The FBI director said agents disrupted hundreds of planned attacks last year, including four December plots targeting houses of worship, schools, businesses and other public locations in California, Texas, Florida and New York.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The FBI disrupted 715 planned terrorist attacks inside the United States during 2025, including four separate plots uncovered within a single 30-day period at the end of the year, Director Kash Patel said.
Patel disclosed the previously unreported total while discussing the bureau’s efforts to identify and stop threats linked to ISIS and other terrorist-affiliated organizations, according to The Epoch Times.
“In December of last year, the FBI shut down four terrorist attacks in 30 days,” Patel said. “That’s a pretty monumental achievement, especially during the holidays, but it’s because we were resourced and backed by the White House and the administration to get these sort of achievements.”
The unrelated attacks were being planned in Southern California, Texas, Florida and New York. Patel said the suspects intended to strike houses of worship, schools, businesses or “Americans wherever they could.”
Although the four investigations involved different suspects and locations, Patel said the plots shared the same objective: killing Americans and creating mass-casualty events during the holiday season.
“Before these individuals, who wanted to disrupt America’s holidays last year, literally, and kill dozens, if not hundreds, of people, and cause a mass casualty event, we went in and took them all down,” Patel said.
Everyone involved in the four December plots is now “on their way to federal prison for a very long time,” he added.
Patel said the broader total of 715 disrupted plots demonstrates that foreign adversaries and terrorist organizations remain committed to conducting attacks on American soil. He said those organizations may seek help from illegal immigrants, sympathetic American citizens and foreign nationals already inside the country.
The threat requires agents to carefully determine when to continue gathering intelligence and when to intervene before a suspected attack can be carried out, according to Patel.
“We want to go out at the right time to dismantle the entire criminal enterprise, not just a couple of them,” Patel said. “So it’s a balance.”
Waiting can allow investigators to identify additional participants, financing, communications and operational support connected to a plot. Moving too slowly, however, can leave insufficient time to prevent an imminent attack.
Patel said agents must preserve and collect evidence lawfully so prosecutors can obtain convictions while remaining prepared to act immediately when public safety is at risk.
The FBI also relies on sophisticated surveillance, monitoring and detection methods to keep pace with terrorists’ expanding use of technology, Patel said. Those operations must comply with federal law and frequently require coordination with prosecutors to secure court-authorized warrants.
Cooperation with federal partners and state and local law enforcement agencies is also essential, he said, particularly when investigations cross jurisdictional lines or involve suspects operating in multiple states.
The bureau has continued disrupting potentially catastrophic plots in 2026.
Patel announced June 16 that federal agents had stopped a planned attack against the White House UFC event. Several suspects were arrested and charged with offenses that included conspiracy to commit murder.
Court documents said the alleged plan called for detonating explosives at the event to drive people toward a predetermined escape route. Snipers positioned nearby would then target high-ranking officials, including President Donald Trump, Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Republican Rep. Carol Miller of West Virginia.
One suspect told investigators that the operation was intended to “jump-start” a revolution in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security said the alleged ringleader was a Mexican illegal immigrant who had been allowed to remain in the country through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Federal authorities also announced Jan. 2 that the FBI had prevented an ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve attack in North Carolina.
An 18-year-old American citizen allegedly planned to wear a Kevlar vest and attack people with knives and hammers at a grocery store and a fast-food restaurant during the holiday. The suspect allegedly told an undercover agent that he would “do jihad soon.”
Another ISIS-inspired plot was scheduled to unfold across multiple states during Halloween in 2025, according to authorities. Suspects were arrested in New Jersey, Washington and Michigan before the planned attacks could occur.
Investigators said two of the men had surveyed an amusement park near Dearborn, Michigan. Other suspects allegedly intended to attack LGBT-friendly establishments in Detroit.
Patel said the investigations illustrate both the scale and variety of terrorist threats confronting the United States. Some suspects allegedly sought to attack government officials, while others planned assaults against religious institutions, commercial locations, entertainment venues and members of the general public.
The bureau’s task, he said, is to identify the full network behind each operation, collect admissible evidence and stop the suspects before they can carry out their plans.
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