FBI Director Christopher Wray, during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday, expressed concerns about potential gaps in intelligence that could leave the United States vulnerable to foreign terrorist attacks.
He stated, "the gaps in our intelligence are real," and did not rule out the possibility of a terrorist attack on American soil by foreign entities such as Hamas.
Wray informed the committee, "On top of the homegrown violent extremists and domestic violent extremist threat, we also 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 further added, "We have kept our sights on Hamas and have multiple ongoing investigations into individuals affiliated with that foreign terrorist organization."
During the hearing, Senator Rick Scott questioned Wray about the FBI's ability to track known threats. Wray acknowledged their proficiency in handling the "known known," but expressed worry about the "unknown unknown." He admitted that the FBI was "not tracking" terror cells or individual foreign terrorists operating within the United States, but emphasized that "the gaps in our intelligence are real and its something that we have concerns about."
This revelation comes amidst the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, where a Hamas-led terror attack on Israel on October 7 resulted in the death of at least 1,400 Israelis and over 200 hostages.
In the fiscal year 2023, which runs from October 2022 through September 2023, 172 individuals on the terror watch list attempted to illegally cross the US borders. According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, 169 of these individuals were intercepted at the southern border, while three were apprehended at the northern border. An additional 564 individuals on the watchlist attempted to enter the US through ports of entry on the southern and northern borders. These figures represent a significant increase over previous fiscal years.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week warned of the potential presence of terrorist cells in the US, attributing it to President Biden's border policies that allowed a record number of illegal immigrants into the US in fiscal year 2023. McCarthy stated, "I'm concerned about a [terrorist] cell sitting inside America today." He added, "There could be sleeper cells right here in America, but this administration has done nothing to change what's happening on the southern border."
Senator Josh Hawley echoed these concerns in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, seeking answers about an "uptick in potential terrorist-linked illegal aliens" encountered at the southern border.
When Fox News Peter Doocy asked NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby during Tuesdays White House press conference if a potential terrorist could have already crossed the southern border into the United States, Kirby responded, "I couldnt possibly answer that question."
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