TERROR THREAT AT VERY HIGH LEVEL – AT 7:12 P.M. ET:  Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano warned Congress today of an elevated terror threat.  In her testimony she used the word "terror" more than 60 times, in contrast to her first appearance as secretary of her department two years ago, when she refused to use the term at all.  From ABC News: 

The threat of terrorism is at "its most heightened state" since the 9/11 attacks nearly a decade ago, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said today.

"The terrorist threat facing our country has evolved significantly in the last ten years -- and continues to evolve -- so that, in some ways, the threat facing us is at its most heightened state since those attacks," she said before the House Homeland Security Committee.

Her comments were a sobering reminder that the potential of another attack is real and growing, most notably from individuals radicalized inside the United States, despite elaborate security measures implemented by the government since 2001.

"One of the most striking elements of today's threat picture is that plots to attack America increasingly involve American residents and citizens," Napolitano said, referring to so-called homegrown terrorists fueled by the Internet and connections with operatives overseas.

More than two dozen Americans have been arrested on terrorism charges in the past two years, according to government statistics.

Fifty individuals involved in 32 high-profile terrorism plots involving al Qaeda-like ideology in the past decade were U.S. citizens at the time of their arrests, according to a study by the New York State Intelligence Center. Most were natural-born.

COMMENT:  Janet might have a chat with the president of the United States, who lives in a white house on Pennsylvania Avenue.  She might tell him that endorsing a role for the Muslim Brotherhood in the Egyptian government does not exactly discourage Islamic terrorists, many of whom are inspired by that same organization. 

Never mind.  He won't listen.

February 9, 2011