Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said Sunday that domestic terrorism has “taken a front-line focus” in the wake of the latest mass shooting in Odessa, Texas.
In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week," McAleenan said mass shootings are "absolutely” a “homeland security threat.”
“It's extraordinary concerning, to have that many people injured and five killed at this point,” he said. “It's devastating, 300 miles from El Paso, a region that's really felt the impact of mass attacks in recent weeks, we're very concerned about it.”
“Domestic terrorism has taken a front line focus for us,” he added. “Since April, when I became acting secretary, we set a new office on domestic terrorism, including racially violence extremism.”
Asked whether the department should devote more resources to fighting mass shootings, he responded, “That's a conversation that we're having as an interagency team with the FBI, with the Office of Management and Budget to see what the right resource level is going forward."
Regarding Hurricane Dorian, which reached a catastrophic Category 5 on Sunday, McAleenan said the transfer of $155 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Immigration and Customs Enforcement won’t hurt effort the response to the hurricane.
“I want to emphasize that no potential transfers, no money has been moved yet,” he said. “We have to do a notification to Congress in advance of any potential transfers will impact our ability to respond to this storm and other storms during hurricane season; $150 million from the base fund is not going to affect our ability to respond and recover from a natural disaster. “
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