Opinion: Trump’s policy changes are making Americans more susceptible to terrorism

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The killings of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, raise troubling questions about the impact of President Donald Trump’s failed leadership and change of policies.

America needs an immediate, bipartisan review of our country’s current posture and capability to prevent terrorist threats. The heinous attacks in recent weeks are a glaring indicator that something is dangerously wrong in America’s FBI-led counterterrorism detection and prevention system. It’s time that we asked ourselves a bipartisan question: What has changed over the past months under Trump’s leadership that could disrupt our ability to detect and prevent terrorist attacks in America?

In the past four weeks, politically motivated terrorists have struck Americans four times: On May 17, in Palm Springs, Calif., a 25-year-old California man calling himself a “pro-mortalist” detonated a car bomb outside a fertility clinic, killing himself and wounding four others. On May 21, in Washington, D.C., a 31-year-old man from Chicago shouted “Free, free Palestine!” while killing two young Israeli Embassy employees as they left a reception at the Capital Jewish Museum. On June 1, in Boulder, Colo., a 45-year-old Egyptian man used a homemade flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to attack people marching peacefully, calling for the release of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. On June 14, in our own Brooklyn Park and Champlin, a 57-year-old Minnesota man, Vance Boelter, is suspected of killing Melissa and Mark Hortman and shooting and severely wounding John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

At Trump’s direction, the federal government has taken massive numbers of law enforcement personnel, assets and funding off the counterterrorism beat, putting them at ICE’s disposal in a single-minded, nationwide, dragnet hunt for migrants.

Trump’s misguided redirection of resources includes FBI intelligence analysts, investigators and door-busting enforcement officers who would otherwise be doing the painstaking teamwork of spotting and stopping terrorist threats. This includes agents from a range of federal law enforcement organizations, not to mention local police departments nationwide.

Under Trump’s myopic directives, this past April, the U.S. Department of Justice significantly scaled back its support for anti-crime initiatives across the country, impacting local law enforcement agencies and nonprofits. The cutbacks include public safety grant cancellations, totaling approximately $500 million in lost funding.

The impact on Law Enforcement will be stark, potentially leading to layoffs, reduced patrol services and fewer resources for gun crime prevention. These cuts undermine public safety and shift the priorities away from prevention of the most dangerous violent crimes and community violence intervention initiatives.

American counterterrorism is being gutted while federal agents and local partners are being diverted. Trump is shifting federal, state and local law enforcement officers and intelligence analysts off the trail of extreme, violent domestic terrorists, like Minnesota suspect Vance Boelter. Trump’s rhetoric inflames the diseased minds of these domestic terrorists, further radicalizing and activating their violent tendencies at the very moment that he is standing down our counterterrorism defenses.

Now, as we see the assassination of Melissa and Mark Hortman, the attempted assassination of John and Yvette Hoffman, and the string of other terrorist attacks over the past four weeks, the president of the United States and Republican leadership must redirect their attention to the real threat facing America — radicalization and terrorism within the U.S.

If we learned anything from Sept. 11, 2001, it is this: The best way to control terrorism is by preventing it. The best way to prevent terrorism is for law enforcement, intelligence analysts and investigators to detect radicalization, violent ideation and attack-planning.

Over the past 24 years, the federal government has invested heavily in specialized counterterrorism units, led by the FBI working closely with other federal agencies and local law enforcement. Their hard work has successfully controlled terrorism of all political stripes, domestic and foreign.

The Trump administration’s shift in policies away from anti-crime and terrorism initiatives and toward indiscriminate detention and deportation of migrants increased the risk of what happened to Melissa and Mark Hortman. These recent attacks are a glaring indicator that something is wrong in America’s FBI-led counterterrorism detection and prevention system. We need to know why and we need to know now.

Trump’s misguided change in policies makes us all less safe. Congress must act now through urgent, active oversight into the nation’s counterterrorism posture. It must do this for those lost and wounded by terrorist violence, for their families, for those who courageously dedicate their lives and talents to protecting public safety from such threats, and for restoration of a peaceful, safe, prosperous and free society.

Ben Weisbuch, Minnetonka, is chair of the DFL Jewish Community Outreach Organization. Phil McGovern, Boston, is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army and former senior foreign policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey.