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Following the recent airstrikes, our national security contributor, Tracy Walder, breaks down the escalating safety concerns. We explore potential cyber threats and the risks posed by potential attacks within the US. Understand the critical challenges ahead and how authorities are responding. #USSecurity #CyberAttacks #NationalSecurity #Iran #Terrorism #HomelandSecurity #TracyWalder #NewsAnalysis #Geopolitics #CurrentEvents
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0:00
Those heightened security measures
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happening now at home and abroad
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following Saturday night's air strikes
0:05
against Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Let's bring in News Nation national
0:09
security contributor Tracy Walder.
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Tracy, good morning. I've been watching
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your coverage since we saw the strikes
0:15
overnight. Thanks for joining us this
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morning. What are your concerns for
0:18
safety for Americans, not only here in
0:20
the US, but also abroad? Well, thank you
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so much for having me, Hannah. I have a
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lot of concerns about safety. I've
0:26
actually been talking about it um for a
0:28
few weeks now. what retaliatory attacks
0:31
here in the homeland um could
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potentially look at look like. My
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biggest concern actually is is is cyber.
0:37
Um cyber Iran is is pretty cyber capable
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to be completely honest. Obviously,
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China is the best in the world. Um but
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Iran is very cyber capable. They have
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launched denial of service attacks
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successfully here in the United States
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against banks like Bank of America, JP
0:51
Morgan, Chase. So that is hugely
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problematic. I know we talked Marcus
0:55
talked actually about soft targets and
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and that is where I'm the most concerned
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that sleeper cells um may attack. So I
1:03
do not like the term sleeper cells. They
1:05
are terrorists. That's what they are.
1:07
That's the damage that they are
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inflicting. Those are what I would
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imagine those lone wolf attacks would
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look like. So we I am also concerned in
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terms of cyber how China may become
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involved. They are allies with Iran.
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They are some of the best hackers in the
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world. I don't know how they will align
1:23
themselves here. I suspect they're
1:24
waiting. Um, but cyber and those lone
1:27
wolf attacks are what I'm the most
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concerned about. You mentioned those
1:29
soft targets. How are authorities doing
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different? What are they doing
1:33
differently this morning to protect
1:34
these so-called targets? Like Marcus
1:37
mentioned, we're talking churches and
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tourist attractions. So, my my guess is
1:41
that they are obviously stepping up
1:44
manned security. So, you will see an
1:46
increase in terms of police and law
1:48
enforcement presence. But I also think
1:51
too that they have all hands- on deck in
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terms of monitoring online threats
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because that's where a lot of these
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originate from. They originate in the
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chat rooms and things of that nature. So
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my guess is they are also very much
2:03
focused on those online threats as well
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and where they could potentially
2:07
manifest. Department of Homeland
2:09
Security head Christy Noam posted on
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social media. She said this, "We will
2:12
work increasingly to protect the
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American homeland." End quote. Do you
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think federal forces will get involved
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in protecting US cities?
2:22
I don't think they have much of a
2:23
choice. I think they probably have to.
2:25
Um I think if you look at, you know,
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NYPD, obviously the largest and best
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police force, quite frankly, in the US,
2:32
they are very well equipped to be able
2:34
to protect their city. But we do have
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smaller police departments, smaller
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cities, and we can't ignore that they
2:40
could be targets as well. And I do think
2:43
that they will need federal assistance
2:45
simply because they just don't have the
2:47
manpower at this point. You mentioned
2:49
Iran is cyber capable. What are your
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sources telling you about Iran's
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capability to strike within the US? I
2:56
mean, that is incredibly high. They have
2:58
been striking actually within Israel. We
3:00
just really haven't been talking about
3:02
it as much because it doesn't impact us.
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So, you know, I would say it with
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Israel, they've really been going after
3:07
their energy grid, water supply, those
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kinds of things. they have not been
3:11
entirely successful in doing that which
3:13
is obviously good. Um but here in the US
3:16
I am not convinced that our ability to
3:19
mitigate cyber attacks is topnotch and
3:22
if I could go into that for just a
3:24
minute I'd like to explain why we have
3:26
some instability at the top right now.
3:28
we are looking at, you know, Trump and
3:30
Gabbard essentially disagreeing and
3:31
fighting um on Iran and that creates
3:34
instability really from the top down and
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makes it very very difficult to stop
3:38
these kinds of attacks. Tracy, how
3:41
concerned are you about sleeper cells,
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you call them terrorists being activated
3:45
in the United States? I'm very
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concerned. Look, we have had um
3:49
individuals that have tried to
3:51
assassinate President Trump that were
3:53
members of the IRGC that were here in
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the United States. We've also prosecuted
3:58
individuals that were working on behests
4:00
of the IRGC here in the US as well as
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brought charges internationally um
4:05
against individuals. So in my opinion,
4:07
they're already here and they have been
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here for some time. And we also have to
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remember Iran heavily funds groups like
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Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis who
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also may be here already in the United
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States. Tracy Walder, like I said, I was
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watching your coverage all night long on
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social media. I know you haven't gotten
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any sleep. I really appreciate you
4:26
joining us this morning, Tracy Walder.
4:28
Thank you. Thank you, Hannah. Thank you
4:30
for watching. Subscribe below and
4:32
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4:34
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4:36
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