TAMPA — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said consideration should be given to providing more security for soft targets like military recruiting and training centers in the wake of Thursday’s killing of four Marines and a Navy reservist by 24-year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez.
“Since the Internet communications have been launched, offensively, into this country to direct attacks as what we saw yesterday, all military bases, including the one we stand in now, have a heightened sense of security,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, speaking at MacDill Air Force Base on Friday.
“I would think particularly in light of the events that occurred … recruiting centers and training centers should heighten their sense of security as well, including the idea of having armed personnel to defend themselves.”
Troops at recruiting stations aren’t allowed to carry weapons and don’t routinely carry guns when they are not in combat or on military bases.
According to authorities, Abdulazeez, of Hixson, Tennessee, unleashed a barrage of fire at a recruiting center in Chattanooga, then drove several miles away to a Navy and Marine reserve center, where he shot and killed the Marines.
The dead Marines were identified as Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan of Hampden, Massachusetts; Staff Sgt. David A. Wyatt of Burke, North Carolina; Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist of Polk, Wisconsin; and Lance Cpl. Squire K. “Skip” Wells of Cobb County, Georgia.
On Saturday, the Navy announced that a sailor who was shot had died. He was previously identified as Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, a reservist serving on active duty in Chattanooga.
Abdulazeez was shot to death by police.
In the wake of previous shootings at military centers, services have reviewed and strengthened security precautions at the centers. But most of those involve safety precautions and the need to be aware and watchful of surroundings.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said there are currently no plans to have security personnel posted at recruiting centers but added that there will be a review. He said a notice went out Thursday to all Army locations reminding them of protection measures.
McCaul, who had come to MacDill for a briefing with officials from U.S. Central Command, suggested that Abdulazeez may have selected his targets because “they are a lot easier to hit.”
McCaul said that, based on his experience, be believes Abdulazeez was directed to kill by the Islamic State, via the Internet. He said the FBI is scouring Abdulazeez’s electronic devices to find out for sure.
The jihadis, said McCaul, have called for attacking military installations inside the United States and to kill military and law enforcement personnel.
“We have seen this missive time and time again,” he said. “There are over 200,000 ISIS tweets per day we are trying to monitor. The volume of chatter is so high and so intense that it is hard to get a handle on it. It is very difficult for the FBI and Homeland Security to stop and disrupt every one of these, and again, I believe that (Thursday) was one of those that got through.”
Law enforcement has made more than 60 Islamic State-related arrests in the last year, said McCaul, adding that there have been more than 50 plots thwarted and Islamic State-related investigations going on in every state.
PHOTO: Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said there should be consideration to providing more security at soft targets like military recruiting centers in the wake of Thursday’s Chattanooga shootings. HOWARD ALTMAN/STAFF