To reassure the American people, there are no particular intelligence reports suspecting any plot on the homeland going into this holiday season, U.S. President Barack Obama said during a press conference from the White House just a day prior to Thanksgiving.
Giving an address at the White House on Wednesday, Obama said it was inevitable that Americans might be feeling a little nervous following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more. However, he asked the American public to stay attentive and observant and, moreover, to proceed with their holiday travel and revelry.
“While the threat of terrorism is a troubling reality of our age, we are both equipped to prevent attacks and we are resilient in the face of those who would try to do us harm,” Obama said. “And that’s something we can all be thankful for.”
President Barak Obama addressed after a meeting with his national security team, which included FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson and his national security adviser, Susan Rice.
A State Department spokesman on Tuesday explained that the entire point of the directive was not to discourage travel but to encourage Americans “to be very prudent, very vigilant.”
“I want the American people to know that we are taking every possible step to take America safe,” Obama said. “Right now, we know of no specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. Given the shocking images [of the recent Paris attacks] I know that Americans have been asking each other whether it is safe here, whether it is safe to fly or gather,” said Obama. “I know that families have discussed their fears about the threat of terrorism around the dinner table, many for the first time since September 11.”
Obama also stated that if intelligence were to disclose or announce any credible threat to the U.S., the public would be informed. However, he urged that Americans should feel confident in the work being done by national security and law enforcement officials.
The president’s reaction to the Paris attacks has been greatly condemned by Republicans as well as Democrats. New polls have also indicated that most of the American public has lost confidence in Mr. Obama on how he’s dealing with the terrorist threat.
Mr. Schiff, a California representative, told radio host Warren Olney that Mr. Obama needed to be more aggressive. “The president’s strategy will simply take too long,” he said, “and the longer that ISIS is allowed to control territory and develop resources from that territory and plot and plan, the more vulnerable we become to a Paris-type attack.”
Philip H. Gordon, who recently stepped down as Mr. Obama’s White House adviser on the Middle East, said, “Anyone has to acknowledge that we’re not solving the ISIS problem with what we’re currently doing. But the president has always been focused on what comes next and does that next step actually help you solve the problem or create new problems.”
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