FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 15, 2004
SCHUMER: ASHCROFT & FBI FALLING WAY SHORT IN WAR ON
TERRORISM; FAILED TO TAKE ADEQUATE CORRECTIVE ACTION EVEN AFTER
9/11
Schumer Says Major FBI Overhaul is Needed, Only Question is
Whether New Agency Should Be Inside or Outside FBI
FBI Progress Much Too Slow; Problems That Plagued Department
of Justice Before 9/11 Still Not Fixed Today
US Senator Charles E. Schumer today blasted Attorney General
John Ashcroft and the FBI for failing to fix flaws in our national
security network exposed by the attacks of 9/11
“In the war on terrorism, John Ashcroft has frequently gone
overboard when dealing with liberties, but hasn’t even gotten
the ship out of port when it comes to administration, coordination,
technology, and funding,” Schumer said. “Thirty-one
months after 9/11, the FBI’s computer system is still an unmitigated
disaster, we’re woefully short on appropriately trained analysts
and translators, and the Administration steadfastly refuses to adequately
fund the war on terror.”
“It’s simply indefensible that the FBI’s computer
system still won’t be up and running by the third anniversary
of 9/11. And amazingly, ‘lone wolf terrorist’ legislation
that Attorney General Ashcroft claims to support, is still languishing
in the House nearly a year after it overwhelmingly passed the Senate,”
Schumer added. “Attorney General Ashcroft is quick to criticize
others for handcuffing intelligence gathering, but he hasn’t
lifted a finger to help pass a law that, if it had been in place
before 9/11, might have helped unravel the terrorists’ plot.”
“The only way we get to real security is by drastically overhauling
the FBI. The only question is whether we create a new organization
within the FBI or outside of it,” Schumer said.
Schumer specifically noted five areas where the Administration
has not closed gaps in the homeland defense system.
FBI Computers: On 9/11, the FBI was using a rudimentary computer
system that prevented agents from sharing crucial intelligence.
Had Colleen Rowley, upon the arrest of Zaccharias Moussaoui, been
able to do a basic computer search for “Islamic militants”
and “flight schools” she would have found the “Phoenix
memo” and it is possible that the 9/11 dots would have been
connected. Today, thirty-one months later, the FBI still has not
upgraded its computer system. The Virtual Case File (VCF), a feature
that would give agents access to a vast terrorism electronic database
containing about 40 million documents was supposed to be up and
running by December 13, 2003. As of today, it is still not functional
and is now not expected to be on line until the end of the year,
over three years after 9/11. Even when the VCF is up and running,
it will take months to train FBI agents to use it. Had Attorney
General Ashcroft brought in, for example IBM, and told them to get
the job done as fast as possible and at any cost, there is little
doubt the FBI’s computers would be fully functional today.
FISA “Lone Wolf” Legislation: New evidence revealed
in the 9/11 Commission staff’s interim report yesterday showed
that after the arrest of Zaccharias Moussaoui, the FBI asked British
Intelligence for any information it had on him. Not until after
9/11 did British Intelligence inform the FBI that Moussaoui had
trained at al Qaeda camps. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act (FISA) limits the FBI to obtaining warrants against terrorists
it can tie to foreign nations or foreign terrorist groups. Because
the FBI did not believe it could tie Moussaoui to either, a FISA
warrant was not sought. Last May, the Senate passed by a 90-4 vote
legislation introduced by Schumer and Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) that
would allow the FBI to obtain a FISA warrant against “lone
wolf” terrorists. Had such power been available at the time
of Moussaoui’s arrest, a FISA warrant could have been issued
and the evidence in Moussaoui’s laptop computer may have been
enough to unravel the 9/11 plot. Attorney General Ashcroft has put
no pressure on the House of Representatives to pass the Schumer-Kyl
bill and the FBI still remains powerless to obtain FISA warrants
against lone wolf terrorists.
FBI Domestic Intelligence Capability: The FBI remains woefully
deficient in its ability to collect and analyze strategic intelligence
to prevent terrorist attacks here in the US. New agents spend just
12% of their training time on counterterrorism. Over 90% of Special-Agents-in-Charge,
the top officials in FBI field offices, lack the national security
experience to promote an intelligence rather than law enforcement
approach to terrorism cases. Most importantly, the FBI has not set
a budget, timetable, or personnel benchmarks - including the number
of translators and analysts it needs - for establishing its intelligence
capability. The FBI also continues to ignore fundamental “best
practices” of intelligence, vetting only three to four percent
of its human assets to determine their credibility. This means most
of the intelligence that FBI agents collect is of unknown value.
Similarly, its ability to analyze intelligence is suspect, with
66% of FBI analysts described as “unqualified” by an
internal bureau study. According to one senior state law enforcement
official, the FBI is “still being led by individuals who have
a criminal law mindset.” Finally, according to a recent report
by the Department of Justice Inspector General, “the FBI shortages
of linguists have resulted in thousands of hours of audiotapes and
pages of written material not being reviewed or translated in a
timely manner.”
According to a 9/11 Commission staff report, “At every office
we visited, we heard that there were not enough surveillance personnel
to cover the requests to conduct live physical surveillance of identified
terrorist suspects. We spoke with analysts who were discouraged
by the pace of reform. Indeed, we heard from many analysts who complain
that they are able to do little actual analysis because they continue
to be assigned menial tasks, including covering the phones at the
reception desk and emptying the office trash bins. As a consequence,
many of the agents have very low expectations about the type of
assistance they can get from analysts. Furthermore, there appears
to be no process for evaluating and reassigning unqualified analysts.”
Terrorist Threat Integration Center: As part of the legislation
that established the Department of Homeland Security, a Terrorist
Threat Integration Center (TTIC) was created to analyze integrated
intelligence from the CIA and FBI. The import of such a center has
been highlighted by evidence before the 9/11 Commission showing
that the CIA knew that 9/11 hijackers Alhazmi and Almidhar were
known to have close al Qaeda ties and known to be in the United
States, but did not share that information with the FBI until days
before 9/11. When that intelligence was shared, the matter was assigned
to a rookie FBI agent who did not understand its import. The TTIC
remains drastically understaffed and is not functioning at anywhere
near the level it must. The center employs 150 people, of whom eight
are FBI analysts (just over 5%); the TTIC will not be fully operational
until it is staffed by 300 professionals, 65 of whom, or 22%, are
from the FBI.
Terrorist Financing: In April, the Administration tried to eliminate
a $12 million request by the Internal Revenue Service to increase
by 50% the number of criminal financial investigators to crackdown
on terrorist financing. Stopping terrorist financing remains one
of the gaping holes in our national security network. DOJ and the
FBI must be able to call on the IRS and the Treasury Department
to investigate and crack down on those who fund terrorist activities.
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