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DHS

DHS Chief Sows More Terrorism Fears to Kick Off Your Holiday Weekend

'It can happen, almost here, at any time' John Kelly tells Fox.

Scott Shackford | 5.26.2017 5:40 PM

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(FOX)

As you're gassing up for your Memorial Day weekend trip, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly wants to remind you that the world is trying to kill you.

It's all part of his apparent plan to try to get Americans to support the men and women of the DHS (and the domestic security apparatus) by trying to convince us that we would all be dead without them. Kelly appeared on Fox & Friends this morning to tell us all that it's possible we would "never leave the house in the morning" if we knew what he knew about terrorism.

Fox posted a brief clip on Twitter:

.@DHSgov Sec. Kelly: If you knew what I do about terrorism, you'd never leave the house, but we do have the finest people protecting us. pic.twitter.com/qzqAqlqTGd

— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 26, 2017

Yes, if you listened carefully, you'll have heard Kelly say "It can happen, almost here, at any time." This has been Kelly's shtick after taking over leadership of the DHS. I took note of it back in April in a speech he gave that was deliberately structured to make Americans feel as though our country was under siege in order to justify unthinking compliance with anything DHS demands of us.

Speaking of those DHS demands, note that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is cranking up airport searches yet again. This time, allegedly because everybody tries to cram everything into their carry-on bags, security teams at several airports are ordering passengers to take more out of their bags than just their laptops—other electronics, books, and other clutter—so they can allegedly scan more effectively. So prepare for that if you're flying anywhere for the weekend.

Perhaps Kelly could tell us what he knows about terrorism and we could decide for ourselves whether to be scared. But given that Americans actually are not at significant risk of being killed by terrorists, and given the fact that many homegrown terror plots that the FBI disrupts are actually helped along by the FBI itself, he might not like the fact that we might not be spending the three-day weekend under our beds hoping the DHS will keep us safe.

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NEXT: Florida Gov. Rick Scott Won't Let You Buy Booze in Grocery Stores

Scott Shackford is a policy research editor at Reason Foundation.

DHSDepartment of Homeland SecurityTerrorismTSA
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