FBI Director Wray: Islamic Terror Threat To U.S. Has Reached ‘Whole Nother Level’ After

FBI Director Christopher Wray warned this week that the U.S. is facing an increased risk of terrorist attacks after Palestinian Islamic terrorists massacred 1,400 Israelis last month.

Wray made the remarks during his opening statement while testifying in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

The hearing centered around the most pressing national security threats to the U.S. and what federal agencies are doing to confront those challenges.

“It seems especially well-timed this year with the dangerous implications the very fluid situation in the Middle East has for our homeland security,” he said. “The reality is that the terrorism threat has been elevated throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole nother level.”

“Since the horrific terrorist attacks committed by Hamas against innocent people in Israel a few weeks ago, we’ve been working around the clock to support our partners there and to protect Americans here at home,” he said. “We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration the likes of which we haven’t seen since ISIS launched its so-called caliphate several years ago. In just the past few weeks, multiple foreign terrorist organizations have called for attacks against Americans and the West. Al-Qaeda issued its most specific call to attack the United States in the last five years. ISIS urged its followers to target Jewish communities in the United States and Europe. Hezbollah has publicly expressed its support for Hamas and threatened to attack U.S. interests in the Middle East, and we’ve seen an increase in attacks on U.S. military bases overseas carried out by militia groups backed by Iran.”

He said that in the U.S., the top concerns that officials have are individuals who might be inspired by what they saw happen and who decide to launch their own attacks.

“We cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil,” he said. “We have kept our sights on Hamas and have multiple ongoing investigations into individuals affiliated with that foreign terrorist organization. And while historically, our Hamas cases have identified individuals located here who are facilitating and financing Hamas’ terrorism overseas, we’re continuing to scrutinize our intelligence to assess how the threat may be evolving.”

“But it’s not just Hamas,” he continued. “As the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranians, for instance, have directly, or by hiring criminals, mounted assassination attempts against dissidents and high-ranking current and former U.S. government officials, including right here on American soil. And along those lines, Hezbollah, Iran’s primary strategic partner, has a history of seeding operatives and infrastructure, obtaining money and weapons, and spying in this country going back years. Given that disturbing history, we are keeping a close eye on what impact recent events may have on those groups’ intentions here in the United States and how those intentions might evolve. For example, the cyber targeting of American interests and critical infrastructure that we already see conducted by Iran and non-state actors alike, we can expect to get worse if the conflict expands, as will the threat of kinetic attacks. But across the country, in each and every one of the FBI’s 56 field offices, we are addressing these threats with a sense of urgency.”

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