Thank
you and thank you for the invitation.
It's a pleasure to be here. Often when
we discuss high-level intelligence, we
joke about "If I tell you this I'd
have to kill you." There's been a
bit of a switch on that today. Dave told
me as I sat down today: "You speak
longer than five minutes and I'll kill
you." [Laughter]
In
that case, I'm not going to take very
long. Other than to say that reflecting
on the last year on the Bureau and what
we've accomplished, I think we've made
strides, particularly in the war on terrorism.
Many of you have heard me talk about how
I think we're safer today certainly than
we were on September 11 for a variety
of reasons: By the efforts here in the
United States, but also by the efforts
in Afghanistan and the efforts of our
counterparts overseas in detaining a number
of persons who are higher-up figures in
Al Qaeda.
Within
the Bureau, I think we continue to make
strides in two areas that are exceptionally
important to us. One is developing the
intelligence capacity -- the analytical
capacity -- integrating the intelligence
function in the Bureau, so that not only
do we collect the information on terrorism
or organized crime or corruption, but
we also do a better job of analyzing that
information, and after analyzing it, then
disseminating it.
Secondly,
one of our big challenges is to adapt
the new information technology. We have
made substantial strides last year and
we hope to make substantial strides down
the road. One of the things I am called
upon to do is to look down the road and
see where the Bureau should be and what
it would look like in, say, the year 2010.
And
if you look at the world and you evaluate
where we're going to be as a society --
whether it be in the United States or
globally -- in the years ahead, one has
to be struck by globalization and the
impact of globalization in a variety of
areas. Most particularly, for us in the
Bureau, in the spread of crime -- whether
it be terrorism, narcotic trafficking,
cyber crime and the like. And I'm continuously
struck by the need for us provide a different
level of integrated law enforcement and
intelligence capability across not just
city lines, county lines, state lines,
but also now internationally.
To
be successful in addressing the threats
of the future -- many of which I just
discussed -- we are going to have to as
an organization position ourselves as
an international law enforcement entity
in ways that we have not been in the past.
A substantial piece of that will be enhancing
our ties overseas through our Legats with
our counterparts. A substantial piece
of that will be developing agents who
are comfortable in operating overseas
as well as domestically. And lastly, it
is the network of relationships that will
be successful in addressing the threats
of the future. That is, the network of
relationships within the United States,
with state and local and our other federal
counterparts, but also internationally
with our counterparts overseas.
So
as we in the Bureau are looking closely
at where we're going; as we develop the
intelligence capacity and as we develop
the information technology capacity. Yet,
as important as both of those will be,
it is the development of relationships
and networks that will importantly address
those crimes that cross not just county
borders and state borders, but also international
borders.
And
with that I'd be happy to answer whatever
questions you have.
