As America approaches the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, FBI Director Kash Patel has offered a timely reminder of what counterterrorism is supposed to do: stop violence before Americans are forced to mourn it. Speaking recently with law-enforcement partners in New York, Patel highlighted the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces — now more than 200-strong nationwide — as one of the country’s most effective defenses against terrorist threats. The message matters. The JTTFs exist to connect intelligence, pursue leads, investigate threats, gather evidence, make arrests, and act before warning signs become tragedy.

That mission is especially urgent as the confrontation with the Islamic Republic of Iran enters a more dangerous phase. Iran does not need to launch missiles at the United States to threaten Americans at home. It can rely on intelligence operatives, cyber actors, proxy networks, criminal intermediaries, illicit finance, and covert facilitators. These are the tools of an asymmetric campaign: methods designed to blur the line between a conflict overseas and a threat on American soil.