President Donald Trump and his appointees — including Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FBI Director Kash Patel and federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro — often paint themselves as zealous defenders of national security. But according to former Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor, national security is suffering greatly under Trump's second presidency—and the United States is the most vulnerable it has been since the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
In a late June interview with Zeteo's John Harwood, Taylor warned about "people who want to kill Americans" and added, "We are less prepared to stop them than at any point since 9-11."
The conservative Taylor served in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during Trump's first administration, but he later became quite critical of Trump publicly and is now very much in the Never Trump camp — rooting for Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
The U.S., according to Taylor, is "asleep at the wheel" from a national security standpoint.
Harwood asked Taylor where the greatest national security threats are coming from, to which he responded, "You'd normally, in the national security realm, you worry about holidays. Why? Because terrorists love holidays. They see it as a prime opportunity to capture the public horror. And so, whether it was the Fourth of July or Halloween or Christmas or New Year's, those were the periods when the Department Homeland Security and FBI — we were on heightened alert."
The former DHS official continued, "I mean, people hear that terminology all the time, but there's a reason why you were on heightened alert. That also means, if you work in those agencies, you are used to holidays being destroyed. I can remember Christmas Days and New Year's Days where I was sitting in the basement of a family member's house for four hours dealing with the response to one of these things."
Taylor noted that during the United States' 250th anniversary celebrations, law enforcement agencies "will rightfully be concerned." And when Harwood asked if they would be more concerned about foreign terrorists or domestic terrorists, he replied, "I think both."
Taylor told Harwood, "I think that there's an equal measure of potential threats from Iranian proxies…. Terrorist organizations like ISIS and al-Qaeda still have the capability and intent to attack the United States. But also, domestically. There are a wide range of domestic extremist organizations that might want to use the 250th to make a statement. That includes organizations that are opposed to Donald Trump."