The Truth with Lisa Boothe: Nicole Parker on Terror Threats, Sleeper Cells & Border Security Risks in the U.S.
3/5/202628 mincomplete
0:00This is an iHeart Podcast.
0:02Guaranteed human. Welcome to The Truth with Lisa Booth, where we get to the heart
0:07of the issues that matter to you.
0:10With the ongoing war against Iran, national security experts are sounding the alarm about retaliation
0:18right here at home. Sleeper cells, proxy attacks, or inspired alone actors targeting American soil
0:25and Americans. So we've got Nicole Parker, former FBI special agent, my colleague at Fox
0:31News, and also the author of two FBI's to talk about this.
0:36To ask her about her experience in counterterrorism, how do we prevent these things?
0:41What should you be looking out for?
0:42This also hits close to home for her as a Texan, because just days ago,
0:48a gunman opened fire outside of an Austin, Texas bar, killing three.
0:56He wore a property of all a sweatshirt as well as an Iranian flag, which
1:01is leading investigators to believe that it was most likely a terror attack.
1:05So we'll ask her about all of this, what you should know.
1:07Stay tuned for Nicole Parker.
1:14Stay tuned for Nicole Parker.
1:40I mean, what kind of challenge does that present authorities and the FBI moving forward
1:46that you could even have someone like, you know, this guy in Texas who, you
1:51know, no one's all coming, is not even from Iran.
1:54Right, exactly. So, Lisa, you bring up a very important point, because in light of
1:59what's happening with Iran, the FBI is obviously on high alert.
2:05And I think the mood has really tightened up recently since, you know, a few
2:12days ago. But remember, starting on October 7th, Israel was attacked.
2:16That's really when the FBI started seeing a huge influx.
2:19And even Christopher Wray, when he was the FBI director prior to the Trump administration
2:24coming back, he testified before Congress and said, you know, all red lights are flashing.
2:30Warnings, warnings, alerts, threats are at an all -time high.
2:33And so I think we're back in that very elevated threat level right now.
2:37And so it's always been a challenge for the FBI to track what I refer
2:43to as lone offenders. Some people call them lone wolves.
2:47I do not. I think that's giving them sort of an image that they are
2:51some sort of hero when a wolf.
2:53No, they're not. They're actually lone offenders.
2:55They're lone cowards. And the individual that was out in Austin, you know, early Sunday
3:02morning and that awful shooting that occurred, that is something that I believe was linked
3:09to terrorism. I know the FBI is looking at it very closely, but it has
3:12all the earmarks that would indicate such.
3:14He obviously had on a sweatshirt that said, you know, property of Allah.
3:18Underneath that, he had on a shirt that indicated an Iranian flag.
3:22They executed a search warrant at his home in Pflugerville outside of Austin where they
3:27found an Iranian flag. They found photos of regime leaders at his home.
3:33And so it appears to have a strong nexus to terrorism.
3:37But even looking at that, like you said, this individual is from Senegal.
3:41Individuals do not have to be from Iran to have issue with what's happening with
3:46Iran. A lot of these lone offenders, they look at opportunities.
3:51They're really opportunists. And they see a moment where they can have notoriety and fame
3:57and they think that they're part of a bigger cause.
3:59And that's something that in the FBI, we look very closely at these lone offenders
4:03to see what drives them.
4:06What is their grievance? What is it that motivates them?
4:09What is the motivation behind doing what they do?
4:12So in looking at this specific investigation that, again, is still ongoing, these individuals do
4:17tend to be the highest risk because they are typically the most difficult to detect.
4:23They are more difficult to track.
4:24And this individual, they will look into determining when was he radicalized?
4:29How was he radicalized? A lot of these people that are going to be acting
4:32up, and I'm saying will be because I don't think that this is the last
4:35time this will be happening.
4:36A lot of times these are people that are sympathizers that, you know, just have
4:42sympathy towards the cause and do not agree with what the United States is doing
4:45in Iran. So you've got that aspect of potential terrorism acts that can happen.
4:51And again, Lisa, this can happen anywhere.
4:52It can happen in Austin.
4:54It could happen in Iowa.
4:55It could happen in small town, big towns, large cities, you know, anywhere could be
5:02a target. And that, again, is why it's very important for Americans to be on
5:07high alert, regardless of where you live, regardless of how safe you think your community
5:13is. People always think it's not going to happen here.
5:15It just takes one person who decides to go out and do something evil.
5:19And then all of a sudden your community is the victim of a heinous crime.
5:22You know, and we know.
5:23that there were, you know, a record number of people in the terror watch list
5:27trying to get into the country under Joe Biden.
5:29Who knows how many actually got into the United States.
5:32We keep hearing about sleeper cells.
5:34Like, how do you categorize a sleeper cell at the FBI?
5:38And like, how do you find those and disrupt them?
5:41And how many do you think are in the United States right now?
5:44That would be impossible to know how many are in the United States right now,
5:48because it's not that we think that terrorists came into our country.
5:52We know that terrorists came into our country.
5:55When you have an open border where literally people are welcomed in, not only were
6:01they just allowed in, but once some of these individuals came in, millions of people
6:06came in illegally into our country.
6:09And then what did we do?
6:09We gave them all of these amazing benefits, you know, more benefits than American citizens
6:14get. Staying in fancy hotels in New York and getting cell phones and credit cards.
6:18I mean, it was absurd what happened.
6:20But that's a very, very huge concern for the FBI.
6:23And it has been since the Biden administration.
6:27Because when you don't know who's coming into your country, you don't know what problem
6:31you have on your hands.
6:32What we do know is that there were a lot of military age men from
6:36adversarial nations that were coming across the border.
6:39That is a fact. We do know that people were allowed into this country that
6:43were on terror watch lists.
6:44That's a fact. We don't know how many.
6:47I know that there's people that, you know, were working down near the border in
6:51the FBI at the time that that was happening.
6:53And they would guess that there were thousands of known or suspected terrorists or intelligence
6:57linked associates that somehow just came into our country and disappeared.
7:02And it's kind of like playing the game of hide and go seek.
7:04Where are they? Now they're somewhere within our borders.
7:07And it's up to law enforcement to track them down.
7:11And this is the time when people that are members of these, quote, sleeper cells,
7:16you know, they're quiet until all of a sudden they're not.
7:18And there's something that triggers them.
7:19And they're like, you know what, now is the time that we're going to act.
7:21And you just don't ever know when that will be.
7:23The FBI has certain investigative techniques, which obviously we cannot reveal in public settings and
7:29certain information that's obviously classified that you can't reveal.
7:32But there are ways that the FBI can track certain things and indicate where these
7:38people are. They keep a close eye on these individuals.
7:40But you don't know what you don't know.
7:42You can't have people coming into your country completely unvetted.
7:46Now think about how ridiculous this is.
7:48After 9 -11, the United States spent billions, if not even more, on national security
7:55on our homeland to avoid having something like that happen ever again, only to just
8:00have that completely undone by allowing whoever wanted to to come into our country.
8:04So it's very frustrating to myself as a witness of 9 -11.
8:08I think you know this.
8:09I was working at Merrill Lynch.
8:10I witnessed it happen down there at the World Trade Center.
8:13And to think of how much progress our country made, only to go back in
8:17time and lose a lot of that progress because of allowing these individuals in.
8:22We've said it, but we are like sitting ducks in many ways.
8:25And so when you have the conflict that's going on with Iran right now, you
8:29have people within our nation that, you know, whenever they choose to act, they can.
8:34And I hope that they don't.
8:36One thing that's very different right now is we have the leadership of President Trump.
8:41And one thing I know about President Trump is he does not play.
8:44And if he says he's going to do something, he will.
8:47And if you touch or mess with America, he will unleash the full wrath of
8:51our military and every resource that we have against you.
8:54So now would not be the time for someone to act up in the United
8:58States and do a full force terrorist attack.
9:02I personally do not believe it would be something like 9 -11.
9:05I think what law enforcement intelligence believes is that it would be more likely these
9:09one -off loan offenders. But again, we never know.
9:12We do not know what could be planned or what could be happening.
9:15But I think what they do know is that we have leadership in place now
9:19that they're not messing around.
9:21And I couldn't say that under the Biden administration.
9:24I couldn't say that under the Obama administration either.
9:26In those administrations, they wouldn't even call terrorism out for what it actually was.
9:31That's not the case anymore.
9:32Got to take a quick commercial break.
9:34More with Nicole on the other side.
9:38What does the radicalization process look like for some of these folks?
9:44So it's different for different individuals.
9:47But one thing that a lot of times they do look at are individuals that
9:51are vulnerable. People that are looking to be a part of a greater cause that
9:57want to be something bigger than themselves.
9:59That, you know, are looking for a sense of belonging and self -worth.
10:03It can be very different in different settings.
10:06But there are different ways that they tend to find individuals.
10:10They tend to be younger.
10:11And with social media platforms and different apps and things that they can go into
10:16and systems where they can literally track people to see who might be vulnerable, who
10:21might be open to this, who might be sympathetic towards people that they think are
10:25marginalized in society, those tend to be the individuals that are prime targets for radicalization.
10:31But they use various techniques.
10:33But I do think that technological platforms can be so beneficial to society, but it
10:37can also be used against you.
10:39I think that's how a lot of this happens.
10:41People can be radicalized by people from across the world here in the United States.
10:45And again, when we look at who's radicalized, you know, it could be someone who's
10:49from some of these adversarial nations.
10:51Thank you. who come here who that's their belief system because of where they come
10:54from or they could be u .s citizens that just all of a sudden are
10:58sympathetic towards what's happening in iran and they don't think it's right and they think
11:01you know so it it runs the gamut as far as who is a target
11:05for radicalization but it does tend to be you know a lot of times these
11:11individuals that are looking to be part of a greater cause a greater good and
11:15you know they think that they're saving the world when in reality they're getting sucked
11:19into a vortex of evil i think also we talk a lot about kinetic attacks
11:26you know that's something that you know the the loan offender attacks the sleeper cell
11:30types attacks the 9 -11 type attacks but we cannot underestimate and what i think
11:35is even a bigger risk are uh cyber attacks um cyber attacks against our technological
11:43systems or critical infrastructure there's one thing that terrorists like to cause and it's complete
11:49confusion and havoc and fear and they like to take control and if you can
11:55you know destabilize societies taking out power grid systems water systems um even the 9
12:01-1 -1 dispatch calling system i i'm talking i talk to my colleagues a lot
12:06and maybe i shouldn't talk about it but that would in my opinion be something
12:11that they would target first because that's where you're going to call when you're in
12:14chaos is 9 -1 -1 how hard is it to do that how capable is
12:18iran do we know i well i'm not going to give iran too much credit
12:23i mean they're not whatever they're capable of we're stronger that's all i'm going to
12:28say and i'm just going to leave it at that okay we've got more capabilities
12:31than anybody in the world and to protect our nation i we have the ability
12:36to protect and trust me worth warning these types of plots every day and americans
12:41you don't hear about it but these things are getting stopped all the time um
12:45and so i just think you know we're always thinking of like you know 9
12:50-11 for those of us that were alive during that era but it could be
12:54something much different where you don't have to have boots on the ground to do
12:58some sort of cyber um cyber attack and attacking our critical infrastructure so again um
13:05there's different things that they could do i think one thing that i've also learned
13:10is a lot of times it comes when you're least expecting it um a lot
13:15of times when you're expecting it and everyone's on alert they know better than to
13:20act out at that time um it can happen to just the most random moments
13:24but again depending on the type of attack that they're looking at doing whether it's
13:27a loan offender or cyber attack or technological attack obviously there's different motives for each
13:32but it all comes back to the same same thing when you're in the fbi
13:37you take an oath to support and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and
13:44domestic and that is what the fbi is doing right now you know and i
13:49know that under the biden administration the fbi had kind of lost its way they
13:55were focused on quote -unquote domestic terrorism from january 6th and all of that nonsense
13:59and now there's no time for that they've completely cut that out they're doing the
14:04real work they have all their energy and resources focused towards the real threats and
14:10that should help americans have greater peace that we're in a much better situation than
14:15we were a year and a half ago under the biden administration because now you
14:18have law enforcement agencies that are actually focused ready to go the joint terrorism task
14:23forces i'm sure you're familiar with that the jttfs these are agencies that consist of
14:30federal agencies state local and they work together in tandem because think about it lisa
14:36let's say the community of miami the local police know more about miami than the
14:42fbi that's their jurisdiction let's say in miami beach so what they do is they
14:47work together very very closely in stopping all of these potential threats and so the
14:52fbi's resources the dhs and that's another point i want to make right now is
14:56the time for dhs to be fully funded because they need the full support and
15:02they need to be getting paid while they're expected to work at the highest levels
15:05to protect our nation and so dhs was formulated after 9 -11 and right now
15:10they're not even getting full funding that's unacceptable at a time when we're at the
15:15highest level of threat they need to be making sure that they're getting full funding
15:19so between fbi dhs all of our other law enforcement agencies with our jttfs they're
15:26working around the clock and i can just say for example in south florida the
15:30local police they're putting out more officers onto the streets in light of what's happening
15:36with iran as well so it's not just the fbi it's also your local law
15:40enforcement all hands on deck everyone has to be aware of what's happening and they're
15:45stopping threats as well starting from your local jurisdictions all the way up to the
15:50federal jurisdictions i just want you to know that twice now in the podcast you've
15:54read my mind because i was going to ask you about cyber and then you
15:56preemptively went there without me even having to ask and then i was also going
16:00to ask you about the fbi you know because i know that you've expressed your
16:04frustration and even wrote the book about it about your frustration with how the fbi
16:08was focused on finding a grandmother that spent two seconds in the capital instead of
16:12like terrorists and you know so i was gonna ask you about that too and
16:16then you you preempted me as well well Great minds think alike, right?
16:20But I mean, it's true because it's frustrating to think what waste of resources they
16:26were putting towards things that didn't matter.
16:28And now that we're dealing with the true threats, it's not, you know, it's like,
16:31I mean, look at what Kash Patel has been tasked with.
16:35He just basically walked into a disaster zone.
16:37Here, by the way, Kash Patel, can you fix the FBI and what happened and
16:41what went wrong for basically the last 10 years?
16:43Oh, and by the way, you're dealing with the highest threat levels ever.
16:47So can you just take care of all of that?
16:49He's dealing with a lot.
16:50I can tell you he's working around the clock and agents are working around the
16:55clock. The violent crime numbers and are the lowest that they've been in our nation
16:59in a very long time.
17:00He's, I mean, they are working tirelessly.
17:03And so I refer to them as FBI 1, the good, solid FBI that I
17:07loved. They're stepping up to the line and Americans can trust that they are working
17:12hard to keep you safe.
17:14That's their job is to keep the homeland safe.
17:17And along with the Department of Homeland Security, HSI, all of those different investigative agencies,
17:24they're working hard. But we cannot forget about that open border.
17:29No one can be naive to think what happened.
17:31If we all think that there were just sweet people that, you know, were crossing
17:35our border for a better life.
17:37Look, there were a lot of people crossing for a better life, but that is
17:39not. Not everybody that was crossing has well -intentioned, you know, they're not all well
17:44-intentioned here in the United States.
17:45And we know that. And if you don't believe that, you're grossly naive.
17:49So all hands on deck, everyone's got to be aware.
17:52But the thing too, also, Lisa, and again, never live in fear, but be aware.
17:58You know, that bar setting in Austin.
18:02So the bar setting in Austin, what happens is a lot of times these individuals,
18:07they pick soft targets, right?
18:09Where people, your alert level is lower, right?
18:12You're at a bar, you're having fun.
18:14It's a club, it's 2 a .m.
18:15Everyone's kind of drinking and listening to music and you're having fun, which you should
18:19have fun. But at the same time right now, be aware and be aware of
18:25your surroundings. Be aware, be able to move quickly, act quickly.
18:28If you see something, you've got to say something.
18:31And I mean, there's just that fine balance, right?
18:34Because do not stop living your life.
18:37Do not live in fear, but also be smart and responsible and be aware and
18:41be vigilant and keep your head on a swivel.
18:43The soft targets tend to be, you know, places where there just isn't a lot
18:46of security and large groups, large outdoor groups, entertainment things, sporting events.
18:51You know, we've seen it happen at these most random places, the Boston Marathon of
18:56all places. Well, that's a very soft target.
18:58There's no security to get in and out of the Boston Marathon.
19:01And you're, these are runners that just run 26 miles.
19:04They're exhausted. They're vulnerable, right?
19:07So again, entertainment facilities, concerts, this is one thing that a lot of myself, me
19:12and my colleagues from the FBI have been talking, or former colleagues, that in our
19:18opinion, that's really where we think these types of things might happen.
19:21Probably at places that aren't as secure, don't have as much security, don't have the
19:25metal detectors, things like that.
19:27If you hear shots like that, I mean, like, what's, what do you do?
19:31How do you react to it?
19:32So if you hear shots fired anywhere, ever, the theory and the platform that we
19:39have always taught, run, hide, fight.
19:42So let's say you're at a party, you're at wherever, a bar, and you start
19:46hearing shots, the first thing you do is you do your best to run away
19:50from wherever you hear the gunfire coming from.
19:53If you are not in a position where you can run and it's inside the
19:56club and you cannot get out, then the next thing you do is you take
20:00cover, you hide, you hide behind anything that's protective cover, cement walls, things like that.
20:06Get away and barricade whatever furniture you can find, chairs, whatever you can do to
20:13protect some level of cover for yourself.
20:15If you're in a position where you cannot run, you cannot hide, then you fight
20:20with everything you have and you try to take them down.
20:23And that's your last resort, but it's the most important one and you literally fight
20:26for your life. So again, always remember, run, hide, fight.
20:31And that's what we teach.
20:33Quick break. If you like what you're hearing, please share on social media or send
20:36it to your family and friends.
20:41You know, and before we go, why do you think they haven't found Nancy Guthrie?
20:45I don't even know how long.
20:46It's been quite some time now.
20:49Yeah, it's been a month.
20:50Obviously with the war, it's, you know, the focus has shifted.
20:54But why, you know, you would think that they would find her by now.
20:57I mean, is that an unreasonable expectation or why has it taken so long in
21:01your opinion? You know, I'm always careful to not criticize, but I'm also very honest.
21:09I think it was a very poorly run investigation from the beginning.
21:13I think there were many missteps from the beginning.
21:15I think that the sheriff's office, maybe not maybe not the rank and file.
21:20And I'm just going to say I don't think the sheriff did a very good
21:23job from the beginning. I think that the crime scene was turned over entirely too
21:28soon. I just think that there were a lot of mistakes made.
21:31I think that when people are saying, oh, you know, that's a rumor, there really
21:35wasn't a lot of strife between the FBI and local law enforcement.
21:38I think that there was a lot of, you know, not wanting the FBI to
21:41be a part of it so much.
21:43And I think that it's just that been very difficult from the beginning for many
21:50of those reasons. Do I think that she'll be found?
21:52I hope and pray she will.
21:54It's absolutely tragic. It's heartbreaking.
21:57It's sad. Unfortunately, Lisa, people go missing every day.
22:01Children go missing every day and you never even hear about it.
22:05You know, we don't want to forget all of those other people that don't get
22:07as much media attention. But it is disappointing because you want, as an investigator, it's
22:12extremely disappointing because you don't rest until justice is served.
22:16You don't rest until the case is done and the case is closed.
22:20And based on my understanding, it's far from that at this point.
22:23But at the same time, it only takes one big break to crack the case.
22:27I know that the FBI has been working tirelessly behind the scenes.
22:30I wish that they'd been taking the lead from the beginning.
22:33But again, that's a local jurisdiction case.
22:35The FBI can't just go in and say, oh, you know what, we're going to
22:37take charge. We're asked to help on those types of investigations.
22:40And if they can find a federal nexus, they do.
22:43But at this point, yeah, it's very, it's tragic.
22:46It's sad. My heart goes out to her family.
22:48Can you imagine that happening to your mother?
22:51I mean, and on the national spotlight.
22:53I mean, it's heartbreaking. But at the same time, I don't think the case was
22:56run well from the beginning.
22:58What's your theory on what, because my understanding, or at least to her knowledge, I
23:02don't think anything was stolen.
23:04And it's like she's an 84 -year -old, you know what I mean?
23:08Like, and it clearly, there's not been, it doesn't seem like the ransom, you know,
23:13we don't know how credible that was or not.
23:15But like, you know, so it's like, if that was the goal, you'd think that
23:19they would try to obtain the money at this point.
23:22So it's like, just take an old lady with health problems.
23:25Like, it doesn't make sense to me.
23:28No, I think there's more to it.
23:30I personally have my own theories.
23:31But again, without having access to the case file and the actual facts, it's always,
23:36I'm very careful to step out of turn.
23:38But I am allowed to have my own opinions as well, just like everyone.
23:41I've always believed it was someone close to her in her inner circle that knew
23:45her, that either a family member or someone close to her that had been in
23:49that home many times would be my guess.
23:52Again, I could be wrong.
23:53But I think that's the highest probability.
23:54And based on these types of investigations, that's probably the highest probability.
23:59Less likely that it was a stranger.
24:00I don't think it was a Berkeley gone bad.
24:02But that's just not my theory on it.
24:04But again, I don't have access to all the facts and information.
24:08The way that the sheriff said, oh, you know, we are looking at the family.
24:12Oh, we're not looking at the family.
24:13It was just like this back and forth.
24:15I mean, it's just you don't even know what to believe anymore.
24:17And that to me is extremely frustrating.
24:20Because there just doesn't seem to have a lot of clarity on the actual facts
24:24and what the truth actually is.
24:25But let's hope and pray that behind the scenes, the investigators have a much more
24:29clearer picture than we do.
24:31And again, that's normal. A lot of times the FBI, we don't give any information
24:35on our ongoing investigations. I would never talk to the media about my cases.
24:39That just never happened. So let's hope that they know more than what they're telling
24:43us. But, you know, people keep saying, oh, you know, it was an amateur at
24:46the beginning. Oh, this was an amateur job.
24:48Well, it's not much of an amateur job because no one's in custody.
24:51So for as amateur as it is, they're still on the loose.
24:55And sadly, she has not been returned.
24:57And so, you know, we can't give up hope.
25:00But let's just... Or someone closer.
25:03Because wouldn't they be the first to be looked at?
25:06You know, so you'd think that they would have been able to find that.
25:08I mean, I agree with you.
25:09That makes the most sense.
25:10But you would just think that that'd be the first place they would look.
25:13And so it would be easier to find that link or no.
25:16You would think. But again, it's very confusing because he could flip flop back and
25:21forth on that the family was cleared.
25:23And I don't know. I mean, there's just different things.
25:27Obviously, we don't know a motive because we don't know the individual that did this.
25:30But you're going to look at the financial situations of everybody involved, wills, who was
25:36set to inherit the home, things like that.
25:39Again, I'm not saying that is exactly what happened in this instance.
25:41I always thought it's probably a family member or someone who is like a home
25:45care worker or someone who knew her pattern of life or knew that she had
25:49access to money or had a daughter that had money.
25:52But again, who knows? I would like to see personally, I would like to see
25:59the phone things of those that had entered her home.
26:03I want to know everyone that entered her home in the last six months prior
26:06to her going missing. I want to know the list of every single person.
26:10I want every single person to be interviewed.
26:12And then I want to see all of their communications, where their phones were pinging,
26:16and all of that type of information leading up to and after the offense.
26:21But again, I'm not the investigator, so I can't ask for that information.
26:25I'm sure that they've looked into that.
26:27But the fact that no one is in custody yet, you know, that's not what
26:34you want as an investigator.
26:35So I promise you that you may not be hearing about it on the news
26:38every day because of Iran, but they're working tirelessly behind the scenes on that as
26:44well. So again, imagine the FBI.
26:46So they're trying to solve those types of investigations as well as keeping everyone safe.
26:51I mean, they've got their hands full.
26:53And so we need to remember and thank our law enforcement on every level for
26:57what they're doing. And most of all, our military, our military, our fallen heroes who
27:02paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
27:04They are the true. They're the true heroes in this country.
27:07And we can never, ever forget them.
27:09Ever. Yeah, man. We'll end on that.
27:12Nicole Parker, author of The Two FBIs.
27:14friend and colleague, Nicole, thanks so much for coming on the show.
27:18Appreciate your time. My pleasure.
27:20And God bless y 'all.
27:20Take care. That was Nicole Parker.
27:22Appreciate her taking the time to come on the show.
27:24Appreciate you guys at home for listening every Tuesday and Thursday, but you can listen
27:27throughout the week. I also want to thank John Cassio, my producer, for putting the
27:31show together. Until next time.
27:34This is an iHeart Podcast.
27:37Guaranteed human.