The FBI plans closer monitoring of suspected ISIS sympathizers, including more wiretaps, as a way to guard against potential threats in the U.S., after the Paris attacks, two U.S. law enforcement officials told CNN.
Senior FBI officials convened secure conference calls over the weekend with law enforcement around the nation to describe steps being taken in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.
There’s no indication of actual plots in the U.S., so these steps are precautionary, the officials said. These are similar to steps taken after the May ISIS-inspired attack in Garland, Texas.
The officials said that agents who are overseeing investigations of known ISIS supporters have these instructions: first, know where they are, then determine if there’s new information that merit making the investigative subject a higher priority. Some subjects will get increased monitoring and that will include additional wiretaps.
The steps are being taken in part because of the way the Paris suspects were able to evade notice of French intelligence.
The officials described the current steps as short of the intense effort that followed Garland.
The Garland attack ushered in several months of stepped-up use of 24/7 monitoring on suspected ISIS supporters. FBI Director James Comey has described the period between May and July as one that stretched the FBI’s resources, and that isn’t sustainable. Dozens of arrests were made, in many cases not for terrorism-related charges if the FBI couldn’t gather enough evidence of a plot.
“In some cases we just needed to get people off the streets,” one senior law enforcement official said.