Courage is a word we use often in this country, sometimes too easily. But when two National Guard members stand their posts in our nation’s capital, protecting the very institutions that make our democracy work, that is courage in its purest form. When one of them falls and another fights for life at the hands of violence, that demands we speak plainly about what happened.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did exactly that Friday, taking aim at a senior Democratic congressman who characterized the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers as an “unfortunate accident” rather than what it was: a terrorist attack on American soil.
The exchange that sparked this confrontation occurred during a Thursday hearing on worldwide threats to the homeland. Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, was questioning Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem when he referred to the shooting as an accident. Secretary Noem did not let it pass, responding directly: “You think that was an unfortunate accident? It was a terrorist attack.”
The facts of the case are these: On Thanksgiving Eve, two National Guard members were shot just blocks from the White House. The alleged shooter was an Afghan refugee. Specialist Sarah Beckstrom lost her life. Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe was critically wounded and fought for survival.
Director Gabbard, speaking publicly about the incident, expressed what many Americans are thinking. “It is absolutely infuriating,” she said. “He cannot and refuses to directly identify this attack for what it was, a terrorist attack on our own soil against our National Guard, men and women in this case, who are putting their lives on the line.”
The intelligence director went further, identifying what she called “the egregious and longstanding problem” of leaders from both political parties refusing to properly identify the Islamist terrorist threat. According to Gabbard, this failure of clear-eyed assessment is precisely why America finds itself vulnerable to such attacks.
These National Guard members had a direct mission: keeping the American people safe. They were doing their duty, standing watch over the freedoms we too often take for granted. The question now is whether our elected officials will do theirs by speaking truthfully about the threats we face.
When pressed on whether he stood by calling the shooting an unfortunate accident, Representative Thompson backtracked, saying “absolutely not” and claiming he was attempting to make a different point about the approval of the shooter’s asylum application during the previous administration.
But the damage of such careless language has already been done. Words matter, particularly when they come from those entrusted with protecting the homeland. An accident suggests randomness, bad luck, something unavoidable. A terrorist attack is something else entirely. It is deliberate violence meant to instill fear and shake our confidence in our own security.
Director Gabbard has also raised serious concerns about vetting processes that she says allowed thousands of known or suspected terrorists to enter the United States. These are not abstract policy debates conducted in comfortable hearing rooms. These are life-and-death matters that play out on our streets, affecting real Americans like Specialist Beckstrom and Staff Sergeant Wolfe.
The question before us is straightforward: Will we name our enemies clearly, or will we continue to speak in euphemisms that obscure the truth? The families of those who serve deserve better. The American people deserve better. And most certainly, those who put on the uniform and stand post in defense of this nation deserve leaders who will call an attack what it is.
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