Tipsheet

Even Obama's Former DHS Secretary Is Calling on Democrats to Fund DHS

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  March 13, 2026 12:30 PM

Even former President Obama’s Secretary of Homeland Security is now urging Democrats to end the partial government shutdown, as mounting security threats at home emerge in the wake of Operation Epic Fury.

"Four terror attacks in the last couple of weeks alone, two just yesterday. We were talking about this earlier. Does it feel to you that something has changed in these last couple of weeks? You can feel it. What is it?" Fox News' Bill Melugin asked.

"Yes, it does. I believe we are in a heightened threat environment," Jeh Johnson replied. "Most likely because of events in the Middle East. Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. We can decapitate the leadership there but that does not decapitate the ability to be a state sponsor of terrorists. It does not decapitate the ability to inspire acts of terrorism, including acts of terrorism here in the homeland. And so, bottom line to all of this, we need to fund, Congress needs to fund, the department that exists to ensure homeland security. How do you think about cybersecurity issues?"

This comes as Democrats in the Senate have blocked DHS funding bills for nearly a month, amid alleged terror attacks that Republicans claim might have been mitigated by a fully funded agency. DHS is currently operating under a partial shutdown affecting over 260,000 employees who are facing furloughs, straining TSA, Customs and Border Protection, ICE, FEMA, the Coast Guard, and private contractors.

In the weeks since Democrats failed to fund DHS, four possible terror incidents have unfolded. In Austin, a man wearing a “Property of Allah” sweatshirt carried out a shooting. In New York City over the weekend, a teenager who had sworn allegiance to ISIS hurled an improvised explosive device at a crowd of anti-Islam protesters. In Michigan, just yesterday, a suspect rammed his vehicle into a synagogue before engaging in a shootout with security. And at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, a gunman opened fire in an ROTC classroom before being stabbed to death by cadets, also yesterday.

This comes as the United States reportedly intercepted an encrypted message from Iran allegedly intended to activate sleeper cells across the West. It remains unclear whether any of the recent terror attacks are directly linked to Iran.