Story perspectives

FBI Warns Lone-Offender Terror Plots Growing, Social Media Drives Radicalization

9/8/2026

Summary

Raia Warns Threat

U.S. FBI co-deputy director Chris Raia warns that foreign terrorist threat is growing.
He says radicalization now occurs at home through social media, making detection harder.
The FBI has arrested at least 16 people in the past 18 months for al-Qaeda or ISIS plots.
Al-Qaeda and ISIS are adapting by focusing on lone offenders inside the United States.

Summary

Mamdani Hands Pen

Mayor Zohran Mamdani handed the 9/11 ceremonial pen to chief counsel Ramzi Kassem.
Kassem, who defended an al-Qaeda operative, founded a CUNY clinic offering legal aid to Muslims.
Council Member Vicki Paladino (R-Queens) called Kassem’s role an insult to 9/11 survivors.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch left first after handing the pen to Kassem.
Retired detective Michael Alcazar said the handoff was calculated, reducing Tisch to a prop.

History

Historical Context

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing, detonated on February 26 1993, killed six civilians and injured more than 1,000, revealing U.S. exposure to foreign jihad. FBI Director Louis Freeh later mandated a counterterrorism unit that increased domestic terrorism arrests by 40 % between 1994 and 1999. Today, FBI director Chris Raia warns al-Qaeda and ISIS inspire attacks, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pen handoff to Ramzi Kassem angers Council Member Vicki Paladino. These parallels show that domestic radicalization and remembrance, first noted after the 1993 bombing, still shape U.S. security policy and spark surveillance and legal debates.

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Raia Warns Threat

U.S. FBI co-deputy director Chris Raia warns that foreign terrorist threat is growing.
He says radicalization now occurs at home through social media, making detection harder.
The FBI has arrested at least 16 people in the past 18 months for al-Qaeda or ISIS plots.
Al-Qaeda and ISIS are adapting by focusing on lone offenders inside the United States.

1 / 3