FBI director Christopher Wray expressed concern on Tuesday that the Capitol rebellion on January 6 might have inspired international terrorists.
During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., asked Wray if he believed that “international terrorist groups may have found a way to approach the Capitol by integrating with domestic political movements”.
Wray acknowledged the concern that it might have served as an “inspiration”.
“Well, we certainly think that the January 6 events were, at the very least, an inspiration for a number of extremist terrorists out there and may even have been worse than that,” said the FBI director.
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Wray’s appearance on Tuesday before the committee was his first testimony since January 6. It occurred at a time when the FBI is continuing its investigations into the multiple facets of the disturbances.
“One of my biggest concerns was that while people were entering the Capitol with backpacks on their backs, you had no idea who they were and what they were carrying,” said Graham. “So it would have been very easy for some international terrorists to infiltrate this crowd. Do you agree with that?”
Wray replied, “I think it would have been easy for that to happen. I don’t know if we saw evidence that it did, but that is certainly one of the specific things we were looking for.”
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Another concern expressed by Wray on Tuesday was related to the funding of the bureau. “We need more agents, we need more analysts, we need more data analysis, etc.,” he said.
“Has the FBI grown dramatically since 9/11?” Graham asked.
“Not as dramatically as the threat,” replied Wray.