Ric Grenell, Newsmax's senior national security analyst, said he believes federal law enforcement agencies weren't proactive enough in dealing with Trevor Bickford — the alleged Islamic extremist who is suspected of attacking New York City police officers with a machete in Times Square — long before the harrowing incident occurred on New Year's Eve.
"Obviously, this is a tragedy that we [preemptively] have to get a handle on," Grenell told Newsmax Monday, while appearing on "American Agenda" with host Bob Sellers.
The federal Intelligence Community had already known about Bickford, who was reported to authorities by his mother, and then someone who had been characterized as "dangerous" by his own grandmother.
Preliminary IC reports say Bickford wanted to go back to Afghanistan, and the FBI had previously interviewed him; and yet, "they didn't follow through," said Grenell, the former acting director of National Intelligence during the Trump administration.
"When our tax dollars pay for this [intelligence] system, where the individuals are talking about terrorism, and then the FBI takes some sort of action to meet with this individual, the [intelligence agencies have] got to follow up," said Grenell. "They cannot just let this happen."
The three officers injured in the machete attack are expected to recover and Grennell said the "could have been worse," but the IC should have acted.
"There should be consequences for agencies that don't act" on advance reports involving potentially dangerous individuals, added Grenell.
Grenell was asked about the federal agencies' subsequent course of action, when possessing likely harmful information on those who reportedly reside on the terror watchlist.
"We have this information, and we're paying for intelligence officers to collect this information," explained Grenell. "We have correct information that someone is a terrorist. ... We have to be able to make some very tough decisions."
Grenell then added: "We can't just have information that's 'nice' to know; we have to have information that we 'need' to know."
As far as putting a tracking device on individuals, before they allegedly commit a crime, Grenell bluntly offered, "There are things the intelligence department can do that are not part of a public conversation on live TV."
When you have vital information about someone on that list, Grenell said, "we shouldn't just hold it — we need to act on this information."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.