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VIDEO: Lankford Responds To July 4 Terror Threat, False Alarm At Washington Navy Yard

U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.)
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Last week the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security released a bulletin listing the July 4 holiday weekend as a possible target for terrorist attacks.

U.S. Senator James Lankford serves on the Homeland Security and Intelligence committees. He told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Thursday he's more concerned about a so-called lone wolf individual inspired by self-proclaimed Islamic State militants, rather than a large-scale coordinated attack by a group like al-Qaeda.

"July the 4th is one of those natural dates, while we're celebrating freedom, for them to be able to find some way to poke us in the eye."

Lankford said there's no specific threat that he's been made aware of, but there's always a possibility ISIS could inspire an attack like the attack outside the Prophet Mohammad cartoon contest in the Dallas suburb of Garland that took place May 3.

"They're reaching out on social media, telling people, it's a holiday, we ought to kill people, here's ideas how to do it, here's places to be able to go,” Lankford said. “Here's our logo, put the logo up, tell them you're with us. They're not looking to send people, they're looking to inspire people living in our midst."

Lankford also said much of ISIS's strength comes from instability in Syria, and will likely continue as long as president Bashar al-Assad is still in power.

Oklahoma’s junior Republican also said the response to Thursday’s false alarm of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard ended up serving as a large-scale drill. District of Columbia police said there was no evidence of a shooting and no sign of injuries after gunfire was reported yesterday morning. That's the same site where 12 people were fatally shot in September 2013.

“We actually saw law enforcement in a coordinated effort being able to respond to that in the entirely appropriate way for an active shooter. Thankfully there wasn't an active shooter there,” Lankford said. “It is good to know law enforcement has that kind of coordination. And in that moment we do have appropriate response."

Washington, D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier said investigators interviewed the woman who reported that she may have heard gunshots at the Navy Yard yesterday. Lanier said authorities regularly tell people that if they see something, they should say something, and this woman did just that. She says the response went smoothly and was well-coordinated.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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