Texas Terrorism: Agency Says Threat Level in State Is 'Elevated'

HOUSTON, TX — Texans have a lot to worry about as the first month of 2017 progresses.

That's according to the Texas Public Safety Threat Overview released this month by the state Department of Public Safety. The document is an exhaustive and comprehensive assessment of potential dangers analyzed and compiled by the DPS in conjunction with law enforcement and homeland security agencies.

“Protecting Texans from the full scope of public safety and homeland security threats is the foremost goal of DPS, and the department works with our fellow law enforcement partners at all levels of government to prepare for the unthinkable,” DPS Director Steven McCraw said in a statement. “This report provides an invaluable assessment of the most significant threats facing our state and is a crucial tool in combating those threats.”

Here's the first paragraph of the document:

Texas faces the full spectrum of threats, and the state’s vast size, geography, and large population
present unique challenges to public safety and homeland security. Texas employs a systematic approach
to detect, assess, and prioritize public safety threats within seven categories: terrorism, crime, motor
vehicle crashes, natural disasters, public health threats, industrial accidents, and cyber threats.

Each category is given ample space in the report, which runs to 78 pages in length, and includes threats facing dams, roadways, and other infrastructure, along with summaries of Mexican drug cartels and their possible impact on the state's security.

Texas' vast size and 30 million-plus residents contribute, according to the report, to the urgency of the threats. Large geographic areas and several large cities pose logistical and organizational difficulties:

Texas has 29 ports of entry, 1,254 miles of international border with Mexico, 367 miles of coastline
and over 267,000 square miles of landmass, making it larger than France and twice the size of Germany.
It is larger than many US states combined. El Paso is closer to San Diego, California and Houston is
closer to Tallahassee, Florida than El Paso and Houston are to one another.

The report, which is unclassified, gives much space and attention to ISIS, calling the group a serious potential threat to the state:

We assess that the current terrorism threat to Texas is elevated in light of the relative frequency of
recent attacks and thwarted plots in Europe and in the US, organized, supported, or inspired by the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other foreign terrorist organizations. At issue is that ISIS and
other terrorist groups, from afar, have succeeded in using various methods, including online propaganda
and incitement messaging through social media, to inspire lone offenders and small groups to attack
targets in the United States and in Europe. These inspired offenders, sometimes using the simple yet
effective tactics laid out for them, are highly difficult to detect and disrupt.

Violence against police officers, which Dallas experienced last year when a gunman killed four city police officers, is also cited in the report, along with Ebola, influenza, Zika, oil spills, and bacterial infections.

Texas' population has experienced rapid growth during the past several decades, and the report cites the strain on roadways and other infrastructure as a serious concern as well:

Since 1990, Texas’ population increased by 55 percent and road use grew by 110 percent, but the state’s road capacity grew by just 7 percent. The Texas Department of Transportation estimates that the state’s population will increase to 45 million by 2040. Continued population increases are expected to present challenges for the transportation system in Texas, forcing the state to increase capacity, repair deteriorating infrastructure facilities, decrease or at least control traffic congestion, and address safety issues – while also meeting state and federal air pollution standards

— Image courtesy Texas Department of Public Safety