[The Hill] The retiring head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) warned ahead of his exit Friday about the ability for extremists in the U.S. to get lethal weapons.In a final briefing with reporters ahead of his departure, NCTC Director Nicholas Rasmussen voiced concern about the ability to protect from mass casualty attacks.
"We find ourselves in a more dangerous situation because our population of violent extremists has no difficulty gaining access to weapons that are quite lethal," Rasmussen said, according to The Washington Post. "I wish that weren’t so."
Could he be making the connection between highly lucrative drug trafficking networks and gun running ?
Rasmussen, who served as the NCTC's director for three of his five years there, said he had no solutions to offer domestic law enforcement agencies working to prevent mass-casualty attacks, but said a link between the availability of guns and the potential for violence is a calculation for counterterrorism analysts.