Gov. Ron DeSantis is confident that the federal government will respond to terroristic threats that may occur in Florida during the conflict with Iran, such as the one that led to a brief shelter in place at MacDill Air Force Base this week.
“We always have concern just because our military bases are always a target,” DeSantis said in Bradenton, noting that President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago is also in the state and deals with threats.
But he stressed that the state role is subordinate to the federal government.
“Our guys will help at the state level when they’re requested,” DeSantis noted, adding that when it comes to threats from drones and the like, “the feds are going to have the intelligence and the information on that.”
“They’re going to be the ones that are going to be driving the interdiction and the response to that more so than our state agencies. That’s just the way it’s always been with terrorism, particularly since 9/11,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis also noted that domestic terrorism is nothing new.
“Iran itself has had people come to the United States in the past, and they’ve obviously done a lot of fomenting terrorism in the Middle East. And that’s going to continue. That’s just who they are. That’s what they believe in. My sense is that the administration recognizes that and they’re doing what they can to mitigate it,” DeSantis said.
“We’ve helped them on all terrorism missions when our people get asked to be helpful when they do. There’s a lot of this stuff that the feds keep (under) close hold and they will act appropriately. And so hopefully they’re able to get the job done if it comes to that.”
