“In November 2012, Jeh Johnson, who was then the Pentagon’s general counsel, let himself speculate in a speech about al-Qaeda, ‘How will this conflict end?'” writes David Ignatius . “Johnson is now secretary of homeland security and has responsibility for protecting the United States against attack. Rather than imagining an end to the terrorist campaign, Johnson must reenlist U.S. citizens — and a weary government bureaucracy — to fight the next rounds and keep the country safe.”  

“Maintaining public unity is difficult late in the Obama presidency, when the federal government often seems overwhelmed and unable to galvanize popular support… Johnson’s challenge is that homeland security is a cooperative venture. Foreign countries, often suspicious in the post-Snowden era, need to share information with the United States to allow better screening of travelers. The system works, where data is shared.”  

“In cyber and terror attacks, the ‘bad guys’ are getting stronger, and demoralized Western governments are getting weaker. This imbalance needs to be fixed.”