FOCUS
ON FIGs
Networking Intelligence Across the U.S. to Prevent Crimes and Terror
04/27/05
What do
you get when you put together FBI intelligence analysts, special
agents, language analysts, and surveillance specialists?
You get a FIG.
What’s
a FIG? It’s a Field Intelligence Group,
one for each of our 56 Field Offices. They take raw information from
local cases and make big-picture sense of it…fill gaps in national
cases with local information…and share their findings, assessments,
and reports with fellow FIGs across the country and with our partners
in law enforcement and intelligence to, say, shut down that money
laundering scheme or keep a bomb from going off. Intelligence analysts
(IAs) are key to the effort. Some are dedicated to the big picture—others
are actually “embedded” in squads to work with street
agents on specific counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal
cases.
Chicago
FIG members Travis (Special Agent) and Eileen (Supervisory Intelligence
Analyst) talk about what it’s like “on the inside”:
Q: Eileen,
can you describe what FIG analysts do?
Eileen: They do quite a bit, actually. We have IAs directly embedded
with agents and investigative squads. We have IAs acting as reports officers
who glean relevant information from investigations and share it with law enforcement
and the intelligence community, directly interfacing with those partners—from
the local police department to the CIA. And we have IAs who conduct strategic
assessments—looking and assessing the future threat, whether it’s
terrorism, counterintelligence, cyber, or criminal. The work of the IAs is
what allows the FIG to act as the intelligence “hub” in our Chicago
office.
Q: Travis,
what is a typical day for an Intelligence Analyst in the FIG?
Travis: Well, there is really no such thing. For example, on a “typical” day,
an IA might start off by reviewing recent threat and intelligence traffic,
then identify a link between two separate investigations, then recommend that
a new investigation be initiated, and then, to top it off, go out with some
agents to assist in a high level source debriefing. How’s that for typical?
Q: Last
question: you’re dealing with so many bits and pieces—how
does the work flow end up with a big picture?
Eileen: Through cooperation and collaboration with our local, state,
and federal law enforcement and intelligence partners. What the FIG does is
formally “plug” us into the intelligence community. The intelligence
and information that we produce here in Chicago is shared with all of the FBI’s
56 field offices and with our Headquarters to assist in making assessments
and figuring out the “big picture” at the national level in concert
with our partners.
Travis: That’s
exactly it—the whole point is the integration of the entire intelligence
cycle—across all FIGs, all FBI squads, and the larger law enforcement
and intelligence communities. Our intelligence analysts drive this
integration locally and nationally.
Eileen: And
suddenly it gets a lot easier to prevent terror and major crimes from
happening.
Links: Directorate
of Intelligence | Apply today
to become an Intelligence Analyst