FBI Foiled 715 Planned Terror Attacks Last Year, Says Director Kash Patel

In December, the FBI shut down four attacks in 30 days, the director said. The attacks were aimed at places of worship, schools, and businesses.

FBI Director Kash Patel at the agency headquarters in Washington on Aug. 4, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The FBI prevented 715 planned terror attacks on U.S. soil last year, Director Kash Patel said.

In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times’ senior editor Jan Jekielek that will air on Aug. 8, Patel shared the previously unreported number of foiled attacks and details from some of those takedowns that stemmed from ISIS and other terrorist-affiliated organizations.

“In December of last year, the FBI shut down four terrorist attacks in 30 days,” he said. “That’s a pretty monumental achievement, especially during the holidays, but it’s because we were resourced and backed by the White House and the administration to get these sort of achievements.”

Those four attacks were set to take place in Southern California, Texas, Florida, and New York, Patel said.

Suspects in those unrelated instances all planned to attack places of worship, schools, businesses, or “Americans wherever they could.”

“Before these individuals, who wanted to disrupt America’s holidays last year, literally, and kill dozens, if not hundreds, of people, and cause a mass casualty event, we went in and took them all down,” Patel said.

The only similarity among the four separate operations was the fact that each had the same goal, the FBI director said: to target and kill Americans.

Regarding the 715 foiled terror plots last year, he said he had a few takeaways.

Adversaries are continuously looking to attack on American soil, using illegal immigrants, sympathetic U.S. citizens, and foreign nationals, he said, adding that FBI agents must practice the perfect mix of patience and action.

“We want to go out at the right time to dismantle the entire criminal enterprise, not just a couple of them,” Patel said. “So it’s a balance.”

The FBI director stressed how quickly his agents must act sometimes to prevent tragedy, but being able to preserve, collect, and present evidence in a lawful manner to carry out a successful prosecution is also top of mind.

To keep up with the adversaries’ use of ever-advancing technology, Patel said his agency uses sophisticated technology and methods to lawfully surveil, monitor, and detect. Collaboration with other agencies, state and local included, as well as prosecutors to obtain warrants is crucial in staying ahead of suspected terrorists and stopping them before they carry out their attack.

All the individuals involved in the terror plots from last December in California, Texas, Florida, and New York are “on their way to federal prison for a very long time,” Patel said.

This year as well, the FBI has thwarted multiple potentially catastrophic plots.

Patel announced on June 16 that the FBI disrupted planned attacks on the White House UFC event. Several suspects have been arrested and face charges that include conspiracy to commit murder.

According to court documents, the plan involved setting off explosives at the event to force people to flee a certain way, then positioned snipers would begin taking out high-level targets, including President Donald Trump, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Rep. Carol Miller (R-W.Va).

One of the suspects told law enforcement that the plan was meant to “jump-start” a revolution in the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the ringleader was a Mexican illegal immigrant who was allowed to stay in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Authorities announced Jan. 2 that the FBI prevented an ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve attack in North Carolina. An 18-year-old U.S. citizen planned to wear a Kevlar vest while attacking people with knives and hammers at a grocery store and fast-food restaurant during the holiday.

The man allegedly told an undercover agent he would “do jihad soon.”

The FBI stopped another ISIS-inspired attack that was set to happen across multiple states during Halloween last year. Suspects were arrested in New Jersey, Washington, and Michigan.

Authorities said two of the men had scoped out an amusement park near Dearborn, Michigan. Other suspects planned to target LGBT-friendly venues in Detroit.