Last year, Comey called for legislation on encryption but later backed down when it became clear that Congress was hostile to the idea of aiding government surveillance.Ĭomey said recently that the FBI has about 900 cases involving homegrown violent extremists in every state. Vance Jr., the district attorney for Manhattan, who has been outspoken on how a lack of access to encrypted communications has hindered investigations, is expected to unveil a proposal on this topic Wednesday at a conference in New York.
It is not yet known whether the plotters of the Paris terrorist attacks used encrypted channels of communication, but experts say it is highly likely that they did.Ĭyrus R. tech firms made it possible for phones and apps to be wiretapped. Many law enforcement officials also argue that it would be easier to do their jobs if U.S. What we know so far about who carried out the Paris attacks View Graphic What we know so far about who carried out the Paris attacks “It’s daunting,” said the former senior FBI official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the bureau. The FBI, which is charged with fighting terrorism in this country, has struggled at times to keep pace with a metastasizing threat.īecause of limited resources, the FBI must constantly reevaluate which targets are a priority when it comes to closely following top-tier terrorism suspects. “Tracking the many foreign fighters from Western countries who have gone to Syria and have returned to the West poses a greater challenge, given their larger numbers, than tracking the handful of returning American fighters,” the report says.īut that doesn’t mean the United States is not vulnerable. That assessment is echoed in a new report by the New America Foundation titled “ISIS in the West: The New Faces of Extremism.” individuals contained and that the remaining Americans in Syria won’t be returning to this country unless they are in handcuffs. FBI officials aren’t taking the threat lightly, but they have expressed confidence that they have those U.S. The number of Americans who have traveled to Iraq and Syria - or at least attempted to - is about 250, dramatically less than the estimated 4,500 who have left Europe. Another suspected key player in the plot fought in Syria and later returned to Europe, only to flee back to the Islamic State. That appears to have been the case in the Paris attacks, where at least four of the possible nine attackers were known to European authorities. In Europe, porous borders mean that hundreds of foreign fighters have slipped back into the continent from Iraq and Syria, overwhelming intelligence agencies trying to keep tabs on them. Many could face years in prison if convicted, meaning the FBI won’t have to devote resources to tracking their movements.Īmerica’s suspected ISIS supporters View Graphic America’s suspected ISIS supporters In the past 18 months, the FBI has charged more than 60 people in connection with the Islamic State. Tougher post-9/11 terrorism laws also ensure that the FBI and federal prosecutors can charge people with crimes that carry stiff sentences. government has spent more than $1 trillion fighting the war on terrorism, making border crossings more secure, detecting plots and expanding the no-fly list from about a dozen people to roughly 47,000. Without a doubt, we are safer here than over there.” “That’s an easy one,” said a former senior FBI official who until recently was deeply involved in terrorism operations. As France reels from a set of Islamic State terrorist attacks in Paris last week that killed scores and wounded hundreds, Americans are wondering whether their own country is any safer.
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