Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Tuesday cited the arrest of a man who allegedly killed eight people and injured more than a dozen in a truck attack on a bike path in New York City was "significant" because "maybe you'll get some insight into what exactly motivated him."
"It will also be interesting to see whether or not ISIS makes a claim of responsibility for this, which is very convenient for them to do when the perpetrator is dead," Clapper, who served in the Obama administration, told Jake Tapper on CNN.
"In this case, maybe we'll gain some information and insight into what led to this."
The Associated Press cited law enforcement sources who confirmed the casualty numbers, saying that a man drove a Home Depot pickup truck down a bike path in lower Manhattan, near the World Trade Center.
CNN reported that authorities are investigating the attack as terrorism, as witnesses told authorities that the man was yelling the Arabic chant "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great."
Clapper told Tapper that the attack immediately brought to mind the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 that killed three people — six overall — and injured 280 others.
"One key thing will happen is whether this person was on anyone's radar scope, either the FBI and NYPD.
"And then, the question is how intrusive should law enforcement and intelligence be?
"Whenever we have these incidents, the critique normally is we should have been more intrusive," Clapper said. "There should have been more surveillance.
"This is exactly what happened after the Boston marathon.
"Of course, regrettably this method of operation now, a simple thing like a truck which can be turned into a terrorist weapon, and once again, it appears that we're seeing an example of that."
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