Testimony of Steven M. Dean, Assistant Special Agent
in Charge, Albuquerque Division, FBI
Before
the House
Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on Government
Efficiency,
Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations, Albuquerque,
NM
March 25, 2002
"Terrorism Preparedness"
Good
morning Chairman Horn, members of the Subcommittee and distinguished
members of the New Mexico Delegation. I appreciate the opportunity
to appear before you and discuss terrorism preparedness,
including threats posed by attacks involving biological,
chemical or nuclear agents. I will also describe measures
taken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and our
law enforcement partners to address these threats.
INTRODUCTION
As
Attorney General John Ashcroft stated recently, "we
must develop a seamless relationship with state and local
law enforcement." FBI Director Mueller emphasized this
goal when he spoke to the International Association of Chiefs
of Police and said that it is his belief that "law
enforcement is only as good as its relationships, that our
combined resources and expertise and ideas are far beyond
the sum of their parts, and that the potential for greater
successes through mutual cooperation and respect is boundless."
The FBI, Albuquerque, which is responsible for the state
of New Mexico, has embraced this philosophy for several
years. All terrorist threats received by Albuquerque FBI
(NLETS, NTWS, etc.) are immediately disseminated to New
Mexico's law enforcement community.
THE
ALBUQUERQUE DIVISION OF FBI
The
Albuquerque Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with
five resident agencies in Gallup, Farmington, Santa Fe,
Roswell and Las Cruces. The Division has a funded staffing
level of 95 Special Agents and 76 Professional Support Employees.
The territory covered by the Albuquerque Division is the
state of New Mexico.
The
state of New Mexico is the fifth largest state in the nation
in area and shares 180 miles of border with the Republic
of Mexico. New Mexico possesses some of the nation's most
attractive targets for terrorists. FBI, Albuquerque, is
responsible for liaison with state and local agencies, as
well as other federal entities to ensure that acts of terrorism
are prevented. New Mexico's key assets are Los Alamos National
Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, Air Force Research
Laboratory, White Sands Missile Range, the Waste Isolation
Pilot Project, the State Department's Anti-terrorism Center,
the Very Large Array, Intel, Sumitomo, Kirtland Air Force
Base, Holloman Air Force Base, Cannon Air Force Base, Ft.
Bliss Army Base and the San Juan Basin Natural Gas and Production
Hub. (See Attachment A)
We
would like to bring to your attention several initiatives
already established in New Mexico to address terrorist threats.
They are the Weapons of Mass Destruction Working Group (WMDG),
Domestic Terrorism Working Group (DTWG) and the Joint Terrorism
Task Force (JTTF). These programs were established in concert
with local, state and federal agencies, to include the New
Mexico Department of Public Safety, (DPS) and the Department
of Health. Each agency participating in these programs participated
in the development of guidelines for prevention, response,
investigation and training in regards to a variety of terrorist
acts.
The
DTWG was established in 1996 with representation from 45
local, state and federal departments and agencies. Meetings
are held each month at the United States Customs Air Branch
on Kirtland Air Force Base. Since September 22, 2001, these
meetings have included international terrorism information
and alerts.
The
WMDG was established in 1998 with representation from over
20 local, state and federal departments and agencies. Meetings
are held monthly.
The
JTTF, established in March of 2001, is comprised of sworn
law enforcement members of the DTWG, with nine full-time
investigators representing their agencies. Meetings are
held monthly.
Attached
to my statement for the record is information regarding
each of these established groups. (See Attachment B: JTTF;
Attachment C: DTWG; Attachment D: WMDWG)
Several
representatives from the above groups are currently participating
in the development of the Terrorism Appendix to the State
of New Mexico All-Hazard Emergency Operations Plan, which
is spearheaded by the DPS Office of Emergency Management.
The Terrorism Appendix provides guidelines for response
to incidents that are determined to be terrorism related.
Since
September 11, 2001, interest and participation has grown
in all three programs. After this catastrophic attack, the
Special Agent in Charge (SAC) established a command post
to handle any investigation or response within our jurisdiction.
This command post was manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
for approximately 3 months. This command post was staffed
by the FBI and 16 outside federal, state, and local agencies
including the previously mentioned JTTF, DTWG, and WMDWG.
The U.S. Attorney's Office provided and continues to provide
support in an "on call" capacity. The command
post received in excess of 1600 leads which resulted in
approximately three times that number of interviews. The
information received by the command post has been extremely
valuable in the FBI's threat assessment for the state of
New Mexico.
To
establish a seamless communication path with various agency
heads, the SAC met with Gary Johnson, Governor of New Mexico,
and various functions within law enforcement and civilian
arenas. I recently met with Tom English, New Mexico's Director
of Homeland Defense; David C. Iglesias, US Attorney; Larry
Gomez, First Assistant United States Attorney; and Paula
Burnett, head of the Anti-Terrorism Task Force. Last week,
I joined the JTTF members to deliver briefings on these
programs to Martin Chavez, Mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The
Albuquerque FBI looks forward to a continuation of the ongoing
efforts concerning the protection of our state and cities
with all levels of government and law enforcement.
WMD
As
you are well aware of by now, each FBI Division has a WMD
Coordinator whose taskings are to maintain liaison with
fire, haz-mat, law enforcement, public and emergency health
personnel whose role is to respond to incidents resulting
form WMD terrorism. By liaison, I mean to actively participate
in the education of all personnel who share the FBI's mission
to prevent, detect and deter acts of terrorism. Therefore,
first responder personnel should not only be trained on
how to effectively respond to WMD incidents but also on
how to recognize WMD proliferation.
The
New Mexico Weapons of Mass Destruction Working Group, (WMDWG)
is the forum for education, training exercises and information
sharing regarding WMD in the state of New Mexico. It was
established in 1998. It is co-hosted by the Albuquerque
FBI, New Mexico Department of Public Safety and the New
Mexico Department of Health. Last year, the WMDWG provided
four training symposiums to first responders on recognition
and effective response to acts of terrorism involving: Chemical
Agents, Biological Agents, Nuclear and Radiological Agents,
and Large Explosives. The WMDWG has a secure website whereby
information regarding training, exercises, meetings, news
articles, etc. are posted. After Sept. 11, 2002, the FBI
in New Mexico responded to over 1300 calls and incidents
regarding mail suspected of containing anthrax. The WMDWG
established guidelines to effectively handle suspicious
packages and letters in order to reduce panic and man hours
for all involved. The guidelines require the FBI and the
New Mexico Department of Health to determine, through logical
investigation, if a package/letter presents a credible threat.
If a threat is deemed credible, the guidelines direct how
it will be screened by haz-mat teams, how it will be transported
by law enforcement and where it will be analyzed. The guidelines
were disseminated to all law enforcement agencies in New
Mexico. The FBI's close coordination with law enforcement,
haz-mat and public health ensure effective and coordinated
response by law enforcement and public health throughout
New Mexico.
The
FBI's WMD Coordinator provides training not only to state
and local police, sheriff, fire, public health and emergency
manager conferences, but also to county and city, agencies,
departments and committees throughout the state of New Mexico.
The
FBI in New Mexico also has the responsibility for conducting
investigations and liaison at facilities in New Mexico that
research and/or store nuclear and biological weapons. These
facilities include the Los Alamos National Laboratories,
Sandia National Laboratories, University of New Mexico,
Kirtland Air Force Base and the Waste Isolation Pilot Project.
All these facilities are recipients of the FBI's outreach
effort which includes alerts, information sharing and training.
INFRAGARD
PROGRAM
The
FBI's InfraGard Program is a community outreach program
in which Special Agents maintain liaison with the owners
and operators of the critical infrastructures (Transportation,
Telecommunications, Natural Gas Transmission lines, Electrical
Energy production and transportation networks, Emergency
Management assets, Water and Financial institutions). The
program provides alerts and warnings via secure Internet
communications. On February 1, 2002, the FBI formerly introduced
the InfraGard Program to representatives from approximately
150 organizations in New Mexico. The program establishes
a local communications network in which threat information
can received and disseminated in a timely manner.
JTTF
The mission of the NMJTTF is to identify and target for
prosecution terrorists and terrorist organizations planning
or carrying out terrorist acts occurring in or affecting
the State of New Mexico and to apprehend individuals committing
such acts. The organizations to be investigated will be
specifically identified and agreed upon before hand by the
NMJTTF member agencies. All parties agree to abide by Attorney
General Guidelines. The NMJTTF will enhance the effectiveness
of federal/state/local law enforcement resources through
a well-coordinated effort seeking the most effective investigative/prosecutive
avenues by which to convict and incarcerate dangerous offenders.
As
mandated by US Attorney General John Ashcroft, US Attorneys
offices throughout the country have recently established
an Anti-Terrorism Task Forces (ATTF). Albuquerque FBI ensures
that the activities of it's JTTF are coordinated with the
New Mexico US Attorneys Office ATTF in order to avoid duplication
of effort and to facilitate the exchange of information
regarding counterterrorism objectives. Through the New Mexico
US Attorneys Office, the FBI in New Mexico is aggressively
pursuing the prosecution of mailed WMD threats.
In
order to enhance prosecutions of WMD use and/or other terrorist
threats on a state level, the FBI recently collaborated
with the New Mexico Attorney General's Office in the formulation
of state terrorism legislation which was presented recently
as House Bill 339 at the 45th Legislature of New Mexico.
The
FBI in New Mexico has provided its JTTF members with training
in Domestic and International Terrorism. Training has also
been provided in source development and administration at
the FBI's Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia and at
the field office in Albuquerque. Additionally, FBIHQ and
DOJ are sponsoring state and local anti-terrorism training.
Conferences are being provided across the country which
started January 30, 2002. The JTTF will be attending when
this becomes available in this region. Finally, the JTTF
members provide training to other state and local investigators.
ATTACHMENT
A
NEW MEXICO KEY ASSETS
- Los
Alamos National Laboratory is located north of Santa Fe,
NM, approximately an hour and a half drive from Albuquerque,
NM. Los Alamos is a DOE weapons research lab with approximately
6,800 employees and 2,888 contractor personnel.
- Sandia
National Laboratory is located on Kirtland Air Force Base
in Albuquerque, NM. Sandia is a DOE lab which provides
science and engineering support for nuclear weapons stockpile,
as well as other aspects of national security, such as
preventing the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological
weapons.
- Air
Force Research Laboratory is located on Kirtland Air Force
Base in Albuquerque, NM. The laboratory is working on
the Space Vehicles Directorate which researches military
satellites and manned spacecraft.
- White
Sands Missile Range is located in the Las Cruces, NM,
RA area. It is a Department of Defense missile range and
test facility with capabilities used by the Army, Navy,
Air Force and NASA.
- The
Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) is located near Roswell,
NM (Las Cruces RA). It is the world's first licensed underground
nuclear repository of transuranic radioactive waste from
the production of nuclear weapons.
- The
State Department's Anti-terrorism Center is located in
Albuquerque, NM. The State Department's Explosives Training
facility is located in Socorro, NM. The State Department's
Law Enforcement Training Center is located in Roswell,
NM (Las Cruces RA). All three facilities regularly train
delegations from foreign countries, including Yemen and
UAE.
- The
Very Large Array (VLA) (the world's premier space research
and satellite communications facility) is located near
Socorro, NM, in a remote section of east central New Mexico
(covered by Albuquerque).
- Intel
and Sumitomo have some of the world's largest computer
chip production facilities which are located in the Albuquerque
area.
- Three
Air Force bases are located in New Mexico. Kirtland Air
Force Base (Albuquerque), Holloman Air Force Base (southern,
NM), and Cannon Air Force Base (eastern NM) maintain fighter
jet squadrons and train pilots from foreign nations.
- Ft.
Bliss Army Base, although based out of Texas, has many
facilities located in eastern New Mexico. This base is
the home of the US Army Air Defense Artillery Command,
which includes Patriot missiles. The German Army maintains
a significant presence at the base.
- The
San Juan Basin Natural Gas and Production Hub which is
located in central New Mexico (covered by Albuquerque)
serves the southwestern United States and California).
ATTACHMENT
B
FBI ALBUQUERQUE DIVISION
Joint Terrorism Task Force
Approved
March 2001
Meetings held every first Tuesday of each month
Comprised of sworn law enforcement officers only
New members continue to be solicited
Full
Time Members
New
Mexico Department of Public Safety
-
Special Investigations Division
-
Motor Transportation Division
United
States Customs
US
Department of Interior
-
Bureau of Land Management
-
US Fish and Wildlife Service
US
Secret Service
New
Mexico Attorney General's Office
Federal
Bureau of Investigation
Part-
Time Members
Albuquerque
Police Department
Albuquerque
TVI - Security
Bernalillo
County Sheriff's Office
Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Bureau
of Indian Affairs Office of Law Enforcement
Burlington
Northern Santa Fe Railroad
Drug
Enforcement Agency
Defense
Threat Reduction Agency
Dona
Ana County Sheriff's Department
Farmington
Police Department
Federal
Protective Service
Immigration
and Naturalization Service
Internal
Revenue Service
Kirtland
Air Force Base, Office of Special Investigations
Kirtland
Air Force Base, Security Forces
New
Mexico Department of Public Safety
Rio
Rancho Department of Public Safety
Ruidoso
Police Department
Santa
Ana Pueblo Police Department
Santa
Fe Police Department
Sandoval
County Sheriff's Department
University
of New Mexico
-
Emergency Management
-
Police Department
US
Attorney's Office
US
Department of Interior
US
Forest Service
US
Marshal's Office
US
Postal Inspection Service
US
Secret Service
ATTACHMENT C
FBI ALBUQUERQUE DIVISION
Domestic Terrorism Working Group
Established in 1996
Meetings held every third Tuesday of each month
All city, county, state, federal and corporate agencies/departments
with a nexus to counterterrorism are solicited to join.
Currently
the 41 members are:
Air
Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center
Albuquerque
Police Department
Albuquerque
TVI
Bernalillo
County Sheriff's Office
Bernalillo
County Fire Department
Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Bureau
of Indian Affairs Office of Law Enforcement
Burlington
Northern Santa Fe Railroad
Drug
Enforcement Agency
Defense
Threat Reduction Agency
Dona
Ana County Sheriff's Department
Farmington
Police Department
Federal
Bureau of Investigations
Federal
Protective Service
Internal
Revenue Service
Immigration
and Naturalization Service
Kirtland
Air Force Base Security Forces
Los
Alamos National Labs
New
Mexico Army National Guard
New
Mexico Attorney General's Office
New
Mexico Gaming Control Board
New
Mexico Department of Public Safety
- Special Investigations Division
- State Police Division
- Motor Transportation Division
- Technical and Emergency Support Division
Rio
Rancho Department of Public Safety
Ruidoso
Police Department
Santa
Ana Pueblo Police Department
Santa
Fe Police Department
Sandoval
County Sheriff's Department
University
of New Mexico
- Emergency Management
- Police Department
US
Air National Guard
US
Air Force Office of Special Investigations
US
Attorney's Office
US
Customs
US
Department of Defense
US
Department of Energy
US
Department of Interior
- Bureau of Land Management
- National Park Service
US
Fish and Wildlife Service
US
Forest Service
US
Marshal's Office
US
Secret Service
US
Department of Agriculture
US
Postal Inspection Service
ATTACHMENT
D
FBI ALBUQUERQUE DIVISION
Weapons of Mass Destruction Working Group
Established
in 1998
Meetings held every third Tuesday of each month
All city, county, state, federal and corporate agencies/departments
with a response role to incidents involving chemical, biological
and/or nuclear/radiological terrorism are solicited to join.
New
Mexico Department of Public Safety
-
New Mexico Office of Emergency Management
-
New Mexico State Police
-
New Mexico Motor Transportation Division
New
Mexico Department of Health
-
New Mexico Office of Epidemiology
-
New Mexico Scientific Laboratory (Chemical and Biological
Departments)
University
of New Mexico
-
Office of the Medical Examiner
-
University of New Mexico Emergency Management Division
Albuquerque
Police Department
Sandia
National Laboratories Emergency Management
Los
Alamos National Laboratories Emergency Management
Bureau
of Indian Affairs
New
Mexico National Guard
New
Mexico National Guard Civil Support Team
Fifth
US Army - Region 6 Emergency Preparedness
Bernalillo
County Fire and Rescue
Sandoval
County Fire and Rescue
DOD
Defense Threat Reduction Agency Defense Nuclear Weapons
School
US
Department of Energy
County
of Bernalillo Environmental Health
New
Mexico Environment Department
New
Mexico American Red Cross
City
of Albuquerque Environmental Health Dept.
US
Department of Veterans Affairs
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