And I am pleased to see Connie
Mosca, who will join me in cutting
the ribbon. She has served the
Baltimore Division for 53 years.
This is her third building in
that time, so she was there almost
32 years ago when the Baltimore
FBI Office moved into its most
recent location on Ambassador
Road.
At that time, Richard Nixon was
President and the Oakland A's
won the 69th World Series. The
building was home to about 150
Special Agents and 100 Support
staff. Today, there are around
200 Special Agents and 180 Support
staff.
At that time there were no joint
task forces. Today, more than
80 full time members, representing
60 federal, state and local departments,
participate on five separate task
forces.
A lot of things have changed since
then. And just as change has caused
this office to outgrow its old
building, change has caused the
FBI to work in new ways.
For one thing, we are getting
new, modern facilities here in
Baltimore and elsewhere –
in fact, the Albuquerque Field
Office is having its ribbon cutting
today as well.
We are growing and modernizing
to meet the threats of the 21st
Century. To fulfill our primary
mission of protecting the United
States from terrorist attacks,
we have changed our priorities.
As a result, our top three priorities
are counterterrorism, counterintelligence
and cyber security.
Back in 1972, we had not envisioned
working Terrorism or Cyber Crimes.
FBI investigative mainstays were
organized crime, violent crime,
white collar crime and foreign
counterintelligence. It was a
simpler time.
Let me give you an example of
the type of criminal case we confront
today.
Just last spring, a United States
scientific research station located
in Antarctica, of all places,
called us for help after their
systems had been hacked into and
their data corrupted. Because
of the sub-freezing temperatures,
it was impossible to send Agents
to the scene – no aircraft
could land or take off from the
site for months.
But working from thousands of
miles away, our investigators
were able to trace the source
of the intrusion to a server outside
Pittsburgh. From there, we identified
two suspects in Romania responsible
for the intrusion. Thanks to the
cooperation and hard work of the
Romanian authorities, they were
arrested outside Bucharest.
The FBI of 32 years ago could
not have imagined conducting remote
operations in Antarctica. Or working
hand-in-hand with police in Romania
based on data from a server in
Pittsburgh. It is a whole new
world.
That was a new type of criminal
case, but today our number one
priority is counterterrorism.
Unfortunately, we are not as free
to talk about most of those cases.
But you have seen the news stories
– ricin and anthrax investigations,
smugglers trying to sell weapons
of mass destruction. The threat
from terrorism is real, and it
is being investigated by every
FBI office.
This has required us to adapt.
Baltimore is a good example of
an office that has moved successfully
to working counterterrorism cases.
I am told that, following September
11, a number of senior agents
took leadership roles in pushing
for that change. That took courage.
Change is never easy.
To meet the threat of terrorism
there are two things the FBI must
do. We must continue improving
our intelligence capabilities
and strengthening our partnerships
with state and local law enforcement.
We have made progress in these
areas, but we must keep going.
The FBI has always excelled at
gathering intelligence, facts,
and evidence. We needed to combine
those capabilities with better
analysis and dissemination. Today,
we have woven intelligence into
everything we do.
Essential to improving our intelligence
capabilities, is improving our
ability to share that information
with other members of the law
enforcement and intelligence communities.
Partnerships are more important
than ever, and we must continue
to improve our relationships with
our counterparts at the federal,
state, local, and international
level.
Officers on the street are on
the front lines of the war against
terrorism. They are the ones who
know their communities, who know
when something is not right. They
are the ones conducting traffic
stops that provide hits from terrorism
watch lists. They are the eyes
and ears in the fight against
terrorism. We learn from them
and must share whatever information
we can to help them protect their
communities.
All of us are more effective and
more efficient when we work together.
Law enforcement at all levels
is trying to do more than ever
before. Resources are strapped.
Again the Baltimore FBI office
has set an example by forming
a joint task force with the Baltimore
County police and the Baltimore
City police. Together, they are
making the most of available resources
to investigate area bank robberies.
Given the global nature of the
threats we now face, we in the
FBI must also work more closely
with our counterparts overseas.
One way we do this is by bringing
officers from around the world
to the FBI Academy for training.
This has resulted in unprecedented
cooperation. After the bombing
in Riyadh in May of last year,
we sent a team to help the Saudis
investigate. As our counterparts
there told us, "we have trained
together, now we can work together."
All of us must work together as
never before. Terrorists, international
criminal organizations, and computer
hackers operate without borders
or boundaries. This world of new
threats requires that all of us
contribute to the mission of protecting
our country.
Modern facilities like this are
essential to that mission, and
I want to thank everyone who helped
make this new building possible.
Let me mention just a few of the
people who contributed to this
project: