--- description: The FBI has arrested around a dozen people in the four weeks prior to July 4 title: FBI Thwarted July 4 Terrorist Attacks, Director Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda466c6d7cb2f418/69885a540a4a222fc49c5169/james-comey.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [justice](/tag/justice/) ## justice Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # FBI Thwarted July 4 Terrorist Attacks, Director Says by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 9, 2015 10:01 PM CUT  FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee on 'Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and the Challenges of Going Dark', on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 8, 2015. FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee on 'Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and the Challenges of Going Dark', on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 8, 2015.Michael Reynolds—EPA by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 9, 2015 10:01 PM CUT Some of the dozen arrests made by federal agents in the last four weeks helped to thwart potential terror attacks during the Fourth of July holiday, FBI Director James Comey said Thursday. “I do believe our work disrupted efforts to kill people, likely in connection with July 4,” Comey told reporters at FBI headquarters in Washington. Comey’s comments are a public confirmation made by other law enforcement that several people were arrested in the past month over concerns that they might have been inspired by ISIS to carry out attacks either during the holiday or during the Muslim holy period of… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/several-isis-inspired-july-4-attacks-foiled-fbi-director-james-n389441?cid=par-time-article%5F20150709 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3952204/fbi-july-4-terror-attacks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3952204/fbi-july-4-terror-attacks/"},"headline":"FBI Thwarted July 4 Terrorist Attacks, Director Says","datePublished":"2015-07-09T22:01:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:07:35.610Z","description":"\"I do believe our work disrupted efforts to kill people,\" James Comey said","url":"https://time.com/3952204/fbi-july-4-terror-attacks/","keywords":["justice","Crime","Terrorism","ISIS","FBI"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda466c6d7cb2f418/69885a540a4a222fc49c5169/james-comey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda466c6d7cb2f418/69885a540a4a222fc49c5169/james-comey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee on 'Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and the Challenges of Going Dark', on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 8, 2015.","caption":"FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee on 'Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and the Challenges of Going Dark', on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 8, 2015.","creditText":"Michael Reynolds—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3952204/fbi-july-4-terror-attacks/","name":"FBI Thwarted July 4 Terrorist Attacks, Director Says"}}]}] ```