02-06-2020, 09:58 PM
Wray said both pose a grave threat because the perpetrators are often "lone actors," self-radicalized online, who often look to attack "soft targets" such as public gatherings, retail locations or houses of worship.
In many cases, perpetrators can move quickly from rhetoric to violence, Wray said.
"They choose easily accessible weapons — a car, a knife, a gun, maybe an IED they can build crudely off the internet — and they choose soft targets," Wray said. "That threat is what we assess is the biggest threat to the homeland right now."
Racially-motivated violent extremists were the primary source of ideologically-motivated violence in 2018 and 2019 and have been considered the most lethal of all domestic extremists since 2001, Wray said in a statement Wednesday.
Anti-Semitic hate crimes have surged in cities across the country including New York, and hate crime murders reached a record high in 2018, the most recent year for which federal data is available. FBI data shows hate crimes overall were down just slightly in 2019 following three years of increases.
2018 year saw the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, when 11 worshipers were slain at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
More: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/racially-mo...pher-wray/
In many cases, perpetrators can move quickly from rhetoric to violence, Wray said.
"They choose easily accessible weapons — a car, a knife, a gun, maybe an IED they can build crudely off the internet — and they choose soft targets," Wray said. "That threat is what we assess is the biggest threat to the homeland right now."
Racially-motivated violent extremists were the primary source of ideologically-motivated violence in 2018 and 2019 and have been considered the most lethal of all domestic extremists since 2001, Wray said in a statement Wednesday.
Anti-Semitic hate crimes have surged in cities across the country including New York, and hate crime murders reached a record high in 2018, the most recent year for which federal data is available. FBI data shows hate crimes overall were down just slightly in 2019 following three years of increases.
2018 year saw the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, when 11 worshipers were slain at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
More: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/racially-mo...pher-wray/