(Gwendolyn Sims, Headline USA) Country-music superstar Jason Aldean may have intended his recent hit “Try That in a Small Town” as a warning to big-city interlopers.
But now, it seems, some terrorists may view it as an invitation. And just as the song suggests, one local law-enforcement official is advising that citizens should to be ready to take matters into their own hands when the spit hits the fan.
On Wednesday, Butler County, Ohio, Sheriff Richard K. Jones sounded the alarm for the safety of all Americans after attending the National Sheriffs’ Association’s Winter Conference in Washington, D.C., where FBI Director Christopher Wray had delivered a grave warning about the latest terrorists threat.
This time, he revealed, America’s heartland was the target.
“I don’t want you to think I’m Doomsday Jones or Chicken Little,” Jones said in a recent interview with Glenn Beck. But “these are people that are wanting to do us harm. This is why we were told more red flags [are] going off now.”
Was live earlier with @glennbeck. Thanks for helping spread this important message for everyone, not just public leaders, to hear and share. This stuff is serious folks and everyone has got to be ready@FoxNews @journalnews @WMOHNEWSWIRE @POTUS @VP @Local12 @NEWSMAX @OANN… pic.twitter.com/XB7CsA7fQ6
— Richard K. Jones (@butlersheriff) February 14, 2024
A tiny town in western Pennsylvania was shocked to discover in January that Iranian hackers had targeted its water utilities for cyberattack, all because a piece of equipment had been manufactured in Israel.
“Hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure, our water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural gas pipelines, our transportation systems,” Wray said during the sheriffs’ conference.
“The risk that poses to every American requires our attention,” he added. “Now, China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities.”
Wray’s warning to the sheriffs’ conference echoed his recent congressional testimony.
“They’re not focused just on political and military targets,” he said.
“We can see from where they position themselves across civilian infrastructure that low blows aren’t just a possibility,” he continued. “The amount of conflict low blows against civilians are part of China’s plan.”
Anecdotally, there has been an uptick in random acts of chaos, such as last year’s train derailment in Palestine, Ohio.
A series of food-plant explosions has also seemed to fit the pattern, even as Chinese investors actively seek to purchase American farmland.
Although these events cannot specifically be traced back to terrorism, soft attacks like these could begin to have a cumulative impact—a sort of “death by a thousand cuts” approach to warfare—made all the worse by the confusion surrounding their origin and intent.
“They want to get in the heartland because they know that will create chaos,” Jones told Beck.
“If you can get into New York, they expect that,” he said. “… But to get into rural America, [that’s a] different story. That will send a shockwave.”
The threats, however, may not come from outside the country—particularly in light of the millions of illegal aliens who have crossed our borders with little to no vetting during the Biden administration.
“We’ve got 10 million people here in the United States that we don’t know who the hell they are [or] where they’re at,” Jones said.
“Twenty-thousand Chinese military-age adults [illegally came in] to the United States just in California, he continued. “Twenty-thousand so far this year … that’s just one sector. And, that’s just the ones we know about.”
Jones urged, communities to plan ahead for any eventuality and not to take for granted that terrorists will only target high-density areas. Protect “your communications, universities, your water, your sewer, your election process,” he said.
He noted that, per Wray’s estimate, for every FBI cybersecurity expert, there were 50 Chinese hackers whose objective was “to cause disruption in America.”
Jones said he had learned a valuable lesson from the October attack on Israel, when Hamas terrorists surprised and overwhelmed the security forces.
“The same people that came in [to Israel], they’re the same people that are here in our country,” he said. “It’s not a matter of if [there’s a terror attack], it’s a matter of when. These people are here.”
Despite living so close to a hostile neighbor, many of the Israeli victims were sitting ducks because they were unarmed and unprepared to fight back themselves when their homes were invaded.
But depending on the nature of the threat and the person in power at the time, Americans who are relying on the state or federal government for protection could find themselves in an even worse predicament.
“The police [are] all we have, your local police,” Jones said.
“The National Guard’s not coming. The military’s not coming,” he added. “People think, well, the military, the National Guard, they won’t let this happen. They’re not coming. You’re on your own.”
Jones urged law-enforcement agencies across the country to prepare. He’s sending citizen volunteers to a Citizens on Patrol Academy to learn to work the radio and utilize other first-responder tools.
“They can be our eyes and our ears and talk to the community,” said Jones.
“We’re training our trainers so we can train more people,” he added. “We can’t train 400,000, but we’re going to let people know. … We want our citizenry to be aware.”
In addition to awareness, Jones ordered AR-15 rifles for every Sheriff’s Department vehicle, as well as more ammunition and magazines for his deputies. He also ordered additional hazmat equipment for Butler County. Jones said communication and preparation are key.
Neither lawman said he wanted Americans to think they can’t protect themselves.
“But I do want the American people to know that we cannot afford to sleep on this danger,” Wray said. “As a government and a society, we’ve got to remain vigilant and actively defend against the threat.”
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