During the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray hinted that the government and businesses might work together more.
“I think the private sector is getting smarter, and I think it’s especially important that the level of cooperation between the private sector and the government, especially the FBI, has made big steps forward,” he said.
His comment came 22 minutes and 50 seconds into a panel discussion called “In the Name of National Security.” The full conversation is viewable on the WEF website.
Wray was answering moderator and WIRED editor-in-chief Gordon Lichfield’s question about whether the U.S. infrastructure is “becoming more or less vulnerable.”
In the past few months, the FBI has gotten into trouble for working with the private sector at least once.
Late last year, it became clear how much the agency influenced how Twitter moderated content. This made some people angry. After buying Twitter in October, Elon Musk, the company’s new CEO, released a bunch of internal documents that showed the company was in regular contact with its old leadership.
The FBI had directly requested that Twitter take down election-related tweets and suspend accounts, and their advice reportedly “primed” Twitter officials to suspect the so-called Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation and restrict sharing it.
The story, an unwelcome surprise for the Democrats late in the election cycle, was widely shunned and discredited at the time but has been largely verified in the years since.
The alleged politicization of the FBI is one of the main targets of a new subcommittee in the House of Representatives investigating the “weaponization of the federal government,” as reported by CBS News.
More than 2,700 world leaders, including at least 11 members of Congress, are spending this week at the Davos meeting, where they’re discussing ways to manage the global system. This year’s event involves speeches and panel discussions on issues like recession fears, the Ukraine war and climate change.
American Military News Rephrased By: InfoArmed