Terrorists, Spies, and Cyber Criminals: The FBI on Threats to the Homeland

By Paul Davis

On the morning of December 6, 2019, a gunman opened fire at the Naval Station at Pensacola, Florida, killing three people and wounding others. The shooter, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was an aviation student from Saudi Arabia. The FBI are investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism.   Shootings and terrorist attacks were discussed a month before, on November 5th, when FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

“Our nation continues to face a multitude of serious and evolving threats ranging from homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) to cyber criminals to hostile foreign intelligence services and operatives,” Wray said. “Keeping pace with these threats is a significant challenge for the FBI. Our adversaries - terrorists, foreign intelligence services, and criminals - take advantage of modern technology to hide their communications; recruit followers; and plan, conduct and encourage espionage, cyber-attacks, or terrorism to disperse information on different methods to attack the U.S. homeland, and to facilitate other illegal activities.

“Just as our adversaries evolve, so, too, must the FBI. We live in a time of acute and persistent terrorist and criminal threats to our national security, our economy, and indeed our communities. These diverse threats underscore the complexity and breadth of the FBI’s mission: to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the U...