The
FBI has worked closely with the 9-11Commission and its
staff and we commend it for an extraordinary effort.
Throughout this process, we have approached the Commission's
inquiry as an opportunity to gain further input from
outside experts. We took its critiques seriously, adapted
our ongoing reform efforts, and have already taken substantial
steps to address its remaining concerns. We are gratified
and encouraged that the Commission has embraced our vision
for change and recognized the progress that the men and
women of the FBI have made to implement that vision.
We agree with the Commission that much work remains to
be done, and will consider its findings and recommendations
as we refine our continuing transformation efforts.
Following
the September 11th attacks, Director Mueller implemented
a comprehensive plan that fundamentally transformed the
FBI with one goal in mind: establishing the prevention
of terrorism as the Bureau's number one priority. No
longer are we content to concentrate on investigating
terrorist crimes after they occur; the FBI now is dedicated
to disrupting terrorists before they are able to strike.
Director Mueller has overhauled our counterterrorism
operations, expanded our intelligence capabilities, modernized
our business practices and technology, and improved coordination
with our partners.
FBI
Priorities
Director
Mueller clearly established a set of ten national program
priorities that strictly govern the allocation of personnel
and resources in every FBI program and field office.
The FBI today has a clear hierarchy of national priorities
with the prevention of terrorist attacks at the top of
the list. Field offices must allocate all necessary resources
to ensure that all terrorism-related leads are addressed
before resources can be dedicated to other priorities.
To
implement these new priorities, we increased the number
of Special Agents assigned to terrorism matters by 111%,
the number of intelligence analysts by 86% and the number
of linguists by 117%, between September 11, 2001 and
May 2004. We also established a number of operational
units and entities that provide new or improved capabilities
to address the terrorist threat. These include the 24/7
Counterterrorism Watch (CT Watch) and the National Joint
Terrorism Task Force (NJTTF), both of which manage and
share threat information; the Terrorism Financing Operation
Section (TFOS), which centralizes efforts to stop terrorist
financing; document/media exploitation squads to exploit,
which exploits material found both domestically and overseas
for its intelligence value; deployable "Fly Teams," which
lend counterterrorism expertise wherever it is needed;
the interagency Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) and
Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force (FTTTF), which
help identify terrorists and keep them out of the United
States; the Terrorism Reports and Requirements Section,
which disseminates FBI terrorism-related intelligence
to the Intelligence Community; and the Counterterrorism
Analysis Section, which "connects the dots" and
assesses the indicators of terrorist activity against
the U.S. from a strategic perspective.
We
centralized management of our Counterterrorism Program
at Headquarters to limit "stove-piping" of
information, to ensure consistency of counterterrorism
priorities and strategy across the organization, to integrate
counterterrorism operations domestically and overseas,
to improve coordination with other agencies and governments,
and to make senior managers accountable for the overall
development and success of our counterterrorism efforts.
Intelligence
Program
The
FBI is building an enterprise-wide intelligence program
that has substantially improved our ability to direct
strategically our intelligence collection and to fuse,
analyze, and disseminate our terrorism-related intelligence.
After passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, the issuance of
related Attorney General Guidelines, and the ensuing
opinion by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
of Review that brought down the "wall" that
sharply limited the ability of law enforcement and intelligence
officers to share information, we quickly implemented
a plan to integrate all our capabilities to better prevent
terrorist attacks. Director Mueller elevated intelligence
to program-level status, putting in place a formal structure
and concepts of operations to govern FBI-wide intelligence
functions and establish Field Intelligence Groups (FIGs)
in every field office.
The
New Workforce
The
FBI is actively working to build a workforce with expertise
in intelligence. While much remains to be done, we have
already taken steps to ensure this transformation.
On
March 22, 2004, Director Mueller adopted a proposal to
establish a career path in which new Special Agents are
initially assigned to a small field office and exposed
to a wide range of field experiences. After approximately
three years, agents will be transferred to a large field
office where they will specialize in one of four program
areas: Intelligence, Counterterrorism/ Counterintelligence,
Cyber, or Criminal, and will receive advanced training
tailored to their area of specialization. We are working
to implement this new career track.
Director
Mueller has also approved a proposal to establish a formal
Intelligence Officer Certification that can be earned
through a combination of intelligence assignments and
training. Once established, this certification will be
a prerequisite for promotion to the level of Section
Chief at FBIHQ, or Assistant Special Agent in Charge
(ASAC) at the field level, thus ensuring that all members
of the FBI's highest management levels will be staffed
by fully trained and experienced intelligence officers.
We
have implemented a strategic plan to recruit, hire, and
retain Intelligence Analysts. The Bureau has selected
veteran analysts to attend events at colleges and universities,
as well as designated career fairs throughout the country.
We executed an aggressive marketing plan, and for the
first time in FBI history, we are offering hiring bonuses
for FBI analysts.
In our Special Agent hiring program, we have updated the list of "critical
skills" we are seeking in candidates to include intelligence experience
and expertise, foreign languages, and technology.
We
continue to grow the Field Intelligence Groups (FIGs)
established in every FBI field office and are on track
to add some 300 Intelligence Analysts to the FIGs in
FY 2004. The FIGs conduct analysis, direct the collection
of information to fill identified intelligence gaps,
and ensure that intelligence is disseminated horizontally
and vertically to internal and external customers, including
our State, local and tribal law enforcement partners.
As of June 2, 2004, there are 1,450 FIG personnel, including
382 Special Agents and 160 employees from other government
agencies.
The FBI's Executive Assistant Director for Intelligence has been given personal
responsibility for developing and ensuring the health of the FBI intelligence
personnel resources. It is important to note that the FBI's intelligence
cadre is not limited to intelligence analysts, but also includes agents,
language analysts, surveillance specialists, and others. It takes all of
these specialists to perform quality intelligence production at the FBI.
The FBI's plan to create a cradle-to-grave career path for intelligence professionals
at the FBI parallels the one that has existed and functioned so well for
our agents and has been codified in our Concept of Operations (CONOP) for
Human Talent for Intelligence Production.
Information
Sharing and Coordination
To
support information sharing, there is now a Special Agent
or Intelligence Analyst in each Joint Terrorism Task
Force (JTTF) dedicated to producing "raw" intelligence
reports for the entire national security community, including
State, municipal, and tribal law enforcement partners
and other JTTF members. These "Reports Officers" are
trained to produce intelligence reports that both protect
sources and methods and maximize the amount of information
that can be shared.
Understanding
that we cannot defeat terrorism without strong partnerships,
we have enhanced the level of coordination and information
sharing with State and municipal law enforcement personnel.
We expanded the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces
(JTTFs), increased technological connectivity with our
partners, and implemented new ways of sharing information
through vehicles such as the FBI Intelligence Bulletin,
the FBI National Alert System, and the interagency Alert
System, and the Terrorist Screening Center. To improve
coordination with other Federal agencies and members
of the Intelligence Community, we joined with our Federal
partners to establish the Terrorist Threat Integration
Center, exchanged personnel, instituted joint briefings,
and started using secure networks to share information.
We also improved our relationships with foreign governments
by building on the overseas expansion of our Legat Program;
by offering investigative and forensic support and training,
and by working together on task forces and joint operations.
Finally, the FBI has expanded outreach to minority communities,
and improved coordination with private businesses involved
in critical infrastructure and finance.
As
the Commission points out, we have much work still to
do, but we have made great progress and continue to move
forward in accordance with a clear plan. With the support
and understanding of lawmakers and the American people,
I am confident that we will successfully complete our
transformation and ultimately prevail against terrorists
and all adversaries who would do harm to our Nation.
The FBI looks forward to an ongoing public discussion of ways to support
further information sharing and collaboration in the Intelligence and Law
Enforcement Communities, and thanks the 9-11 Commission for its public service.
Attached, for your information, is the testimony of my colleague, Maureen
Baginski, which presents additional information that may be of interest to
the Committee.
Thank you for inviting me here today to testify before the Committee, and
I will answer any questions you may have at the appropriate time.