The FBI is warning that a terror attack could take place in the United States, similar to the one that killed more than 100 people at a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow last month.
Speaking to a House of Representatives panel on Thursday, bureau director Christopher Wray said he was increasingly concerned about “the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the Isis-K attack we saw at the Russia Concert Hall just a couple weeks ago.”
At least 144 people were killed and more than 500 injured on March 22 when four gunmen armed with Kalashnikov AK-74s stormed Crocus City Hall and fired a hail of bullets at terrified civilians.
They then set fire to the building.
It was the deadliest attack in Russia for 20 years and came just days after President Vladimir Putin began his fifth term in office.
A branch of the Islamic State group has since claimed responsibility.
Wray told the budget panel that US security officials had already been concerned about the risk of an assault by a lone person or small group motivated by the conflict between Israel and Hamas. However, now following the Moscow massacre, they fear a more coordinated attack.
It follows earlier written testimony where Wray revealed the bureau had 4,000 international terrorism investigations open at the end of the 2023 fiscal year.
“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 our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once. But that is the case as I sit here today.”
Laying out his concerns, Wray urged the panel to increase FBI funding and plug a $500million black hole in its budget.
He also called for the renewal of a controversial surveillance program which is set to expire this month saying it was an “absolutely indispensable tool that Congress can give us in our fight against foreign adversaries”.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the US government to collect electronic communications of non-Americans located outside the country without a warrant.
However, former President Trump and his allies have called for the surveillance program to be shut down after a different provision of the law was used to intercept communications with one of his 2016 campaign advisers.
Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, told the panel “This is a time when we need your support the most. We need all the tools, all the people and all the resources required to tackle these threats and to keep Americans safe.
“It’s critical in securing our nation, and we are in crunch time.”
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the surveillance legislation later today.
Source Agencies
