Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday that “people inspired by ISIS” represent the majority of terrorist investigations being conducted in the US – probes that are underway in all 50 states.
“The largest category of counterterrorism cases in the United States under investigation today are of people inspired by ISIS,” Sessions said in an address about national security at the US attorney’s office in Manhattan. “We are not slowing down. The FBI currently has ongoing terrorism-related investigations in all 50 states.”
Speaking just days after Uzbek immigrant Sayfullo Saipov drove a pickup truck through a bike-path a few blocks north of the World Trade Center and killed eight people, Sessions said one of the tools the US needs to combat terrorism is the ability to gather evidence electronically.
“To investigate terrorism, we will need access to electronic evidence in a lawful way,” he said. “Too often, technology companies refuse to cooperate with law enforcement or even to comply with court orders. Over just the past year, the FBI was unable to open access to nearly 7,500 mobile devices submitted to its Computer Analysis and Response Team, even though there was court orders or legal authority to do so. We can only imagine what the consequences of not getting that information will be.”
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