Testimony of Larry A. Mefford, Executive Assistant Director,
Counterterrorism/Counterintelligence Division, FBI
Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration
and Border Security
September 23, 2003
"Improvements
with Information Sharing and Watch Lists"
Mr. Chairman
and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here
today to testify regarding information sharing and the ongoing
cooperation between the FBI and the State Department as it
relates to accessing and using information from the FBI to
make visa determinations a part of our antiterrorism and border
protection efforts.
Improvements
with information sharing and watch lists
The collection
of information/intelligence has always been a core function
of the FBI's investigative mission, however the sharing of
information was case oriented rather than an enterprise-wide
activity. With the advent of new legislation, revised Attorney
General Guidelines, and certain court decisions, new opportunities
have given rise to strengthen and expand the FBI's intelligence
capabilities, which in turn allow the FBI to share this data
with our intelligence and law enforcement partners. Prior
to the enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act, statutory restrictions
limited the type of information the FBI was allowed to share
with our Intelligence Community partners. Today, however,
the FBI can clearly share much more information than ever
before, which has resulted in several information initiatives.
The mere collection and sharing of vast amounts of information,
without any thought as to the usefulness of the information,
is counterproductive as it wastes collection resources and
clouds the picture for the end user.
Today
there are 84 FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) spread
throughout the United States, with coverage in each one of
your districts. The JTTFs are made up of over 25 different
Federal agencies and hundreds of state and local law enforcement
agencies. Every JTTF Officer, Agent, and Analyst has a Top
Secret clearance which allows those members unfiltered access
to all of the FBI's information. In addition to the local
JTTFs spread across the country, the National Joint Terrorism
Task Force is located in the Strategic Information and Operations
Center at FBI Headquarters, where 35 different Federal agencies,
including the Department of State, with access to their respective
databases, are represented. To further facilitate information
sharing, the FBI has personnel stationed at the State Department,
and the State Department has assigned personnel to the FBI's
Counterterrorism Division.
Since
September 11, 2001, Director Mueller has directed field offices
of the FBI to place the subjects of open terrorism related
investigations into the FBI's Terrorism Watch List which is
housed within the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC),
in the Violent Gangs and Terrorist Organization File (VGTOF).
The Terrorism Watch List has been the Counterterrorism Division's
single, integrated listing of individuals of an investigative
interest to the FBI, be that the lone terrorist subject or
a specific terrorist group. It was designed to assist both
the intelligence and law enforcement communities in their
investigations of terrorist groups and/or individuals. The
Terrorism Watch List (VGTOF) is in the process of being consolidated
into a single data base managed by the Terrorist Threat Integration
Center (TTIC) and the recently announced Terrorist Screening
Center (TSC).
Today,
the Terrorist Watch & Warning Unit of the FBI's Counterterrorism
Division works with the State Department on a daily basis
to share information and assist in resolving name check issues
arising from Visa applications. As an example, the State Department's
Office of Consular Affairs routinely sends to the FBI possible
VGTOF name check matches for the review of the Terrorist Watch
& Warning Unit. These reviews are a result of the sharing
of pertinent NCIC and VGTOF data with the State Department's
Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS). The CLASS system
is designed to detect those who may be ineligible to receive
visas, including known or suspected terrorists as they apply
for visas overseas, or as they attempt to pass through U.S.,
Canadian, or Australian border entry points. Currently the
FBI is providing an "extract" of identifying information
for non-U.S. persons from the NCIC subset of "Wanted
Persons" and from the Interstate Identification Index
(III). The FBI is identifying records as non-U.S. persons
through their place of birth (POB) information. This information
is currently being provided on a monthly basis, on a disk,
until an automatic electronic transfer of information can
be engineered as part of the TSC.
Following
interagency discussions that took place after the attacks
of September 11, 2001, the Department of State (DOS) implemented
the Visa Condor Program to conduct additional checks for applications
determined to be "high risk." The program commenced
in January of 2002; the DOS forwards the "short"
visa application form to the FBI for a name check. The searches
seek all instances of the individual's name and approximate
date of birth, whether the individual is the subject of an
investigation, or merely mentioned as an associate or witness.
The names are searched in a multitude of combinations, switching
the order of the first, middle, and last names. The names
are also searched using different phonetic spelling variations
of the name, which is important considering that many names
in our indices have been translated from a language other
than English. If there is a name match with an FBI record,
it is designated as a "hit", meaning that the system
has identified a potential match with the name being checked,
which will then require additional research regarding specifics
of that file to determine if any derogatory information exists.
Less than 1% of the name matches result in derogatory information
being developed about that subject. In these incidents, the
matter is forwarded to the appropriate FBI division having
investigative oversight. The FBI investigative division having
such oversight prepares a written Security Advisory Opinion
and forwards that to DOS. In reviewing these visa requests,
the FBI has been successful in identifying individuals attempting
to enter the United States who are of serious concern to the
FBI.
The FBI
has written procedures in place for notifying the appropriate
personnel to take specific action on all State Department
cables concerning visa matters, to include Security Advisory
Opinions (SAO) and visa revocations. These procedures include
requiring that all cables sent to the FBI related to visa
issues be uploaded into the FBI's Electronic Case File, allowing
for full text retrieval.
Due to
an initial Condor backlog developed, the Foreign Terrorist
Tracking Task Force (FTTTF) provided support to help to clear
the backlog of visa name check requests. The backlog was eliminated
in June 2003. The FBI's Records Management Division (RMD),
which manages the National Name Check Unit, accepted central
control responsibility for the Visa Condor Program from FTTTF
on December 12, 2002. Now in a supporting role, the FTTTF
will augment, as requested, the FBI's overall Visa Condor
review process through its unique ability to exploit public
and proprietary data sources to find the electronic footprint
of known and suspected terrorists. The RMD tracks the records
through the analysis process in Counterterrorism Division
(CTD) and presents completed packages to the Department of
State.
The FBI
has responded to over 97,600 Visa Condor name check requests
submitted by the State Department since June of 2002. There
are 119 full time employees working in the Records Management
Division working for the National Name Check Unit.
Inter-agency
information sharing
Regarding
the existing restrictions on inter-agency information sharing,
including the Privacy Act, there are no statutory, regulatory,
or any other legal restrictions on the sharing of unclassified
information with other United States governmental agencies.
Pursuant to the USA PATRIOT Act, the FBI can now share Grand
Jury and Title III information in International Terrorism
related cases with other United States governmental agencies,
with the coordination of the local United States Attorney's
Office having jurisdiction on the matter being investigated.
Creation
of a central repository
The recently
announced Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) will consolidate
all existing terrorist watch lists currently being used by
the United States Government into a single function to provide
accurate information to terrorist screeners around the country
on a 24/7, real-time basis. This function will consolidate
into one central location information that law enforcement,
the Intelligence Community, and the State Department already
possess. Creation of the TSC does not create new law enforcement
powers, and it will have no independent authority to conduct
intelligence collection or other operations.
This
integration of existing watch list functions of a variety
of agencies will enhance the coordination, consistency and
accuracy of on-going efforts by creating a mechanism for one-stop
shopping to be used by local, state, and federal officers,
as well as others who may have a need to receive this information.
Creation of the TSC is the latest step in the ongoing process
to improve our ability to identify suspected terrorists and
to stop them before they can do us harm. It brings together
such data- bases as the Department of State's TIPOFF system
used to vett visa applicants overseas, the Department of Homeland
Security's transportation security lists, and the FBI's Violent
Gang and Terrorist Offender's File in NCIC.
The TSC
will be responsible for developing appropriate policies and
criteria to ensure the accuracy of information in the database
and to ensure that the legal safeguards are in place to protect
privacy rights and personal freedoms, consistent with our
Constitution and legal framework. The TSC will also be responsible
for quality control issues, such as ensuring the appropriateness
of entering a particular name when warranted. It will consolidate
overall responsibility for day-to-day operation of the nation's
various terrorist watch lists into a single interagency Center
for the purpose of continuing efforts to protect the nation.
As called for by the 9/11 Congressional Joint Inquiry, this
streamlined approach is designed not only to enhance operational
efficiencies but also to clearly designate responsibility
for the system - all with the goal of making the country safer.
Conclusion
All of
these efforts reflect the FBI's recognition of the importance
of an integrated suspected terrorist database, accessible
to all of our partners in the criminal and intelligence communities.
I want to emphasize to you, this issue has the full attention
of Director Mueller and the FBI. The FBI appreciates the interest
of the Committee in this matter. I thank you for the invitation
to speak today and look forward to working with you in the
future. I am prepared to answer any questions the Committee
may have.
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