The Scoop
As two violent incidents this month spark questions about domestic security, the Trump administration is debating its own approach to warnings about potential homegrown threats related to the Iran war.
The administration has issued bulletins warning of possible “lone-wolf” and cyber-based homeland attacks as its conflict with Iran continues. But people with direct knowledge of the situation told Semafor of an ongoing internal disagreement about how to handle those warnings — and how to communicate the risk of Iran-linked violence inside the US.
“There’s just a lack of consistency,” one administration official said in an interview. “Some things need to actually be addressed rather than the normal strategy of just calling everything fake outrage.”
When asked about the administration’s approach to homeland security risks, the official sent Semafor a photo of the sinking Titanic — arguing that while law enforcement agencies are “taking it seriously,” the messaging problem is coming from the White House.
“As with any healthy administration, there is an ongoing internal debate on this issue,” a second administration official said.
The debate over how to notify Americans of Iran war-related risk follows a deadly shooting in Texas earlier this month and what police have described as a weekend “act of ISIS-inspired terrorism” in New York City. The FBI is investigating the Texas shooting for possible terrorism ties; reports suggest the shooter was wearing a shirt with an “Iranian flag design.”
Two administration officials, and one other person close to the White House, highlighted the more muted public response to that Texas attack.
It’s “interesting,” said one of the people close to the White House. “It’s a strategy — they don’t want to freak out the American people.”
Just this week, the US also intercepted communications, believed to have originated in Iran, that could “trigger” sleeper cells, ABC News reported. The alert requested that law enforcement heighten their “monitoring of suspicious radio-frequency activity,” the network wrote.
The debate also follows reports that the White House barred the release of an intelligence memo compiled by the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center alerting state and local authorities of an increased threat level.
A third administration official disputed the characterization of the memo as blocked or held, telling Semafor that there is a “standard interagency review” process for items like this.
“Most of the time these things are … theater, which is sort of true,” the first administration official said, arguing for a more liberal approach to releasing warnings. “But then they do stupid s–t like this, and it makes a small thing look like a huge thing. That’s how Epstein went from zero to hero.”
The third administration official argued that the intelligence memo, described as a draft, “noted that there was no identified specific threat to the general public.” The official added that the administration “has gone to great lengths to inform the public, law enforcement, and other key stakeholders through public briefings, law enforcement bulletins/memos, and government-hosted calls with relevant sectors.”
Asked for comment, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said “nothing was blocked” and added that President Donald Trump’s aides are “coordinating closely to ensure information being disseminated is accurate, up to date, and has been properly vetted.”
An FBI spokesperson said that “agencies, including the FBI, routinely coordinate on draft law enforcement memos with partners to make sure all information is accurate, timely, and reflects the latest information on the ground.
“Sometimes the timing of messages changes depending on the need for interagency partner input,” the spokesperson added. “No one has ‘blocked’ anything.”
Know More
At the heart of the administration’s internal debate over warning the public as the Iran war continues is the difficulty of remaining transparent while avoiding widespread alarm.
“There are those who would much prefer to provide raw, real-time updates on everything that is happening in the moment — and then there’s those who, understandably, do not want to encourage an unjustified panic as law enforcement does their jobs — particularly during a highly critical period of potential regime change,” the second administration official said.
Trump has sought to tamp down public concerns, particularly after the Texas shooting. He told the Daily Wire earlier this month that Americans shouldn’t worry about an increase in homeland terrorist threats, describing the shooter in that attack as “just a whack job.”
On Monday, Trump said the administration is “very much on top of” reports of activated sleeper cells within the US. He underscored the importance of passing DHS funding for the rest of this fiscal year; Democrats are blocking that money in a bid to secure changes to immigration enforcement.
“We’re watching every single one of them,” Trump said of potential domestic threats. “We know a lot about them … but the shutdown doesn’t allow us to do what we have to do.”
Notable
- One of the two Pennsylvania men charged on Tuesday with the New York City attack told investigators he wanted to cause damage “even bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing,” the NYPD Commissioner told CBS.