This week’s tragic shooting by a 24-year-old Muslim man in Chattanooga, TN, which left at least four U.S. Marines dead, has reignited the national debate over whether and how our homeland defense systems are working to prevent such events.
Though officials were quick to point out that there is no evidence yet that Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez was acting with terror-related motives, that his affiliation with Islam was growing over recent months is clear.
The failure of the federal counter-terrorism apparatus to locate Abdulazeez on its radar of “persons of interest” further underscores serious vulnerabilities in the nation’s capacity to prevent similar, homegrown attacks on U.S. soil.
One former Reagan counter-terrorism agent commented under condition of anonymity that the Obama administration’s policy of non-profiling continues to hamstring federal, state and local law enforcement in what otherwise would be routine protocol for identifying early threats before they spill out into national and international headlines.
