By Debbie Gregory.
In a move to boost security and further protect U.S. military bases from the Islamic State and other terrorist groups, Defense Secretary Ash Carter has pledged $180 million in spending over the next three years.
The money will be spent on items such as door reinforcement, improved exits and procedures, improved alarms and access controls, and an “early warning” system to communicate threats and incidents to military personnel within 20 miles of a military facility in 10 minutes or less.
This improves upon the current system which issues a lockdown alert when there is an active shooter situation, but that alert is limited to one facility.
Junaid Hussain, the ISIS figure who released the personal details of more than 1,000 U.S. military members and “who sought to inspire wannabe jihadists to conduct attacks against the DOD” was killed in a strike last year. Carter said that Hussain was a central figure in recruiting ISIL sympathizers to carry out lone-wolf attacks in the West.
Carter said, “As we learned from the tragedy in Chattanooga last summer, ISIL has demonstrated a clear intent to target U.S. service members and facilities, or at least to inspire others to do so.
Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old resident of Hixson, TN went on a murderous rampage at two military facilities in Tennessee, killing four US Marines and injuring several others. He sprayed bullets at a Chattanooga military recruiting center and Navy-Marine training facility, just seven miles apart.
Providing greater force protection for men and women serving today is one way we honor those service members who lost their lives last summer,” Carter said.
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