Terrorist Threat to US Has Reached ‘Whole Other Level,’ FBI’s Wray Warns

Terrorist threats toward the US have reached a “whole other level” from the already heightened situation before the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and its response, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday.

“You’ve seen a veritable rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organizations calling for terrorist attacks against us in a way that we haven’t seen in a long, long time,” the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigations told the House Intelligence Committee in an annual presentation on the biggest “worldwide threats” facing the US.

Wray, speaking alongside other top US intelligence officials, said the FBI is also concerned about the risk of violent attacks by lone actors inspired by calls for violence from the Middle East.

“This is a time not for panic, but for heightened vigilance given the risk,” Wray said.

The Oct. 7 Hamas attacks were the deadliest in Israel’s history, sparking a war between Israel and the group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union. Israel’s response in Gaza has resulted in more than 30,000 deaths, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. President Joe Biden has backed Israel, although warning increasingly that its response has been “over the top.”

The intelligence community’s written report said armed resistance to Israel by Hamas is likely to continue for years, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to destroy the group during its current drive in Gaza. “It is likely that the Gaza conflict will have a generational impact on terrorism,” the report predicted.

The report said US spy agencies assess that “Iranian leaders did not orchestrate nor had foreknowledge of the Hamas attack against Israel” on Oct. 7.

Photo: Christopher Wray. Photographer: Al Drago/Getty Images

Topics Catastrophe USA Natural Disasters