Category: Security

FBI Director Christopher Wray on January 9 said the Bureau is well-postured to defend against foreign interference heading into the 2024 election cycle, despite the growing number of foreign actors and nation-states seeking to disrupt our democratic process.

“Americans can and should have confidence in our election system,” Wray said during a fireside chat with U.S. Army Gen. Paul M. Nakasone—the director of the National Security Agency and commander of U.S. Cyber Command—that was moderated by National Public Radio journalist Mary Louise Kelly.  The FBI hasn’t witnessed any foreign interference effort that has jeopardized “the integrity of the vote count itself in any material way,” he added.

The conversation was part of the 2024 Fordham International Conference on Cybersecurity, co-hosted by the FBI and Fordham University at the school’s Lincoln Center campus in New York City.

Protecting Elections

Information warfare and election interference aren’t new, Wray told the audience of public and private sector cyber experts, international partners, academics, and students.

But the uptick in the number of nation-states and overseas players who want to interfere with U.S. elections or otherwise exert foreign influence on American affairs—and the growing array of tools they can use to meddle in our democratic process—are, he said.

“”The threats are more challenging, but the defense is better,” Wray said. “Everybody’s raising their game.”

The FBI Director called Russia “a regular player in this space” and said that the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine hasn’t deterred it from trying to tamper with American politics. On the contrary, Wray noted, one could argue that American policy on Ukraine hits so deep a nerve that the Russian government is trying to simultaneously advance its agenda there and brainstorm ways to influence or interfere with business here at home.

“If anything, for them, the stars align in terms of those two efforts,” he said. “And so we have to be even more effective in countering it.”

But Wray said Russia isn’t the only nation-state seeking to sway American politics, noting that other countries—including Iran and China—are also active in this arena. “They’re all pursuing slightly different agendas and using slightly different techniques, but we’re watching all of it,” he explained.

The good news is that partnerships are allowing the Bureau and the government, more widely, to rise to the challenge of protecting U.S. elections from foreign interference. Wray said collaboration between the Bureau and its fellow U.S. government agencies, the federal government’s relationship with state election officials, and public-private partnerships, in general, have all become “exponentially more sophisticated and effective” with each new election cycle.

Partnerships also help the American populace become more resistant to foreign adversary efforts to use chaos as a tool for disruption. Wray also noted that it’s imperative that Americans be eagle-eyed amid misinformation efforts by foreign governments and the rise of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

“I think that’s a responsibility that every American has as an informed citizen and, ultimately, voter,” he said.

‘A Qualitative Advantage’

During the fireside chat, Wray also reiterated the intensity of the cyber risks posed by China.

Wray said the authenticity of the bonds that exist between U.S. government agencies like the FBI and the NSA, across sectors, and with foreign partners give our nation a competitive advantage over China despite the scale, severity, and persistence of the cyber threat it poses.

“We have partners across all those vectors who work together because of shared values and a common goal because they want to—not because they have to,” he said. “And that is a kind of teamwork and partnership that the Chinese government can’t hope to achieve.”

China might have an outsized hacking program, but the U.S. government collaboration has a force-multiplying effect that nevertheless grants us a qualitative advantage, he said.

The FBI is “determined not to let” China outpace the United States in the field of AI, he added.

Murderous Mother Anna 

After Cathy’s disappearance, her stepmother Anna Young reportedly adopted extreme religious beliefs and started a cult in Alachua County, Florida, in the early 1980s. Separately, investigators from both the FBI and Alachua County began looking into mysterious deaths and disappearances within this cult. Several cult members reported extensive abuse and beatings of the members, particularly of the children.  

When members joined the cult, Young forced them to surrender their children to her oversight. The stories of abuse were vast, with Young physically hurting under the pretense of “beating the devil out” of them. 

In one case, Young beat 2-year-old Katonya Jackson and deprived her of her seizure medication, which led to her death. In another case, Young beat 5-year-old Emon Harper and then placed him in a hamper as punishment, without food or water, until he was later found dead by another cult member. Young directed cult members to burn his body in a barrel, and she collected Social Security benefits for him for several years as if he was living.  

Young also ordered cult members to take one young child to Puerto Rico and abandon him there—he has never been located. And when Young bathed a 12-year-old child in harsh chemicals and scalding water to “burn the devil out” of her, the child was left with severe permanent injuries and disfigurement. 

In 1992, Young left the cult she created, changed her identity, and spent the next nine years on the run after being charged for the abuse of the 12-year-old child.  

In 2001, law enforcement found her hiding in Illinois, but it wasn’t until 2017, after an extensive investigation by FBI and Alachua County, that Young was arrested for the deaths of Emon and Katonya. In 2021, Young pleaded guilty to their murders and was convicted. She was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and died a month later in March 2021 from COVID-19.

The Search for Cathy

In late 2016, Joy Fluker, the only child of Young and Davidson—and Cathy’s half-sister—came forward to law enforcement with information that revealed more about her mother’s horrific past. Cathy’s mother, who moved to Texas, contacted the FBI office in Dallas to report what she had learned: that the alleged trip to Warren Dunes State Park and Cathy’s disappearance was a cover for a turn of events even more sinister.

The FBI contacted individuals nationwide who knew the Young-Davidson household around 1973. During the interviews, they learned that Young allegedly locked Cathy in a closet in the Young-Davidson home on Hermosa, which led to her death by suffocation. Witnesses reported observing Young and Davidson attempting to revive Cathy—and then Davidson and Young’s brother, Marvin Bobo, leaving with Cathy’s deceased body to dispose of it.

The FBI believes that, at some point, Davidson and Bobo told someone where Cathy’s body was placed. But Davidson died in 1988—he was found crushed under a car in a garage on the cult property. Some cult members believed that his death was not an accident and that he was starting to express remorse for Cathy’s disappearance. And Bobo—the last living individual known to be directly involved in Cathy’s death—died in 2007.

Despite the passage of time, the FBI is committed to finding Cathy and bringing closure in this case.

“Cathy’s family, still living, awaits to learn what has happened to her and where she is,” said FBI Detroit Special Agent Trisha Kovac. “I believe that someone out there knows something that can help us find Cathy and bring her back to her family.”

If you have any information about Cathy Davidson, please contact your local FBI office or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. You can remain anonymous.

Violent Crime 

The FBI’s top priorities are national security threats, but the Bureau plays a key role in combating violent crime in big cities and local communities across the United States. The threats vary widely, from bank robberies and art crime to human trafficking, gang violence, crimes against children, and drug trafficking.  
 
The Bureau’s Criminal Division this year accounted for more than 18,000 arrests and almost 10,000 indictments in violent criminal cases. The myriad FBI units targeting suspected criminals disrupted more than 2,500 operations and dismantled another 314. They located 2,401 children in the 12-month period that ended in September and were involved in more than 12,000 drug seizures. “To truly appreciate the impact the FBI and our partners are having,” Director Wray has said, “you’ve got to look at the cases.” 

Here’s a look at just a few significant cases and accomplishments: 

• Operation Ghost Busted: 76 individuals were charged with involvement in a drug trafficking operation that distributed large amounts of high-grade methamphetamine, along with fentanyl, heroin, and alprazolam (Xanax) in the greater Glynn County area of Georgia. Details
• Operation SpecTor: This coordinated operation spanning nine countries and dozens of law enforcement agencies across the U.S., Europe, and South America targeted darknet drug markets. Efforts resulted in seizures of more than $50 million in cash and virtual currency, 1,875 pounds of potentially lethal pills and other drugs, and 288 arrests. Details
  
  
• Operation Cross Country: The FBI, working with partners, identified and located 200 victims of sex trafficking during a two-week nationwide enforcement campaign in July. The operation also led to identification or arrest of 126 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking offenses and 68 suspects of trafficking were identified or arrested. Also located were 59 minor victims of child sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation offenses and 59 actively missing children. Details
  
  
• January 6: In what the Department of Justice has called the FBI’s largest ever investigation, the Bureau continues to seek the public’s assistance in in identifying individuals who made unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. In the 34 months since the attack on the Capitol, more than 1,200 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 400 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. Details 
• Transnational Organized Crime: The FBI is focused on the cartels trafficking narcotics across the border. The FBI has 328 pending investigations linked to cartel leadership; 78 of those are along the southern border.

Multiple field offices conducted operations this year targeting gangs or criminal networks. In July, for example, an FBI-led joint operation targeting violent criminals in Tucson, Arizona, resulted in 88 arrests. A month earlier, in Erie, Pennsylvania, an FBI-led Safe Streets task force targeted a local drug gang. Also last summer, an FBI-led operation in Dallas seized more than 540 grams of cocaine, more than 1,100 grams of methamphetamine, and more than seven grams of fentanyl, along with nine firearms and over $10,000 in cash.

The FBI, along with the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, conducted an early morning operation on July 27, 2023, that resulted in 15 arrests of suspected drug gang members and violent criminals. This footage is from operations at multiple locations.

Transcript / Visit Video Source

The TSC is the final arbiter of watchlisting decisions, and it keeps rigorous and continuing quality control measures over the terrorism watchlist to ensure that nominations continue to satisfy the criteria for inclusion and that information offered in support of the nomination is reliable and up to date. Quality control measures include regular reviews and evaluations by the nominating agency, NCTC, and the TSC to verify that each nomination meets the watchlist inclusion criteria.

In addition to maintaining and regularly reviewing the watchlist, the TSC responds to queries from federal, state, and local agencies—as well as certain foreign partners who have information sharing agreements with the United States—for a variety of screening purposes.

“We’re the unclassified system for sharing information,” said Glasheen. “The TSC has the authority to accept, maintain, and share identifying information on people who are on the watchlist.”

Around-the-Clock Response

The TSC operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call center staff, who work across three shifts, answer inquiries immediately as they come in. To ensure continuity of operations, a small room next to the call center houses a few bunk beds in case employees can’t travel home between their shifts for some reason, such as inclement weather.

Some inquiries are routine screening procedures. Others are triggered by live encounters, like a police officer calling to report a potential watchlist match of someone they’ve pulled over.

The TSC conducts identity resolution, looking at all available information to verify whether the name that triggered the inquiry is the same person on the watchlist.

“The call center tries to resolve identity resolutions within minutes,” said Glasheen.

The TSC then responds to the inquiry with one of three possible answers: positive match, negative match, or inconclusive.

“We don’t dictate what actions should be taken when a screening agency encounters an individual potentially on the watchlist,” said Glasheen. “We say only whether it’s positive, negative, or inconclusive. Then it’s up to the caller, within their own authorities, to determine what actions they take based on that information.”