DHS head: Feds ‘working overtime’ on Thanksgiving security

Federal officials are “working overtime” to keep the nation secure over the Thanksgiving holiday, even without a credible terror threat, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Wednesday.

In a brief press conference at Washington’s Union Station before he boarded a train to his home outside Newark, N.J., Johnson reiterated the Obama administration’s reassurances about the prospect of a terror plot in the United States.

{mosads}Intelligence and law enforcement officials know “of no specific credible threat of a plot on the U.S. homeland by a terrorist organization,” Johnson said.

“However, those of us in law enforcement, homeland security and the intelligence community continue vigilance. We work overtime.”

Johnson’s comments were delivered roughly an hour after he stood beside President Obama, who made similar assessments of American security during the holiday season.

“What I want the American people to know is we are taking every possible step to keep our homeland safe,” Obama pledged from the White House.

U.S. officials have been particularly vocal about security protections in the wake of this month’s deadly terrorist attacks in Paris. Combined with similar violence in Mali, Tunisia, Lebanon and the Sinai Peninsula, the death of 130 people in the French capital sparked a wave of fears about the growing threat of extremist groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

This week is one of the busiest travel times of the year, with nearly 47 million people expected to travel in the days surrounding Thanksgiving. That has awakened old concerns about attacks on airplanes, train stations and other modes of transportation.

“This holiday season, this holiday weekend, I’d like everybody in the public to express thanks to those in law enforcement, homeland security, certainly our U.S. military, who keep us all safe,” Johnson said Wednesday.

Even though the U.S. has not detected any scent of a credible plot, the Homeland Security head said the American public should nonetheless be on the lookout.

“We also want to encourage the public this holiday season: Be vigilant yourself and aware,” Johnson said. “‘If you see something, say something’ has to be more than a slogan.”