FBI director: Potential violent attacks thwarted with pre-July 4th arrests

Federal agents had ramped up efforts in recent months to arrest Islamic State sympathizers across the country, arresting more than 10 in the last four weeks in places including New Jersey, Ohio and North Carolina.

|
Carolyn Kaster/AP
In this July 8, 2015, photo, FBI Director James Comey testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The FBI stopped several potential acts of violence in the month before the July 4 weekend, FBI Director James Comey said Thursday.

Comey said he believes that some of the more than 10 people arrested during that time were planning acts of violence tied to the holiday. But he declined during a wide-ranging discussion with reporters to describe any of the potential plots that might have been thwarted or to identify specific individuals the FBI thought might carry out at an attack.

Federal agents had ramped up efforts in recent months to arrest Islamic State sympathizers across the country, arresting more than 10 in the last four weeks in places including New Jersey, Ohio and North Carolina.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security had warned of a heightened terror threat tied to the July 4 weekend, but had not publicly identified any specific plot they were tracking.

Comey also said the current crop of Westerners attracted by the Islamic State's messaging is so unpredictable that it can be hard for federal authorities to ever be sure of their plans. Whereas Al-Qaida would train operatives and carefully scope out targets, the concern among law enforcement officials is that the Islamic State is motivating people to commit violence "on a very short string."

"We face people who are highly unpredictable," Comey said. "We cannot count on the fact that they'll be looking to do something on July fourth, so July third, we really got to lock these guys up."

He cited as an example the case of a 26-year-old terror suspect who was fatally shot by police in Boston last month after authorities said he lunged at them with a military-style knife. Authorities say he had been scheming with other men, both now facing charges, of plotting to kill a conservative blogger known for provoking Muslims.

Comey said that some of the people who had been arrested in the last month had been communicating on encrypted platforms — a concern he discussed before Congress on Wednesday — but he acknowledged that, in these particular cases, agents were able to use other means.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to FBI director: Potential violent attacks thwarted with pre-July 4th arrests
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0709/FBI-director-Potential-violent-attacks-thwarted-with-pre-July-4th-arrests
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe