DETROIT — FBI Director James Comey said homegrown violent extremists and the emergence of Syria as a new ground for jihadi fighters make counterterrorism the top priority for the bureau throughout the country.

Comey explained that the threat of terrorism has changed over the years and is not solely carried out by al-Qaeda against major cities.

“The FBI’s top responsibilities remain counterterrorism and counterintelligence. That national security responsibility is not negotiable. It is one that I will continue,” Comey said. “But beyond that we have many responsibilities, and we’re trying to make sure we are responding to the needs of each community in which we find ourselves.”

Comey’s comments came at a press conference during a visit to Detroit on Tuesday, April 29.

Comey was appointed director of the bureau 8 months ago and has pledged to visit all 56 FBI field offices around the country in his first year on the job. On Tuesday, he met with groups of analysts, agents, support staff and other FBI employees from around Michigan.

“There are now thousands of foreign fighters in Syria who are gaining training, gaining new relationships, and they will flow back out of Syria at some point,” Comey said.

The FBI director compared the civil war in Syria to that of Afghanistan in the 1980’s, when Islamist fighters, including jihadists led by Osama Bin Laden, were battling the Soviet Union.

“It was Mark Twain who said history does not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme,” said Comey. “I worry that we are seeing a rhyme with Afghanistan in the 1980’s and 90’s, where people gained the worst kind of experience and relationships, and then there was a diaspora out of that war zone to the rest of the world. There was a line between that diaspora and September 11. We just want to make sure that there aren’t any lines drawn between what’s going on in Syria now and future attacks on the United States.”

Comey said there is no connection between the Obama administration’s policy on Syria and the FBI’s handling of the issue of jihadists going to Syria.

He said the war in Syria affects us everywhere, because Americans who travel to join the war in Syria are not limited to big cities, and European Union citizens coming back from the war-torn country could travel anywhere in the United States.

Comey said homegrown extremists who act on their own, without direct command from al-Qaeda, also make counterterrorism a top priority throughout the nation. He said the internet could offer people the inspiration and instructions to make a bomb.

Comey, a graduate of the University of Chicago, served as President George W. Bush’s deputy attorney general and worked in the private sector before landing the FBI top job last year. 

The Arab American News asked Comey about the procedures concerning placing individuals on the No-Fly List and the lawsuit against the FBI, which alleges that the bureau has used the No-Fly List as leverage to recruit informants.

Comey said he cannot comment on the ongoing lawsuit, but he added, “There is a very detailed series of procedures that we in the government go through to justify whether the evidence is sufficient to putting someone on the No-Fly List, and there is similarly a detailed set of procedures to revisit that evidence and to remove somebody from the No-Fly List.” 

He said the No-Fly List is an “important tool” that the FBI uses “very carefully.”

Addressing growing concerns about government surveillance, Comey said, “I believe that people should be suspicious of government.”

However, he added that he is “proud” of the way the FBI conducts its work in compliance with the law. He said the bureau obtains court warrants to access the contents of emails and cell phones. 

“You don’t want to live in a world where I can’t – with lawful authority – break encryptions [on the internet] to find someone who kidnapped a child,” he said. “You want me to be constrained. You want me to operate under the rule of the law. You want to have clear procedures and guidelines. But what happens is sometimes people hear things like that and say it must be terrible that the government wants to break encryptions.”

Comey said the FBI is committed to fighting violent crime and public corruption, but he added that these problems are not unique to Detroit. 

“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I don’t think Detroit has any unique criminal problems. These are problems that we see in a lot of cities around the country,” he told reporters at the press conference. 

He added that the bureau is working with local and state law enforcement agencies to target the sources of violence in Detroit, including gangs and armed drug dealers.

However, Comey added that law enforcement alone cannot ensure the safety of the neighborhood.

“You can’t arrest your way to a healthy neighborhood. You’ve got to arrest for something to grow in that space, and that is the challenge,” he said. 

Comey described the Detroit Field Office FBI staff as a “fired-up bunch.” He said the bureau is excited about the recently approved budget, which will allow him to hire about 1000 new employees. He did not reveal how many of the new recruits will be working in Michigan.