FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday he has never seen a time during his decades-long career when so many threats against the US were all as elevated as they are now, warning senators he sees “blinking lights everywhere.”
During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, ranking Republican member of the committee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, asked Wray if he saw “blinking red lights” — referring to warning signs the US missed before the attack of 9/11.
“I see blinking lights everywhere I turn,” Wray said.
Wray also said that the bureau is working “around the clock” to “identify and disrupt” potential attacks by individuals inspired by the Hamas attacks on October 7.
Yes and no.
I’m sure there really are lots of indicators of risk, and in that sense he should be listened to.
But the FBI has a long recent record of trying to sabotage security protections like encryption, and beating warning drums to weaken infrastructural security might not be worth listening to.
We can recognize that there’s likely elevated risk without taking at face value how the head of an agency with a longstanding agenda is suggesting that risk be mitigated.
The man doesn’t do hyperbole. That’s a fact.
Big claims require evidence bigly