WASHINGTON – General Barry McCaffrey told a Washington audience tonight that the United States will clearly sustain more attacks in the future and that the country needs more resources for protection against such attacks.
McCaffrey was the Keynote Speaker at the 2010 Homeland Security Awards Dinner, hosted by Government Security News. McCaffrey served in the United States Army for 32 years and retired as a four-star General. He later served as the nation’s Cabinet Officer in charge of U.S. drug policy. (Click here for more background information.)
McCaffrey said that the U.S. is much better prepared against terrorism than before the September 11, 2001 attacks. But, he said, homeland security, homeland defense, and law enforcement need more resources and more attention. “Five percent of us in the United States are domestic nut jobs, so security against foreign terrorists has a terrible time getting our attention. So remember where you were on 9-11.”
The retired general told the business and government audience that U.S. law enforcement needs more people and more technology and that the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security need to cooperate more. McCaffrey added that only the Department of Defense has enough expertise, resources, and manpower to respond to a major disaster in the U.S.
General McCaffrey concluded his remarks by saying that the current political tone of the country bothers him.
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