At an oversight hearing this morning, Director Mueller briefed the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on the FBI’s current priorities, which include the top national security and criminal threats to the nation.
In the area of national security, Director Mueller highlighted counterterrorism as our top priority and said that while Al Qaeda affiliates and adherents represent the top counterterrorism threat to our nation, homegrown violent extremists are also a major concern. In the counterintelligence area, he reported on the growing scope of the “insider threat” in economic espionage—when employees use their legitimate access to steal trade secrets for another country or another company. In the cyber arena, while the Director said that while the counterintelligence threat is increasingly cyber-based and foreign cyber spies are becoming adept at exploiting weaknesses in our computer networks, we’re also concerned about cyber threats from hackers and other criminals who are committing crimes for profit and from hacktivist groups.
Director Mueller also touched on some of our criminal priorities, including financial crimes like mortgage fraud and health care fraud, gangs and violent crimes, transnational organized crime, crimes against children, and crime in Indian Country.
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