Reposted from The Hill

FBI Director Christopher Wray in an interview marking 17 years since Sept. 11, said the U.S. is “safer” but the threats facing the country have “evolved.”

“People think of the 9/11 threat, they think New York, they think D.C,” Wray said in an interview with CBS that aired Tuesday. “Today's terrorism threat is everywhere, coast to coast, north, south, east, west. It's not just big cities.” 

Wray added cyber threats are “at an all-time high.”

“Terrorism today moves at the speed of social media,” he said.

The FBI director also said that the FBI is focused on “homegrown violent extremists.”

“We’re also very focused now on homegrown violent extremists which are people who are largely here already in the United States ... and these are people who are largely radicalized online,” he said.

Wray revealed the FBI has made about 102 terrorism-related arrests in the last year. He said that of 5,000 terrorism investigations, the bureau investigated 1,000 “homegrown violent extremists.”

Wray said the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force receives “about 15,000” tips a year.

“Basically 40 tips a day, two tips an hour,” he said.

The FBI director spoke about the role of social media companies in preventing terrorism, saying the Bureau is attempting to work with tech giants to get them to address terrorism on their platforms “voluntarily.”

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