Testimony of Robert S. Mueller III, Director, FBI
Before the United
States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
March 4, 2003
"The War Against Terrorism:
Working Together to Protect America"
Good morning Chairman Hatch,
Senator Leahy, and Members of the Committee.
In a recent appearance at FBI
Headquarters, President Bush re-emphasized to all FBI employees
that "the FBI has no greater priority than preventing
terrorist acts against America." Since the attacks of
September 11, 2001 the FBI has embraced this challenge and
transformed itself to address the current threat facing this
country.
Before I outline for the Committee
the advances the FBI has made in the past 18 months, I want
to assure the American people and the members of this Committee
-- who played such a vital role in enhancing the FBI's counterterrorism
efforts through the USA Patriot Act -- that the FBI is committed
to carrying out its mission in accordance with the protections
provided by the Constitution. Every FBI agent is trained to
recognize that the responsibility to respect and protect the
law is the basis for their authority to enforce it. Respect
for Constitutional liberties is not optional, it is mandatory.
The FBI could not be effective -- and would not exist -- without
it.
The FBI's efforts to identify
and dismantle terrorist networks have yielded major successes
over the past 18 months. We have charged over 200 suspected
terrorists with crimes -- half of whom have been convicted
to date. The rest are awaiting trial. Moreover, our efforts
have damaged terrorist networks and disrupted terrorist plots
across the country. In the past month alone, the FBI has arrested
36 international and 14 domestic suspected terrorists.
Last month, I testified before
the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that the Al-Qaeda
network will remain for the foreseeable future the most immediate
and serious threat facing this country. While this remains
true, the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, or KSM, in Pakistan
only three days ago is a significant blow to the leadership
of the Al-Qaeda network. While Osama Bin Ladin maintains worldwide
name recognition as the leader of Al-Qaeda, KSM is the operational
mastermind. His terrorist plots -- believed to include the
1993 World Trade Center bomb delivered by truck, the USS Cole
bomb delivered by boat, and the September 11th terrorist attacks
delivered by air -- have resulted in the death of thousands
of innocent people. We will never know the number of lives
saved by taking this man into custody.
I would like to congratulate
and thank our Pakistani partners on this major victory in
the war on terrorism. I assure you that any and all resources
of the FBI will be brought to bear to exploit the intelligence
formation that becomes available as a result of this arrest.
We will not lose sight, however,
of the fact that there are many groups committed to international
jihad which offer Al-Qaeda varying degrees of support. Nor
will we discount the threat from single individuals sympathetic
or affiliated with al-Qaeda, acting without external support
or surrounding conspiracies.
And despite the arrest of Khalid
Shaikh Mohammed, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks are
adept at defending their organizations from US and international
law enforcement efforts. As these terrorist organizations
evolve and change their tactics, we, too, must evolve. Accordingly,
the past 18 months have brought momentous changes to the FBI
-- including the incorporation of an enhanced intelligence
function -- that will better enable us to defend against the
terrorist threat.
ADAPTING TO MEET THE EVOLVING
TERRORIST THREAT
Mr. Chairman, to effectively
wage this war against terror, we have augmented our counterterrorism
resources and are making organizational enhancements to focus
our priorities. I would like to review some of those changes
with the Committee, beginning with the FBI's analytical program.
Analytical Program
- To give new focus to analysis,
last year I created an Analysis Branch in the Counterterrorism
Division and assigned it the mission of producing strategic
assessments of the terrorism threat to the United States.
To date, the Analysis Branch has produced nearly 30 in-depth
analytical assessments.
- Since 9/11, the FBI has increased
the number of CT analysts by 61 percent. Through FY04, our
proposed increase will result in quadruple the number of
analysts that we had pre-9/11. Recognizing that we could
not get to where we needed to be overnight, Director Tenet
detailed 25 of his analysts to the FBI to provide an immediate
infusion of expertise into our program while our hiring
initiative is underway.
- We have also implemented
a number of initiatives aimed at enhancing training for
our analytic workforce, including creating the College of
Analytical Studies, which, in conjunction with the CIA,
has begun training our new intelligence analysts. By the
end of the year, we expect over 200 analysts to have completed
the six-week training course.
Executive Assistant Director
for Intelligence
- These improvements to our
analytic program had to be made quickly to address our immediate
needs. I now want to ensure our ability to collect and analyze
intelligence for the long term.
- The centerpiece of this effort
is the establishment of an Executive Assistant Director
for Intelligence who will have direct authority and responsibility
for the FBI's national intelligence program. Specifically,
the EAD/I will be responsible for ensuring that the FBI
has the optimum strategies, structure, and policies in place
first and foremost for our counterterrorism mission. The
EAD/I will also oversee the intelligence programs for our
counterintelligence, criminal, and cyber divisions. He or
she will also ensure that we are sharing information with
our federal, state and local partners.
- Furthermore, intelligence
units staffed with Reports Officers will be established
in every field office and will function under the authority
of the EAD/I. The Reports Officers will be responsible for
identifying, extracting, and collecting intelligence from
FBI investigations and sharing that information throughout
the FBI and to other law enforcement and intelligence entities.
Specialized Counterterrorism
Units
To improve our system for threat
warnings, we have established a number of specialized counterterrorism
units. These include:
- CT Watch, a 24-hour Counterterrorism
Watch Center, to serve as the FBI's focal point for all
incoming terrorist threats;
- The Communications Analysis
Section to analyze terrorist electronic and telephone communications
and identify terrorist associations and networks;
- The Document Exploitation
Unit which identifies and disseminates intelligence gleaned
from million of pages of documents or computers seized overseas
by intelligence agencies;
- The Special Technologies
and Applications Section to provide technical support for
FBI field office investigations requiring specialized computer
technology expertise and support;
- The interagency Terrorist
Financing Operations Section devoted entirely to the financial
aspects of terrorism investigations and liaison with the
financial services industry;
Information Sharing and
Operational Coordination Initiatives
If we are to defeat terrorists
and their supporters, a wide range of organizations must work
together. I am committed to the closest possible cooperation
with the Intelligence Community and other federal government
agencies and our essential partners at the state and local
level.
- Joint Terrorism Task Forces
(JTTFs)
We are taking steps to enhance cooperation with federal,
state, and local agencies by expanding the number of JTTFs
from 35, as of 9/11, to 66 today. The JTTFs partner FBI
personnel with hundreds of investigators from various federal,
state, and local agencies in field offices across the country
and are important force multipliers aiding our fight against
terrorism.
Furthermore, over a 90-day period beginning in March, we
will provide 500 JTTF agents and state, and local law enforcement
personnel with specialized counterterrorism training and,
by the end of the year, basic counterterrorism training
to every JTTF member. This is in addition to the training
initiative I mentioned previously that will reach nearly
27,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement.
- The National JTTF
In July 2002, we established the National JTTF at FBI Headquarters,
staffed by representatives from 30 different federal, state,
and local agencies. The NJTTF acts as a "point of fusion"
for terrorism information by coordinating the flow of information
between Headquarters and the other JTTFs located across
the country and between the agencies represented on the
NJTTF and other government agencies.
- JTTF Training
To strengthen our cooperation with state and local law enforcement,
we are introducing counterterrorism training on a national
level. We will provide specialized counterterrorism training
to 224 agents and training technicians from every field
division in the country so that they, in turn, can train
an estimated 26,800 federal, state, and local law enforcement
officers this year in basic counterterrorism.
- JTTF Information Sharing
Initiative (JTTF ISI)
The JTTF ISI involves field offices in St. Louis, San Diego,
Seattle, Portland, Norfolk, and Baltimore. This pilot project,
which was first initiated in the St. Louis office, will
integrate extremely flexible search tools that will permit
investigators and analysts to perform searches on the "full
text" of investigative filesnot just indices.
An analyst or investigator will be able to smoothly transition
from searching text, to reviewing results, to examining
source documents, to developing link diagrams, to generating
map displays. In order to ensure proper security, four graduated
levels of security access are being built into the system.
- The Office of Law Enforcement
Coordination (OLEC)
The OLEC was created to enhance the ability of the FBI to
forge cooperation and substantive relationships with all
of our state and local law enforcement counterparts. The
OLEC, which is run by a former Chief of Police, also has
liaison responsibilities with the White House Homeland Security
Council.
- The FBI Intelligence Bulletin
The Bulletin, which is disseminated weekly to over 17,000
law enforcement agencies and to 60 federal agencies, provides
information about terrorism issues and threats to patrol
officers and other local law enforcement personnel who have
direct daily contacts with the general public, contacts
which could result in the discovery of critical information
about those issues and threats.
- Outreach
Furthermore, FBI analysts are making unprecedented efforts
to reach out to the intelligence, law enforcement, government,
and public sector communities. In addition to enhancing
our relationships with agencies related to WMD, as I mentioned
previously, we have established working relationships with
a host of non-traditional agencies, including the Army Corps
of Engineers and Bureau of Land Reclamation. We have also
expanded our relationship with such groups as the Transportation
Security Administration and the US Coast Guard.
FISA Reforms
- We created a FISA Unit responsible
for ensuring that FISA applications move expeditiously through
the FISA process. This unit is developing and implementing
an automated FISA management system, and it oversees the
expeditious distribution of FISA Court orders and warrants
to the appropriate field offices, telecommunications carriers,
Internet service provides, and other specified persons.
With the FISA management system on line, we will have the
ability -- for the first time -- to transfer FISA applications
between the field offices, FBI headquarters, and the Office
of Intelligence Policy and Review in a secure electronic
format and to monitor the progress of each application to
prevent the processing delays that have, at times, been
a source of frustration for our investigators.
- The FBI's National Security
Law Unit and the Department's Office of Intelligence Policy
and Review are collaborating on a number of procedural and
legal initiatives that are streamlining and simplifying
the process by which FBI agents obtain FISA authority.
- Since September 11, 2001,
attorneys from the National Security Law Unit have conducted
approximately 70 training sessions on FISA-related issues.
These sessions, which have been held at Quantico, at Headquarters,
and in the field, have been attended by agents and supervisors
in groups as small as twenty and as large as several hundred.
In addition, we are in the process of implementing the Deputy
Attorney General's mandate to establish a comprehensive
training curriculum on FISA and related matters for all
Justice Department lawyers and FBI agents who work on foreign
intelligence and counterintelligence investigations. This
curriculum is being compiled by DOJ's Criminal Division
and Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, and the FBI,
in consultation with the CIA and the Department's Office
of Legal Education (OLE). The training will cover, among
other things: the role and function of the FISA Court; the
definitions of critical terms and concepts, such as "foreign
power," "agent of a foreign power," "foreign
intelligence information," and "probable cause";
FISA's new "purpose" and "coordination"
provisions; the process of generating a FISA application
and obtaining an order from the FISA court; and the proper
minimization, use and sharing of FISA-derived information.
- Since September 11, 2001,
we have made full -- and very productive -- use of the emergency
FISA process whereby we can often establish electronic surveillance
within hours of establishing probable cause that an individual
is an appropriate FISA subject. Thanks to the efforts of
our agents and the attorneys in NSLU and OIPR, in the one
year period from September 11, 2001 to September 19, 2002,
we have obtained 113 emergency FISAs, compared to the 46
emergency FISAs we obtained in the prior 23 years since
the FISA statute came into existence.
Other Initiatives
- To prevent terrorists from
acquiring Weapons of Mass Destruction, we have undertaken
a number of initiatives. We are coordinating with suppliers
and manufacturers of WMD materials in an effort to help
them voluntarily report any suspicious purchases or inquiries.
- To protect US citizens abroad,
we have expanded our Legal Attache and Liaison presence
around the world to 46 offices. Our presence has enhanced
the FBI's ability to bring investigative resources to bear
quickly in the aftermath of terrorist acts, such as the
October 2002 shooting of USAID officer Laurence Foley in
Amman and bombing of a disco in Bali. We also assist foreign
liaison in following up terrorist leads around the world.
- To augment local field office
investigative capabilities, Flying Squads were established
to provide for specialized personnel to respond to fast-breaking
situations and provide a surge capacity in support of FBI
Rapid Deployment Teams.
The counterterrorism measures
I have just described essentially complete the first phase
of our intelligence program. We are now beginning the second
phase that will focus on expanding and enhancing our ability
to collect, analyze, and disseminate intelligence.
Information Technology
We are also addressing the shortcomings
of the Bureau's information technology. Over the years, we
have failed to develop a sufficient capacity to collect, store,
search, retrieve, analyze and share information. Mr. Chairman,
you are aware of problems the FBI has experienced because
of outdated technology. Thanks to support from Congress, the
FBI has embarked on a comprehensive overhaul and revitalization
of our information technology infrastructure. That process
is well under way, but our technological problems are complex,
and they will be remedied only through careful and methodical
planning and implementation. We have made progress in the
past 18 months, and we have laid the groundwork for significant
progress in the months and years ahead.
- The Trilogy Program.
The first major step in the right direction is our Trilogy
Program. The Trilogy Program was designed as a 36-month
effort to enhance our effectiveness through technologies
that facilitate better organization, access and analysis
of information. The overall direction of the Trilogy Program
is to provide all FBI offices with improved network communications,
a common and current set of office automation tools, and
easy-to-use, re-engineered, web-based applications.
The original plan for Trilogy was development and deployment
over 36 months from the date of the contract awards for
the infrastructure and applications development, May and
June 2001, respectively. The events of September 11, 2001
impacted many aspects of the FBI, including the Trilogy
Program. Recognizing the urgent need for improved information
technologies, I ordered that Trilogy implementation emphasize
those capabilities most urgently needed to support the FBI's
priority cases. The resulting improvements are significant.
- The infrastructure enhancements
required to support Trilogy are in place. This architecture
includes new network printers, color scanners, local area
network upgrades, desktop workstations, and Microsoft Office
applications.
- The full upgrade will provide
wide area network connectivity, new encryption devices to
protect our data and new operating systems and servers.
Completion of these activities is expected by the end of
this month.
- We also recognized that,
outside of the Trilogy Program, we have a critical need
to share Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information
(TS/SCI) data internally, primarily among analysts. We are
planning a phased implementation at FBI Headquarters followed
by deployment within the Intelligence Community of a system
that will markedly increase our ability to conduct strategic
analysis.
TERRORIST THREAT INTEGRATION
CENTER (TTIC)
Mr. Chairman, I would like to
take this opportunity to pledge my strong support for the
President's initiative to establish a Terrorist Threat Integration
Center (TTIC) that will merge and analyze terrorist-related
information collected domestically and abroad. This initiative
will be crucially important to the success of our mission
in the FBI, and it will take us to the next level in being
able to prevent another terrorist attack on our nation.
TTIC will focus on terrorist
threat analysis. It will not conduct collection, though it
will establish requirements for agencies. The TTIC proposal
does not authorize any additional collection of any kind.
TTIC will analyze information both foreign and domestic to
provide a comprehensive threat picture.
TTIC participants will continue
to be bound by all applicable privacy statutes, Executive
Orders, and other relevant legal authorities for protecting
privacy and our Constitutional liberties.
Information technology and information
handling procedures will be designed consistent with the protection
of our Constitutional liberties, and participants will continue
to be answerable both to internal agency oversight and Congressional
oversight.
TTIC will institutionalize the
process we currently go through to produce the Daily Threat
Matrix. As it becomes fully operational, it will be the focal
point for requests for terrorist threat analysis.
The FBI views the TTIC as an
important resource. The TTIC will provide all-source, integrated
analysis to the FBI, DHS, and other federal intelligence and
law enforcement agencies, which, in turn, can quickly share
the analysis with state and local law enforcement who are
essential partners in the fight against terrorism. We recognize
that the two-way flow of information between federal and local
law enforcement is necessary to continuously sharpen both
the collection and analysis of threat-related information.
Once again, the dozens of FBI JTTFs around the country provide
an effective channel to share the TTIC's analytical products
with our partners in state and local law enforcement. The
FBI is committed to working with the Department of Homeland
Security to push information and analysis out of the TTIC
to other federal agencies, and to state and local officials.
TTIC will be headed by a senior
U.S. Government official, who will report to the Director
of Central Intelligence. This individual will be appointed
by the Director of Central Intelligence, in consultation with
the Director of the FBI and the Attorney General, and the
Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense.
As soon as an appropriate facility
is available, the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, the Director
of Central Intelligence's Counterterrorist Center, and TTIC
(which will include significant participation by DHS), will
relocate to a single new facility in order to improve collaboration
and enhance the government's ability to thwart terrorist attacks
and bring terrorists to justice.
Co-location of the CIA's and
FBI's counterterrorism operational elements will:
- Speed the creation of compatible
information infrastructure with enhanced capabilities, expanded
and more accessible databases, and greater network sharing
on counterterrorism issues.
- Enhance interaction, information
sharing, and synergy among U.S. officials involved in the
war against terrorism.
- Potentially allow the FBI
and CIA each to manage more effectively their counterterrorism
resources by reducing overhead and redundant capabilities.
- Further enhance the ability
of comprehensive, all-source analysis to guide our collection
strategies.
Co-location will afford greater
opportunity for the FBI and the Intelligence Community to
enhance the coordination of operations against terrorist targets
inside and outside the United States. For this reason, the
FBI strongly supports and looks forward to the expeditious
implementation of plans to co-locate the FBI's Counterterrorism
Division (CTD) with the CIA's Counterterrorism Center (CTC),
the Department of Homeland Security, and other U.S. agencies
participating in the TTIC.
Mr. Chairman, let me conclude
by saying that the nature of the threats facing the US homeland
continues to evolve and so does the FBI. We have made significant
strides towards enhancing our operations and I appreciate
the opportunity to explain those to the Committee today. While
we have come a long way in the past 18 months, we have a long
way yet to go. I look forward to working with the Committee
in the months ahead to further enhance our ability to combat
terrorism and to ensure the strongest, most effective FBI
possible.
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