Over the past two years, the Trump administration has cut back and dismantled multiple programs that have worked to aid in the detection and prevention of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to a new investigation from the Los Angeles Times. The programs at the Department of Homeland Security were primarily responsible for helping find and prevent potential biological, radiological, chemical, and nuclear domestic threats. “We’re not as secure as we were 18 months ago,” said Paul Ryan, a retired Navy rear admiral who helped lead the department’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office until mid-2017. Ryan’s office has since been merged with another office. According to the Times, the cutbacks have come at the direction of James F. McDonnell, who was appointed by Trump in 2018 to serve as the assistant secretary for the DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.
