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FBI director says potential terrorist attack over Halloween weekend was averted · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Breaking news. FBI Director Cash Battel says his agency prevented
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  Speaker 1: what he's calling a potential terrorist attack planned for the
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  Speaker 1: Halloween holiday weekend in Michigan. Let's go live now to
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  Speaker 1: our brand jin Grass Bren. We've learned that multiple people
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  Speaker 1: have been arrested. What else do we know here?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know very thin on the information, Pam. I
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  Speaker 2: gotta be honest with you. I got to tell you
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  Speaker 2: so many reporters as Henn are making phone calls trying
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  Speaker 2: to connect the dots exactly what is going on here,
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  Speaker 2: what the FBI director Cash Betel is talking about in
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  Speaker 2: that post, but they have not released any more information.
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  Speaker 2: What we know is that he said that there was
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  Speaker 2: a thwarted attack that was plotted to happen over the
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  Speaker 2: Halloween weekend, and as a result, multiple people have been arrested.
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  Speaker 2: The big questions here are was how far along was
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  Speaker 2: this plot really in its developmental process, Like was it
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  Speaker 2: actually going to happen this weekend? Where are the potential targets,
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  Speaker 2: and of course who might be involved? Are we talking
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  Speaker 2: about domestic terrorism? Are we talking about inspiration from overseas terrorists?
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  Speaker 2: So these are all questions that we are asking our sources,
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  Speaker 2: and we are coming close to getting a little bit
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  Speaker 2: more detailed, but not there quite yet, but of course
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  Speaker 2: we'll bring that to you. What we also know, Pam
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  Speaker 2: this morning is that Dearborn officials in Michigan, which is
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  Speaker 2: a suburb of Detroit, and Inkster both have confirmed and
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  Speaker 2: the FBI in Detroit Field Office as well that activity
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  Speaker 2: was taking place, investigation by FBI officials happening in their cities.
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  Speaker 2: They put out a public alert saying listen, people can relax,
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  Speaker 2: take you know, there is no need for alarm that
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  Speaker 2: those investigations were happening in cities by the FBI. So
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  Speaker 2: we know that they are happening in those two towns,
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  Speaker 2: active investigations by the FBI, but again not much more
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  Speaker 2: detail about that. Of course, this is Halloween, October thirty. First, again,
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  Speaker 2: I've been saying it harkens for me just being in
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  Speaker 2: New York, that incident that happened back in twenty seventeen,
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  Speaker 2: that you know, attack, terrorists inspired attack that happened along
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  Speaker 2: the West Side Highway in New York killing eight people.
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  Speaker 2: So this is a day, as you know, Pam, so
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  Speaker 2: many law enforcement on high alert, and of course this
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  Speaker 2: sounds like a potential terrorist attack was thwarted. So we're
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  Speaker 2: going to get more details. As soon as I get
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  Speaker 2: I'll bring we all are.
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  Speaker 1: I was making calls to before the show trying to
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  Speaker 1: get any more details. I know you're working the phones
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  Speaker 1: to Brent. Hopefully we can learn a little bit more.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for that. So just to try to
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  Speaker 1: better understand what we know and put into context, I
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  Speaker 1: want to bring in Daniel Brunner, a retired FBI special
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  Speaker 1: agent and president of the Brunner See or a group. Daniel,
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  Speaker 1: first of all, just how unusual is this for the
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  Speaker 1: FBI director to send out a tweet like this that
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  Speaker 1: a potential terrorist attack was stopped was averted without sort
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  Speaker 1: of more details. So we're left hanging here a little bit.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we've learned I think with this administration and with
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  Speaker 3: this FBI director that the norm of what has always
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  Speaker 3: been is, especially with social media, is not the normal
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  Speaker 3: with him. He likes to tweet out information quickly, immediately,
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  Speaker 3: listen to one point, to one extreme. I understand it
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  Speaker 3: brings you know, understanding of what is happening. Because there's
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  Speaker 3: a lot of FBI agents probably working right now and
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  Speaker 3: near the site where in these alleged incident occurred, so
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  Speaker 3: there's gonna be a lot of questions. So in the
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  Speaker 3: lack of you know, having answers, he put it out there.
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  Speaker 3: And normally the public affairs office for the Detroit office
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  Speaker 3: will typically put something out or the public affairs office
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  Speaker 3: for FBI headquarters. But normally the FBI director doesn't tweet information.
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  Speaker 3: We've already learned. Sometimes they can get it, you know,
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  Speaker 3: get him self in trouble where he puts out information
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  Speaker 3: that isn't exactly accurate. So now we're not seeing evidence,
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  Speaker 3: we're not seeing information as to what this incident occurred,
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  Speaker 3: but we're we're seeing some incidents of you know, individuals
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  Speaker 3: and obviously Dearborn Police department putting out information to their locals,
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  Speaker 3: letting them know that they are handling a situation.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so what is going on you think behind the
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  Speaker 1: scenes right now with the FBI because you have this
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  Speaker 1: and we're waiting to learn more. But also just the
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  Speaker 1: overall heightened security posture around an event like Halloween.
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  Speaker 3: Well especially around events like this, we always stood up
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  Speaker 3: a minimized command post in Newark to be prepared for
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  Speaker 3: a situation, to immediately bring in all the resources needed
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  Speaker 3: to incident command was if this was done normally, you
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  Speaker 3: have a six am operation done in Michigan, which means
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  Speaker 3: that this was an investigation that was occurring. This was
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  Speaker 3: an imminent incident that was suddenly probably given to them
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  Speaker 3: as a tip last night, So this was probably a
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  Speaker 3: planned operation at six am. And this is typically what
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  Speaker 3: they want to do in an FBI investigation is they
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  Speaker 3: want to get as much information and evidence against the
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  Speaker 3: individuals that are conducting this alleged attack, and almost to
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  Speaker 3: the point where they're about to conduct the attack. So
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  Speaker 3: if they're about if they're planning it, they don't want
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  Speaker 3: to get it too early because that'll not be enough evidence.
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  Speaker 3: But if they're planning it and getting everything ready, if
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  Speaker 3: they were undercover agents, they're gathering evidence, if there was
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  Speaker 3: electronic surveillance, they're gathering all the conversations. So there's a
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  Speaker 3: lot of data coming in and I'm sure that we're
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  Speaker 3: going to get more information once a press conference is
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  Speaker 3: held later.
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  Speaker 1: Today and tell us more about just the timing of
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  Speaker 1: this Halloween. I know a lot of parents are looking
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  Speaker 1: out this and thinking, well, you know, we're going to
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  Speaker 1: go trick or treating today with our family, should we
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  Speaker 1: be on heightened alert. What do you make of the
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  Speaker 1: time mean, Well.
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  Speaker 3: I think that anytime you know, we're out with our family,
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  Speaker 3: especially events like this that are large gatherings of people,
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  Speaker 3: groups of people, you should undoubtedly be a little bit
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  Speaker 3: more aware of your surroundings. People that are completely enclosed
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  Speaker 3: and not paying attention to their surroundings, that's a little bit.
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  Speaker 3: It adds a little bit more danger. But events like
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  Speaker 3: this where there are large gatherings of people, I don't
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  Speaker 3: think anybody should not go because they feel afraid. I
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  Speaker 3: don't think anybody should change their way. The FBI, local
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  Speaker 3: police department, State department, state officials, they're all working really
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  Speaker 3: hard and they're aware of these large events. Thanksgiving, Christmas,
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  Speaker 3: We're coming up on a lot of different times where
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  Speaker 3: they are large gatherings of people. So keeping yourself aware
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  Speaker 3: of your situation, listening to law enforcement, and having a
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  Speaker 3: plan to be prepared to get out of a situation.
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  Speaker 3: Think about that when you go to an event. Don't
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  Speaker 3: put yourself in a corner. If you know you're going
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  Speaker 3: to be like, Okay, if the situation happens, let's go
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  Speaker 3: this way, let's go to the left. Listen to law enforcement,
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  Speaker 3: listen to your federal authorities. That'll be the best way.
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  Speaker 1: Sad you even have to think about that, but in
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  Speaker 1: this day and age, you do. Daniel Brunner, thank you
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  Speaker 1: so much. Appreciate you coming on. I want to bring
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  Speaker 1: in Andrew McCabe, seeing in senior law enforcement analysts and
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  Speaker 1: former deputy director of the FBI to better understand this.
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  Speaker 1: What is your reaction to this news and what does
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  Speaker 1: isis inspired suggest to you?
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  Speaker 4: Andy Well, isis inspired?
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  Speaker 5: Is this?
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  Speaker 2: You know?
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  Speaker 5: That's the moniker that our counter terrors and professionals, the
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  Speaker 5: FBI and other agencies are most concerned about. Right. We
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  Speaker 5: saw that very recently in the January first attack this year,
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  Speaker 5: the individual who attacked the crowds excuse me, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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  Speaker 5: Same thing there isis inspired.
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  Speaker 4: So it's very serious.
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  Speaker 5: It indicates and you know, a desire to inflict mass casualties.
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  Speaker 5: My reaction to this, Pam is I'm just thrilled that
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  Speaker 5: the FBI is still doing this kind of very delicate,
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  Speaker 5: very hard work, finding these individuals wherever they are congregating,
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  Speaker 5: whether that's online or in the real world, and doing
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  Speaker 5: what's necessary to make an assessment of whether or not
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  Speaker 5: this is just talk or if it's if it's been
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  Speaker 5: elevated to the level of an actual conspiracy to take
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  Speaker 5: action and hurt people.
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  Speaker 4: Good, it's great work.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, help us better understand that how the FBI makes
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  Speaker 1: that determination. If an FBI agent's in a chat room
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  Speaker 1: and they're talking about a lot and then use references
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  Speaker 1: like Pumpkin Day around the holiday weekend, how do you
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  Speaker 1: make the determination that they're close to being operational versus
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  Speaker 1: just chatting in a chat room and throwing stuff out there.
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  Speaker 5: Sure, So, I think it's important to note that the
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  Speaker 5: FBI investigates individuals. They don't investigate locations, either online locations,
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  Speaker 5: chat rooms, or other physical places. So when your investigation
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  Speaker 5: of people takes you into one of these, you know
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  Speaker 5: it enables you to establish like a surveillance or an
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  Speaker 5: intelligence collection opportunity in one of these chats.
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  Speaker 4: Then the focus becomes on two points. It's intent and capability.
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  Speaker 4: So you're listening to that chat, you are trying to
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  Speaker 4: assess do these people intend to actually harm others and
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  Speaker 4: do they have the.
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  Speaker 5: Capability to do so? So you're looking for mentions of
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  Speaker 5: things like preparation, like the acquisition of weapons or of
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  Speaker 5: precursor chemicals. Now that we don't know what they had in.
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  Speaker 4: This situation, but I'm just speaking hypothetically. Those are the
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  Speaker 4: sorts of things that you look for using an online undercover,
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  Speaker 4: which apparently they did here. According to some of our sources,
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  Speaker 4: is one of the best ways to do that. You
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  Speaker 4: have to have someone in that conversation who can monitor
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  Speaker 4: it and to make those real time assessments as to
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  Speaker 4: intent and capability.