Wray Says Number of FBI Domestic Terrorism Cases ‘Exploded’ Since Last Year

FBI Director Christopher Wray told a Senate committee on Tuesday that the number of cases of terrorism inside his agency had “exploded” since the start of 2020, especially cases involving racially or ethnically motivated crimes.

“Since spring 2020, so in the last 16, 18 months or so, we’ve more than doubled our number of domestic terrorism cases from around 1,000 to around 2,700 investigations, and we’ve increased the staff to match, doubling so the number of people. work on this threat than the previous year, ”Wray said at a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing on threats to the homeland.

“Certainly the number of cases of domestic terrorism has exploded, and during this time the number of cases of international terrorism has not decreased,” Wray said later during questioning of senators.

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

“We are collecting information on this threat. We have, as you say, prioritized this threat to a national priority level, ”Wray said.

Wray’s testimony came a year after testifying to the House Homeland Security Committee that racially motivated violent extremism was the main issue pursued in the FBI’s domestic terrorism cases.

It also happened as the FBI continues to respond to and investigate the January 6 riot on the United States Capitol, an issue Wray noted in his written testimony that the FBI perceives to be domestic terrorism.

Social media was used to help organize the January 6 incident. Wray pointed out on Tuesday that the use of social media has transformed domestic terrorism and helped connect those who previously might not have posed a threat.

“Some of these same people could have been hiding in the basement or attic in part of the country and not communicating with each other, but today terrorism is moving at the speed of social media,” Wray said. .

“You have the ability of disgruntled isolated actors in one part of the country to rotate like-minded and like-minded individuals in other parts of the country and to spur them to action or inspire them to action.” , he added.