THE FBI LAB REPORT CARD
Using Science to Protect America
04/05/04
-
Bombs in Saudi Arabia killed 23 people, including
nine
Americans;
-
A man in Washington goes to jail for possessing a
biological
weapon (ricin) with the intent to use it;
What
do all of these case have in common? They
were all worked with the assistance of the FBI
Laboratory in 2003.
The
Laboratory's focus during 2003 and beyond? The
war against terrorism. The Lab has strengthened
its operational response programs and expanded
its forensic capabilities to give us new "weapons" of
our own in this war. For instance, when fully
operational, the new multiagency Terrorist Explosive
Devices Analytical Center will give us a better
window into explosive devices used by terrorists.
And the new Chem-Bio Sciences Unit is working
with the U.S. military and national labs to forensically
analyze hazardous chemical, biological, and nuclear
materials.
Its people? The FBI Lab is staffed
by 700 professionals whose first allegiance is
to the victims of terrorism and other crimes. As
a matter of fact, these words are inscribed in
front of the Lab's new 470,000-square-foot building
in Quantico, VA.
"Behind
every case is a victim--man, woman, or child--and
the people who care for them. We dedicate our
efforts and the new FBI Laboratory building
to those victims."
Its
technologies? Of course things like DNA
analysis, latent prints, forensic facial imaging,
firearms/toolmarks, trace evidence, explosives
analysis, etc. But the FBI Lab also performs dozens
of other kinds of forensic analysis. Structural
design experts reconstruct buildings and terrain
where crimes have been committed. Cryptanalysts
decrypt communications written by terrorists, foreign
intelligence agents, and criminals. Documents examiners
uncover clues from handwriting, typewriting even
the paper itself. And metallurgists examine evidence
from air, rail, and maritime disasters.
Outreach
efforts? Lots of them. We have a Visiting
Scientist Program. We have Scientific Working Groups
to strengthen federal, state, and local forensic
partnerships. Our Research Partnership Program
works to transfer new technologies to state and
local labs and create new forensic databases.
In
the words of FBI Laboratory Director Dr. Dwight E.
Adams, the Lab's accomplishments are "not ours
alone...the FBI Laboratory will continue to benefit
from its partnerships with national, state, and local
laboratories and academia."
