The mass terror strikes in Israel this weekend should serve as a “wake up” call for Americans, according to former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), who told the Washington Free Beacon in a wide-ranging interview that the chaos at the U.S. southern border could set the stage for a similar type of terror attack.

“We should wake up ourselves. We could have the same thing happen next week to us,” McCarthy said. “We caught more people on the terrorist watchlist in February than we caught in the entire administration. We could have cells sitting inside of America right now.” …

“We should take a step back and look at ourselves,” McCarthy said. “Your intel is never perfect and we’ve got a wide-open border. They’re coming from 160 different countries,” including those known to harbor militant operatives loyal to Iran and other terror groups, like the Taliban.

[This is a risk that critics have been raising ever since 9/11. In fact, the 9/11 Commission specifically cited it as an ongoing threat and urged Congress to act to fix it. Democrats have blocked those efforts ever since. My response to the threat potential, in lieu of public policy action: concealed carry. Don’t get caught napping. — Ed]