The nation faces serious threats from terrorism — both foreign and domestic — and law enforcement must remain vigilant to prevent attacks, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Wednesday during a speech in Salt Lake City.
Some of the most powerful tools to confront terrorists are Joint Terrorism Task Forces and fusion centers — including Utah’s Statewide Information and Analysis Center — that share information about threats, said Rosenstein, the No. 2 official at the Department of Justice.
“We know the key is to collect all available information and generate actionable intelligence to disrupt terrorists before they strike,” he said.
Rosenstein made his comments at the 10th annual Utah National Security and Anti-Terrorism Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. About 600 people from local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies attended the two day conference, which began Tuesday.
Since the 9/11 attacks, law enforcement has worked with the intelligence community to disrupt dozens of terrorist threats, Rosenstein said. He also noted that the number of Americans trying to travel to join the Islamic State group has “dropped significantly,” from 6 to 10 a month a few years ago to about one or none now.
Much of the credit for the decrease goes to the military, which has fought ISIS on the battlefield, and to local law enforcement officers for their “proactive policing,” Rosenstein said. In recent years, the Justice Department has filed terrorism-related charges against more than 145 foreign fighters, homegrown extremists and ISIS supporters, he said, and the FBI has ongoing investigations in all 50 states.
“We must never let down our guard, because our enemies do not fight fair,” Rosenstein said. “Terrorists are cowards who target unsuspecting people going about their lives — watching a soccer game, dancing at a nightclub, traveling to work, walking down a street.”
The Department of Justice also remains vigilant about the threat of violent domestic extremists, who often are motivated by hatred and bigotry, Rosenstein said. He cited an alleged plot last year targeting an apartment complex in Garden City, Kansas, where Somali immigrants live, and a white nationalist demonstration a few weeks ago in Charlottesville, Virginia, “where we saw and heard people openly advocate racism and bigotry.”
“The First Amendment often protects hateful speech that is abhorrent to American values,” Rosenstein said. “But there can be no safe harbor for violence.”
This story will be updated.