Homeland Security Secretary: Expect ‘A Lot More’ Manchester-style Attacks

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said on Thursday that his “expectation” is that there will be more attacks like the one in Manchester, England earlier this week where a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a concert venue.

“As horrible as Manchester was, my expectation is we’re going to see a lot more of that type of attack,” Kelly told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security at a hearing focused on President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 federal budget.

But in his prepared remarks, Kelly warned that suicide bombers aren’t the only threat facing the United States and the West:

The threat to aviation security remains high, and criminals and terrorists continue to target airlines and airports. We must continue to improve how we screen the belongings of travelers and cargo.

We are in the business of protecting lives, and improved screening technologies coupled with additional Transportation Security Administration [TSA) Officers working security functions at the checkpoints, will help us deter, detect, disrupt, and prevent threats to aviation security. DHS continues to prioritize explosives screening, threat assessments, and detection capabilities, and the President’s Budget includes $77.0 million for research and development in this area.

Kelly also talked about border security, including money in the budget for wall construction along the southern border.

“Border security is a high priority and involves protecting 7,000 miles of land border, approximately 95,000 miles of shoreline, and 328 ports of entry along with staffing numerous locations abroad,” Kelly said.

Kelly said Trump is requesting “$1.6 billion for 32 miles of new border wall construction, 28 miles of levee wall along the Rio Grande, where apprehensions are the highest along the Southwest Border, and 14 miles of new border wall system that will replace existing secondary fence in the San Diego Sector, where a border wall system will deny access to drug trafficking organizations.”