The longer the war in Iran goes on, the greater the incentive for the Islamic Republic to apply all forms of asymmetric warfare, including retaliation that could affect the U.S. homeland, in hopes of coercing Trump to abandon his war aims.

But Trump’s second administration has directed DHS to focus more on illegal immigration operations than on counterterrorism. This shift in resourcing has introduced a key question about the agency’s ability to fulfill its counterterrorism role at this time of unexpected crisis. Moreover, the expertise, knowledge, and institutional memory assembled on counterterrorism and homeland security over the past twenty-five years in DHS—and in the FBI and U.S. Intelligence Community—could have been lost in recent workforce cuts.