Thank
you, Tammy, for that generous introduction. It is
a privilege to be here with you and with the other
distinguished members of this historic club.
You
may not be aware that the FBI and the Press Club
have a couple of things in common. Both of our organizations
were founded in 1908. But most importantly, we both
are committed to the pursuit of information: We
in the FBI are tasked with discovering information.
You in the press are also paid to discover information.
We have investigators; you have investigative reporters.
We do our best to keep our sensitive information
secure. And, you do your best to put it on the front
page. In all seriousness, the search for the truth
is the heart of what we both do. We seek information,
vet it, labor over its accuracy, and piece it together
to make sense of the larger story. And now, in the
year 2003, that information is increasingly global,
relating to actions and events outside of the United
States, that impact us within the United States.
Today,
I want to discuss with you the threats we are facing
and how the FBI is changing to address those threats.
THE
THREAT
When
I was sworn in as Director of the FBI in September
2001, I knew then that the FBI needed to change.
I did not know, however, how quickly it needed to
change nor the extent of that change. The September
11th attacks required that we dramatically shift
our priorities. Overnight, the FBI's top priority
became protecting Americans from terrorism.
Despite
our progress since then, the war is far from over.
The threat is real, and the threat is not just from
terrorists. It is also from international organized
crime, from computer hackers operating across global
networks and from foreign companies trying to steal
corporate secrets and technologies.
The
threat of today and of the future is a dangerous
convergence of terrorist, intelligence, and criminal
groups, all operating to some extent over the Internet
and through interconnected, sophisticated networks.
In this environment, the traditional distinctions
between organized crime, cyber crime, espionage,
and terrorism have broken down. Organized crime
may launder money for terrorists. Credit card fraud
may be perpetrated by the Russian mafia or by al
Qaeda operatives. Spies from enemies and allies
alike may use hacker tools to reach into our computer
systems and steal trade and defense secrets.
The
number of countries engaged in espionage against
the United States has increased with the end of
the Cold War some 19 countries are actively
engaged in acquiring U.S. economic secrets. And
the players are not just intelligence agents; they
are university students, businessmen, and company
insiders. Our enemies and some of our allies
covet our technology, manufacturing processes,
and trade secrets. Economic espionage is costing
U.S. businesses more than $200 billion a year in
intellectual property theft.
We
are also seeing growth in the number of traditional
crimes that have migrated online and exploded on
company doorsteps: fraud, identity theft, and copyright
infringement. At the same time, computer intrusions,
denial of service attacks, and attacks on the Internet's
root servers and domain system are taking wing.
A London-based security firm determined that worldwide
digital attacks reached an all-time high of nearly
20,000 in January, causing more than $8 billion
in damages.
The
common denominator in these expanding areas of criminal
threat is their international dimension. When I
began my career as a prosecutor in my first U.S.
Attorney's Office in San Francisco in the seventies,
rare was the case that had international connections.
Now, it is unusual if an investigation does not
have an international nexus. This is because crime
now has worldwide reach with the progress of technology
and communications; because terrorists have global
reach and global networks; and because the dawn
of the cyber world permits hackers and other cheats
to commit their crimes remotely from the corners
of the world.
The
FBI is adjusting to keep pace with this global change.
I would like to cover several of the ways that the
FBI is changing to meet the threats of this new
world.
HOW
THE FBI HAS CHANGED
Our
first effort since 9/11 has been to overhaul our
counterterrorism program from top to bottom. This
has been an ambitious and all-consuming effort
one that has caused our counterterrorism chief,
Larry Mefford, to quote Churchill's admonition:
"When you're going through hell, keep going."
Though
difficult, this effort has dramatically improved
our capacity to protect the nation in a number of
ways. To improve effectiveness and accountability,
we have centralized our counterterrorism operations
and vested responsibility for the national program
at Headquarters. We have increased the number of
Agents devoted to terrorism by 1700, and we have
hired nearly 250 new counterterrorism translators.
We have quadrupled the number of counterterrorism
analysts. And we have established specialized counterterrorism
units to attack terrorist financing; to analyze
and exploit recovered documents and intercepted
communications; and to analyze incoming terrorist
threats.
These
efforts have paid off. Over the last 20 months,
the FBI and our partners, both here and abroad,
have identified, disrupted, and neutralized over
a hundred terrorist threats and cells. Worldwide,
we have apprehended almost 3000 Al Qaeda operatives,
according to State Department figures. And more
than one third of Al Qaeda's top leadership has
been killed or captured. We have conducted over
70 investigations into terrorist money trails, and
we have frozen more than 125 million dollars in
assets. And most importantly, we have not fallen
victim to another catastrophic terrorist attack.
We
have also made significant changes to meet our second
operational priority the protection of the
United States against foreign intelligence operations
and espionage. As we did with counterterrorism,
we are building a nationally directed program for
counterintelligence, a program that will allow us
to be more proactive in protecting critical national
assets. The new counterintelligence program includes:
(1) a highly trained counterintelligence workforce,
with specialized squads in most of our field offices;
(2) enhanced analytical support that is interwoven
into the intelligence community as a whole; and
(3) an improved capacity to develop the human intelligence
that is essential to foiling foreign intelligence
operations that target our interests.
After
counterterrorism and counterintelligence, cyber
crime is our next priority. Cyber investigations
used to be done on an ad hoc basis in many different
divisions and programs. Last year, we created a
Cyber Division which consolidated responsibility
for investigations involving cyber viruses, privacy
invasions, child pornography on the Internet and
fraudulent e-commerce. From February to May of this
year alone, we have opened over 90 cybercrime investigations
involving 84 thousand victims worldwide and losses
exceeding $162 million. These cases have resulted
in 97 arrests and 64 separate indictments for cybercrime
offenses.
Key
to the Bureau's transformation in all these areas
has been the complete overhaul of our information
technology systems to move the FBI from a paper-driven
organization to one that employs the latest technology.
We have brought in professionals from private industry
to help pull, and push, the Bureau into the digital
age. From new hardware, upgraded networks, to better
investigative applications, we are making progress.
Through initiatives already in the works, we will
soon have systems that will better search and analyze
data, and allow us to manage our case files and
reports electronically for the first time in our
history.
Meanwhile,
terrorists, foreign governments and other adversaries
continue to develop new technologies to target our
national and economic security. To keep pace with
their efforts, we in the FBI must continue to develop
our technology and expertise. Instead of being a
follower, the FBI must become a leader in technology.
I
started off today talking about "information"
and how it is at the heart of both of our operations.
So I know I am talking to an appreciative audience
when I say that sometimes the problem isn't lack
of information, but rather nearly unmanageable amounts
of it. We have nearly 12,000 special agents who
collect information every working day and who are
extremely good at it. For the FBI to identify and
understand the threats against our nation
and do so in very
compressed time frames it is essential that
we have the personnel and the infrastructure to
crystallize the actionable intelligence out of that
ocean of information.
To
this end, we are in the process of building a comprehensive
intelligence program. First, we are building a highly-trained
cadre of 700 analysts at Headquarters. Second, we
are putting state-of-the-art technology and tools
on their desks. And third, we are perfecting an
integrated intelligence structure that centralizes
program management oversight at Headquarters and
establishes intelligence analysis units in every
field office. These internal changes are transforming
our intelligence effort from tactical to strategic,
and enabling us to be a leader in intelligence sharing
with our U.S. and international partners.
Aside
from having the right tools, it is essential that
we work closely with our counterparts. Because terrorists
operate at every level from local, to regional,
to global the terrorist threat must be fought
at every level. Success depends on an extensive
network of partnerships and alliances. One of our
most important missions since 9/11 has been to strengthen
our partnerships at all levels.
Our
66 Joint Terrorism Task Forces around the country
are staffed with state and local police, along with
personnel from the CIA and other federal agencies.
Our Headquarters operations are staffed with employees
from a myriad of law enforcement and intelligence
entities. And now, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland
Security and other intelligence community employees
are working side by side in the new Terrorist Threat
Integration Center. Doing so to ensure that threat
information from abroad is fused with our domestic
intelligence. These efforts have paid off with successful
operations from Portland, to Buffalo, to yesterday's
conviction of an individual from Columbus, Ohio.
Now,
we are poised to expand this cooperation overseas.
Recently I traveled to the Middle East to meet with
my counterparts in Jordan, Israel, Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tunisia, and Morocco. I visited
the sites of several deadly bombings in Israel,
and I met with Saudi and Moroccan officials to discuss
the investigations into last month's attacks in
Riyadh and Casablanca.
These
visits reinforced my belief that our success against
terrorism and international crime will be determined,
in large part, by the quality of the relationships
we develop with our counterparts overseas. Time
and again, we commented that we have to stop meeting
at crime scenes, after a terrorist attack, and that
we need to meet more often to prevent these crimes
from occurring.
As
we have forged stronger law enforcement partnerships
within the United States, so too must we now strengthen
our relationships with our counterparts across the
globe. We currently have about 200 employees in
45 different Legal Attache offices around the world.
Last year, these employees handled over 53 thousand
investigative leads, up from about 27 thousand the
year before. That statistic alone tells us something
about the increasing globalization of crime and
the imperative for expanded international coordination.
Only by sharing information and working directly
with our law enforcement allies abroad will we have
the opportunity to stop criminal and terrorist threats
abroad, before they reach our shores.
A
review of the FBI's progress would not be complete
without mention of our greatest asset our
employees. The men and women who serve in the FBI
are fully dedicated to protecting America. They
are working night and day to do so.
I
often hear people say that we need to change the
"FBI culture." But they have it wrong.
The "FBI culture" is the ethic of hard
work, integrity, excellence and dedication to protecting
the American public, all within the confines of
the Constitution. I see this culture every day,
in every FBI office, and in every FBI employee.
We do, however, need to focus our limited resources
on the most significant threats to the safety of
our communities, and change the way we afford protection
to those communities; understanding that we are
doing so in a global environment.
I
have covered a fair amount of territory today. So
let me conclude now with a final thought, before
responding to your questions.
One
week after my first day on the job at FBI Headquarters,
on September 11th, terrorists used our own commercial
airlines to attack the American people. That day
was and will always be a symbol of
the devastatingly lethal threats that are pointed
at America. In addition, it was a clarion call for
change within the law enforcement and intelligence
communities.
The
FBI is a relatively small organization, but a determined
one. We in the FBI and I believe I speak
for every man and woman in the organization
have committed ourselves to making the fundamental
changes that are necessary to combat the terrorists
and criminals who target our country. We have made
a lot of progress; we are on the right track; and
today's FBI will meet and will defeat
all threats against the security of our nation.
Thank
you for having me today. I look forward to your
questions.