KMA Land - Young Urges Vigilance After ISIS Threats
News Article
by Mike Peterson
Iowa Congressman David Young hopes KMAland residents enjoy their Independence Day weekend--but be wary of possible terrorist attacks.
FBI and Homeland Security Administration officials issued terror threat warnings earlier this week to local law enforcement officials in advance of July 4th, based on intelligence gathered on ISIS activities. Young says it's not unusual for warnings to be issued before a major event in the U.S.--he cites the Super Bowl as example. But, the 3rd District Republican believes the warnings should be taken seriously in light of three recent ISIS-related attacks.
"There was an ISIS attack on three different countries--Tunisia, Kuwait, France--and three different continents," said Young. "They want to destroy us. They want to harm us here at home. We should always be vigilant, always be on the watch. And, it just further heightens the issue of how we need a strategy to take on ISIS. And, we don't have a strategy to do that."
Young charges that President Obama failed to live up to his vows to destroy the Islamic State's terrorist networks.
"The presidents spoke nine months ago about decimating, destroying ISIS," he said. "We still have no strategy. That's awful. That doesn't make me feel safe.
"We need a strategy," Young added. "We need to debate this in Congress with the president, and come together on this, and lead on this issue, bring in our allies on this, come up with a plan, and then let our commanders and officers in the military take care of the problem."
Young was asked whether the U.S. is safer from a terrorist attack now than before the 9/11 attacks 14 years ago.
"If you look at the TSA--the Transportation Security Administration," said Young, "The answer's no. They did tests a few weeks ago--internal tests on screenings at the airports. And 96% of the time, the screeners failed to recognize that there were weapons passed, or illegal items passed through security scanners. That's not very good. A 4% affirmative rating on that--that's horrible."
Even with the recent change in administrators, the Van Meter Republican says there's still a culture problem in the TSA, and that the agency should be gutted "up and down." Young made his comments in a recent interview with KMA News.
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