Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray repeated warnings of a “heightened threat environment” from internal and external threats. Wray didn’t mention the widespread pro-Hamas protests taking place at college campuses across the country. Still, from a threat basis, one shouldn’t dismiss the radicals wreaking havoc on college campuses and in cities nationwide.
Earlier in April, Wray informed a House Appropriations Subcommittee of the threats while complaining about what he believed to be insufficient funding for the FBI, noting the 2024 budget was approximately $500 million below what the bureau needs, Fox News reported.
House Republicans have criticized the FBI for its targeting of conservative-leaning groups, including pro-life organizations and school parents attending school board meetings, and its aggressive targeting of anyone remotely near the US Capitol on January 6.
Wray said the budget shortfall “could not have come at a worse time” since the United States is in a “heightened threat environment.”
“As I look back over my career in law enforcement, I would be hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to public safety and national security were so elevated all at once, but that is the case as I sit here today,” Wray told House members.
Wray’s comments came just days before the House passed a $95 billion aid package in military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region.
Wray outlined the various threats.
China–Wray believes China's threat is the most significant. He said the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has invested in a huge cybersecurity and counterintelligence program devoted to stealing intellectual property and engaging in criminality.
In fact, China’s hacking program surpasses that of every other major nation combined, a fact that is magnified by the PRC’s military and rapid investment in artificial intelligence.
In a Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats summit held at Vanderbilt University last week, Wray told attendees that “you could close your eyes and pull an industry or sector out of a hat, and chances are, Beijing has targeted it.”
Wray outlined the challenges faced by the FBI in battling the PRC’s operations, noting that even if the agency’s top cyber agents and cyber intelligence analysts focused solely on China and nothing else, “Chinese hackers would still (conservatively) outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to 1.”
“The PRC is engaged in the largest and most sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in the history of the world, leveraging its most powerful weapons, starting with cyber.”
Wray admitted to lawmakers in previous remarks that there has been far too little public focus on the Chinese and its hackers that are targeting U.S.’ critical infrastructure “in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities.”
Wray said China is driven by the Chinese Communist Party’s desire for “wealth and power” and is looking to target economic development in areas most critical to its future economy.
Moreover, compounding those threats is China’s saber-rattling with Taiwan, with the ultimate goal of retaking that nation-state. Wray said that according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last year, Beijing is building out its capability to deter any U.S. intervention in a potential crisis between China and Taiwan by 2027.
Wray said last January that the PRC has “circled” 2027 on its calendar and “will be on us before you know it.”
“I do want the American people to know that we cannot afford to sleep on this danger. As a government and a society, we’ve got to remain vigilant and actively defend against the threat that Beijing poses,” Wray said. “Otherwise, China has shown it will make us pay.”
Wray said at the same hearing that China’s “multi-pronged assault” on our national and economic security is “the defining threat of our generation.”
BORDER–Unlike Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Wray admitted that the current state of the US border is a national security threat. On April 11, Wray said the FBI continues to see Mexican cartels pushing “fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into every corner of the country.”
Fentanyl has ties to China, Wray said, noting that many of the precursor chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl “are coming out of China.” Wray told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in December that the FBI had seized enough of the deadly narcotic to kill 270 million people.
‘That’s about 80% of all Americans,” Wray said. “We’re also focused on other threats that emanate from the border and impact communities all over the country, things like violent gangs and human traffickers.”
At that same Senate hearing, Wray admitted that terrorists' ability to “exploit any port of entry, including our Southwest border, is a source of concern.”
“There’s a lot of discussion about numbers–and numbers are important–but let’s not forget that it didn’t take a big number of people on 9/11 to kill 3,000 people,” he said while admitting the bureau has seen an increase in “suspected terrorists attempting to cross (the border) over the last five years.” It should be noted that 3-½ years of that total have occurred under the Biden administration and its lax border policies.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Wray in December whether the U.S. is facing the most significant terrorist threat since 9/11. Wray said the threat is “higher than it’s been in a long, long time.”
“I see blinking lights everywhere I turn,” the FBI director told Graham.
TERRORISM–Wray told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on April 11 that after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, the already “heightened threat level” being felt in the nation exploded.
“After October 7 is when we went to a whole other level,” Wray told the subcommittee. That was before the last week or so when violent protests sometimes took place in cities and college campuses nationwide.
Wray said at the time, there had been a “rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organizations calling for attacks on us.” That was before we started hearing chants of “Death to America” in those same cities experiencing pro-Hamas demonstrations.
Among foreign actors threatening to attack the U.S. is Hezbollah, which praised Hamas and is threatening to attack U.S. interests in the region. Al Qaeda has also issued its most “specific call for an attack” on the U.S. in many years.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as well as ISIS, has called for jihadi attacks against American and Jewish communities in the U.S. After the country’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, we have lost some of our intelligence-gathering capabilities.
Wray also addressed the rise of other terrorist groups like Al Shabab, the well-financed branch of al Qaeda, as well as the attempt by ISIS to “free some very dangerous fighters” in Syria.
While the various terror groups don’t often agree on everything, one thing they do agree on is calling for attacks on the U.S.
“When organizations like al Qaeda, like ISIS, express an intent to conduct attacks against us, it is something we need to take very seriously,” Wray said. “And so, that’s part of why I’ve highlighted this as a heightened threat.”
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