US intelligence leadership warns of entry of “dangerous individuals” across border with Mexico | International

The United States intelligence leadership warned this Monday that the country is facing threats to national security following the October 7 terrorist attack by Israel in Gaza. The director of the FBI has warned the United States Senate Intelligence Committee that the situation on the border with Mexico, which has left records of irregular crossings in recent months, represents a risk that could be exploited by international terrorist organizations. “We’re seeing a lot of dangerous threats emanating from…

The United States intelligence leadership warned this Monday that the country faces national security threats following Israel’s offensive in Gaza following the October 7 terrorist attacks. The director of the FBI has warned the United States Senate Intelligence Committee that the situation on the border with Mexico, which has left records of irregular crossings in recent months, represents a risk that could be exploited by international terrorist organizations. “We are seeing a large number of very dangerous threats across the border,” said Christopher Wray, the head of the Federal Investigation Agency.

Asked by Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, Ray confirmed that his organization had uncovered a human trafficking network whose facilitators had ties to the Islamic State Abroad (ISIS). “It is an issue that is of great concern to us and to which we have devoted enormous efforts to investigate together with our partners,” the official said. “We have noticed the entry of all kinds of dangerous persons,” he added.

Wray made it clear that he did not want to go into detail in open session in the upper house. Once a year, all the heads of the nation’s top intelligence agencies appear before lawmakers to detail the threats facing the United States. Attending the Capitol this morning were, in addition to the FBI Director, Avril Haynes, Director of the National Intelligence Agency; William Burns, head of the CIA; Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Military Intelligence Agency; Timothy Hough of the National Security Agency and Brett Holmgren, Undersecretary of the State Department.

The FBI chief indicated that the agency is currently investigating the network’s plans, which he did not specify by name. At another point, however, Ray assured the lawmaker that, for the time being, the agency was “not following the trail of any terrorist plot that entered through the Mexican border.” “Of course, we are concerned about vulnerabilities that could be exploited by terrorist organizations,” he added after a question from Senator John Corney of Texas.

Ray briefly recalled a case from May 2022, when the FBI investigated former President George W. Managed to foil a plot to assassinate Bush. The attack was planned by Shibab Ahmed Shibab, who arrived in the United States irregularly in September 2020. Months later, living in Columbus, Ohio, he requested asylum despite running a human trafficking network. According to federal agents, Shibab used contacts in Egypt to locate and recruit former Iraqi Baath Party militants loyal to Saddam Hussein. The objective was to remove these men from Iraq, send them to Brazil and then cross the Mexican border into US territory to expand the organization’s presence.

Drug trafficking has also been discussed in the parliamentary control session. National Intelligence Agency Director Avril Haynes spoke about the fight against the trafficking of fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opiate that has left a major epidemic in the United States. Haynes stopped for a moment to talk about the cartel situation in Mexico. “There is no doubt that dealing with the cartels is a challenge for the Mexican government. There are parts of the country that are in some respects under the control of the cartels,” Haynes assured the senators.

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Republican lawmakers were interested in exploiting the border vulnerability in the Intelligence Committee. President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration policy is becoming one of the key issues in the campaign leading up to the November 5 presidential election. Republican politicians describe the heightened activity along the border as a crisis that threatens the nation’s internal security.

“Last year, 169 individuals on the list of potential terrorists were detained at the Mexican border. And this year there are 58,” said Cornyn, who has already announced his intention to become Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s announcement that he will retire at the end of this legislature. The lawmaker also recalled that 37,000 Chinese nationals were detained at the southern border last year. occurred, ten times more than in 2022. However, Ray assured that the number would not identify those who tried to cross over with the dark or who merely wanted to flee the Communist Party.

Consequences of Gaza

National Intelligence Agency Director Avril Haynes has also warned that the conflict in Gaza is “likely” to leave a “generational impact on terrorism”. The official asserted that Israel’s response to terrorist acts perpetrated by Hamas has given new targets to jihadist cells with ties to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. “We have also seen how this has inspired individuals to commit anti-Semitic and Islamophobic terrorist acts around the world,” Haynes added.

The threats that conflict in the Middle East could pose were addressed in an annual report to the intelligence community, published in February. The document suggests that Hezbollah will continue to pressure Israel with contained force to prevent Benjamin Netanyahu’s government from declaring open war against Lebanon. US intelligence also predicts continued attacks on its interests in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed militias.

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