The
FBI has worked closely with the 9-11Commission and its staff
and we commend it for an extraordinary effort. Throughout
this process, we have approached the Commission's inquiry
as an opportunity to gain further input from outside experts.
We took its critiques seriously, adapted our ongoing reform
efforts, and have already taken substantial steps to address
its remaining concerns. We are gratified and encouraged
that the Commission has embraced our vision for change and
recognized the progress that the men and women of the FBI
have made to implement that vision. We agree with the Commission
that much work remains to be done, and will consider its
findings and recommendations as we refine our continuing
transformation efforts.
Following
the September 11th attacks, Director Mueller implemented
a comprehensive plan that fundamentally transformed the
FBI with one goal in mind: establishing the prevention of
terrorism as the Bureau's number one priority. No longer
are we content to concentrate on investigating terrorist
crimes after they occur; the FBI now is dedicated to disrupting
terrorists before they are able to strike. Director Mueller
has overhauled our counterterrorism operations, expanded
our intelligence capabilities, modernized our business practices
and technology, and improved coordination with our partners.
FBI
Priorities
Director
Mueller clearly established a set of ten national program
priorities that strictly govern the allocation of personnel
and resources in every FBI program and field office. The
FBI today has a clear hierarchy of national priorities with
the prevention of terrorist attacks at the top of the list.
Field offices must allocate all necessary resources to ensure
that all terrorism-related leads are addressed before resources
can be dedicated to other priorities.
To
implement these new priorities, we increased the number
of Special Agents assigned to terrorism matters by 111%,
the number of intelligence analysts by 86% and the number
of linguists by 117%, between September 11, 2001 and May
2004. We also established a number of operational units
and entities that provide new or improved capabilities to
address the terrorist threat. These include the 24/7 Counterterrorism
Watch (CT Watch) and the National Joint Terrorism Task Force
(NJTTF), both of which manage and share threat information;
the Terrorism Financing Operation Section (TFOS), which
centralizes efforts to stop terrorist financing; document/media
exploitation squads to exploit, which exploits material
found both domestically and overseas for its intelligence
value; deployable "Fly Teams," which lend counterterrorism
expertise wherever it is needed; the interagency Terrorist
Screening Center (TSC) and Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task
Force (FTTTF), which help identify terrorists and keep them
out of the United States; the Terrorism Reports and Requirements
Section, which disseminates FBI terrorism-related intelligence
to the Intelligence Community; and the Counterterrorism
Analysis Section, which "connects the dots" and
assesses the indicators of terrorist activity against the
U.S. from a strategic perspective.
We
centralized management of our Counterterrorism Program at
Headquarters to limit "stove-piping" of information,
to ensure consistency of counterterrorism priorities and
strategy across the organization, to integrate counterterrorism
operations domestically and overseas, to improve coordination
with other agencies and governments, and to make senior
managers accountable for the overall development and success
of our counterterrorism efforts.
Intelligence
Program
The
FBI is building an enterprise-wide intelligence program
that has substantially improved our ability to direct strategically
our intelligence collection and to fuse, analyze, and disseminate
our terrorism-related intelligence. After passage of the
USA PATRIOT Act, the issuance of related Attorney General
Guidelines, and the ensuing opinion by the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court of Review that brought down the "wall"
that sharply limited the ability of law enforcement and
intelligence officers to share information, we quickly implemented
a plan to integrate all our capabilities to better prevent
terrorist attacks. Director Mueller elevated intelligence
to program-level status, putting in place a formal structure
and concepts of operations to govern FBI-wide intelligence
functions and establish Field Intelligence Groups (FIGs)
in every field office.
The
New Workforce
The
FBI is actively working to build a workforce with expertise
in intelligence. While much remains to be done, we have
already taken steps to ensure this transformation.
On
March 22, 2004, Director Mueller adopted a proposal to establish
a career path in which new Special Agents are initially
assigned to a small field office and exposed to a wide range
of field experiences. After approximately three years, agents
will be transferred to a large field office where they will
specialize in one of four program areas: Intelligence, Counterterrorism/
Counterintelligence, Cyber, or Criminal, and will receive
advanced training tailored to their area of specialization.
We are working to implement this new career track.
Director
Mueller has also approved a proposal to establish a formal
Intelligence Officer Certification that can be earned through
a combination of intelligence assignments and training.
Once established, this certification will be a prerequisite
for promotion to the level of Section Chief at FBIHQ, or
Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) at the field level,
thus ensuring that all members of the FBI's highest management
levels will be staffed by fully trained and experienced
intelligence officers.
We
have implemented a strategic plan to recruit, hire, and
retain Intelligence Analysts. The Bureau has selected veteran
analysts to attend events at colleges and universities,
as well as designated career fairs throughout the country.
We executed an aggressive marketing plan, and for the first
time in FBI history, we are offering hiring bonuses for
FBI analysts.
In our Special Agent hiring program, we have updated the
list of "critical skills" we are seeking in candidates
to include intelligence experience and expertise, foreign
languages, and technology.
We
continue to grow the Field Intelligence Groups (FIGs) established
in every FBI field office and are on track to add some 300
Intelligence Analysts to the FIGs in FY 2004. The FIGs conduct
analysis, direct the collection of information to fill identified
intelligence gaps, and ensure that intelligence is disseminated
horizontally and vertically to internal and external customers,
including our State, local and tribal law enforcement partners.
As of June 2, 2004, there are 1,450 FIG personnel, including
382 Special Agents and 160 employees from other government
agencies.
The FBI's Executive Assistant Director for Intelligence
has been given personal responsibility for developing and
ensuring the health of the FBI intelligence personnel resources.
It is important to note that the FBI's intelligence cadre
is not limited to intelligence analysts, but also includes
agents, language analysts, surveillance specialists, and
others. It takes all of these specialists to perform quality
intelligence production at the FBI. The FBI's plan to create
a cradle-to-grave career path for intelligence professionals
at the FBI parallels the one that has existed and functioned
so well for our agents and has been codified in our Concept
of Operations (CONOP) for Human Talent for Intelligence
Production.
Information
Sharing and Coordination
To
support information sharing, there is now a Special Agent
or Intelligence Analyst in each Joint Terrorism Task Force
(JTTF) dedicated to producing "raw" intelligence
reports for the entire national security community, including
State, municipal, and tribal law enforcement partners and
other JTTF members. These "Reports Officers" are
trained to produce intelligence reports that both protect
sources and methods and maximize the amount of information
that can be shared.
Understanding
that we cannot defeat terrorism without strong partnerships,
we have enhanced the level of coordination and information
sharing with State and municipal law enforcement personnel.
We expanded the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs),
increased technological connectivity with our partners,
and implemented new ways of sharing information through
vehicles such as the FBI Intelligence Bulletin, the FBI
National Alert System, and the interagency Alert System,
and the Terrorist Screening Center. To improve coordination
with other Federal agencies and members of the Intelligence
Community, we joined with our Federal partners to establish
the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, exchanged personnel,
instituted joint briefings, and started using secure networks
to share information. We also improved our relationships
with foreign governments by building on the overseas expansion
of our Legat Program; by offering investigative and forensic
support and training, and by working together on task forces
and joint operations. Finally, the FBI has expanded outreach
to minority communities, and improved coordination with
private businesses involved in critical infrastructure and
finance.
As
the Commission points out, we have much work still to do,
but we have made great progress and continue to move forward
in accordance with a clear plan. With the support and understanding
of lawmakers and the American people, I am confident that
we will successfully complete our transformation and ultimately
prevail against terrorists and all adversaries who would
do harm to our Nation.
The FBI looks forward to an ongoing public discussion of
ways to support further information sharing and collaboration
in the Intelligence and Law Enforcement Communities, and
thanks the 9-11 Commission for its public service. Attached,
for your information, is the testimony of my colleague,
Maureen Baginski, which presents additional information
that may be of interest to the Committee.
Thank you for inviting me here today to testify before the
Committee, and I will answer any questions you may have
at the appropriate time.