US Senator: Bomb-carrying drones are the latest threat to border security | Grassley | Terrorists | Bomb-carrying

[The Epoch Times, November 04, 2023](Reported by English Epoch Times reporter Tom Ozimek/Compiled by Qiusheng) According to a group of U.S. Republican senators, some illegal border crossers were found to be carrying “tailor-made for terrorists” when they were caught. of explosives. Subsequently, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also issued a warning about the potential threat posed by bomb-carrying drones to U.S. national security.

According to The Epoch Times, Grassley wrote to Steven Dettelbach, director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). “It is an indisputable fact that our southern border is out of control,” wrote a letter.

Grassley also sent letters to other agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). similar letters.

The Republican senator then noted that Mexican drug cartels use weaponized drones to carry out violent attacks on rivals and track the movements of U.S. law enforcement officials.

Grassley wrote, “These drones are used by drug cartels to drop explosives in Mexico, carry out targeted assassinations and violent attacks, and monitor, spy on and track the movements of U.S. Border Patrol agents and other U.S. law enforcement agents. The actions of smugglers who illegally cross the border into the United States.”

He later pointed out that Hamas operatives also used armed drones in attacks on Israeli communities on October 7, killing about 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

“The horrific attacks carried out by Hamas terrorists against the people of Israel and their use of weaponized drones to deploy explosives further underscore the need to secure U.S. borders against such national security threats,” Grassley wrote.

In addition to Hamas terrorists using drones to drop bombs when attacking Israeli communities, Lebanese Hezbollah said on Thursday (November 2) that it had used two drones loaded with explosives to attack the Lebanese-Israeli border An Israeli army command position.

Hezbollah, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces along the Lebanese-Israeli border since Israel declared war on Hamas and began bombing targets in Gaza.

Iran-backed militias have also reportedly increased attacks on U.S. troops in the Middle East, given the U.S.’s support for ally Israel in the conflict.

Grassley said there are reports that operatives from Hamas and Hezbollah may try to cross the porous U.S.-Mexico border into the United States and launch attacks on U.S. soil.

He wrote, “Recent reports warning that Hamas and Hezbollah militants may soon attempt to enter the United States through Mexico illustrate the need for us to immediately secure our southern border.” He also called for alcohol, tobacco, guns and The director of the Bureau of Explosives and Ordnance provides the types of weapons the agency has seized at the southern border and whether any of them are tied to terrorist groups.

Terrorist threat rises

The United States has faced an increase in terrorist threats since Hamas terrorists attacked Israeli communities weeks ago, according to U.S. officials and lawmakers, including the FBI director.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday (October 31), “The reality is that throughout 2023, the threat of terrorism has been rising, and the ongoing war in the Middle East has The threat of attacks against Americans in the United States has taken to a whole new level.”

Wray said the FBI’s biggest concern right now is that homegrown violent extremists will draw inspiration from Hamas’s terror attacks on Israeli civilians and launch attacks against everyday Americans.

Four Republican senators visiting the U.S.-Mexico border recently expressed concern that President Joe Biden’s “open border policy” would lead to terrorist attacks in the United States.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), one of four senators who traveled to the southern border last week, told a news conference in Washington that Border Patrol agents had caught people carrying “cannonball-sized” “Illegal border crossers with improvised explosive devices that are “tailor-made for terrorists.”

Now, Grassley has joined the chorus of growing concerns about possible terrorist threats to the United States.

He wrote in a letter to the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that “Hamas terrorists have recently launched heinous attacks on Israeli civilians using weapons and explosive drones. “Highlights the real risk of possible attacks against Americans at our southern border.”

Meanwhile, the FBI director warned lawmakers of rising terrorist threats to the United States amid the Israel-Hamas conflict and revealed that Iran is trying to hire hit men to murder U.S. government officials on American soil.

“Iran, as the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, has attempted to assassinate, directly or through the hiring of criminals, dissidents and senior current and former U.S. government officials, including on U.S. soil,” he said.

Wray did not provide further details on who might have been targeted in the assassination attempts or when the plots were hatched.

But the Justice Department said last summer it had uncovered a plot by Iranians to hire a hitman to kill John Bolton, who served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

The Justice Department said at the time that U.S. law enforcement was aware of other similar Iran-backed murder-for-hire plots.

original:Drones Carrying Explosives Are Latest Threat to US Border Security: Sen. Chuck GrassleyPublished in the English Epoch Times.

Editor in charge: Li Lin#