The U.S. faces heightened threats from many corners at a time when law enforcement agencies are struggling, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Associated Press, saying he is “hard pressed to think of a time in my career where so many different kinds of threats are all elevated at once.” Wray spoke while visiting the Minneapolis field office to talk about partnerships between law enforcement agencies and other entities. The FBI is confronting increased concerns over terrorism, both domestic and international, as well as Chinese espionage and intellectual property theft and foreign election interference. “I worry about the combination of that many threats being elevated at once, with the challenges facing the men and women in law enforcement more generally,” Wray said.
Wray has been sounding alarm bells for months. Soon after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel, he began warning that the rampage could serve as an inspiration to militants, “the likes of which we haven’t seen since ISIS launched its so-called caliphate years ago.” Officials are also dealing with the specter of foreign election interference, saying this week that Iran was responsible for a hack targeting the Trump campaign and for an attempted breach of the Biden-Harris campaign, part of what officials portrayed as a brazen and aggressive effort to interfere in U.S. politics. Wray said investigations into cyberattacks, including against election infrastructure and candidates or campaigns, require help from the private sector. “One of the things that we have been doubling down on with every passing day is, is on partnerships, because ultimately you’re talking about the ability to connect the dots, whether it’s against some kind of election influence threat or some other kind of threat. You need to have partners sharing information with each other to put the two pieces together to see the bigger picture.”
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