MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Department of Homeland Security is warning about what it calls a heightened threat environment in the U.S. That's after President Trump's decision to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities over the weekend. The FBI's No. 2 official says the agency is staying vigilant against any possible violence on U.S. soil. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is covering this, and he's with us now to tell us more. Good morning, Ryan.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So Iran already retaliated for the U.S. attack by firing missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar on Monday, but I take it there's still concern about something happening here.
LUCAS: That's right. Well, the Department of Homeland Security put out a bulletin following the U.S. strikes on Iran over the weekend. And what DH said is that there are currently no specific credible threats against the U.S. homeland, but it does warn - as was noted at the top - of what it calls a heightened threat environment in the U.S. It warns of possible Iranian cyber attacks against U.S. computer networks, possible acts of violence or antisemitic hate crimes. And DHS and the FBI also held a call with state and local law enforcement the day after the U.S. strikes to make sure that they're aware of the potential threats from Iran on American soil. Of course, there's now this shaky ceasefire in place, but it's unclear what impact that could have on Iran's intentions down the line.
MARTIN: Could you just say more about what Iran could try to do in the U.S. to retaliate if it chose to do so?
LUCAS: Well, the closest historic precedent would be how Iran responded when the U.S. killed a top Iranian general in a drone strike in 2020, so in the last year of Trump's first term in office. And in that instance, Iran first fired missiles at a U.S. military base in Iraq, but it didn't stop there. Iran took its time. And more than a year later, according to U.S. officials, it began targeting top political and military officials here in the U.S. for assassination. The Justice Department, in fact, announced charges in 2022 against an Iranian operative for orchestrating a murder-for-hire scheme to kill former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton. Other former top military generals, former senior Trump administration officials - and, in fact, even Trump himself - were also allegedly targets of Iranian plots. And just last November, the Justice Department said it had disrupted an Iranian plot to kill Trump himself.
MARTIN: Well - and obviously, the plot against Trump was foiled. But to be clear, none of the other plots succeeded, either. So what should we draw from that?
LUCAS: Well, look, the U.S. has been a difficult place for the Iranians to operate. In the alleged plots, court papers have shown that Iran's security services basically had to farm out the work, hiring, in many instances, criminals to carry out these alleged plans in the U.S. And these folks haven't always been brimming with competence, so these plots have been foiled. But that doesn't mean that the threat isn't real. It was serious enough that for years, the U.S. government provided security details for the former officials who were targeted. But important to note here - Trump revoked nearly all of those security details when he returned to office.
MARTIN: So what is the FBI doing now to try to protect against these possible Iranian threats? Noting, as you just did, that the president has revoked all the security details for people who were known to be targets.
LUCAS: Well, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino has said on X that FBI assets are fully engaged, and the bureau remains vigilant. In these sorts of circumstances, one former senior FBI counterterrorism official told me that what the bureau would be doing is keeping close tabs on any suspects with ties to the Iranian government who are already under investigation. They'd make sure that they have eyes and ears on them, know what they're doing. But I'm told it's important that the resources being put into addressing this potential threat from Iran stay on this issue because Iran has shown in the past that it's willing to take its time - weeks, months, even years - to try to hit back.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thank you.
LUCAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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