Foreign terror groups including ISIS and Al-Qaida are renewing calls to attack America and using 'mafia-like' tactics, warns FBI chief Christopher Wray

FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a stark warning at an event in Washington DC on Tuesday in which he claimed that ISIS and Al-Qaida have adopted 'mafia-like' tactics as part of plans to launch a new attack on the US. 

Wray was speaking at the American Bar Association luncheon when he made the warning while adding that the FBI is actively working to stop such attacks. 

'Foreign terrorists, including ISIS, al-Qaida and their adherents, have renewed calls for attacks against Jewish communities here in the United States and across the West in statements and propaganda,' Wray said, according to ABC News.  

'The foreign terrorist threat and the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, like the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russian Concert Hall a couple of weeks ago, is now increasingly concerning.'

That massacre, which took place at the Crocus City Hall, saw 144 people killed by Tajik nationals who were members of an Islamic State group, security officials in Russia have said. The victims were waiting for a concert to start. 

Following the shooting, the perpetrators set fire to the building.  

FBI Director Christopher Wray was speaking at the American Bar Association luncheon when he made the warning while adding that the FBI is actively working to stop such attacks

An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Crocus City Hall attack, the deadliest on Russian soil in years

In Russia, a total of nine suspects have faced court so far and were remanded in pre-trial detention

Wray added that thanks to Hamas' brutal assault on Israel on October 7, there is likely to be 'a pipeline of radicalization and mobilization for years to come.'

The director, a Trump appointee, named Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, as the biggest 'bad actors' the US currently faces in the world. 

Wray also also alleged that Russia was targeting 'underwater cables' in order to destabilize worldwide communications. 

He added that the Kremlin doesn't care if their operations impact the lives of civilians and that since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, operatives 'continue to target critical infrastructure' in the US. 

Meanwhile, Wray said that China is more likely to 'play the long game.' 

He compared China to terrorist groups saying that they too have adopted 'mafia-like' tactics with a cyber attack division that outnumbers its US counterparts 50 to one. 

When asked about a GOP proposal to cut the FBI's $500 million budget, he responded: 'China ain't cutting their budget.' 

Wray said that budget cutting would help 'violent criminals, the child predators, the Chinese government, cyber hackers and ransomware actors, the cartels and terrorists.' 

'It hurts our law enforcement partners, state local law enforcement partners who depend on us every day and all whole host of ways, and ultimately hurts the American people in the neighborhoods,' Wray went on. 

Last month, Wray said that the FBI was actively working to thwart any foreign attempts to influence the 2024 presidential election 

The U.S. has confronted foreign malign influence threats in the past,' Wray told a national security conference. 'But this election cycle, the U.S. will face more adversaries, moving at a faster pace, and enabled by new technology'

Last month, Wray said that the United States expects to face fast-moving threats to American elections this year as artificial intelligence and other technological advances have made interference and meddling easier than before.

'The U.S. has confronted foreign malign influence threats in the past,' Wray told a national security conference. 'But this election cycle, the U.S. will face more adversaries, moving at a faster pace, and enabled by new technology.'

Wray singled out advances in generative AI, which he said had made it 'easier for both more and less-sophisticated foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence.'

The remarks underscored escalating U.S. government concerns over sometimes hard-to-detect influence operations that are designed to shape public opinion. 

Though officials have not cited successful efforts by foreign governments to directly alter election results, they have sounded the alarms over the past decade about foreign influence campaigns. 

Wray suggested the FBI would share information this year about threats that it sees.

'As intelligence professionals, we've got to highlight threats in specific, evidence-based ways so that we're usefully arming our partners and, in particular, the public against the kinds of foreign influence operations they're likely to confront,' he said. 

In 2016, Russian operatives sought to boost Republican Donald Trump's election chances by stealing and leaking Democratic emails and by using a hidden but powerful social media campaign to sow discord among American voters.

In 2020, U.S. intelligence officials have said, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to denigrate Democrat Joe Biden and help Trump in that year's election. 

China 'considered but did not deploy' influence operations, while aggressive efforts by Iran sought to exploit vulnerabilities in state election websites as Tehran sought to hurt Trump's reelection chances, officials have said.

Despite those threats, according to intelligence officials, there was ultimately no evidence that any foreign entity changed votes or otherwise disrupted the voting process.