Thank
you. It is good to be here among friends.
The friendship between the FBI and the International
Association of Chiefs of Police goes back
more than 75 years. You may not be aware,
but J. Edgar Hoover's first speech, after
becoming Director of the FBI, was to the IACP.
As I stand here today, I cannot help but think
that the FBI's first director would hardly
recognize today's Bureau. We have changed
so much over the last 95 years of our existence.
And perhaps the most important of these changes
has been in the evolution of our relationship
with state and local law enforcement.
Today,
I want to discuss with you several of our
joint achievements over the last couple of
years. And I also want to look at how the
FBI continues to change to better work with
you, and with our other partners in law enforcement.
By
working together over the last two years,
we have identified, disrupted and neutralized
hundreds of terrorist threats. We have broken
up terrorist cells from Buffalo to Bali, from
Seattle to Singapore, and from Tampa to Thailand.
We
have deprived al Qaeda of its sanctuary in
Afghanistan -- a huge loss to al Qaeda. Together,
law enforcement and the intelligence communities
have detained thousands of al Qaeda operatives.
More than two-thirds of its senior leadership
have either been killed or captured. We have
conducted over 70 investigations into terrorist
money trails, and frozen more than 125 million
dollars in assets. Because of our efforts
al Qaeda has been disrupted and diminished,
and there is greater security in the United
States. And when I speak of our efforts, I
mean the efforts of all of us in law enforcement.
But
the war is not over. Terrorist groups continue
to evolve and threaten us in new ways. While
America has not seen another attack, overseas
it is another story. Repeated terrorist attacks
around the world have been stark reminders
of the deadly threat posed by those with the
desire and the ability to kill Americans.
Although
we have made progress, terrorism is still
present in the United States. Not one of our
56 field offices has gone without a threat.
Al Qaeda is working hard to recruit new members
and continuing to plot attacks on American
targets at home and abroad.
In
our lifetimes, the world has changed dramatically.
Since the end of the Cold War, borders between
countries have opened. People and goods move
freely from place to place. Technology has
made communication and travel much faster.
As
the world has changed, so have the threats.
Nearly a century ago, the FBI was created
because crime had begun to cross county and
state lines. Today, criminal activity not
only crosses state lines, it traverses back
and forth over international boundaries at
breakneck speed. And those crimes are as diverse
as terrorism and corporate fraud; identity
theft and illegal weapons trade; money laundering
and the trafficking of humans.
Dangerous
asymmetrical threats have emerged. Most significant
is the potential for a terrorist organization
or hostile nation to obtain weapons of mass
destruction. And certain foreign powers are
working harder than ever to penetrate our
government and are targeting our corporations.
As the value of proprietary information and
new technology increases, so do the opportunity
and motivation for economic espionage. We
are seeing a rise in cyber crimes such as
denial of service attacks as well as traditional
crimes that have migrated online, such as
identity theft and child pornography.
There
is a growing convergence of these threats
both old and new. We see organized crime laundering
money for drug groups. Drug groups selling
weapons to terrorists. Terrorists committing
white-collar frauds to raise money for their
operations.
An
example of this occurred last year in Charlotte,
North Carolina, where Sheriff's Deputy Bob
Fromme worked with ATF to uncover a cigarette
smuggling ring. Police Detective Ken DeSimone,
a charter member of the local JTTF, assisted
in the joint operation, known as "Smokescreen."
Working closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police, the task force linked the cigarette
smugglers to a terrorist cell. Its members
were found guilty of visa fraud, and guilty
of financial crimes committed to raise money
for Hizbollah in Lebanon.
We
face an increasingly complex criminal landscape.
Experts say that with globalization, the role
of nation/states is diminishing along with
their ability to effectively respond to criminal
conduct. To confront this dangerous new landscape,
law enforcement must change.
We
in the FBI are changing to meet these new
threats. For starters, we have shifted our
mission and our priorities to protect Americans
by preventing attacks -- both terrorist and
criminal. Immediately following 9/11, our
top three operational priorities became counterterrorism,
counterintelligence and cyber security.
To
effectively confront these new threats, the
FBI began to use its resources strategically.
We focused on areas where we brought something
special to the table. For example, the FBI
has a unique jurisdiction in both public corruption
and civil rights. Therefore these remained
high priorities. We also continue to have
a role in attacking organized crime, white
collar crime and significant violent crime.
To
meet the challenges of the future, the law
enforcement community must become more international.
We must continue to expand our capability
to address crimes that cross borders. Our
46 Legal Attaché offices, or "Legats," in
countries around the world provide the network
for this international cooperation. Through
them, the FBI shares information with our
international law enforcement and intelligence
partners, and assists our international counterparts
in investigations. The Legats are vital to
the FBI's counterterrorism efforts and to
addressing international crime.
The
number of cases with an international nexus
is growing. As an example, we recently had
a homicide case in Kirkland, Washington. The
local police had a suspect and blood evidence,
but no body. They needed to obtain DNA from
the victim's parents to make their case. Because
the parents lived in Indonesia, the detective
contacted our Seattle office for help. They,
in turn, contacted the FBI Legat in Singapore
who, through the Indonesian police, arranged
a meeting with the victim's parents. The DNA
from the parents confirmed the killer. As
a result of this collaboration, justice was
served. Kim Mason was convicted of Aggravated
Murder in the 1st Degree.
We
see a growing sense of international cooperation.
While in the Middle East, during meetings
with heads of state, law enforcement and intelligence
agencies, all assured me of their commitment
to working together to fight both terrorism
and international crime. The visible devastation
from terrorist attacks in Riyadh and Morocco
helped all of us recognize that we could no
longer wait to meet at crime scenes. Our relationships
must be closer and our cooperation stronger
before attacks can be launched.
We
are making progress. Last May, after nine
Americans lost their lives in the bombing
in Riyadh, the Saudi government allowed the
FBI to send a large forensic team to assist
in their investigation. There was unprecedented
cooperation. One reason was that the FBI had
trained more than 100 Saudi police in the
National Academy. We were using the same methods
of evidence collection and the same terminology.
As they told us, "We were taught together,
now we can work together."
And
at the end of the day, as we look at this
changed world, it does not matter whether
we prosecute a case in the U.S. courts or
help the Saudis prosecute their own case in
their own country. What matters is that justice
is served, and we are one step closer to defeating
terrorism.
At
home, we needed to build bridges. Since 9/11,
we have been working to strengthen our partnerships
at all levels.
The
men and women of the FBI and the IACP have
helped each other in countless investigations.
This year, two members of local law enforcement
- one a police officer and one a deputy sheriff
- helped take two fugitives from justice off
our "Top Ten" most wanted list.
For
five years, Eric Rudolph evaded the FBI. You
found him. Murphy N. Carolina Police Officer
Jeffrey Postell, on the job at 3:30 in the
morning, spotted Rudolph rummaging through
a dumpster and made the arrest.
In
Arkansas, Searcy County Deputy Sheriff Lang
Holland stopped murder suspect James Singleton
for driving without a license plate. Deputy
Holland found a shotgun in the trunk of the
car. And after a year on the run, Singleton
was arrested. Our Lab was able to match his
fingerprints, and now Singleton is facing
capitol murder charges for the brutal murder
of his adopted parents in Dallas.
I
ask that we honor both of these officers for
the work they did. Our thanks to Deputy Holland
and Officer Postell.
And
we are continuing to work together in the
fight against terrorism. We have expanded
the local Joint Terrorism Task Forces from
35 to 84. We understand that you are the eyes
and ears in communities across the country
-- make that countries across the world. Your
officers are the front line against an enemy
who can hide in any one of our communities
-- or in any one of our countries.
We
continue to strengthen relationships between
the FBI and the law enforcement community.
Our new Office of Law Enforcement Coordination,
headed up by Louis Quijas, has helped open
the lines of communication, and we have heard
what you have said.
You
said you needed more security clearances for
your JTTF members. Our Security Division created
a unit entirely dedicated to processing clearances
for law enforcement executives and JTTF members.
Since 9/11, over 2000 chiefs and sheriffs
have received their requested clearances.
Over 1200 officers have received top secret
clearances.
You
have asked that the training we provide be
up-to-date. The Training Division at Quantico
is working to ensure that our training remains
cutting edge and appropriate to your needs.
We have working groups, on which many of you
now serve, that are advising us so that we
can continue to improve the National Academy,
NEI and LEEDs.
You
have asked to hear updates from us before
you see them in the media. We are working
with the Department of Homeland Security on
the next phase of the Alert Notification System.
It will be available to thousands of JTTF
members across the country. Before long, you
will get pop-up messages on computers - like
instant messaging, but in a secure environment.
It will also reach your cell phones or pagers.
You
said you need better information. We all understand
the importance of intelligence. We are working
to prioritize what we disseminate and make
sure it is information you can act upon.
For
that, we set up the Office of Intelligence.
Over the years, America built an intelligence
capability perfect for a world of nation/states
and for winning the Cold War. Now the world
is changed.
Critical
to preventing future terrorist attacks is
improving our intelligence capability. We
have increased the number of analysts working
to produce a better intelligence product,
and we are sharing it more effectively with
our partners.
I
also would like to recognize the IACP for
your hard work in spearheading the National
Intelligence Sharing Project to improve the
capacity of local law enforcement. The plan
will serve as a blueprint as we continue to
develop our overall national strategy for
sharing information.
We
have begun to analyze not only what we are
collecting, but what we should be collecting.
This will allow us to identify existing gaps
and determine how they can be closed.
Success
requires that we use the intelligence we have
gathered effectively. In prosecuting La Cosa
Nostra, together we developed sophisticated
intelligence- gathering abilities, using informants
and surveillance techniques. These are the
same methods used to collect intelligence
on terrorists. And we have the law enforcement
options to act on that information. We no
longer work intelligence as a case, we work
intelligence into every case. Intelligence
is key to our future success in the war against
terrorism.
Finally,
to improve our capabilities, we must continue
to develop our technology. New combined databases
and analytical tools are helping us draw patterns
and connections from a sea of data in ways
we could not prior to September 11.
The
tremendous changes which have resulted from
the war on terrorism lead us to ask the question,
where will we be in five years? Although it
is impossible to state with certainty, what
is clear is that the trends toward globalization
and international cooperation will continue.
The
time when a police department or a sheriff's
office or the FBI can act on its own is gone.
We must rely on each other for what each brings
to the table, whether that be manpower, technology,
or expertise. The future will require law
enforcement to work together with seamless
coordination.
When
former Director Hoover made his first speech
in 1925, he said that any effort to successfully
combat modern crime must be "founded on the
rock of universal cooperation." That is even
more true today than it was back in 1925.
We are exceptionally proud to work with you
as partners in making America and the world
a safer place in which to live.
Thank
you, and God bless you.