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Obama Visiting National Counterterrorism Center Obama, at Counterterrorism Center, Offers Assurances on Safety
(about 3 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Continuing his efforts to reassure a jittery nation, President Obama will visit the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., on Thursday to receive an update on terrorism threats. WASHINGTON — President Obama on Thursday tried to reassure a jittery nation that the nation’s military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies will be working around the clock through the holidays to keep the country safe from any more terrorist attacks.
The president generally receives such updates in the Situation Room in the White House, but in the midst of Americans’ concern after the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., Mr. Obama will travel to the counterterrorism center. Mr. Obama said there was not now any “specific and credible information about an attack on the homeland.”
Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said the president wanted to personally thank those working to protect the nation. “These are people who often will have to be away from their families over the holidays because they’re working, and they’re always on duty 24/7 to protect the country,” Mr. Earnest said. “That said, we have to vigilant,” he added. “As I indicated in my address to the nation last week, we are in a new phase of terrorism.”
With a group of top intelligence and law enforcement officials behind him, Mr. Obama spoke at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., trying to once again reassure a nation rattled by attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and San Bernardino, Calif., that killed 14.
The president said the nation’s counterterrorism officials were ever-vigilant and had already thwarted countless attacks. “Our folks are the best,” he said.
But as the threat of terrorism has evolved from large, complex attacks to the kind of self-motivated lone-wolf threats seen in San Bernardino, the nation’s counterterrorism officials have had to evolve as well, he said. He outlined a series of steps that his administration has taken to go after the Islamic State, which in recent months has displaced Al Qaeda as the prime terrorist threat to the United States. Those steps include attacking Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, changing visa rules to prevent their fighters from entering the United States, and coordinating with state and local police to ensure that no attacks occur within the United States, he said.
“So we’re sending a message: If you target Americans, you will have no safe haven,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama is struggling to fashion a message that reassures Americans that he is serious about battling the threat of the Islamic State while also avoiding the alarmism that he sees emanating from some Republican presidential candidates. Polls suggest that many Americans believe he is not taking the threat from the Islamic State seriously enough.Mr. Obama is struggling to fashion a message that reassures Americans that he is serious about battling the threat of the Islamic State while also avoiding the alarmism that he sees emanating from some Republican presidential candidates. Polls suggest that many Americans believe he is not taking the threat from the Islamic State seriously enough.
To counter that, Mr. Obama gave a speech to the nation from the Oval Office on Dec. 6, visited the Pentagon on Monday and now plans the counterterrorism center visit, all to make the case that his administration is succeeding in its fight against terrorism and the Islamic State. But the president has yet to offer a new strategy, leaving even members of his own party grumbling. To counter this, Mr. Obama gave a speech to the nation from the Oval Office on Dec. 6, visited the Pentagon on Monday and on Thursday visited the counterterrorism Center, all to make the case that his administration is succeeding in its fight against terrorism and the Islamic State. But Mr. Obama has yet to offer a new strategy, leaving even members of his own party grumbling.
Mr. Obama, who is set to leave on Friday to go to Hawaii for two weeks, is asking for vigilance against terror as he also reassures people that they are safe. On his way to Hawaii, he will stop in San Bernardino to meet privately with the families of the 14 victims of the mass shooting there. Mr. Obama, who is set to leave on Friday to go to Hawaii for two weeks, Mr. Obama is asking for vigilance against terrorism even as he reassures people that they are safe. On his way to Hawaii, he will stop in San Bernardino to meet privately with the families of the 14 victims of the mass shooting there.
“I think that as people go about their business and go about the kind of holiday routines that many people rightly look forward to,” Mr. Earnest said, “that people can have confidence that our law enforcement professionals that are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, are actually doing the work that’s necessary to keep us safe.” Nearly all of Mr. Obama’s top military, intelligence and security officials were present at the briefing, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Secretary of State John Kerry, F.B.I. Director James B. Comey and the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr..
Mr. Obama emphasized again that vigilance against terror should not lead Americans to sacrifice values that define the nation – a direct response to calls by some Republican presidential candidates to bar Muslims from entering the United States.
“We have to remind ourselves that when we stay true to our values, nothing can defeat us,” Mr. Obama said, adding: “We’ve prevailed over much greater threats than this. We will prevail again.”