US citizens must take front line in national security: Napolitano

Sebastian Smith
AFP
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

NEW YORK — A top US domestic security chief called Wednesday on ordinary citizens to join law enforcement bodies in fighting an increasingly elusive — and homegrown — terrorist threat.

“We need a culture of collective responsibility, a culture where every individual understands his or her role,” Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a speech in New York.

Referring to a spate of arrests around the country of US citizens and residents charged with jihad-type militancy, Napolitano said that ordinary people were often the first line of defense.

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In just the latest case, seven people were arrested Monday, including an American-born Muslim convert and his two sons living in a quiet North Carolina suburb.

Napolitano stressed she was not advocating “a culture of spying on one another,” but said that crucial intelligence came from the bottom up.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

“You are the ones who know when something is not right in your community,” she said.

Full story here.

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