WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee
Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today urged his colleagues to heed the
advice of career counterterrorism experts and oppose Democrats’ bill to
reorganize the federal counterterrorism offices. Democrats’
Domestic Terrorism
Prevention Act would establish duplicative offices and prescribe which threats
officials should prioritize, rather than allowing them to respond to continuously
evolving threats.
Career
counterterrorism officials at the Justice Department have warned the bill
would jeopardize their ability to fully combat terrorist threats.
“When it
comes to crafting policies that help defend our nation against terrorism, we
ought to listen to the experts. Career counterterrorism officials at DOJ have
warned that this bill is not only unnecessary, but could hamstring their
abilities to fully respond to evolving threats. These agents have a duty to
assess and investigate all potential threats, so we should not be enacting
laws that dictate which threats the agency should prioritize. The bill also
creates duplicative offices that could silo resources and information needed to
thwart potential threats both at home and abroad. I appreciate my colleagues’
desire to strengthen our ability to respond to threats to the homeland, but we
must ensure that the laws we pass achieve this objective. According to the
experts, this bill misses the mark,” Grassley
said.
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