Secretary of State John Kerry is coming under fire after requesting that the media refrain from covering global terror attacks in order to keep the public in the dark about them.
Speaking in Bangladesh earlier this week, Kerry discussed the global fight against terrorism.
"Remember this: No country is immune from terrorism. It’s easy to terrorize. Government and law enforcement have to be correct 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year," Kerry said. "But if you decide one day you’re going to be a terrorist and you’re willing to kill yourself, you can go out and kill some people. You can make some noise. Perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much. People wouldn’t know what’s going on."
Kerry’s comments drew criticism from reporters in and outside of Washington, D.C., and State Department officials were forced to defend the remarks and claim the secretary of state was joking.
Lawmakers also took offense to the remarks.
Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.), a vocal critic of the administration’s foreign policy, told the Washington Free Beacon that Kerry’s remarks show how the Obama administration has sought to control the media and suppress negative stories.
"Kerry’s irresponsible comments feed into the public’s concerns after the Ben Rhodes scandal that the Administration wants the press to be an ‘echo chamber’ that perpetuates the White House’s preferred narrative instead of reporting the truth about ISIS terrorism, Iranian terrorism financing after the flawed nuclear deal, and other national security threats to the American people," Kirk said.