Moscow massacre: Could it happen here??

The Islamic state released a statement claiming "credit" for the incident. Eleven suspects have been arrested. Early reports suggested the U.S. Embassy in Moscow had advance warning of the attack. The Daily Mail reported White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said: "Right now we don't know to what extent this warning [from the US Embassy in early March] and this attack are related. But we had some concerns about the possibility of a terrorist attack in and around Moscow earlier this month."

The question that must be asked, as it has been suggested for some time, due to our open southern border, is this: Could it happen here? The answer must be an unequivocal yes. In fact, it has already happened here on Sept. 11, 2001.

Does anyone seriously think America's enemies would not be encouraged by that previous attack and the Moscow atrocity to conduct a repeat operation in America? With such easy access to the country and with so many fanatical beliefs floating around the world, what would deter them?

The Cato Institute has noted that since 2017,"US Border Patrol has apprehended 342 border crossers who were on the Terrorist Screening Dataset, also known as the terror watchlist. Those numbers have shot up in recent years to 169 in FY2023 and 49 to date this fiscal year. Last month, The Daily Caller reported that Border Patrol apprehended an al‐​Shabaab terrorist and released him into the United States in March 2023 after a mismatch on the watchlist. Later, the government discovered that he was on the watchlist, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested him within 48 hours. The Daily Caller's headline was "ICE Confirms It Finally Nabbed Terrorist Allowed To Roam Free For Almost A Year."

FBI Director Christopher Wray has testified several times before congressional committees about his belief that a national security threat exists because of the 1.8 million "known gotaways." Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is unable to confirm that every suspected terrorist who crosses the border without proper documentation has been detained by Border Patrol. It doesn't take many as we saw on 9/11 and have seen in the Moscow concert hall incident to produce mayhem.

While 9/11 was predictable – Osama bin Laden and other members of al-Qaida issued fatwas calling for attacks on the U.S. and American citizens and declared war on the United States and the terrorists trained in how to takeoff in airplanes, but not land – so the warning signs will have been seen should infiltrators pull off another 9/11, or worse. If that happens, count on the Biden administration to blame Republicans as they are currently doing for refusing to vote for a bill that would legalize 5,000 migrants per day coming to America.

In 2003, Tom Clancy published a timely novel titled"Teeth of the Tiger." The plot in part is about Islamic terrorists who make a deal with Colombian drug smugglers. Crossing the U.S. border, they head for four shopping malls in Middle America where they murder innocent civilians. Again, it doesn't take much to wreak havoc, tank the economy and strike fear into the hearts of everyone.

It could happen again here and likely will unless this or a new administration moves quickly to find the suspected terrorists who have already snuck in before they can activate a plot worthy of a Tom Clancy's novel.

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Cal Thomas, America's most-syndicated columnist, is the author of 10 books.