For Immediate Release
July 14, 1999

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office

The Federal Bureau of Investigation today issued the following statement:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) welcomes many of the suggestions made by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in its report on "The Handling of FBI Intelligence Information Related to the Justice Department's Campaign Finance Investigation" and looks forward to working with others in the intelligence community to improve our intelligence record-keeping, analysis and dissemination capabilities. The FBI cooperated fully with the OIG through the course of its review and agrees with most of the OIG's recommendations.

Even before the OIG issued the report, the FBI had revised some of its practices to address the matters identified in the report. These changes include centralizing analysts from different parts of the FBI. Pooling their skills should produce a higher quality of finished intelligence product for use in investigations and briefings. The FBI is also instituting regularly-scheduled meetings with others in the intelligence community to discuss significant case developments and other matters of mutual interest. In addition, the FBI has requested funding through the budget process to improve our computer infrastructure in ways that will allow more effective retrieval and sharing of intelligence information.

The FBI appreciates the hard work and effort that the OIG expended in detailing issues of concern to the intelligence community in the report. Through the changes that the FBI has instituted, and others that the FBI is in the process of instituting, the FBI is confident that those issues will be addressed expeditiously and effectively.