I’m saying goodbye as FBI Director. America’s future is ensured by focusing on threats, not division.

My experience as FBI Director for the past more than seven years has given me an unprecedented understanding of the threats to our nation’s public safety and national security. From my perspective, these threats are more dangerous and sophisticated than at any time I can remember since I started working in law enforcement 30 years ago.

Our adversaries—whether violent gangs, child predators, cartels, hackers, rival nation-states, or terrorists—are bolder, better resourced, more technologically sophisticated, and more ruthless than ever before. With the stroke of a keyboard, foreign hackers can shut down hospitals or take our critical infrastructure offline. Potential terrorists can secretly plan attacks on U.S. soil by communicating with overseas plotters through encrypted applications. Cartels can create vast quantities of deadly drugs with unprecedented potency using chemicals sourced half a world away.

The threat of terrorism has escalated across the board. Foreign terrorist groups are drawing inspiration from Hamas’ horrific attack on October 7 to plan coordinated attacks in their home countries, while violent extremists inspired by a variety of ideologies and grievances are mobilizing faster than ever , leaving investigators with fewer and fewer clues.

FBI Director Wray reveals why he resigned at ‘such a dangerous time’

The tragedy in New Orleans on New Year’s Day is the latest example of the dangers posed by online radicals using easily accessible weapons to go after soft targets – ordinary, everyday people – making terrorist threats harder to detect, Investigate, and disrupt.

Foreign adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran are not only stealing government secrets, they are directly targeting the American people and going after the things we rely on most. Hostile nation-states are stealing Americans’ personal data on an alarming scale, conducting widespread thefts from businesses large and small, exporting their own repressive tactics to our shores, and conducting bold cyber operations targeting our critical infrastructure . The Chinese government, in particular, has taken unprecedented actions to undermine American innovation, steal our most valuable personal data, and interfere with our free and open society. History will mark this as the defining threat of our generation.

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In addition to terrorism and nation-state threats, violent crime that has reached alarming levels in recent years still plagues too many communities. Cartels funnel fentanyl and other deadly drugs into our country, killing countless Americans every year. Child predators lurk in the dark corners of the internet, targeting the innocent and vulnerable.

From my seat, I saw a serious adult threat that required serious adult attention. But over the past seven-plus years, I’ve seen something else: the inspiring men and women of the FBI who confront these threats every day with passion, skill, and an unwavering commitment to public service and the rule of law. I have witnessed up close the record numbers of work they are doing with our brothers and sisters in state and local law enforcement and across government to keep our communities safe.

FBI Director Wray reveals why he resigned at ‘such a dangerous time’

In recent years, the FBI and our partners have worked together to arrest nearly 50 violent offenders every day. They have rescued hundreds of children from their abusers and put hundreds of predators behind bars. They have dismantled hundreds of gangs terrorizing communities across the country and seized enough fentanyl to kill nearly 80 percent of Americans. They’ve saved victims around the world nearly $800 million in ransom payments by fighting cybercriminals against emerging threats. They keep a close eye on the ever-present threat of terrorism, thwarting attacks on houses of worship in Las Vegas, Long Beach and Pittsburgh, on crowded piers in San Francisco, Fourth of July parades in Cleveland and countless other communities across the country. I’m incredibly proud of the work they do and the sacrifices they make to keep us all safe.

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Still, now is not the time for complacency or distraction. Looking to the future, our security challenges will become more severe and our fault tolerance space will continue to shrink. America’s adversaries will continue to try to exploit our country’s divisions to intensify their efforts against us. But our focus must be on the threat and our work, not our differences. We must continue to respond to the dangers our country faces with objectivity, rigor and professionalism. This is what the American people expect and deserve.

I know the men and women of the FBI, working alongside our partners, are up to the task. But I also know that our future security depends on the FBI being at its best. The FBI needs resources to respond to the resources our adversaries are throwing at us, as well as continued public support for its essential work. The stakes couldn’t be higher. We must not lose focus or be unprepared.

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