WHEN LEADERSHIP FAILS, ISIS PREVAILS

On January 1, 2025, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, New Orleans, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. The attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism, with an ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) flag found in the truck. On the same day, a Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing the person inside and injuring several others. ISIS is a terrorist organization known for extreme violence and public executions, including 911.

These are heartbreaking events that deeply affect many families. Like with 911, their losses demand answers and action. As President Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here.” When tragedy strikes on this scale, leadership fails at the highest levels. The President, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the CIA, the dozens of other state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies, and the FBI Director all command vast armies of agents, analysts, informants, undercover operatives, and sophisticated technology etc. etc. The FBI, with 40,000 Agents, analysts, scientists, engineers, behavioralists, linguists, etc., is the nation’s lead federal law enforcement agency for investigating and preventing acts of domestic and international terrorism. The DHS alone has 260,000 employees. Yet, we still see carnage on our streets because leadership did not prevent these crimes. Something is broken at the top.

Those of us privileged to serve in peace and war know that law enforcement boots on the ground do their jobs with dedication and courage. The failure of our law enforcement leaders to prevent these attacks is not their fault. Weak leadership and bad policy decisions—from open borders to soft-on-crime laws—are tying their hands. Cartels, terrorists, violent criminals, and gangbangers no longer fear our system – they take advantage of it - because they see the chaos and corrupted leadership within it.

Drugs like fentanyl kill 100,000 Americans a year, and terrorists slip across our border while woke bureaucrats bicker and wave them through. I stood on the street in Manhattan, NYC, on 911, only 20 blocks north of the Twin Towers, and watched them implode. Fire. Panic. Chaos. We vowed never again. Now, we’re sleepwalking toward another national nightmare. The signs are everywhere: infiltration, unvetted migrants, and a war on police. We can’t eliminate crime, but we can damn sure fight it better than this.

We need leaders who lead from the front and keep us safe and secure—plain and simple. Leaders who back our cops, secure our borders, hold criminals accountable, and prevent crime. In the words of General George S. Patton, “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” That’s precisely what we need now: real leadership with guts. We desperately need a team that puts America first and understands what’s at stake—people like Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Tom Homan, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash Patel, along with a willing Congress, a fair and just constitutional court system, truthful media outlets, and the trust, confidence and support of the American people. The need for strong leadership in this critical time cannot be overstated.

As Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” We must have the courage to demand accountability, support our law enforcement, and fix this broken system before more Americans die. We owe that to the victims of New Orleans and Las Vegas. We owe it to those we lost on 911. And we owe it to ourselves as citizens of a nation that deserves safety and security. The importance of accountability in ensuring justice for the victims cannot be overstated.

Fortunately, the Trump cavalry is on the horizon. Seventy-seven million voters, the Electoral College, all the swing states, and Congress are cheering their arrival, as are the grieving families and crime victims all across America. So am I.

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