The
Evolution of FBI Intelligence
The FBI has always used intelligence to investigate and solve
cases. Throughout the Bureau's history, our ability to successfully
adapt to new threats included the development of increasingly
sophisticated methods of gathering, analyzing, and disseminating
intelligence.
Information about the FBI's history and its intelligence role
from its founding through the 1990s may be found on the FBI
history page.
It was in the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001,
that the FBI recognized the need to establish centralized
control over intelligence operations throughout the Bureau. We
began
in 2001 with a dedicated analysis section in the Counterterrorism
Division (CTD), and in 2002 we created an Office of Intelligence
within CTD. This structure and capability significantly enhanced
our counterterrorism operations and those of our partners.
In
2003, we extended this concept across all FBI programs—Criminal
(CID), Cyber (CyD), Counterterrorism (CT), Counterintelligence
(CI)—and unified intelligence authorities under a
new FBI Office of Intelligence (OI) led by an Executive
Assistant
Director
for Intelligence (EAD-I). The OI leveraged USIC tradecraft
to direct all FBI intelligence activities. Congress and
the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
("The
9/11 Commission") reviewed these efforts and provided
recommendations to further strengthen the FBI's intelligence
capability.
The FBI was first directed to create a Directorate
of Intelligence through a November 23, 2004, Presidential
Memorandum for
the Attorney General (titled "Further Strengthening
Federal Bureau of Investigation Capabilities") and
later through The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005.
The Intelligence
Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 reiterated
this guidance and formally acknowledged the significant
progress
made by the
FBI in improving its intelligence capabilities since the
9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Directorate of Intelligence
was established in February 2005 as a dedicated national
intelligence workforce within
the FBI—a
service within a service. The central mission of the FBI's
Intelligence Program is to optimally position the FBI to
meet current and
emerging national security and criminal threats. We do
this in cooperation with our fellow USIC organizations.
In
June 2005, the President directed the Attorney General
to create a “National Security Service” within
the FBI, as recommended by the Commission on the Intelligence
Capabilities
of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction
(WMD
Commission).
The Attorney General implemented the President’s
directive in September 2005 by creating the FBI’s
National Security Branch (NSB), which combines the missions,
capabilities, and
resources of the Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence
divisions and the Directorate of Intelligence under the
leadership of
a senior FBI official. In July 2006, the newly created
FBI Weapons
of Mass Destruction Directorate (WMDD) also became part
of the NSB. The NSB oversees the national security operations
of these
four
components and is accountable for the national security
functions carried out by other FBI divisions.
For more information about the NSB, visit
the NSB page.
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