[ad_1]
Students and faculty gathered to hear FBI Director Christopher Wray speak at the Ford School of Public Policy Friday morning as part of the Rosenthal speaker series about his career and federal law enforcement in general. His remarks were followed by a panel of questions from faculty experts on topics including domestic terrorism, cybersecurity and civil liberties.
Celeste Watkins-Hayes, interim dean at the Ford school, introduced Wray before he spoke. Wray reflects on his career and the influence of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
“It is critical that our agents and analysts not only remember 9/11 as a historical moment but also understand and feel the urgency of that moment, one that continues to reverberate in how we conduct our daily lives. that job,” Wray said.
The event then transitioned to a discussion between Wray and faculty experts. John Ciorciari, associate dean for research and policy engagement, began the conversation by asking how the FBI is working to address gun violence.
“(Active shooters) are a direct attack on the sense of safety that people have in communities, which is fundamentally what law enforcement is designed to try to help address,” Wray said.
Wray then outlined the FBI’s role in responding to gun violence, which includes forming task forces and providing firearms background checks, active shooter training and additional services in preparation for an active shooter scenario .
The next question came from Javed Ali, associate professor of public policy, who worked at the FBI between 2007 and 2018. Ali asked how the FBI is addressing the challenge of increasing domestic terrorism, particularly in the form of violent racially motivated extremists.
“Protecting the American people from (a) terrorist attack, both domestic and international, remains the FBI’s number one priority,” Wray said. “If you see something, tell me.”
Ali then turned the conversation to cybersecurity. Wray said he has seen an increasing overlap between the activity of state actors and cybercriminals.
“What we’re seeing more and more is what we call the hybrid threat, which is the line between … a nation state that engages in malicious cyber activity and cybercriminal activity that’s kind of aggregated,” said Wray. “You will have, for example, governments like Russia, China, Iran, that will hire … cybercriminals to do their work for them.”
Joy Rohde, associate professor of public policy and history, questioned the potential for TikTok to pose a threat to national security.
“A number of students have questions about TikTok,” Rohde said. “You (Ali) recently shared with lawmakers your concern that the app is a serious threat to US national security. Legal and technology experts seem to have mixed views on the nature and especially the imminent threat.”
Wray said he was concerned about the app’s ability to control the recommendation algorithm and collect and save data on users, warning that ByteDance, the app’s parent company, is controlled by the Chinese government.
“All of these things are in the hands of a government that does not share our values and has a mission that is diametrically opposed to what is in the best interests of the United States,” Wray said. “We should remember that.”
Ann Lin, professor of Chinese studies and associate professor of public policy, continued the dialogue on China by asking him to unpack accusations that the FBI unfairly accused Chinese-American university science faculty of sharing sensitive information with the Chinese government over the past few years.
“Several cases against Chinese scientists have gone to federal court in the past two years, only for juries to find those defendants not guilty or for federal judges to dismiss many of the charges,” said Lin. “So advocates for these teachers will say that the failure to convict here is because the evidence was never very strong against them to begin with.”
Wray then addressed the laws and policies behind the FBI’s actions against cybersecurity and information sharing.
“We base our cases on the facts and the law, and sometimes our cases are successful and sometimes they are not,” Wray said. “We do not base our cases on race, ethnicity or national origin, and never have.”
In response, Lin asked about how to find a space for Chinese Americans to exist as themselves amid the conflict between the United States and China. Wray said the problem is not with the Chinese but with the Chinese government.
“We look at the Chinese Americans here as our comrades,” Wray said. “Chinese Americans here are … in the crosshairs of the Chinese government. We have to work with them.”
To conclude the event, Rohde asked how the FBI balances the risks of cybercrime with the damage to public trust that comes from mass surveillance. In response, Wray dismissed mass surveillance, saying it was “largely overblown.”
“We don’t engage in large-scale surveillance of companies, networks and infrastructure or universities — that’s not what we do,” Wray said. “We don’t, we can’t.”
Rohde also asked about the troubled historical relationship between the FBI and civil rights activists, such as the surveillance campaigns against Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
“We made a mistake,” Wray said. “But what I think distinguishes the highest performing organizations in the world is not whether or not they make mistakes … It’s what we learn from mistakes. And I’m really proud of the things the FBI has learned from some of these mistakes over the years.
Public Policy senior Dora Koski offered her thoughts on Wray’s remarks after the event.
“I just felt like there was a little bit of a disconnect between the questions being asked and how he was answering them a little bit, but I think it was eye-opening, and really important to see his perspective on the FBI,” said said Koski. “I think the fact that they’re really counting on the US public to call the authorities when they’re worried about their neighbors is really a point to keep in mind.”
Daily Staff Reporter Madison Hammond can be reached at madihamm@umich.edu.
[ad_2]
Source link
