Legal Attaché
The Legal Attaché (Legatt) Program is the FBI’s presence overseas to better protect the United States from international crime, terrorism, violent crime, drug trafficking and economic crime. In our Legal Attaché Offices, there are currently in place senior special agents, all possessing superior anti-crime skills, as well as dedicated and knowledgeable support personnel in 45 key cities worldwide, providing coverage for over 200 countries, including Afghanistan. In support of the FBI’s mission in Afghanistan, and in alignment with its priorities, we develop, maintain and enhance liaison relationships to support the national security and criminal investigative missions of the FBI. We develop training programs to train the Afghanistan law enforcement community and military operations to enhance their capabilities and to expand our cooperation. We maintain and enhance our contribution to the intelligence community and senior policy makers in government by providing information of value.
The primary mission of the FBI in the Afghanistan Theater of Operations (ATO) is the collection of actionable threat intelligence with a potential U.S. nexus in order to detect, penetrate and disrupt terrorist operations targeting U.S. citizens, property and interests worldwide. The Legatt program in Kabul is currently positioned to accomplish this mission by collaborating with Department of Defense (DoD) and other U.S. government agencies where the identification, assessment and dissemination of intelligence, and the detention and interrogation of individuals who pose a threat to the U.S. occurs contemporaneously with battlefield collection. We also conduct counterterrorism/criminal investigations on terrorism networks operating within the ATO and its surrounding areas. In addition, Legatt Kabul supports DoD and other government agency operations as deemed appropriate.
In order to assist in the reduction of the effectiveness of terrorist networks, Legatt Kabul participates in the capacity building of Afghanistan by coordinating anti-corruption investigative efforts and professionally training Afghan law enforcement authorities. Legatt Kabul has oversight of all personnel, programs, initiatives and FBI activity in country. One such program is our support of the Afghan government’s Major Crimes Task Force (MCTF). The MCTF consists of three units: the Kidnapping Unit, Corruption Unit and Organized Crime Unit. Each unit is comprised of FBI support personnel who provide training and assistance to Afghan investigators from the National Directorate of Security and the Ministry of Interior, as well as other international mentors. The Legatt is responsible for ensuring that all FBI activities support the FBI’s three pillar Afghanistan Strategy of Counterterrorism and Criminal Investigations, Capacity Building, and Intelligence and Information Sharing, all aimed at supporting the Afghan government’s efforts to strengthen the country in ways that increase its ability to resist extremists’ efforts to use Afghanistan as a platform.
Documents and Web Pages:
FBI Home Page: http://www.fbi.gov