FBI TRANSFORMATION
Director Reflects on Tenure Since 2001
09/08/06
FBI Director Robert
S. Mueller looked back on changes the Bureau has made under his five years
of leadership and how our response to the 9/11 attacks—seven days into
Mueller’s tenure—helped transform the FBI into an intelligence
agency better equipped to help prevent the next terrorist attack.
“The question is, ‘What changes have we made?’” Director
Mueller said during a recent briefing with reporters at FBI Headquarters in
Washington, D.C. Mueller pointed to three areas where the FBI has made significant
progress “in response to what happened on September 11.”
- Resources: the FBI has more specially trained agents,
analysts, language specialists and surveillance specialists today than it
did before 9/11. The number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) has more
than doubled in five years, improving the lines of communication at every
level of law enforcement. Field Intelligence Groups (FIGs) made up of agents
and analysts expert in counterterrorism staff every field office.
- Intelligence capabilities: the National Security Branch
put all of the FBI’s counterterrorism and intelligence functions under
one umbrella, streamlining communications with the broader intelligence community.
Sharing information—a departure from a tradition of holding investigations
close to the vest—became an imperative. “We changed the presumption … to
disclosing information,” Mueller said.
- Partnerships: exchanging information at the federal level
has greatly improved. Mueller cited tight relationships with the NSA, CIA
and collaborations at the National Counterterrorism Center, which is run
by the Director of National Intelligence, and the Terrorist Screening Center,
which puts information on wanted terrorists in the hands of every beat cop
or agency on the front lines. Through the NSA’s Terrorist Surveillance
Program, Mueller said, “We have received leads that have led to disruptions
with individuals providing material support to terrorists or contemplating
terrorist acts.”
Homegrown terrorism remains a concern. Recent cases in Miami, California,
and Atlanta revealed plots with tangential ties to al Queda. The FBI’s
approach is to learn what motivates the plotters by relying on investigators
in the field. That means using techniques the FBI refined over decades of intelligence
gathering, like its effective infiltrations and surveillance of Mafia figures. “For
us to be successful we have to leverage our relationships with them to know
what is happening on the ground,” Mueller said.
Mueller fended off criticism that recent busts of suspected terrorists in
the U.S. were over-hyped or premature. “Our challenge is that somebody
may have an idea,” Mueller said. “If you look at September 11,
they had box cutters and an idea. When are you going to let that idea with
box cutters continue? ... At some point you have to take action against the
persons plotting terrorist attacks.”
Mueller addressed several other issues during the hour-long briefing:
- MS-13 and cross-border gangs: Mueller cited the reorganization
of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, which is more sharply
focused on white collar crimes, public corruption, and gangs. Last year,
the FBI’s MS-13 task force coordinated a series of crackdowns in the
U.S and Central America that led to more than 600 arrests. Last spring, criminal
division chief James “Chip” Burrus was among 100 FBI and law
enforcement officials attending a gang conference in El Salvador. Tracking
gang activity, Mueller said, “has required us to be far more adept.”
- Anthrax: Mueller said the attacks in 2001 remain an open
and vital investigation. “My expectation is that the case will be solved,” he
said. “Some cases take longer than others.”
- Institutional change: Mueller said that while he made
some needed changes in information technology, accountability and hiring
outside expertise, wholesale change at the FBI would be shortsighted, since
intelligence gathering is an extension of what agents and analysts have been
doing for years. “We have changed as an organization to meet the threat
of the time,” Mueller said. “You cannot lose sight of the capability
that the Bureau brings to the table.”
The briefing fell between two five-year anniversaries—the Director’s
first day on September 4, 2001, and the 9/11 attacks. Mueller said the terrorist
threat remains. And he allowed that we are safer, but still not safe. “I
hope the American people understand this problem is going to be with us for
a substantial period of time,” Mueller told reporters. “And the
FBI does a heck of a job day-in and day-out.”
Learn
more about the FBI’s evolution since 2001