CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — In wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office says the agency continues to seek out information to prevent future tragedy.
Andrew McCabe appeared on Tuesday’s “Talkline” to discuss the partnership with the country’s long-time allies.
“Our folks are very, very focused on every piece of information that we get from our French colleagues and our international colleagues in Western Europe to try to drill down on each and every fact that we get to determine if there are any connections to any of this activity back to the United States.”
At this point, such a connection has not been made. However, McCabe said it is a constant job to ensure safety.
“Every day that we don’t have an attack here, we see that as some indicator of success. Nevertheless, we don’t rest on our laurels. We know that the threat changes everyday. It is a constant race of catch up to try to stay equal to or ahead of our adversaries.”
As debate in America turns to potential Syrian refugees seeking asylum, the question posed to the FBI is whether their greater concern should be with potential threats that make their way into the country or domestic threats.
Based on their intelligence, especially in just the past year, the answer leans toward the latter.
“It’s not necessary for somebody to travel to Syria, get that kind of training and experience and bring it back here, although that’s something that we are greatly concerned about,” McCabe said. “It’s just as easy for ISIS to reach our to our radicalized or our isolated, at-risk communities here in the United States to recruit that kind of support.”
As some states do start to accept refugees, McCabe believes that their intelligence combined with a stronger relationship with the U.S. Intelligence Community will help safeguard the country from potential threats.
“We are in a better position to be able to handle the sort of security work that we’ll need to do with an influx of refugees from anywhere,” he said. “We’re putting those processes in place and we’re doing our best to be ready when that takes place.”
McCabe was in West Virginia for a visit to the agency’s Criminal Justice Information Services headquarters in Clarksburg.