as of late we have witnessed an outright
assault on our law enforcement community
last night in Oakland California an
assassin cowardly shot to Federal
Protective Service contractors as they
stood watch over a protest one officer
was killed and the other is in critical
condition the FBI the Oakland Police
supported by the Department of Homeland
Security are investigating that attack
let me express my deepest condolences to
the family members of these 2fps
contractors any loss in the DHS family
impacts all of us and I want the loved
ones of these brave officers to know
that you have the support of the
department behind you also last night
the brave men and women of the United
States Secret Service were assaulted by
criminals they threw rocks they threw
urine and they threw alcohol at our
officers and in several instances our
officers incurred injuries to include
broken bones
these protesters committed these acts of
violence while hiding behind their First
Amendment right of lawful protest and
finally earlier this week an ice
facility was attacked by a criminal who
threw a Molotov cocktail in an attempt
to burn down that facility a facility
that houses the men and women who have
taken a solemn oath to protect this
country and while these investigate
these incidents are under investigation
the Department of Homeland Security will
not rest until these criminals are
brought to justice as the nation's
largest law-enforcement organization the
department's top priority is protecting
the American people and our workforce I
want to assure the American people
the DHS officers will continue to
fulfill the solemn duty regardless of
the violence they face DHS and it's law
enforcement components are taking a
number of proactive steps in response to
the unfortunate events that have taken
place over the last 24 hours
those steps include fps Federal
Protective Service has taken an enhanced
posture in a number of cities and
localities throughout the country the
United States Secret Service is evolving
and adapting to the changing nature of
the threats they face as well and CBP
and I
are supporting our local partners on the
ground with surveillance and other
capabilities these measures will help
our personnel stay safe as they continue
to protect us from those who spread this
violence as our nation our nation is at
its strongest when we confront
challenges together and resist the
voices that tried to divide us our law
enforcement officers put their health
they put their safety on the line in
order to protect the American public and
we owe them and their families not only
our respect but a debt of gratitude
thank you let me ask acting deputy
secretary Cuccinelli's say a few words
good afternoon thank you all for for
being here and joining us I would also
like to express my condolences to those
who have been killed and injured in last
night's acts of senseless violence our
brothers and sisters across the
departments law enforcement components
exemplify the courage the selfless
service and the dedication to duty that
we hold dear at the Department of
Homeland Security and I can tell you as
a former State Attorney General I know I
have been to too many of these funerals
the Department of Homeland Security is
nearly two decades of experience
responding to some of the challenging
threats our nation has ever faced we'll
continue to meet any challenge head-on
as we fulfill our duty to protect the
American people and our law enforcement
personnel this department stands ready
to protect the American people and our
employees during this difficult time
using every legal means at our disposal
we stand firmly behind our law
enforcement officers and the state and
local law enforcement officers that form
some of the most valuable partnerships
with which we work every single day all
across America to keep you safe
there are currently threats by some to
attack police stations and federal
buildings that violence not only won't
be tolerated
we are also commit
ensuring that it won't succeed anywhere
anywhere and let me be clear when
someone targets a police officer or a
police station with an intention to do
harm and intimidate that is an act of
domestic terrorism fighting terrorism
was the very reason for the founding of
the Department of Homeland Security and
as I said earlier we will stand behind
our law enforcement officers here in the
department and all over America as they
put themselves on the line to protect
each and every one of you thank you very
much we'll take a few questions if there
are some yeah of course DHS is
supporting our federal and local law
enforcement partners in any any and all
investigations across the country so I'm
gonna I'll defer that to FBI DOJ and
others on that investigation it's too
early to comment on that but just know
that whether its eyes homeland security
investigators or its other in Secret
Service and others throughout the
department we are heavily involved in in
those investigations we're partners not
only with the bureau but other other of
our local law enforcement agencies so
we'll continue to support them in those
investigations are you seeing an
increase in the white nationalist or
white supremacist organizations
any chatter on those websites trying to
infiltrate these groups maybe again I
would say it's very early on in many of
these investigations and from a
department standpoint we are interested
in any and all groups any and all groups
that are taking advantage of what could
be a peaceful protest and turning that
into something that that's very
different and that's what we're seeing
across the country we saw that last
night so the department again we're
interested in all groups all violent
groups
extremist groups that are gonna take
advantage of individuals exercising
their First Amendment right to do that
peaceful protest and turning it into
something else and that's what we're
seeing we're seeing a pattern of that
and we're very concerned about that do
you have any reason to believe that the
shooting of these officers was racially
motivated in any way no again I would
say investigations ongoing I will just
note that we had again two FBS officers
shot as they were responding to a
protest there in Oakland I would just
say that is that is unique we don't see
that we don't see FBS officers shot at
but again whether it was racially
motivated or whatever it ends up being
at the end of the day the investigation
will will demonstrate that and that
continues very early on in that
investigation so the individuals that
were shot last night were contracted
protective security officers that we
contract with to protect our federal
facilities this is a third one in the
last five years that have been shot and
killed while on duty
one in Suitland Maryland in 2015
same year at the Varick facility in New
York City and then this is our third one
they're definitely the front line of
defense at our federal facilities
thank you all for doing this press
conference secretary could you speak any
more to any of the specific groups that
you're interested in looking into and
more broadly about what it is
specifically the work that you're doing
to look into extremist groups sure now
again as I've indicated a couple of
times now the investigation is very
early on we have seen reports out there
that a number of different groups are
involved in these whether it's an Tifa
or its others frankly so we're gonna
continue to look at that we're gonna
continue to pull the string there and
again what we're concerned about are
these groups taking advantage of a
peaceful protest and what we're seeing
over the last 24 hours were seen some
organization to these groups we're
seeing different tactics of these groups
things that you would not see in a
peaceful protest we are seeing different
things and that's concerning to us not
only last night but as the weekend
unfolds so again we have our law
enforcement officers FBS indicated it on
the front line of this we have an
enhanced posture we are surging
resources not only here in the DC area
but across the country and we are ready
for what's going to happen what evidence
do you have that it's groups like antiva
versus other I just said we've seen
reporting out there that it's these
different groups and again as I
indicated early on in the investigation
so I'm not going to not gonna guess what
these groups are we're gonna continue to
look at the facts but we see reporting
out there like other individuals do as
well so I've seen that we're looking
into that we'll continue to do that not
only with the Department of Justice but
with FBI and others this is for the
Secret Service director do you have any
comment on the situation outside the
White House last night and maybe if
there's gonna be an increased posture
given the situation last night you know
as the weekend as the week progresses
sure first I did want to commend the men
and women of the Secret Service for not
only their vigilance and their
perseverance last night but also the
high degree of professional
they showed and compassion and concern
for Malloy demonstrators but people that
actually meant to do them harm
also very grateful for the partnership
with us Park Police and Metropolitan
Police Department who were there
supporting us as well our protective
methodology by design is scalable so
it's never a question of readiness for
us we're always ready but we try to
capitalize on lessons learned and
employing the appropriate measures so
we'll certainly do that take some
lessons learned from last night
incorporate them into tonight's plan and
ensure that we do our best to provide a
safe and secure environment for
everybody who comes out there to
exercise their First Amendment rights
Thanks thanks again for everyone coming
out