What role does law enforcement play in preventing terrorism?

What role does law enforcement play in preventing terrorism?

Erroll Southers (Former Deputy Director of the California Department of Homeland Security) gives expert video advice on: Is US foreign policy effective at preventing terrorism?; How has American intelligence evolved since 9-11 to prevent and combat terrorism?; How does the global nature of terrorism affect counter-terrorism efforts? and more...

If we're lucky enough to detect or deter or thwart an act of terrorism, its going to be a local law enforcement person. Several years ago, in 2005, we had a group that was here in Los Angeles and they were a radicalized set of JIS. It translates as The Assembly of Authentic Islam. They were going to target Los Angeles International airport, the Israeli consulate, several national guard centers and some synagogues. It was local law enforcement, as these gentlemen were out there conducting, or I should say engaging in, robberies from gas stations. They were able to, after a search warrant, put together the pieces that they were going to be engaging in a large scale terrorist attack and they weren't just gas station robbers. And so it's those kind of things that are going to help us detect and catch terrorists.