This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Every day, prominent voices sound an ever-more-urgent alarm over the Biden administration's border policies and the multiple threats to the nation's security they are causing.
* In late June, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas concerned about the poor vetting procedures of Afghans by the Biden administration.
* Around the same time, U.S. officials claimed there was no imminent threat to the homeland from eight men from Tajikistan residing in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia, even though sources said the individuals have ties to ISIS.
* Earlier in June, the Daily Caller reported that a Chinese government agent ran a private social network to provide thousands of illegal immigrants with resources to enter the U.S. and evade authorities at the border.
* And in May, a pair of Jordanian nationals were arrested for attempting to ram their way into Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia with a box truck. One of the two had recently been screened by the Border Patrol, but was subsequently allowed into the U.S. with no restrictions anyway.
But for global security expert and Army veteran Ben Varlese, the Jordanians' attempted terror attack "was nothing more than a test run."
WND spoke in-depth with Varlese, a former Army Mountain Infantry Platoon Sergeant who served in domestic and overseas roles from 2001-2018, including as a sniper section leader. Since 2018, Varlese has also provided security consulting services for public and private sectors, including tactical training, physical and information security, executive protection, protective intelligence, risk management, insider threat mitigation and anti-terrorism.
"There have been several incidents in previous months," Varlese told WND, "that serve to highlight the continued national security threat presented by this administration's encouraged flood of illegal aliens over the last three and a half years."
The number of people entering the U.S. illegally is concerning beyond explanation, said Varlese. "At least 8 million illegal aliens from over 100 countries have crossed the southern border in the last three-and-a-half years," he noted, adding that "almost all have been released and even transported to 48 states by the DHS or various non-governmental organizations."
What about security vetting?
"Almost none have been properly vetted," Varlese told WND, including many thousands of individuals from "hostile or terror haven countries" like Afghanistan, Venezuela, Syria and China. He also pointed out, chillingly, that, "Most of the illegals that have flooded the southern border since … Biden undid all of President Trump's border policies are military-age males."
Although "most are likely here for economic reasons," he said, "there are undoubtedly a significant number of bad actors that have been given a free pass to create sleeper cells in almost every American urban area."
Example: "Because there are tens of thousands of Chinese nationals, hundreds on the terror watch list, and millions of unvetted individuals scattered across the country," warns Varlese, "it is not a question of if something bad will happen, but when."
Moreover, adds Varlese, "The Biden regime welcomed this disaster."
He pointed to a brand-new threat with great terror potential: "This threat will only be exacerbated if [Biden] allows unrestricted access to so-called Palestinian refugees, who, let us not forget, celebrated the wanton murder of innocents on Sept. 11, 2001 and Oct. 7, 2023."
Apart from the Islamist threat, Varlese told WND that the Chinese communist regime poses a nearly equal threat.
"In recent years," he said, "there have been an unusual number of physical infrastructure and agricultural – food processing plants, stockyards and herd/flock deaths 'attacks' or curious circumstances connected to U.S. logistics and supply chains that have already been strained from tyrannical COVID-19 lockdowns in years past."
"As a result of the illegal immigration crisis," he warned, "the threat of sabotage – physical or digital – from Chinese interests is exponentially compounded because of the illegal immigration crisis."
"Similarly," Varlese told WND, "individuals from Iran and Venezuela, as well as other bad actors connected to the Taliban, Al-Qaida and Da’esh (Islamic State/ISIS) have infiltrated the U.S. and could cause no end of havoc domestically."
Whatever the stated altruistic motives of the Biden regime, said Varlese, in reality "they're inviting disaster."