Testimony
of
Donna A. Bucella,
Director,
Terrorist Screening Center, FBI
Before
the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
January 26, 2004
Good
morning Chairman Kean, Vice Chairman Hamilton,
and members of the Commission. Thank you for this opportunity
to discuss the mission and objectives of the new
Terrorist
Screening Center (TSC). The TSC was created to
ensure that government investigators, screeners, agents
and
state and local law enforcement officers have ready
access to the information and expertise they need
to respond quickly when a suspected terrorist is screened
or stopped. The TSC will consolidate access to
terrorist
watch lists from multiple agencies and provide
24/7 operational support for thousands of federal screeners
and state and local law enforcement officers across
the country and around the world. When fully operational,
the TSC will dramatically increase our ability
to ensure
that federal, state, and local officials are working
off of the same unified, comprehensive set of anti-terrorist
information.
This
is an enormous task, and it requires cooperation
and coordination from multiple agencies. Pursuant to
Homeland
Security Presidential Directive 6, (HSPD 6),
the FBI administers the TSC with the support from the
Intelligence
Community, the Department of Justice, the Department
of Homeland Security, and the Department of State.
The Department of Justice, the Department of
Homeland Security, and the Department of State have
representatives
assigned to the TSC, and each is responsible
for specific aspects of the TSC's mission.
TSC
Capabilities
Under
its implementing agreement, TSC, through the FBI, was
required to achieve an initial operating capability
on December 1, 2003 -- only 75 days from its inception
on September 16, 2003. This milestone was achieved
and since December 1, 2003, TSC has been providing
key resources for screeners and law enforcement personnel.
These include:
(1)
a single coordination point for terrorist screening
data;
-
a
consolidated 24/7 call center for encounter identification
assistance;
-
a
coordinated law enforcement response to federal,
state and local law enforcement; and,
-
a
formal process for tracking encounters and ensuring
feedback is supplied to the appropriate entities.
The
TSC's initial capabilities are limited due to
the need to integrate records in a way that ensures that
the
data about suspected terrorists is as accurate
as possible. Each agency contributing data to the TSC
is using its
own database. These databases, which were created
to support the mission of the individual agencies, are
in many instances, their case management systems,
not
terrorist watch lists.
The
TSC has approached the challenge to consolidate
terrorists watch lists by implementing a "phased in" approach.
Since December 1, 2003, the TSC has had the ability
to: (1) make the names and identifying information
of terrorists, known to or suspected by the U.S.
Government, accessible to federal, state and local
law enforcement;
(2) have a system for properly reviewing whether
a known or suspected terrorist should be included
in
or deleted from additional screening processes;
(3) administer a process to ensure that persons, who
may share a name with a known or suspected terrorist,
are
not unduly inconvenienced in U.S. Government screening
processes; and, (4) implement a system to adjust
or delete outdated or incorrect information to
prevent problems arising from misidentifications.
By
this summer, TSC will have a single, consolidated Terrorist
Screening Database (TSDB). Before the end of this year,
the TSC will create a more dynamic database and use
a single, integrated system for ensuring known or suspected
terrorists' identities are promptly incorporated into
all appropriate screening processes. The terrorist
screening database will allow private sector entities,
such as operators of critical infrastructure facilities
or organizers of large events, to submit a list of
persons to the U.S. Government to identify possible
terrorists. In addition, the TSC will begin to implement
mechanisms for sharing terrorist screening information
with cooperating countries. The Department of State
is currently working on this issue.
Consolidated
Terrorist Screening Database
The
consolidated Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) will
be a continuously updated, unclassified law enforcement
sensitive database, containing identifying information
of all known or suspected terrorists.
The
TSC allows the consolidation of disparate information,
currently held by multiple agencies and used in different
ways, to be brought together for a single purpose --
To help identify and detain potential terrorists to
prevent future terrorist attacks.
The
TSC will receive the vast majority of its information
about known or suspected international terrorists
from the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), which
will assemble and analyze information from a wide
range
of sources to identify potential terrorists. The
FBI will provide the TSC with information about purely
domestic terrorism - that is, information that has
been determined to have no link to foreign intelligence,
counterintelligence, or international terrorism.
The TSC will then consolidate this identifying information
from these records and make it accessible for queries
from federal, state, and local agencies for screening
purposes.
When
a nomination is received at the TSC, it is reviewed
by assignees to the TSC from participating agencies,
who, in consultation with their assigning member
agencies, determine how an encounter with this individual
will
be handled. The system is tailored to give different
instructions depending on where the encounter takes
place. For example, an FBI representative who reviews
a record may determine that an individual is subject
to a criminal warrant and needs to be detained by
state and local law enforcement, while the Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) representative may
decide
that the individual is to be placed on the "No-fly" list.
This tailoring ensures that specific instructions
are provided to federal, state, and local agencies
based
on their legal authority.
Currently,
most calls to the TSC come from Customs and Border
Protection based on encounters made at our borders.
Other inquiries are made by state and local police
departments and the Department of State's Bureau of
Consular Affairs.
Let
me take a moment to describe for you the typical process
for a TSC inquiry. When a passenger arrives in the
United States and he is a possible match to the TSC
record, Customs and Border Protection contacts the
TSC for assistance in the identification process. The
TSC, taking advantage of its electronic access to all
of the information contained in the FBI and the Terrorist
Threat Integration Center (TTIC) databases, attempts
to determine if the person is a positive or negative
match to the record. All positive or inconclusive matches
are then passed to the FBI Counterterrorism Watch (CT
Watch) for follow-up action, and the results of the
follow-up are then shared with and communicated back
to the originating agency. This action includes the
review of sensitive information to assist the officer
and provides instruction to that officer as to how
the person should be handled. For example, the officer
may be instructed-- in appropriate and lawfully authorized
circumstances -- to arrest, detain or question the
individual. The Counterterrorism Watch simultaneously
coordinates with the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF)
within that area of concern for the coordinating law
enforcement response. The results of the follow-up
are then shared with and communicated back to the originating
agency.
In
the case of a police inquiry, the TSC receives a call
from a local police department. By querying the National
Crime Information Center (NCIC) database which contains
an instruction to contact the TSC, for the first time,
a local police officer who pulls an individual over
during a routine traffic stop will now know if the
person encountered is a known or suspected terrorist.
If there is a positive or inconclusive identification
match, the TSC follows its procedure and telephonically
conferences in the FBI's Counterterrorism Watch for
specific instructions about appropriate action that
may be taken. Such specific instructions may include
-- in appropriate and lawfully authorized circumstances
-- arresting, detaining, or questioning the individual.
Lastly, the FBI's Counterterrorism Watch reports the
final case resolution to the TSC, and the TSC's call
center then facilitates feedback to the Terrorist Threat
Integration Center (TTIC) and appropriate agencies.
As a result, the originating agencies' file will constantly
be updated with fresh and pertinent information for
further analysis by that agency.
Safeguarding
Civil Liberties
We
recognize that with all of these capabilities also
comes the responsibility to ensure that we continue
to protect our civil liberties.
The
TSC has absolutely no independent authority to conduct
intelligence collection or other operations. In fact,
the TSC does not collect information at all - it
only receives information collected by other entities
with
preexisting authority to do so, each with their own
policies and procedures to protect privacy rights
and civil liberties. The handling and use of information,
including U.S. person information, is governed by
the
same statutory, regulatory, and constitutional requirements
as if the information was not to be included in a
TSC-managed database.
The
TSC's primary mission is to ensure that the identities
data that is already known to the U.S. Government is
held in one location where it can be queried by those
who need it, including federal security screeners and
state and local law enforcement officers. The structures
which are in place also ensure that information about
U.S. persons that has been determined to be purely
domestic terrorism information with no link to foreign
intelligence, counterintelligence, or international
terrorism does not go through the Terrorist Threat
Integration Center, but instead is placed directly
into the TSC by the FBI. The Attorney General has also
been directed to implement procedures and safeguards
with respect to information about U.S. persons, in
coordination with the Secretary of State, the Secretary
of Homeland Security, and the Director of Central Intelligence.
We
are also committed to addressing the issues and inconveniences
arising from the misidentification of persons under
previous watchlisting practices. Procedures are in
place to review and promptly adjust or delete erroneous
or outdated information, and several such records have
already been identified, and updated or removed. In
addition, we are currently in the process of creating
the Office of Ombudsman to handle the misidentification
process for the TSC.
The
creation of the Terrorist Screening Center marks a
significant step forward in protecting America's communities
and families by detecting, disrupting, or preempting
terrorist threats. The TSC builds on the improvements
to U.S. watch list capabilities that began following
the horrific September 11th attacks. The TSC is already
contributing to nationwide efforts to keep terrorists
out of the U.S. and locate those who may already be
in the country. The TSC will be able to fulfill this
mission more effectively and efficiently after we achieve
full operating capability later this year. I appreciate
the Commission's interest in the TSC's activities and
the work all of you are doing. I would be happy to
answer any questions the Commission may have.
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