Thread by @jseldin

NEW: @StateDept's top counterterrorism official says the Jan 6 siege of the #USCapitol "wasn't just an assault on the Capitol. It was an assault on democracy, w/a violent mob trying to interfere with the results of the election"

"Nothing is more sacred to our constitutional democracy than the peaceful transfer of power" per Amb. Nathan Sales speaking to @AEI

Adds that those who rioted "desecrated the Capitol & the principals for which its stands"

"There's no room for complacency" @StateDept's Sales warns on the fight vs terrorism, repeating warnings that there needs to be a focus on #ISIS, #alQaida in #Africa
#StateCTatAEI

CT needs to remain "an urgent priority" per Sales

"Counterterrorism & Great Power Competition are not mutually exclusive" he says "CT is a competitive advantage for our country...security cooperation can forge durable relationships that blunt our rivals' malign influence"

"The basic architecture of American counterterrorism has been remarkably durable & stable" per @StateDept's Amb Sales, noting border security keeping out #ISIS #alQaida, plus the success of sanctions

"Counterterrorism is one of the ways that we can compete w/our rivals" per @StateDept Counterterrorism Coordinator Amb Nathan Sales "We do counterterrorism better than anybody else"

re #terrorism #GreatPowerCompetition #Russia #China
#StateCTatAEI

"If we're not making them play defense, they're going to start playing offense...they will plot external operations" per @StateDept's Amb Sales says of #ISIS #alQaida

#Iran-#alQaida - @StateDept's CT Coordinator affirms @SecPompeo's assessment that they've "made common cause" with AQ using Iran as its new home base

The designation of the #Russia|n Imperial Movement, aka #RIM, "shouldn't be the last" by @StateDept for a white supremacist/ethnically motived terror group, per CT Coordinator Amb Nathan Sales

"We need to continue to identify potential targets for designation"

"It is simultaneously the case that #Iran is the home base for #alQaida & that alQaida's global network of branches & affiliates are more important to the enterprise today than they were in 2001" per @StateDept's Amb Sales

"It is also the case...that #alQaida & the regime in #Tehran have made common cause" per Amb Sales, adding intelligence discussed in the past couple of months led to @SecPompeo's assessment the #Iran-AQ axis "poses a grave threat"