Erin Kelly

USAToday

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told a House panel Thursday that he is worried that violence will erupt at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next week.

"I am concerned about the prospect of demonstrations getting out of hand," Johnson told members of the House Homeland Security Committee at a hearing on terrorist threats. "I am concerned about the possibility of violence."

Johnson said he will travel to Cleveland on Friday to inspect security preparations at and around the convention site. The convention is scheduled to begin Monday and run through Thursday night at the Quicken Loans Arena.

FBI Director James Comey, speaking at the same hearing, said there is a potential for violence any time there is a major political event in the United States.

"It's a threat we're watching very, very carefully," Comey said.

Johnson said he also will go to Philadelphia next week to inspect security there in advance of the Democratic National Convention, which begins July 25.

"There will be a lot of security and a lot of preparation at both sites," Johnson said, adding that federal officials have been planning security for the events for a year.

There will be about 3,000 homeland security employees at the Republican convention, including Secret Service agents, Customs and Border Protection agents, and Transportation Security Administration officials, Johnson said.

He said protesters have the constitutional right to voice their opinions and that right will be respected. He said there will be roped-off areas for demonstrators near the Cleveland arena.

Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy told USA TODAY on Tuesday that no specific or credible threats to the conventions have been identified. However, he also confirmed that security planning for the Republican convention includes preparing for worst-case scenarios such as the ambush in Dallas in which a lone gunman shot and killed five police officers.

In testimony on other issues, Johnson said the prospect of homegrown violent extremism is what keeps him up at night.

"Another San Bernardino, another Orlando, is number one on my list (of concerns)," Johnson said.

He said his other biggest worry is the threat of foreign terrorists traveling to the United States.

Johnson praised Congress for passage of the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, which gave him greater authority to deny entry to the United States by people who live in nations allied with the U.S. but who have traveled to countries linked to terrorism. In February, Johnson used the law to expand travel restrictions to people who have traveled recently to Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Foreign travelers who have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria already were subject to U.S. travel restrictions under the law.

Comey said there has been a decrease since last summer in the number of Americans traveling overseas to fight alongside Islamic State militants. Although he did not provide statistics at the hearing, Comey told reporters in May that there were about six to 10 people a month traveling from the U.S. to try to join the Islamic State in the first half of 2015. That number has dropped to about one person a month, Comey said.

However, he told House members Thursday it's not clear if that decrease reflects a growing realization by potential Islamic State recruits in the U.S. that the terrorist group is "hell on earth" or whether those would-be fighters are being convinced to stay home and launch attacks inside the United States instead.

Secret Service director: Agency accounting for Dallas in RNC security prep