WASHINGTON, January 8 (Sputnik) — The White House should take additional steps to protect American people in the wake of the terrorist attack at the Charlie Hebdo magazine office in Paris, senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jim Inhofe said in a statement.
"To protect this nation, first and foremost the President needs to lay out a national security strategy, which he has failed to do in recent years, and end sequestration so that we can provide the necessary resources to achieve that strategy," Inhofe said Wednesday. According to his statement, the United States should make sure its embassies and borders are protected and work with allies to prevent future attacks.
Several US congressmen expressed readiness to stand with France against terrorism after attack.
"The United States stands ready to assist our French partners, and we join with them in sending a clear message to extremists: your campaign of terror will be stopped and you will be brought to justice," Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, Representative Michael McCaul said in a statement.
The leading Democrat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Representative Eliot Engel stated that "free expression and a free press are among the most cherished values of a free society and two of the strongest tools we have in the fight against violent extremism."
On Wednesday, three masked men opened fire at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters killing 12 people — ten journalists and two police officers. The magazine's editor Stephane Charbonnier is among those killed in the attack. According to media reports, the attackers stated that they were linked to al-Qaeda.
