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John Culberson United Sates Congressman John Culberson 7th District of Texas Texans should always run Texas
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Contact: Press Secretary Michael Green
Phone: 202.225.2571
Date: 10/31/06
 
Terrorist Threat to our Southern Border
 

Dear District 7 Neighbor:

For over two years I have repeatedly warned about the threat posed by terrorists seeking to enter our country through our porous southern border. FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed under oath in front of my Appropriations Subcommittee that an unknown number of Islamic individuals from countries with known al Qaeda connections have entered the United States using false Hispanic identities, speaking Spanish and hiding among the growing flood of illegal immigrants.

The Houston Chronicle has ignored and ridiculed my statements. Below is a story printed in the San Antonio Express-News that you will not read in the Chronicle. FBI Director Robert Mueller was in San Antonio last week and publicly confirmed that the FBI had stopped a human smuggling ring organized by Hezbollah to smuggle terrorists into the U.S.

Please be assured that I will continue working vigorously with the Administration and House Leadership to secure out borders and enforce immigration laws. We will never win the War on Terror until we secure our borders.

I am grateful for the privilege of representing you in the United States Congress.

Sincerely,
John Culberson

FBI chief applauds S.A. office
October 27, 2006
By Guillermo Contreras
San Antonio Express-News

FBI Director Robert Mueller defended a technique used in domestic surveillance during a visit to San Antonio on Friday and said investigating kidnappings along the Texas-Mexico border is a priority for the bureau.

Mueller, FBI director since Sept. 4, 2001, made the remarks in response to questions from the media during a two-day review of FBI field division offices here, in Dallas and Oklahoma City.

Speaking at Fort Sam Houston - chosen for space reasons - Mueller applauded the local office for its "terrific job here" and commended the "great relationship we have with our state and local counterparts."

Since the 9-11 attacks, the FBI has shifted its focus and transferred more agents from traditional criminal investigative areas to terrorism-related issues. As a result, the FBI opened 28,331 fewer criminal cases in fiscal year 2004 than it did in fiscal year 2000, according to an audit in September 2005 by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General.

Mueller said that in the San Antonio field division - which includes much of the Texas border with Mexico - tackling a rash of kidnappings connected to organized crime remains "a substantial priority."

He also cited the importance of monitoring for intrusions by terrorist groups. Mueller said the FBI previously busted a ring organized by the terrorist group Hezbollah that had operatives cross the Mexican border to carry out possible terrorist acts inside the U.S.

"We have had indications that leaders of other terrorist groups may be contemplating ... assuming the identities of others, and trying to get across the border," Mueller said. "It is intelligence that indicates there have been discussions on that. There have been very few, if any, examples of that actually happening to date, but it is an area in which we have to be particularly vigilant."

On domestic surveillance, Mueller acknowledged the San Antonio division uses national security letters. According to a story last year in the Washington Post, the letters were created in the 1970s for espionage and terrorism investigations. They originated as narrow exceptions in consumer privacy law and allowed the FBI to review in secret the customer records of suspected foreign agents. The story said they have since evolved under the Bush administration with guidelines allowing clandestine scrutiny of phone calls, correspondence and financial lives of ordinary Americans.

Mueller said the letters are a necessary tool to uncover potential terrorist or cyber-attacks, and the current use is authorized by Congress.

Asked how many are issued, Mueller said: "To the extent that it is necessary."

"A national security letter is an indication that we have a national security investigation, and that the materials we seek may be relevant to that investigation," he said. "It's important that we have those materials, whether they be phone records or financial records or the like in order to conduct the investigation. It's also important that secrecy be maintained so that the investigation itself is not jeopardized."

 
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