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The heinous act of terrorism in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day underscores the Biden administration’s stunning failure to keep America safe and deter radical Islamic terror. By allowing the focus on this ongoing threat to America’s national security to lapse and instead wasting time and resources attacking political opponents, parents who attend school board meetings, and Catholics, Team Biden has left America vulnerable. It will be up to the incoming Trump administration to fix this mess and protect Americans.
In January 2017, when we in the Trump administration took office, under the control of the Islamic State (ISIS). a massive chunk of Syria and spread its vision of radical Islamism on a global scale. He beheaded two Americans during the Obama and Biden administrations.
It took a serious president to actually dismantle that caliphate along with its partners and allies, as well as bring it down the danger of radical Islamic terror in the country and abroad. By the end of our time in office, we had done just that: the ISIS caliphate no longer existed, and the threat of radical Islamic terror within our homeland had been greatly reduced.
ISIS HAS INSPIRED TERRORIST ATTACKS ON US SOIL 6 TIMES
Over the past four years, we have witnessed a complete abdication of this responsibility in the White House, which has resulted in a dangerous revival of this threat. Instead of fighting radical Islamic terrorism at home and abroad, Biden downplayed this threat in favor of fabricated political threats and allowed real threats to metastasize, culminating in the attack in New Orleans.
A memorial to those killed in the New Year’s Eve attack is left on Bourbon Street after the street reopened in New Orleans, Louisiana, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. At least 15 were killed and dozens injured after a man drove his car into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street on Wednesday. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
His administration allowed Afghanistan to fall to the Taliban, allowed Iran and its proxies to advance and commit the October 7 massacre, and failed to address the growing threat of radical Islamic terror here at home. It has empowered our enemies and weakened America.
Worse, this administration has allowed political ideology to undermine the fundamental imperatives of American national security. For four years, we have watched this administration call out ‘far right’ groups and even supporters President-elect Donald Trump the greatest threat to American democracy, while they barely lifted a finger when protesters waved Hamas and ISIS flags on city streets and college campuses after the horrific attacks on October 7th.
For four years, our wide-open borders have allowed extremists with ties to groups like ISIS to cross freely into our country, strengthening their ability to plan and carry out attacks and intensifying their radicalization efforts. By treating counterterrorism as yet another political weapon or tool to promote an awakened ideology, Team Biden has left a gap in our national security apparatus that actors like ISIS have eagerly exploited.
After the attack in New Orleans we saw, unfortunately, more frivolity. First the FBI said the suspect did not act alone, only to change course and say he did. Let’s be clear: the idea that this person acted alone is absurd at first glance. He may have carried out this particular attack alone – but these deplorable acts never happen in a vacuum.
The very idea of a “lone wolf” is fiction. Regardless of whether accomplices helped him on the night of the attack or even in planning it, this terrorist was part of a cabal of Islamists radicalized to attack America, and there was no stopping him.
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That the FBI now says it acted alone shows either the continued influence of a warped political agenda or a complete misunderstanding of the depth and complexity of ISIS’s operations inside the United States. All measures must be taken to determine how and where that person was radicalized so that the next attack can be predicted or prevented.
Correcting these deficiencies in our national security is urgent and must be a priority for the incoming Trump administration. In response to the growing threat of terrorism, the task is not for the American people to fundamentally change the way they live their lives. This would be a victory for the Islamists.
For four years, our wide-open borders have allowed extremists with ties to groups like ISIS to cross freely into our country, strengthening their ability to plan and carry out attacks and intensifying their radicalization efforts.
Rather, it is the task of responsible agencies—the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, as well as state and local law enforcement—to recognize the risk posed by radical Islamic terror and take appropriate steps to reduce and eliminate it.
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Last May, the FBI tweeted that diversity was a top priority for the agency; the safety and security of every American should be his top priority. Fortunately, there couldn’t be a better leader stepping into the White House to fix the mess President Joe Biden made. Having served as CIA Director and President Trump’s Secretary of State, I know he will take every measure to eliminate this threat to the American people within our borders and globally, just as we did during his first term.
Most importantly, it will shift the focus of our law enforcement and national security apparatus from domestic political adversaries, DEI, and vigilantism back to where it belongs: on apprehending despicable individuals who seek to harm innocent Americans.
