The United States is "not fully mobilized" to stop terrorist attacks and the border has become too porous under the Biden administration, leaving the country in the "worst" threat situation than it has been in the 23 years since 9/11, former Rep. Pete King said on Newsmax, Sunday.
"The threat is real, and in many ways, it's probably more real than it was back on Sept. 10 [2001] because of the fact that our borders are so porous," the New York Republican told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend."
King noted that he was on the Intelligence and Homeland Security Committees in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and there were "reports of threats, but fortunately, none of them ever actually worked out, and we were able to stop several of them."
But now, "the government is not fully mobilized to stop" attacks, "and the precautions that we have put in place have broken down," said King.
He pointed out that it remains difficult to get through airport TSA screenings, but "terrorists can just walk across the Mexican border."
King added that he didn't want to "monopolize" the matter, but said that New York remains the "No. 1 target" in the country.
"We have to definitely be on our guard and I'm concerned that we're not," he said.
King said that with the anniversary of the attacks coming this week, he'll be at ground zero on Monday when the House Homeland Security Committee is coming for a tour.
'It's always shattering to get down there and be reminded because I was there many times after 9/11, including the day President [George W.] Bush was there," said King.
He added that he thought then that the United States would never go back to such days but "now it's so easy for terrorists to come across the border."
"We know that al-Qaida and ISIS and ISIS-K and the whole Islamist movement are every day finding, trying to find ways to carry out successful attacks into the United States," said King. "And with our borders being open, we know that terrorists, people on the terrorist watchlist have come across," he continued. "Just this week, somebody from Pakistan was stopped in Canada when they attempted to come down to carry out an attack here in New York City."
Former Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., also on Sunday's program, agreed that the open border situation is "absolutely frightening."
Statistics released in July show 33,000 Chinese nationals; 1,500 people from Tajikistan; 3,300 from Uzbekistan; 500 from Iran; 500 from Syria; and 275 people who were on the terrorist watchlist were apprehended, and nobody knows how many got away, said Kingston.
"It's just unbelievable the vulnerability we're putting ourselves in because of all this, as Joe Biden would say, malarkey," he added.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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