The present terror threat picture facing the United States has reached unprecedented heights following the terrible Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray’s compelling statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Wray was interrogated by Senator Lindsey Graham, who was seeking clarification on the “threat matrix,” throughout the hearing. Wray’s reaction highlighted how extraordinary and worrisome the present situation is. According to him, “While there may have been times over the years where individual threats could have been higher here or there, I’ve never seen a time where so many threats are all elevated, all at exactly the same time.”
Graham, making a comparison to the period before 9/11, inquired as to whether or not there were several “blinking red lights.” When asked about it, Wray gave a clear answer: “I see blinking red lights everywhere.”
As Wray pointed out, a “veritable rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorists” has actively called for attacks on the United States since the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, when Hamas militants cruelly claimed the lives of at least 1,200 Israelis. Wray made it clear that this is a serious problem by saying, “The threat level has gone to a whole another level since Oct. 7.”
In October, Wray warned Senate senators that terrorist groups might take inspiration from Hamas and its allies, similar to how ISIS’s so-called caliphate emerged a few years ago. This claim is in line with his past warnings.
The Attorney General, Merrick Garland, also brought attention to the fact that during the Israel-Hamas conflict, there was an upsurge in the number of reported threats directed towards American Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities.
Even on the global stage, tensions have been rising; since October 17, at least seventy-four assaults against U.S. military installations abroad by proxy groups backed by Iran have been confirmed by the Pentagon. Reportedly, the United States’ backing of Israel in its reaction to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas is associated with these strikes, which are focused in Syria and Iraq.
These concerning trends are not limited to international borders. A juvenile who had sworn allegiance to ISIS was recently foiled in his homeland by the FBI and the Las Vegas police in what was supposedly a “lone wolf” terror plan. Along with the 16-year-old suspect, federal officers found terrorist literature and materials to construct an explosive device.
The arrest was a direct result of the suspect’s internet threats of “lone wolf operations in Las Vegas against the enemies of Allah.” The foiled scheme is a sobering reminder of the complex and multi-faceted issues that the United States is currently facing in the wake of the upsurge in terrorist threats.