Syria has become 'matter of homeland security,' DHS Secretary Johnson says

[Jesus Malverde]

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Friday that Syria has become an issue of homeland security for the United States.

The new head of the Department of Homeland Security returned Thursday night after a two-day trip to Poland with Attorney General Eric Holder.

Johnson said he and Holder met with six of Johnson’s counterparts from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Poland. 

“Syria was the number one topic of conversation for them and for us. Syria has become a matter of Homeland Security,” Johnson said Friday at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., where he laid out his agenda.

Read More: http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/197768-syria-has-become-matter-of-homeland-security

Johnson said people from North America and Europe are traveling to war-torn Syria to fight, adding that “they will encounter radical, extremist influences” and possibly return to their home countries with the intent to do harm.

He also discussed home-grown terrorism, saying: “We face threats from those who self-radicalize to violence, the so-called ‘lone wolf,’ who did not train at an al-Qaeda camp overseas or become part of an enemy force, but who may be inspired by radical, violent ideology to do harm to Americans.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/jeh-johnson-homeland-security-chief-cites-threat-as-some-travel-to-fight-in-syrian-civil-war/2014/02/07/b1e8635e-9038-11e3-b227-12a45d109e03_story.html

[KG]

1. Department of Homeland Security = fear factory.

[TwilightGardener]

2. I am not buying this. Syria attracts these jihad nuts because they think there's a chance

that they could get rid of Assad and establish at least some area of Islamist-wackadoo rule. In other words, they have some real purpose there. Why would they come to the US to cause trouble? We're against Assad, so it's not even like we're taking action against them--we're even HELPING the "moderates" in small measures. Why would we be any sort of special target here? Really, if we were that worried about AQ and other crazies, why are we siding against Assad to begin with?

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Sort of a self-inflicted threat, ain't it?

Nearly three years ago, seeing a chance to be rid of a regime that opposed it in the Middle East, the US demanded that Assad step down and started supporting his opponents, politically and then militarily.

Continuing firm in its delusion that it can decide who runs Syria, the US has continued to dribble military support to the "good" rebels (a cynical exercise, indeed, in that they know they cannot defeat Assad militarily with that level of assistance, but merely keep the Syrian blood flowing) and turned a blind eye to the efforts of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to buy their revolution.

Now, Syria is a godawful mess, the violence has expanded into Lebanon and Iraq, Assad is still there and going nowhere, and hot-blooded young jihadis from the US and Western Europe are going to Syria to create an emirate. And some of them will come back home and apply the lessons learned.

You reap what you sow.