FBI: Homegrown extremists now primary terrorist threat to US

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — FBI Director Christopher Wray says homegrown violent extremists now are the government’s primary concern in combating terrorism.

Wray was in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, speaking to hundreds of law enforcement officers at Utah’s National Security and Anti-Terrorism Conference.

He says homegrown violent extremists are Americans who likely have never left the country, but have self-radicalized and aligned themselves with foreign terrorists groups.

Wray says the FBI still is concerned with foreign threats from groups like al-Qaida and ISIS.

But he says the homegrown violent extremists are more difficult to track than traditional terrorist groups because there isn’t a typical profile of the type of person who gravitates toward terroristic behavior.

Wray says homegrown violent extremists keep FBI officials awake at night.

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