Good morning.
It's nice to be back in San Francisco. I went to high school
here ... what, 10 years ago or so. Hey, I looked a lot younger
before I became Deputy Director! Then I worked in the San Francisco
Field Office for three years. You could say I left my heart
here, and it's nice to get a chance to visit old friends and
old haunts. It's always strange when you come back to a place
after several years and you see all the changes that have taken
place and it's always a comfort to see that some things
have stayed the same. Because, let's face it, most of us don't
like change. Things were always better back when we were growing
up or back when we were new agents. I know I was better-looking
then.
I remember
my very first assignment as a new Agent in Denver. And in my
second year on the job, still feeling like a rookie, I was pulled
into an airplane hijacking case. An individual in Grand Island,
Nebraska, had commandeered a small plane and taken the pilot
and mechanic hostage. He was apparently trying to get to Mexico
or somewhere in South America. The pilot flew them to Denver,
where the hijacker demanded a bigger plane, a million dollars,
and a six-pack of beer. He had a clear set of priorities.
So at
5:00 p.m. on Easter Sunday, the whole Denver Field Office was
called in, and we were involved in negotiations with the hijacker
till around midnight. My SAC decided that we would provide the
plane the hijacker had requested, and then have snipers take
him out when he transferred to it. We were absolutely sure the
snipers would take care of him, but, just as a precaution, they
decided to put several agents on the plane as well. I was one
of the lucky picks.
I'm sure
everyone here who has ever heard the words "absolutely
sure" and "just as a precaution" and "don't
worry about it" knows what happened next. The sniper wasn't
able to take the hijacker out, and he boarded the plane with
both of the hostages in tow. The end result was that my partner
and I were involved in a deadly confrontation. The hijacker
was killed, and both of the hostages were, thankfully, unharmed.
Back in
the 70's, of course, we had a lot of airplane hijackings, and
I suppose this was one of the more innocuous an alcoholic
with marital problems who ended up being the sole fatality.
Thirty
years ago, none of us envisioned what an airplane hijacking
would turn into on September 11, 2001. An event that changed
the world as we know it and changed the FBI forever!
As most
of you know, I'll be retiring from the Bureau effective October
1st. It's never a good time to leave, but it feels right because
I know the Bureau is in such good hands. Director Mueller is
doing an incredible job of transforming the Bureau to meet new
threats, and of defending us before Congress and the 9/11 Commission.
We couldn't ask for a better leader and spokesperson. Over the
past three years, members of Congress have proposed splitting
the FBI apart, placing us under Homeland Security, and taking
away our responsibilities for counterterrorism and intelligence
thanks to Director Mueller, none of those things has
happened. And I'm here to tell you, that's a huge accomplishment
in and of itself. We owe a lot to Director Mueller.
I've seen
a lot of changes in my 30 years with the Bureau. But nothing
compares to the changes I've seen in the past three years in
response to the new terrorist threat. I just want to give you
a general idea of the scope of what we're talking about.
Under
Director Mueller, the FBI's organizational structure has been
transformed. Entire new divisions and offices have been created.
We've even started our own "college" -- the College
of Analytical Studies -- to train our growing staff of intelligence
analysts.
The Counterterrorism
Division has been reorganized and an Office of Intelligence
was created. I'm sure Director Mueller will talk about this
more on Saturday the Intelligence function is one of
our top priorities.
And the
changes haven't just been at Headquarters. Since 9-11, we've
overhauled our Information Technology systems Bureau-wide. We've
expanded the number of JTTFs around the country from 35 to 100.
We've created Flying Squads that can be dispatched on short
notice to anywhere in the world to assist in counterterrorism
investigations or operations. We've established Foreign Counterintelligence
Squads in all field offices to address national security threats.
And we've created Field Intelligence Groups with analysts and
reports officers in every field office.
We've
also grown stronger internationally. Since 9/11, our international
Legal Attaché Offices (56 going to be 62) have become
increasingly important to our overall operations. Today we're
using them to assist our counterparts overseas on joint investigations,
intelligence-sharing, and the development of new methods to
prevent attacks.
Should
the FBI really be involved in all these overseas operations?
Yes. Just last spring, our improved international relations
helped us tackle crime on the South Pole. That's right, Antarctica.
A United States scientific research station located in the coldest
spot on the planet called us for help after their computer systems
had been hacked into and their data corrupted.
Because of the sub-freezing temperatures, it was impossible
to send Agents to the scene no aircraft could land or
take off from the site for months. But working from thousands
of miles away, our investigators were able to trace the source
of the intrusion to a server outside Pittsburgh. From there,
we identified two Romanian suspects. Thanks to the cooperation
and hard work of the Romanian authorities, they were arrested
outside Bucharest shortly thereafter.
Conducting
operations in Antarctica from FBI offices in DC; Los Angeles;
and Mobile, Alabama. Working hand-in-hand with police in Romania
based on data from a server in Pittsburgh. It's a whole new
world. Sometimes, some of us may feel like this isn't the same
FBI we signed onto years ago. And we'd be right a lot
of things are different. A lot of things are better.
But it
would be wrong to say that everything has changed. The important
things remain the same. Our organizational culture, that has
come under so much fire in the media, has stayed the same. As
Director Mueller has said, repeatedly, the "FBI culture"
is an ethic of hard work, integrity, excellence and dedication
to protecting the American public and that has never
and will never change.
And we
have not abandoned our traditional criminal responsibilities
-- they are still core to our mission. We are still investigating
violent crime, drugs, organized crime, gang activity, and financial
crimes. We are still cracking down on corporate fraud and public
corruption. We are still committed to protecting the civil liberties
of all Americans.
On the
public corruption front, last year the Bureau opened 50 percent
more public corruption cases than in the previous year. And
our successes included the case against a Congressman who took
bribes from local businessmen and demanded kickbacks from his
own employees. He even made his staff work on his farm. He pled
guilty, was removed from office, and was sentenced to 96 months
in prison. Maybe they'll have him work on a farm, too.
The Bureau
currently has 300 pending corporate fraud investigations, and
our health care fraud investigations resulted in 600 convictions
last year and more than $5 billion in settlements. I'm sure
many of you have tracked our investigations into multi-billion
dollar losses and fraud at HealthSouth, Enron, and Imclone.
I'm also proud of work our agents did in Kansas City in Operation
Diluted Trust. Thanks to their efforts, the subject pled guilty
to diluting what were meant to be life-saving chemotherapy drugs,
and he has started serving a 30 year prison sentence.
In the
area of civil rights, the FBI was finally able to bring Thomas
Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry to justice for the 1963 bombing
of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Alabama.
That bombing resulted in the deaths of four young African-American
girls and injured 19 others. I'm pleased to say that, this past
year, Blanton and Cherry were finally convicted and sentenced
for murder.
In the
Organized Crime Program, we're conducting operations both at
home and overseas. We're particularly going after Balkan and
Albanian criminal enterprises, which may already number in the
thousands in the U.S. These groups are exceptionally brutal
and are forming alliances with La Cosa Nostra families. In some
instances they're even challenging them for control. They're
involved in murders, bank and ATM burglaries, passport and visa
fraud, illegal gambling, weapons and narcotics trafficking,
and extortion. To get at the group's base of operations overseas
before it becomes entrenched here, we are placing Agents in
Eastern Europe to work hand-in-hand with local law enforcement.
Clearly,
our organized crime responsibilities are going to remain one
of the Bureau's top criminal priorities for many years to come.
And we're also using what we've learned in fighting LCN in the
war on terrorism. The criminal program has pioneered a key strategy
for our counterterrorism efforts focusing on the underlying
threat and not just the overt criminal action. Whether a criminal
enterprise manipulates stocks or smuggles drugs, weapons or
humans, we must always focus on dismantling the entire infrastructure
of the organization, not just on nabbing the street criminals.
The same is true for terrorist organizations. It's not enough
to capture terrorist operatives we must demolish the
entire terrorist organization, from financiers on up. Like I
said earlier, a lot of things have changed over the years, but
then a lot of things the most important things
haven't.
The past
30 years have seen the advent of new forensic techniques, various
new investigative technologies, new computer systems
there are whole TV shows dedicated to all these high-tech tools.
And they've helped us do our jobs better.
But in
the end it's not computers and databases that make the FBI work.
If it was, we could just have machines do the job. What makes
the FBI great, what's made me proud to come to work every day
for the past 30 years, is the people. It's the almost 30,000
men and women of the FBI, out there on the front lines every
day, protecting our country from terrorists and criminals. They
do this behind the scenes and, too often, in the face of criticism.
This is
the last speech I will give as Deputy Director. And I want to
close with my favorite quote something from Theodore
Roosevelt that I think sums up my spirit and the real spirit
of the FBI and those who serve in law enforcement. He said:
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points
out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds
could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is
actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and
sweat and blood...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great
devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the
best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and
who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly;
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who know neither victory or defeat."
Roosevelt
said that nearly 100 years ago, and, like so many other things,
it's just as true today. And back at Headquarters, Director
Mueller and the rest of the Executive Staff are working to make
sure everyone knows how dedicated and patriotic our Special
Agents and professional support employees are. They deserve
the credit because they are in the arenas everyday protecting
this great country of ours. Just like you did.
As for
myself, I've been proud to serve with you in the arena, and
now I'm looking forward to joining you as I retire from the
FBI.
Thank
you for allowing me to be here with you this morning, and thank
you for allowing me to serve in this Great Institution called
the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
God bless
you all.
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