FBI director Christopher Wray on Tuesday warned the Senate Judiciary Committee that terror threats to the U.S. are reaching record levels in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
When asked by Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) about the current “threat matrix” facing the U.S., Wray said, “I’ve never seen a time where all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated, all at exactly the same time.”
Graham then asked if Wray sees “blinking red lights,” similar to how there were warning signs before 9/11. The FBI director replied, “I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.”
BREAKING: FBI Director Wray sounds the alarm, once again, about serious terror threats to America.
“I’ve never seen a time where all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated, all at exactly the same time.”
When asked by Senator Lindsey Graham, in comparison to… pic.twitter.com/Cri4v2MtrU
— Breaking 4 News (@Breaking_4_News) December 5, 2023
“Given the steady drumbeat of calls for attacks by foreign terrorist organizations since October 7, we’re working around the clock to identify and disrupt potential attacks by those inspired by Hamas’s horrific terrorist attacks in Israel,” Wray said in his opening remarks.
The FBI director also warned lawmakers about the rapid increase in hate crimes, including the rise of antisemitic threats in the past two months. At a separate congressional hearing in late October, Wray said the FBI’s statistics found that Jews, which “represents only about 2.4 percent of the American public, they account for something like 60 percent of all religious-faith hate crimes.”
To prevent potential terror attacks in the U.S., Wray advocated that Congress reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which many Republicans oppose given that it’s been wielded against Americans in a way that lawmakers say violates their civil rights. The controversial statute “is key to our ability to detect a foreign terrorist organization overseas directing an operative here to carry out an attack in our own backyard,” Wray told the Senate.
The law enables the federal government to obtain intelligence on foreign nationals who use U.S.-based communications services without a warrant and, in turn, can be used to spy on American citizens who are in contact with foreigners based overseas. Unless Congress continues funding the surveillance program, it will expire by the end of the year.
Allowing the law to lapse in any way would be damaging to national security and the FBI’s ability to counter cyber and terrorism threats, according to Wray’s testimony. “What could anyone possibly say to victims’ families if there was another attack that we could have prevented if we hadn’t given away the ability to effectively use a tool that courts have consistently deemed constitutional?” he asked.
Congress is currently determining whether it will reauthorize the controversial surveillance tool, with the House Judiciary Committee possibly considering legislation this week that would add a warrant requirement.