The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intends to shift potentially thousands of agents away from immigration enforcement to focus on counterterrorism and cybersecurity threats in the wake of the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. ABC News first reported on the expected move Tuesday, June 24, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Concerns over Iran
According to sources, the FBI is considering reassigning at least a couple of thousand agents from immigration enforcement operations to efforts that protect against foreign threats, particularly Iran. However, the agency would not officially confirm the move.
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“The FBI does not comment on specific operational adjustments or personnel decisions,” an FBI spokesperson told ABC News. “However, we continuously assess and realign our resources to respond to the most pressing threats to our national security and to ensure the safety of the American people.”
Warning from former US intelligence agent
The adjustment comes as former intelligence analysts warn Tehran is most likely to respond to the bombings of its nuclear facilities over the weekend through cyberattacks, and likely already has “cyber sleeper cells” on the servers of American and European organizations.
“They could be hospitals, universities, government systems that are holding Iranian malware. And you could inadvertently be the landlord to a sleeper cell on your network because you failed to keep it patched and up to date, and you have security flaws,” Brian Boetig, an advisor on safety and security with firm Global Trace, told ABC 7 News.
Boetig spent more than two decades with the FBI, serving as director of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force in Washington, D.C., before assuming his current role. Boetig also warned that while the U.S. focuses on Iran, nations like China or Russia may be working to target the United States as the focus is off of them.
Previous shifts in assignments
President Donald Trump had been moving agents to immigration enforcement as part of his mass deportation effort. Still, many agents were concerned that a shift in resources meant fewer eyes would be on potential terrorism or cybersecurity threats.
In a memo from a senior FBI official obtained by NBC News on May 14, managers were told, “As you know, we have been actively engaged in immigration enforcement efforts in coordination with our DOJ and DHS partners. Starting this week, we will need to see an increase in operational tempo in your immigration efforts. DOJ expects a significant increase in the number of agents participating in immigration enforcement operations.”
An unidentified federal law enforcement official told NBC News at the time that the vast majority of agents raised concerns about coordinating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which they said does not plan arrests in the same manner as the FBI.
“This is not what we do, these are bad ideas,” the official told NBC News. “If this was a Democrat administration, I’d be saying this is bad, we shouldn’t be doing this.”
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson defended the administration’s decision in May, saying, “The FBI has been committed to supporting our partners in immigration enforcement and will remain so.”
