FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday that the agency had thwarted a “potential terrorist attack” planned in the northern US state of Michigan over Halloween weekend.

Patel did not provide any details about the alleged plot but CBS News, citing law enforcement sources, said it was “inspired” by Daesh.

“This morning the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend,” Patel said in a post on X.

“Through swift action and close coordination with our local partners, a potential act of terror was stopped before it could unfold.”

CBS said five people between the ages of 16 and 20 were arrested Friday, and one or more of them may have known a former member of the Michigan National Guard who was arrested in May for planning an IS-inspired attack on a US Army site in suburban Detroit.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation had been monitoring an online discussion about the plot for some time, the broadcaster said.

According to CNN, members of the group had chatted online about carrying out an attack, practised with automatic weapons at a shooting range and made references to “pumpkin day.”

In a post on Facebook, the police department in Dearborn, a city west of Detroit, said the FBI had conducted operations there early Friday.

“We want to assure our residents that there is no threat to the community at this time,” the police department said.

FBI agents were spotted searching homes in the Dearborn area on Friday morning.

• Journalists will need appointment to see press secretary.
• Move follows crackdown on press access at Pentagon.
• New rule takes effect immediately.

A new White House rule issued Friday restricts the ability of credentialed journalists to freely access the offices of press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other top communications officials in the West Wing, near the Oval Office.

The new memorandum from the National Security Council bans journalists from accessing Room 140, also known as “Upper Press,” without a prior appointment, citing the need to protect potentially sensitive material. It said the change would take effect immediately.

The White House move follows restrictions put in place earlier this month for reporters at the Department of Defence, a move that prompted dozens of journalists to vacate their offices in the Pentagon and return their credentials.

The National Security Council said the change was made because structural changes to the NSC mean White House communications officials are now “routinely engaging with sensitive material.”

“In order to protect such material, and maintain coordination between National Security Council Staff and White House Communications Staff, members of the press are no longer permitted to access Room 140 without prior approval in the form of an appointment with an authorised White House Staff Member,” the memo said.

Previously, credentialed White House journalists could access Room 140, which is a short hallway from the Oval Office, on short notice to speak with Leavitt, her deputy Steven Cheung and other senior officials.

The White House Correspondents Association, which represents journalists covering the White House, could not be reached for immediate comment.

The Trump administration, months ago, removed Reuters, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News from the permanent “pool” of reporters covering the president, although it allows those outlets to participate on a sporadic basis.

Friday’s announcement comes weeks after the crackdown on press access by the Defence Department, which now requires news outlets to sign a new policy or lose access to press credentials and Pentagon workspaces.

At least 30 news organisations, including Reuters, declined to agree to the Pentagon restrictions, citing a threat to press freedoms and their ability to conduct independent newsgathering.

The Pentagon policy requires journalists to acknowledge new rules on press access, including that they could be branded security risks and have their Pentagon press badges revoked if they ask department employees to disclose classified and some types of unclassified information.

France’s culture minister said on Friday anti-ramming devices would be set up around the Louvre by year’s end, after a high-profile heist at the famed museum reignited debate over its security.

The announcement comes after four thieves parked a truck with a moving lift under one of its windows during opening hours on October 19, then used cutting gear to break into a first-floor gallery and steal jewellery worth an estimated $102 million.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati, speaking after reading an initial report on the museum’s security systems, said on Friday that urgent measures were needed to address the situation.

“For more than 20 years, there has been a chronic underestimation of intrusion and theft risks” at the Louvre, Dati told broadcaster TF1. “We can’t continue like this.”

The report cited inadequate security equipment and “completely obsolete” intrusion-response protocols, she added.

Last week, the Louvre’s director Laurence des Cars said security cameras did not adequately cover the thieves’ point of entry, the only camera installed facing away from the balcony by which they entered.

Dati said the museum’s internal security systems worked on the day of the theft, but also warned of “major security flaws” outside the building.

To address some of the shortcomings, “anti-ramming” and “anti-intrusion” devices were to be installed “before the end of the year”, she said, without elaborating.

Des Cars said last week that the first of several “anti-ramming” barriers was being installed outside the museum.

French police have so far arrested seven people over the robbery, and two of them so far have been charged with theft and criminal conspiracy. But the stolen loot remains missing.

Among the missing pieces are an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds.