This Morning," Kelly was asked about the Manchester bombing Monday and whether terrorists might attempt an attack of that nature in the U.S.
"The reality is, they're attempting everything all the time," Kelly said. "Thus far, we've been successful in keeping an attack from overseas coming here, but we have some vulnerabilities."
Asked what those vulnerabilities are, Kelly said, "Well, we're a free and open society. That's the greatest news I think in the world to people like us, but at the same time it is a vulnerability. We're restricted, and should be, on collecting too much data on private citizens. You have to commit a crime in this country to get the police after you. It is a vulnerability, but it's one we work with."
Kelly said that the U.S. faces "no specific credible threat right now," but urges the public to still remain vigilant and report anything that he said "seems out of whack." People should report an unattended package or just people acting strangely, he said.
"We don't have to be paranoid, we don't have to be crazy about this, but every citizen in my view is an intelligence collector -- not in the sense of monitoring or watching people too closely," he said.
Kelly noted that the threats have become wide-ranging: from trying to take down an airplane in flight, to bombing a stadium hosting a concert, to running people down with a truck or machete. He cited four different terrorist attacks in four different places in the last week -- Manchester, Egypt, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Speaking about alleged leaks in U.S. media of intelligence that Britain shared with U.S. counterintelligence agencies about the Manchester bombing, Kelly said that he called his counterpart in the United Kingdom after it happened and he said she brought it up with him.
"She has an absolute right to be furious about these leaks," he said. "They're totally unacceptable, particularly when it comes to classified information."
Asked about a possible laptop ban expanding to the U.S., Kelly first said that there are "several very sophisticated threats" and that the administration is still developing protocols.
"We may still initiate that protocol where large electronic devices are put in the cargo hold of aircrafts. There are a lot of safety issues that we're working on. But we may expand," he said.
