Federals officials are warning about the increased risk of lone wolf actors targeting July 4 events across the U.S. this holiday weekend, with particular concern for New York and California.
"We are enhancing security measures and coordinating intelligence-sharing to proactively address potential risks, including those from lone wolf actors,” the Department of Homeland Security said, reports Fox News. “At this time, DHS is not aware of any specific, credible, threats to Fourth of July celebrations."
In San Francisco, where about 200,000 people are expected to watch fireworks along the waterfront, an intelligence bulletin from the FBI, DHS, Coast Guard San Francisco, and Northern California Regional Intelligence Center is warning that the event provides “a broad set of soft targets... for a mass casualty attack.”
Attacks like the Jan. 1, 2025, New Year’s Day truck ramming incident on Bourbon Street could be repeated, investigators fear.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’s been in coordination with federal partners and "briefed consistently over the previous few weeks on the current threat landscape given heightened tensions around the world."
"Our federal partners reiterated yesterday that lone wolf actors remain the greatest potential threat including during the upcoming July 4th holiday,” Hochul said. “Keeping New Yorkers safe is my top priority — especially as families gather to celebrate this holiday weekend.”
The concern across the country is heightened over conflict in the Middle East and the U.S.’s bombing of key Iranian nuclear facilities last month.
"The likelihood of violent extremists in the Homeland independently mobilizing to violence in response to the conflict would likely increase if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the Homeland," DHS said. "Multiple recent Homeland terrorist attacks have been motivated by anti-Semitic or anti-Israel sentiment, and the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict could contribute to US-based individuals plotting additional attacks."
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