美国在2010年面临一个“令人清醒的”和“独特的时刻”面对国内威胁环境这种情况已经加剧自从以色列-哈马斯战争开始以来副总检察长丽莎·莫纳科在周四的独家采访中告诉美国广播公司新闻。
摩纳哥首次详细阐述了海外冲突如何加剧了已经上升的威胁形势，许多美国官员称这是自9/11之前以来最具挑战性的。
摩纳哥说，美国联邦调查局不得不追查1800多份与战争有关的“威胁或其他类型的提示或线索”，这场战争始于10月7日哈马斯在以色列的恐怖袭击。该局目前有100多项调查以某种方式与冲突有关。
摩纳哥表示，最大的担忧是孤狼和小团体在几乎没有通知的情况下采取行动。
“我认为我们正处于一个独特的时刻，我们最担心的是——我们这些国家安全和执法界的人——那些经常在网上激进化的个人或小团体，他们受到一系列意识形态的激励和影响，从外国恐怖主义和外国恐怖组织到国内不满，”摩纳哥在周日播出的《本周》独家采访中告诉美国广播公司新闻首席司法记者皮埃尔·托马斯
2023年11月21日，司法部副部长Lisa Monaco在DC华盛顿州司法部(DOJ)的新闻发布会上发言。
姜海云/彭博via Getty Images
“我们经常看到的最致命的形式来自种族或民族动机的意识形态，”副总检察长说。
虽然摩纳哥指出，在许多情况下，美国联邦调查局收到的威胁或提示已经“得到解决，没有发生任何事件”，但光是数量就给美国执法部门造成了“很大压力”，因为特工和检察官与州和地方合作伙伴一起在全国范围内追查潜在的线索。
“这些是威胁，它们是骗局，它们可能涉及恐怖分子融资的说法，”摩纳哥说，描述了当局正在审查的范围。“这就是数量——我们收到的各类报告的数量和频率显著上升。”
摩纳哥引用了哈马斯对以色列进行恐怖袭击的“令人震惊的画面”，以及“父母和孩子挤在安全的房间里，亲人在彼此的孩子面前被杀害——实际上是从父母身边被夺走并被绑架”,以及包括30多名美国人在内的1200多人被杀，这些都引发了全球各地的情绪反应，进而推动了美国国内“威胁和“实际暴力”的大幅上升。
“我认为，我们已经看到一些人从这些图像中获取扭曲的灵感，”她说。
摩纳哥还指出，司法部发现针对政治和政府官员的威胁激增。仅在本周，她就指出了针对被指控威胁美国最高法院法官、美国联邦调查局特工和三名总统候选人的案件。
FBI sees surge of 1,800-plus reports related to Israel-Hamas war, top DOJ official says
The United States faces a "sobering" and "unique moment" inconfronting a domestic threat environmentthat has been heightenedsince the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told ABC News in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
Monaco gave the first specifics and detailed look at how that conflict overseas has stoked an already elevated threat situation that many U.S. officials are describing as the most challenging since before 9/11.
The FBI has had to run down more than 1,800 reports "of threats or other types of tips or leads" related to the war that began on Oct. 7 with Hamas' terror attack in Israel, Monaco said. The bureau now has more than 100 investigations currently opened in some way tied to the conflict.
The biggest concerns are lone wolves and small groups taking action with little to no notice, according to Monaco.
"I think we're in a unique moment where what we're most worried about -- those of us in the national security and law enforcement community -- are individuals or small groups who are often radicalized online and who are motivated by and influenced by a range of ideologies, from foreign terrorism and foreign terrorist organizations to domestic grievances," Monaco told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas in an exclusive sit-down that will air Sunday on "This Week."
"Oftentimes what we're seeing in the most lethal form is from racially or ethnically-motivated ideologies," the deputy attorney general said.
While Monaco noted that in many cases the threats or tips received by the FBI have been "resolved without incident," the sheer volume has caused "a lot of strain" on U.S. law enforcement, as agents and prosecutors chase down potential leads across the country in tandem with state and local partners.
"These are threats, they're hoaxes, they can involve claims of terrorist financing," Monaco said, describing the range of what authorities are reviewing. "So that is the volume -- the significant uptick in the volume and frequency of the types of reports we're getting."
Monaco cited the "searing images" of Hamas' terror attack on Israel as well as accounts of "parents huddled with their children in safe rooms, loved ones being killed in front of each other's children -- literally ripped from their parents and being kidnapped" and the more than 1,200 people killed, including more than 30 Americans, as evoking emotional reactions across the globe that have in turn driven a "very significant uptick in threats" and "actual violence" inside the U.S.
"We've seen individuals who are taking, I think, twisted inspiration from those images," she said.
Monaco also noted that the Justice Department has seen a surge in threats targeting political and government officials. This week alone, she pointed to cases against individuals accused of threatening a U.S. Supreme Court justice, FBI agents and three presidential candidates.
