ANALYSIS: Trump’s Order Heightens Risk of Extremist Attacks in the US, Counterterror Expert Says
President Trump said his executive order restricting entry into the U.S. of people from seven Muslim-dominated countries is to keep Americans safer, but one former Homeland Security official who is an ABC News contributor said the move could instead do the opposite by inspiring violent extremist attacks in the U.S.
“The White House has indicated that this action is necessary to address serious terror threats facing the nation, but today the most significant threat facing our country involves individuals living in the U.S. carrying out terror attacks independent of any group and inspired by what they see on the internet,” John D. Cohen, who served as counterterrorism coordinator and acting undersecretary for intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2014 and before that served in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under President George W. Bush.
“They’re distracting from their own goals,” Cohen said of the Trump administration’s aims to improve national security.
The order signed Friday immediately suspends immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa — Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Libya — for 90 days. It ends for 120 days the entry of any refugees into the U.S. and indefinitely suspends the entry of Syrian refugees.
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