FBI Stopped 1,100 Potential Attackers, Kash Patel Tells Lawmakers
Washington — FBI Director Kash Patel told U.S. lawmakers that the agency stopped 1,100 people from carrying out terrorist attacks on American soil and arrested 4,260 people linked to foreign terrorist organizations during the past 18 months.
Patel presented the figures during an oversight hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said arrests involving foreign terrorist organization affiliates had increased 38 percent compared with the preceding 18-month period.
“We, this FBI, have arrested 4,260 foreign terrorist organization related affiliates,” Patel said. “That’s up 38 percent, including the fact that this FBI has stopped 1,100 criminal perpetrators from committing terrorist attacks on US soil.”
Patel cited several recent operations, including the arrests of eight extremists who allegedly planned to kill elected officials, military personnel and civilians at an event near the White House.
He also said the FBI arrested five people in connection with what he called the “Pumpkin Day plot” in Michigan. According to Patel, the suspects came from three states and intended to carry out a bombing.
“During a single month, our holiday month of December of last year, this FBI stopped four terrorist attacks in California, Texas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania,” Patel said.
He also pointed to the recent arrest of a suspect accused of planning an attack in Pittsburgh inspired by the Islamic State group.
“These attacks did not happen because the FBI and our partners worked around the clock, found the threats, and stopped them,” Patel said.
Patel said the FBI had expanded its collection of biometric information through cooperation with foreign governments, including facial recognition records, iris scans and other identifying information intended to detect suspects before they reach the United States.
The agency has also increased its use of artificial intelligence to process information, examine intelligence and share material with local law enforcement agencies, he said.
According to Patel, the number of FBI test cases involving artificial intelligence increased from two to 140 since he took office. He also said the bureau eliminated a backlog of 1.8 million DNA samples at its laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.
Patel credited increased direct engagement with foreign law enforcement agencies for the transfer of 86 suspects into U.S. custody and the extradition of 157 others.
“That means 86 violent offenders, criminals, terrorists, narcotraffickers, gang bangers and predators of children were brought back here for prosecution,” he said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley cited FBI figures showing that criminal arrests increased 80 percent and violent crime arrests rose 90 percent during Patel’s tenure. He praised FBI personnel for their work targeting violent offenders, human traffickers and child predators.
Democrats sharply criticized Patel’s leadership. Sen. Richard Durbin, the committee’s ranking Democrat, accused him of directing FBI resources toward President Donald Trump’s political priorities and away from other criminal and national security investigations.
“Under Mr. Patel’s failed leadership, decades of efforts to modernize and reform the FBI are being undone, and the bureau has been reshaped as a political weapon against President Trump’s political enemies and a shield to protect the president and his MAGA loyalists, not the American people,” Durbin said.
Patel is the first Indian-American to lead the FBI. Counterterrorism, cybercrime and intelligence sharing are also elements of the broader India-U.S. security relationship, with agencies from the two countries cooperating against extremist networks, online threats and transnational crime. (Source: IANS)
