FBI Director Concerned About QAnon’s Potential for Violence

The FBI remains “concerned” about the far-right QAnon conspiracy movement’s potential for violence and will soon release an unclassified threat assessment about the group, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday. 

The FBI views QAnon as a “set of complex conspiracy theories largely promoted online which has sort of morphed into more of a movement,” Wray testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

“And we’re concerned about the potential that [people’s vulnerability to QAnon] can lead to violence. And where it is an inspiration for federal crime, we’re going to aggressively pursue it,” Wray said. 

Wray made the comments during a hearing on the U.S. intelligence community’s annual assessment of global threats, which warned that the U.S. and its allies will face “a diverse array of threats” over the coming year. CIA Director William Burns and other top intelligence officials also testified during Wednesday’s hearing. 

The QAnon movement emerged in 2017 when an anonymous poster on the 4chan messaging board began writing about then-President Donald Trump’s alleged secret battle with a “deep state” cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles. It has since grown into a global movement that boasts millions of followers and promotes an assortment of conspiracy theories. 

In 2019, the FBI for the first time singled out fringe conspiracy theories like QAnon as a potential domestic terrorist threat, warning that extremist activity inspired by conspiracy theories could pick up during the 2020 election campaign. 

The FBI has not released its assessment of QAnon, but Wray told lawmakers that the bureau will “very shortly” send a fully unclassified version of its analysis to Congress. 

QAnon conspiracy theorists played a visible role during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters that left five people dead, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and QAnon follower Ashli Babbitt. Rioters carrying “Q” and “QAnon” signs were seen outside and inside the Capitol. 

How many QAnon supporters took part in the Capitol breach remains uncertain. Wray said the FBI has arrested at least five “self-identified QAnon adherents” in connection with the attack.  

But researchers have identified a much higher level of QAnon participation. According to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland, 37 QAnon supporters were among the Capitol rioters who have been arrested. Including the 37 rioters, START has identified 71 QAnon supporters who have committed ideologically motivated crimes. 

“Everyone in our data at a minimum made public statements in support of the conspiracy theory. And if that doesn’t count as self-identification as a supporter, then I don’t know what does,” said Michael Jensen, principal investigator for the program. 

Asked how Wray arrived at the figure, an FBI spokeswoman said the bureau did not have anything to add to his comment. 

Jensen said Wray’s concerns about QAnon’s potential for violence are “justified.” 

“However, it is important to note that risk of violence from QAnon supporters is likely not as great as it is from other types of domestic extremists, including white nationalists, who are responsible for dozens of attacks and hundreds of hate crimes every year,” he said in an email. 

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