Could Iran attack US soil? “It’s an all-hands-on-deck time,” the security analyst said
Like the war between the US and Iran expanding with Iranian strikes across the regionConcerns have abounded about potential threats to American soil.
Iran has begun attacking US allies in the Middle East, and the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel said Thursday that Iran has launched more than 1,600 drones so far in Israel, Jordan, Persian Gulf Nations and Cyprus.
Two former counterterrorism officials and CBS News national security contributors, Sam Vinograd and Joe Zacks, discuss potential threats to the US and what Americans need to know to protect themselves.
Capabilities Iran can have on US soil
Vinograd said Iran represents a “multifaceted threat to the country.”
“They want to wreak havoc on our physical, cyberspace and physical information that we consume and digest and circulate right now,” said Vinograd, former DHS assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention.
He said Iran has a “deep bench of actors they use to do damage,” including proxies — regional, like-minded terrorist organizations — and state agents.
Iran has also established what it calls “do-it-yourself networks here in the United States — ordinary criminals who hire and pay money to do things like murder and murder.”
“Generally, they try to find people who are here in the country, from different nationalities who are legally allowed to be here, and who are actually paying money to do their dirty work,” he said.
One man is currently in court in New York accused of conspiracy to murder US politicians, possibly including President Trump or former President Biden, on behalf of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard. Iran has done it and the target Iranian opposition in the US It has been designated by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984.
Vinograd said law enforcement “has been following these threats for decades,” so they know what to look for and have “a lot of resources” dedicated to dealing with these types of threats.
What can Iran target and how
Zacks said that with Iran, the goal will be “to put the US on the defensive, and for them to show the ability to take offensive action here in our country.”
“Historically, they’ve gone after the top targets in the United States, and they may continue to do so,” said Zacks, a former CIA deputy director for counterterrorism.
Zacks said Iran’s action could come in the form of cyber attacks.
He said the US is “laser focused on what Iran might do here in the United States, and we are not leaving this to chance, and we are taking steps to defend ourselves to ensure that we prevent such an attack.”
“We’ve improved our capabilities a lot over the last 20 years, since 9/11,” he said.
“But that does not prevent the need for caution,” he added.
“Hands-on-deck time” for Americans
Vinograd said about the possible threats, the American people should know.
“It’s clear that it’s time to work together, not just for the US government, but for every American when it comes to fighting the regime’s ability to invade the country,” he said.
Vinograd said that while the focus may be on the power of the government, “everyone in this country right now needs to be aware of the threat from proxies, from people who are employed by the government.”
What does that monitoring look like?
“People need to think before they click on things online, they need to think before they download things,” he said. Americans should be wary of emails they receive from sources they may not know, and on social media, think “very carefully about what you digest.”
Without worrying about the Internet, “In the places around us, people have to go about their daily lives,” he said.
But he gave a nod to the phrase, “if you see something, say something,” urging Americans to be “very vigilant right now.”
“And if you see something suspicious, reach out to law enforcement,” he said.
