Jason Pohl, The Coloradoan 3:03 p.m. MDT June 18, 2014


(Photo: Coloradoan library )

Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith maintains the United States is no safer now from home turf terrorism than it was on Sept. 11, 2001, despite 13 years of supposed improvements in national security and intelligence gathering,

Smith took to Facebook earlier this week and drew a parallel between the escalating conflicts in Iraq and what he said were continued unsecured Mexico borders that see people, including “thousands” of unaccompanied children, “pouring” into the U.S. unmonitored.

He cited his conversations with sheriffs along that border and said enemies are feeling “emboldened” to cause harm.

If children can get across a porous border, it stands to reason terrorists view it as a floodgate and could easily bring weapons or extremists to the U.S., he said. Until that is addressed, residents and officials need to remain aware of the “sizable risks of large scale terrorist attacks on American soil.”

Smith stood by those comments in a Wednesday interview with the Coloradoan, along with a pair of photos accompanying the post — one widely-publicized execution photo from Iraq and another of presumed undocumented children sitting on a sidewalk, smiling.

He credited the steps forward the country has taken, but he said society has “become somewhat complacent” in recent years, potentially paving the path for disaster, especially with a surging extremist violence in Iraq.

“Some of the people involved are the same ones who would come after us,” Smith said, adding later, “If we think that those threats aren’t just as real as they were before, we’re in denial. We’re fooling ourselves.”

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news...ists/10800735/