FBI Director Wray: Domestic Terrorism Tracking Has ‘Exploded,’ FBI Has ‘Prioritized’ Threat From ‘White Supremacy’

FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the FBI’s domestic terrorism tracking has “exploded” in the past year with most of the surge attributed to a rise in “white supremacy.”

Wray testified before the Senate Homeland Security committee on the terror landscape threatening the United States two decades after 9-11 on Tuesday. Wray said that the terror threats facing the country are on the rise domestically while holding level internationally, leading to an overall increase in the FBI’s counter-terrorism work. Much of that increase is driven by “white supremacy,” Wray claimed. As The Hill reports:

“Since the spring of 2020, so for the past 16, 18 months or so, we have more than doubled our domestic terrorism caseload from about 1,000 to around 2,700 investigations, and we have surged personnel to match, more than doubling the amount of people working that threat than the year before,” Wray testified during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on threats to the homeland.

“Certainly, the domestic terrorism caseload has exploded, and meanwhile the international terrorism caseload hasn’t subsided,” Wray said later during questioning from senators.

Wray noted that the “biggest chunk” of racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism the FBI tracks is now “favoring white supremacy.”

“We collect information about that threat. We have, as you say, prioritized that threat at a national threat priority level,” Wray said.

The FBI director said that the bureau has dedicated a substantial amount of resources to arresting and prosecuting those involved in the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, which the bureau views as an act of domestic terrorism. – READ MORE